Amy.”
“Well, gee. Don’t go sugarcoat it or anything.” I sighed again. “Just be patient with her. Prove yourself enough to her and she’ll come around.”
“That’s not terribly comforting.”
“You want comfort? Crochet an afghan. See you at six-thirty.”
“Don’t be late.”
The phone clicked as he hung up.
I left the half-naked werewolf and vampire and went to get ready, using my cool new, less portable but much more practical shard to make myself look as good as vampirically possible given that I had a hangover the size of Texas to deal with. From my new wardrobe, I picked a simple pair of black pants and a warm, slightly fuzzy white sweater.
And then I went to Haven to tell Thierry that I was still crazy. About him.
Haven was empty and silent when I got there, but I expected that. It was only midafternoon and usually nobody would be there at all. But I knew Thierry was. My vampire nose could smell his cologne, light on the air. I followed the scent to his office, the door open a crack. I knocked lightly before I pushed it all the way open.
He sat behind his desk, fingers curled around a glass of light-colored liquid. I frowned. Not cranberry juice. I inhaled slightly. Whiskey. Hmm. I’d never seen Thierry drink alcohol before. Strange.
Just seeing him made me smile. “Hi there.”
“Sarah,” he responded.
I bit my bottom lip, feeling suddenly shy. I reached up to twist the gold necklace I’d decided at the last minute to now wear for safekeeping around my neck. I hoped it wouldn’t turn me into a werewolf or anything. I wanted to show it to Thierry, to see what he thought about it, but there were other things to take care of first.
“Just for the record, the naked guy? Was Barkley. He changed back to human before finding a pair of jeans.”
He nodded. “The werewolf.”
“Right.”
“I see.” He took a sip of his drink, his gaze steady on me. “Did you come here to tell me that?”
“Yes. And I wanted to see you.”
“Me specifically.”
“Of course.”
His small smile was enough to give me courage to continue. “I got the shard. It was delivered earlier.
Thierry . . . you shouldn’t have. It must have cost so much.”
“You were so distraught about losing your other one. It was the least I could do. Especially after putting you through additional stress with Nicolai in town.”
I approached him as he rose to his feet and threw my arms around him. “Thank you so much. I love it.”
“You’re very welcome.” He leaned into my embrace. I felt his warm lips brush sensuously against my neck before he tensed and pulled away from me. “Sarah, I think we need to have a talk.”
He looked mega serious. I didn’t think I wanted to have a “talk” with Thierry when he looked that serious.
“So is everything set for the party later?” I asked, stabbing blindly at an innocuous subject that might lead us away from dangerous territory.
He looked at me blankly for a moment, then rubbed his forehead. “Yes. I believe so. Barry has been here a few times already today setting things up.”
Another question. Right now. Think, Sarah.
“Have you known Barry for a long time?”
“A very long time.”
“How long?”
He pressed his lips together. “Is this the continuation of our question-and-answer session from the other night?”
I shrugged. “Maybe it is. I didn’t get to ask you too much then.”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No, you didn’t. I . . . Sarah, I . . . ”
I waved my hand before he had a chance to say anything else. “So why don’t we continue?”
His gaze turned soft as he looked at me for a moment. “Very well.”
“Do you want to go toMexico again?”
“Your question is not what I would have expected.” He blinked. “I’d never been toMexico before. It was an experience.”
“A good experience?”
I thought about our trip. I was originally supposed to have taken the trip with Amy. It had been something we’d both been incredibly excited about. A little sun, a little sand. A lot of fun. All-inclusive.
Bottomless Raspberry Margaritas. The brochures had looked so good I’d tacked them up on my fridge at home and in my cubicle at work. Then the shit had hit the fan.
After I was vampified, my whole world turned upside down. But after everything settled down and I was actually sitting on a beach with Thierry at my side, it seemed like a dream come true. And it was. We’d had a wonderful time. Even after the sunburn from hell. I’d never managed to convince him to wear a bathing suit and frolic in the ocean, but you can’t have everything. Besides, Thierry wasn’t really a frolicking kind of guy.
“Mexicowas . . . ” He hesitated before continuing. “Unusual.”
“Unusual?”
He gestured as if he was having a difficult time finding the right words to describe our fun in the hot,
blistering sun. He finally came up empty and met my gaze. “I was out of sorts there, Sarah. I don’t know if I’d return.”
I felt a heavy thud of disappointment. “There are other places we can go.”
He shook his head. “Being there . . . with you . . . ” he pressed his lips together for a moment. “Made me forget myself.”