My Vampire Idol (Shifting Reality 3)

Saint whistled. “You vampires all have stickuptheassitis, don’t you? And you really take your promotional branding seriously. Eight hundred years, huh?” He shook his head. “Maybe your department needs a fresh set of eyes. You went from kicking ass and owning the night to diamond skin and a light cloud cover. Have you had a vacation…like ever?”

Rose was seeing red, her heart pounding too hard for her to appreciate Saint’s sense of humor. “I’m remembering why I hate vampires again.”

Mac coughed. “Most vampires, Rose. Isn’t that what you meant?”

The tall vampire turned to her and held up his hands. “It wasn’t the only reason. So much attention on an actual vampire instead of a fictionalized re-creation was bound to fray nerves. And while I do admit to a touch of professional jealousy, the consensus to render judgment was reached unanimously when it was learned that the fans had gathered enough signatures for the bidding studios to consider hiring the original actors for the film.”

Thomas whistled. “Didn’t see that coming.”

Still typing on his phone, Saint raised his hand. “I did.”

Mac sighed and shook his head. “We have no intention of playing ourselves in a movie.”

The vampire moved closer to Mac. “You will if you want us to back off.”

“Excuse me?”

Rose shared a confused look with Thomas.

“You will all be in the movie, give as many cocky interviews as possible and allow yourselves to be photographed by the paparazzi. Our people will go to work immediately. By the time the movie releases—”

Mac interrupted him with a smile. “I see.”

She didn’t. “What? You see what?”

The expression in his eyes when he looked at her was passionate. Tender. “We’ll be a disappointment. A letdown after an overblown buildup. The worst movie adaptation ever made. Something that only comes on in the middle of the night, if at all.”

Thomas rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and shook his head. “By the next year, everyone will have forgotten us. Forgotten we exist. Again.”

Saint sniffed. “Speak for yourself please, shifter. I’m unforgettable.”

She looked at Mac again. “Is that what you want?”

He nodded, and she could see something in his eyes that didn’t frighten her anymore. “The only thing I want more is you.”

She held out her hand to the blond giant. “It’s a deal.”

Chapter Seven

“Tell me how you did it again?”

Mac watched Rose smile as she slipped her earrings in at the dressing table of the Nevada hotel room. “I let us see your castle in Scotland, let Magnolia see the humiliation scene she’d been hoping for…but every human in the audience thought they were watching us perform our romantic duet.”

He moved closer, his hands caressing her bare shoulders. “All at the same time? And you say you aren’t the talented one in your family. Did we win?”

She laughed. “You know we did, Mac. Jolene and Hobie got to break ground on the new school library last week.”

It felt good, knowing he helped make that happen. It was liberating, stepping out of the shadows. For a while. After they’d agreed to be in the movie and the press found out about the singing, the offers for a recording deal had started pouring in. Mac had simply handed them over to Saint, knowing he would make them go away.

Soon it would be over. The popularity. The attention. Soon, he’d take Rose to his family home and spent the rest of his eternity making sure she never wanted to leave.

“How did you do that other thing?”

She stood up from her chair in nothing but her underwear, reaching for the dress she’d planned to wear for their celebratory performance at the Belly Up Bar. She’d been looking forward to it for days. Rose and Ume had quickly bonded and Margo was…well, she was a different kind of woman than Rose was used to. Kind. Compassionate. Human. Rose deserved kindness. She deserved everything.

“I said,” she spoke patiently over her shoulder. “What other thing are you referring to?”

He reached for her waist and whirled her around until her large breasts were pressed against his bare chest. “That thing you did when you made the grumpy vampire fall in love with you.”