Change is sweeping through the world, as humanity fights for autonomy, discord tears apart the foundations of the vampire order, and dhampirs return to the world after centuries of war between two powerful peoples. Dhampirs, creatures known to heral...
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Tara's stomach twisted as she typed her report for the network with the lights off in the living room of her condo. It would be the morning news reel on every station and she had to make sure theirs was as in depth if not more. Or they'd probably fire her. They might just do that anyway. Tara's face heated as she recalled Jesse's coy smile when he'd said that she didn't need to worry about it. Part of her imagined that him brushing off her being a horn dog was business candor. That man was so smooth he could have any woman, so as much as she'd like to be deluded into thinking he'd been reciprocating her attraction, he'd probably just been polite.
For this program, the vampires had sent over their best people pleasers, so that mocha hunk with dreamy blue eyes surely had some nice lady vampire back at home or something. That ghost hooker had said Jesse liked a mage but that she was with a different guy. If Jesse was hung up on someone else, it was just as unlikely that he'd desire anything more out of their working relationship.
What interest would he have in a subpar journalist who couldn't match colors if you gave her a complement wheel? Tara didn't even know if she'd disgusted him or not. What if when they came back to work on Monday after the weekend, the guy asked to be relocated to avoid her?
Dammit, she was overthinking this.
Work. Work. Work.
She'd have to shove the fact that her first impression on the guy was that she was a gigantic pervert. A guy who hadn't disliked it? What the hell did that mean? If she'd known that Jesse could tell what she was thinking, she would have stuffed in all back in, not broadcast it. If he said something to the people who organized their network's connection with them, she was sure going to get it.
It was impossible to get him out of her mind, and she groaned as she just started typing despite her mind doing summersaults. What did she put in a report about vampire kind? Sexy as hell didn't seem professional. Man, she'd learned so much today just sitting and watching him. A little too much. The way he'd touched the girls' hands that had asked for it had been so gentle and yet mischievous, like he was toying with a bunch of mice. He navigated humans like they were putty to be formed and molded by his mere presence.
At least he didn't half flirt with all the men. When the women asked question, she didn't always hear the answer over the blood pumping in her ears. There had been so much to write down. Vampire kind neither glittered nor ignited under the sun. It was more like diluted kryptonite, sapping their strength but the more experienced ones like Jesse didn't even seem to notice the daytime.
Physically, they were cold as ice, but they warmed to whatever they touched, as he'd done when he'd touched her hand. Without letting it go, he'd stood there as she'd scrutinized him and he'd done the same to her. Vampires breathed when needed for speech and scent but didn't otherwise respire. That made her uncomfortable when she thought about how much he'd breathed around her. It had been her perfume, she knew, but man vampires hyper focused on things they found appealing.
