Free Once Bitten, Twice Shy by C.C. Wood Page A

only three place settings. At the sight, I felt my stomach clench with a feeling so alien I couldn’t name it.
    Conner noticed me looking at the table. “Lex had to go to his club for a few hours. He’s having issues with his night manager and I think he’s hoping his presence will clue the woman in to the fact that she is fucking up.”
    I nodded nonchalantly, as though this news didn’t send relief coursing through my veins. After Lex’s disappearing act, I didn’t want to admit how upset I had been at the idea that he had left again for parts unknown. Especially since he hadn’t said good-bye to me.
    I set those thoughts firmly aside. I didn’t need to be thinking like that. When it came to the vampire, Lex, I needed to remain detached, though he seemed intent on making sure that was impossible.
    Dinner was great. Conner had made shepherd’s pie, my favorite comfort food. I eyed him speculatively after we ate, wondering if he had fished that little piece of information out of my brain.
    When he caught me staring at him for the third time in fifteen minutes, Conner sighed and set aside his fork. “Okay, what now?” he asked.
    I blushed lightly, but met his gaze squarely. “Did you know shepherd’s pie is one of my favorite things?” I asked.
    He nodded. “I did. Donna told me.”
    My blush intensified. I hadn’t thought of that. I had just assumed that he took advantage of his abilities because he could. It was embarrassing to realize that I had been so suspicious of my best friend’s fiancé. Her fiancé who just wanted to do something nice for me, like make my favorite dinner.
    I sent him an apologetic smile. In that uncanny way of his, and Lex’s, he seemed to understand what I was thinking and sent me a wink.
    After that silent exchange, some of the tension in my belly dissipated. The rest of the meal was actually a lot of fun. I had never realized how witty and sweet Conner really was. His tales of his life before he came to America and the shenanigans he was involved in as a boy in Scotland were funny and bittersweet. I could sense that time had not dimmed his memories or the feeling he had for his friends and family who were now long gone.
    I was beginning to understand what Donna meant when she said a lot of vampires were more like humans than monsters. Seeing this side of Conner, I could understand why Donna fell in love with him.
    After dinner, I insisted on helping Donna with the dishes. Well, I insisted Donna and I do the dishes. Conner had laughed when he saw the dirty looks my friend was shooting me for volunteering her for the chore.
    He walked over to Donna, leaned in, and kissed her lightly on the mouth. “I have some calls to make, lass. Don’t kill each other while I’m gone,” he admonished.
    Donna scoffed and waved him away. “You don’t have to worry about what I’ll do to her. Worry about the torture she’s going to inflict upon me.”
    I rolled my eyes as I finished clearing the table. “Washing dishes isn’t torture. It’s a household chore no one really likes, but it’s only fair we do them since Conner cooked.”
    She grumbled about pain in the ass humans and fiancés who used every dish in the house to make a single meal, but she helped. It was after eight when we finished drying the last dish and putting them away.
    “Thanks, babe,” she said, folding the dish towel and throwing it on the counter.
    “You’re welcome,” I answered. My back and neck were killing me from all the computer work I’d done that day. “I think I’m going to head upstairs and take a hot bath and check out early,” I said.
    Donna nodded. “Sounds like a plan. I think I’ll do the same.”
    I gave her a hug and headed upstairs to my room. I filled yet another fantastic tub, wondering who picked out Conner’s bathroom fittings. Every bath in the house seemed to have a huge jetted tub. Once I had filled the tub with water and added lavender scented bath oil, I stripped down, twisted