Night Play (Dark-Hunter 5)

"Sure."

They looked at Bride.

"Evian, please."

"You want some wine?" Vane asked.

"No, water's fine. Really."

He frowned while the waiters went to get their drinks.

Bride picked up her menu and noticed that Vane didn't bother looking at his.

"Just how often do you come here?"

He shrugged. "A couple of times a week. They have a really good breakfast and I've become addicted to their Bananas Foster. What about you? Do you ever come here?"

She squelched the pain she felt at the thought of Taylor and his date, and Taylor's refusal to bring her here. "I haven't in a long time, but yeah, I love their food."

Vane looked relieved by that.

Bride tried to read the menu, but it was hard since he didn't take his eyes off her. There was something extremely animalistic and powerful about the way he treated her. The way he watched her.

It was flattering and, at the same time, almost scary.

She glanced up at him. "What?"

"What?" he asked back.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"I can't help it. I keep expecting you to not be real."

His words floored her.

The waiters came back with their drinks. "Are you ready to order now?"

Bride set her menu down. "I'll have the Brennan salad with no cheese, please."

He wrote it down.

"And?" Vane asked.

Bride looked up at him. "And what?"

"What else are you eating?"

"Just the salad."

Vane frowned at that. "Bernie," he said to the waiter. "Could you please give us a minute?"

"Sure, Mr. Kattalakis. Take your time."

Vane waited until they were gone before he leaned forward. "I know you're hungry, Bride. What did you eat for lunch? Half a deli sandwich?"

His question surprised her. "How did you know that?"

"It was a guess since I can hear your stomach rumbling."

She put her hand over her stomach. "I didn't realize I was so obnoxious."

He growled at her. Bride shifted nervously at the sound that wasn't quite human.

"Look, Bride," he said, his voice deep and resonant. "I'm going to be honest with you. I don't know what I'm doing tonight, okay? I've never had a date before and I was told that women liked to be taken out someplace nice to eat.

Grace and Amanda said that I should be myself and not try to impress you.

So here we are at my favorite restaurant, but if you don't like it here, we can go someplace else and eat something you want."

Bride's eyes teared up at his words and what they meant. "You asked someone how to date me?"

He let out a sigh and glanced down at his clenched hands. "Great. Now I've made you sad again. I'm sorry. This was a really bad idea. I'll just take you home and you can forget that you ever laid eyes on me."

She reached out and took his hand into hers. "Okay, since we're being honest with each other. I don't know what I'm doing, either. A week ago, I knew what I wanted. I was a fairly successful business owner, dating a guy I stupidly thought I loved and one I planned on marrying someday."

"In one afternoon, my entire life shattered and then all of a sudden this great guy comes along like some mythical knight in shining armor. He's gorgeous, loaded, and says all the right things to me. He makes me feel like I can fly, and every time he shows up, he makes everything better. I'm not used to this, okay? And I'm not used to being with a guy who is so incredibly sexy that he makes me feel like the booby prize."

"I think you're beautiful, Bride."

"See!" she said, gesturing toward him. "There you go being perfect again. I think you need your head examined."

He looked extremely offended by that.

Bride pulled back and sat up straight. "Okay, let's try this again." She held her hand out to him. "Hi, I'm Bride McTierney. Pleased to meet you."

His expression said he thought she was the one who needed her head examined. He took her hand into his. "Hi, I'm Vane Kattalakis and I'm starving. Would you like to have dinner with me, Bride?"

"Yes, Vane. I would."

He smiled at her. "Okay, so now is this the part where we share sex stories?"

Bride burst out laughingso loudly that several people nearby turned to stare at her. Covering her mouth, she looked at him. "What?"

"That's what Nick said you should do to get to know a woman."

"Nick?" she asked in disbelief. "The tacky-shirt-wearing, I-can't-drive-my-way-out-of-a-paper-sack Nick?"

Vane's eyes turned dark. Dangerous. "Did he offend you when he picked you up?

Say the word and I'll kill him."

"No, but if I were you, I don't think I'd take dating advice from him."

"Why? He gets women all the time."

"Yeah, but does he ever keep any of them?"

"Well no."

"Then don't take his advice."

"Okay." Vane motioned for the waiters who were waiting nearby. "You want to share the Chateaubriand Bouquetihre with me? Since it's supposed to serve two they get kind of scared when I wolf it down by myself."

She bit back a smile at his words. "I would love it."

Vane looked up as Bernie returned. "We'll start with two Crepes Barbaras for appetizers, then the Chateaubriand Bouquetihre."

"Very good, Mr. Kattalakis. Very good."

Vane handed them the menus, then leaned forward. "And make sure to save room for the dessert."

"I don't know if I can hold it, but I'll try. If you want a woman who can eat all that, you need to date my friend Tabitha."

He took her hand into his again and massaged it as if it were unspeakably precious. "I don't want to date Tabitha," he said, laying her hand against his smooth cheek. "I only want to be with you."

Bride had never felt like this in her whole life. She felt so desirable around him. So feminine.

He somehow even managed to make her feel petite.

"So how is it a guy like you has never had a date before?"

Vane took a drink of wine as he thought about how to answer her question.

He didn't want to lie to her, but he couldn't exactly tell her that he was a wolf who had grown up living in the woods, sleeping in dens with other wolves.

That might scare her a bit.

"I grew up in a commune of sorts."

She seemed nervous now and reminded him of a cornered rabbit. "What kind of

commune? You're not one of those religious nuts who's going to kidnap and brainwash me for my money, are you?"

Vane shook his head. This woman got the strangest ideas. "No. Definitely not. I just grew up in a way most people don't. What about you?"

"I grew up here. Both my parents are vets. They met in grad school and got married when they graduated. There's really not much to tell. I had a very normal, average life."

Vane tried to imagine such a thing. In his world, where they could command magic, the elements, and even time itself, normal didn't really factor in. In a way, he envied Bride her human world where the impossible wasn't reality.

"That must have been nice."

"It was." She took a sip of her water. "So what do your parents do?"

"Think up creative ways to kill each other." Vane cringed as that flew out of his mouth. He was so used to saying it that he didn't think about it until he'd heard himself say it.

"No, really."

Vane looked away uncomfortably.

Bride's jaw went slack as she realized he wasn't kidding. "Why would they do that?"

Vane actually squirmed a bit before he answered. "It's a long story. My mother ran off not long after I was born and my father wants me dead, so here I am With you."

She didn't know what to think of that. "This um this family insanity, it's not hereditary, is it?"

"It doesn't appear to be," he said seriously. "But if it creeps up on me, feel free to shoot me."

She wasn't sure if he meant that or not. So, suddenly grateful that they were in a public place, she decided to change the subject to something a little safer.

"How do you have so much money? After what you just said, I don't think your parents gave it to you, did they?"

"No. I make investments. Sometimes I sell artifacts."

Now that sounded interesting. "What kind of artifacts?"

He shrugged. "This and that."

The waiters brought their appetizers. Bride sat back and watched as Vane set about eating. He looked regal and refined as he ate in the traditional European manner.

"You know, for someone who grew up in a commune, you have impeccable manners."