“Good evening, Mr. Ravenscroft,” a waitress said, offering Kaitlyn a menu. “Your usual?”
“That’ll be fine, Annie.”
“I’ll be right back,” she said, smiling.
“So,” Kaitlyn said, opening the menu, “what’s good here?”
“Everything,” Zack replied with a grin. “We’ve got the best chef in the state. I’m told the lobster is excellent.”
“You’re told?” Her eyebrows went up in surprise. “Haven’t you ever tried it?”
“No. I’m . . . allergic to seafood.”
The waitress returned bearing a glass of dark red wine, which she placed on a coaster in front of Zack before turning her attention to Kaitlyn. “Do you need more time?”
“No. I’ll have the lobster.”
“Soup or salad?”
“Salad, with ranch.”
“And to drink?”
“Just water, no lemon.” Kaitlyn looked at Zack. “Aren’t you having anything?”
“No. I dined earlier.”
After jotting Kaitlyn’s order down on her pad, the waitress picked up the menu and turned to go, but not before bestowing a dazzling smile on Zack.
“She seems quite smitten with you,” Kaitlyn remarked as the waitress moved to the next table.
“Annie? Yeah, she’s a good kid.” He draped one arm along the back of the booth. “So, are you a working girl?”
“Not yet. I just graduated from college.”
He grunted softly.
“I majored in Comparative Folklore.”
“How’s that workin’ out for ya?” he asked, grinning.
“Not very well, actually,” she admitted, her grin matching his. “Believe it or not, there isn’t a lot of interest in ancient folklore these days, but”—she shrugged—“I receive a substantial allowance from my father.”
Zack nodded. “Must be nice.” He barely remembered his own father.
“Yes, although sometimes I feel guilty for taking it, and for knowing that if I do get into financial trouble, he’s there to bail me out.”
“What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that what fathers are for?”
“I guess so, but I’m a big girl now. Old enough to stand on my own two feet. I shouldn’t be living on an allowance.”
“What does your father do?”
“He’s in business in Romania.” It was the truth. And a lie.
“Romania? Girl, you’re a long way from home.”
Kaitlyn nodded. “I always wanted to see America. I have an uncle here somewhere. Of course, I have no idea where he might be. He left home before I was born.” Her father was still hopeful that Stefan would one day return to the Fortress, but she thought it unlikely. Stefan had been gone for over twenty years. Surely, if he intended to return, he would have done so by now. Then again, maybe not. Twenty years wasn’t such a long time when you lived for centuries.
“It’s going to be hard to find him if you don’t know where to start,” Zack remarked.
“Well, I’m not really looking for him,” Kaitlyn said with a shrug. “Although it’s kind of nice to know that I have family here, somewhere.” All she knew about Stefan was that he looked a lot like her father and that he had once loved a mortal woman. Even her grandmother, Liliana, rarely spoke of him.
The waitress brought Kaitlyn’s dinner a few minutes later, along with another glass of wine for Zack.
“You’re really not going to have anything?” Kaitlyn asked.
“No.” He picked up his glass and sipped his drink. “Enjoy your dinner.”
The lobster was every bit as delicious as he’d said, the rice fluffy and perfectly seasoned, the vegetables the best she’d ever had. Her enjoyment must have shown on her face because Zack grinned as she took another bite of lobster.
“Told you so,” he said.
“It’s wonderful.” She speared another piece with her fork and offered it to him. “Are you sure you don’t want to try a bite?”
“Quite sure.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing.”
That much was true, he thought. He had never tasted lobster. Or hamburgers. Or hot dogs or potato chips or so many other foods that mortals took for granted these days. In his day, the wealthy had dined on pheasant and roast pork and chicken swimming in rich sauces. The poor folk had lived on bread and cheese and an occasional deer poached from the king’s forest—and been glad to get it.
These days, his was strictly a liquid diet.
Kaitlyn laid her napkin on the table and pushed her plate away. “I simply can’t eat another bite.”
Zack’s gaze moved to the pulse throbbing in the hollow of her throat. “A bite,” he murmured. The scent of her blood, the need to taste her, was driving him crazy.
“What?”
“Would you like dessert?” he asked, dragging his gaze from the smooth, slender line of her neck.
“No, thank you,” she said, certain she couldn’t eat anything else. Until she saw the dessert cart. Brownies. Seven-layer chocolate cake with fudge frosting. Deepdish apple pie. Dainty strawberry tarts. Tapioca pudding topped with cherries. Cheesecake.
“Are you sure?” Zack asked with a wry grin. “Your words say no, but your eyes are saying, ‘Oh, yes.’”
Kaitlyn bit down on her lower lip. Her vampire cousins were jealous because she could still eat mortal food. And because, no matter how much she ate, she never gained an ounce. “Maybe a slice of that cake,” she decided. “With a scoop of ice cream.”
Women and chocolate, Zack thought, amused by the nearly ecstatic expression on Kaitlyn’s face as she sampled the cake.
“What?” she asked when she caught him staring.
He shook his head, but he couldn’t help wondering if he could put that same look of sheer pleasure on her face.
“So,” he said when she finished her dessert, “what are you in the mood for now?”
“I don’t know. Did you have something in mind?”
He could think of several things he’d like to do, none of which he thought she would agree to, since they all involved the two of them romping naked in his bed.
“Zack?”
He shook the images of the two of them from his mind. “Do you want to try your luck at craps?”
She considered it a moment, then said, “No, I don’t think so.”