Naked Came the Vampire (Hypernaturals 1)

Adoring...

I totally would enjoy that.

Her happiness that I had been listening was radiant on her face. "No need for a repeat. I heard it the first time when I told it. Really: Did it sound like I hit him that hard? I did, but I thought I was underselling that part."

I shrugged. "I translated it as there are some new sopranos in the trucking industry and one concussed dude that might need to re-take his driver's test to be sure his vision has cleared up."

She laughed easily. "I like your version better. I may lift that."

I pointed at the cat statue in the display alcove across the room "That's OK because I am totally stealing that lighting and alcove idea for how to display my copy of that statue."

She looked around at the alcove and then back at me "You have the Boston Museum Cat...?" half statement and half question.

"The Richard Recchia? Sure. Your display is way better than how I did it. I just have it on a prominent shelve. I am stealing that idea and you can't stop me."

She took a deep breath. "Fuck me! New category. 100 points. I love that statue."

I pointed at her furrchild. "Kinda looks like Snowball a bit. Yes: I love it too."

In the small space of the dining area, her scents were in high fidelity. I have always had a good sense of smell. I have been unpleasantly locked into rooms with women wearing too much perfume, and this is nothing like that. This is light tendrils of scent reaching into my brain and tickling it like a classic Looney Toon cartoon. Cinnamon, lake water, and a kind of earthy musk. Jessica. No one has ever affected me like this. Not even close. I have never been literally dizzy just because of how a woman smelled to me.

My pain was becoming a bigger problem. I did not want it to distract me from even a moment of the evening, but that is becoming ever more difficult.

Jessica leaned forward, put her elbows on the table, looking at me closely. Amusement danced in her dark gaze. "OK: I have been talking. Your turn. You said you came to the Hollow to get your head together. Woman?"

I tried not to splutter. "Christ on a pogo stick ... yes. Am I that easy to read?"

The amusement spread from the eyes to her entire face. For all that, she was not making fun of me. "No.. You are just a nice man with hundreds of points this evening, and it seemed like the kind of thing that would make you blue."

"Uhh... I thought I have a hundred and five or so... no. One oh four. I gave myself one when you weren't looking."

"That's OK. I'm rounding up. Not important. Some guys would not give a shit if they got blown off. They would just move on to the next woman. Relationships these days... whatever. Tell me about her."

The last thing I wanted to talk about with this woman is another woman. The one I just broke up with no less. "Really: Why in the hell would you want to hear about that sad story? Not at all impressive. Not nearly as good as my Negra Modelo one."

She shrugged. "I have a bet with myself about how it went."

I threw out a short sigh. "Short version: Vera and I were together seven years, on and off. I finally realized that it was never going to go anywhere good, and told her I did not want to see her anymore."

"Yeah... I win." She looked ever so slightly smug. Remind me not to bet on baseball games with her. She is clearly the kind that smirks when she wins.

She made a gesture with her fingers like she is pulling me in. "You are not getting off that easy. All of it. Details. Here: I'll fix this."

She got up, went in the kitchen, got out a carafe, some ice, and after some clinking and some pouring noises, came back in with two very large margaritas over ice, with more ready in the carafe. I tasted it.