And bumped into the very man she had been waiting for all night. “Derek!”
“You’re not leaving, are you?” he asked.
Pride and hurt feelings urged her to say yes and sweep past him. But there was nothing waiting for her at home. And she was all dressed up. . . .
“Sheree?” He flashed her a megawatt smile. “I know we didn’t say anything about meeting tonight, but I was hoping you’d be here.”
“I guess I have time for one drink,” she said, and hoped she didn’t sound too eager.
“Great.” Taking her by the hand, he led her to a small table and held her chair. Whistling softly, he sat across from her. “You look terrific.”
“Thank you.”
“Is that a new outfit?”
“This old thing? Heavens no, I’ve had it for hours.” Her shopping spree had cost her over eight hundred dollars, but when he smiled at her again, she considered it money well spent.
“Sit tight,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
Sheree smiled as she watched him thread his way through the crowd toward the bar. She couldn’t help noticing that several other women were also tracking him, including the two elderly women, who had their heads together. She would have given up her new Jimmy Choo’s to know what they were saying.
Derek returned a short time later with their drinks.
“Thank you.” Feeling as though she was being watched, Sheree glanced at the two old women again. They weren’t looking at her, but at Derek, an expression that looked almost like avarice in their eyes. “Do you know those two women?” she asked. “The ones in the brightly colored shirts?”
“No,” he said. “Should I?” But even as he spoke the words, he had the strangest feeling that he should know the red-haired one.
“They’ve been staring at you ever since you came in.” Not that she could blame them. He was gorgeous.
Derek shrugged, his eyes narrowing as he realized the two women were vampires. “What do you say we blow this place and go for a drive?”
“I don’t know. Where do you want to go?”
“Just someplace where I can be alone with you.”
Warning bells went off in the back of her mind. She hardly knew him, had no way of knowing if anything he had told her was true. He could be just another fortune-hunter. Heaven knew she had met more than her share.
“Too soon to trust me?” he asked.
“Maybe a little. I mean, I don’t even know your last name.”
Nodding, he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and flipped it open to display his driver’s license.
“Derek Blackwood,” she said, reading the details out loud. “Sex: male. Hair: black. Eyes: gray. Height: six feet two. Weight: one hundred eighty. Date of birth: October twenty-fifth,” she noted with a grin. “Almost a Halloween baby. It says here you live in Sacramento. What are you doing in L.A.?”
“Visiting my parents. They celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary a few days ago. So, what about that drive?”
Sheree opened her mouth, fully intending to refuse. Only the words that came out were, “Yes, I’d love it.”
His car was parked at the curb—a sleek white sports car with black racing stripes and black leather seats. Unless he had borrowed the car, he really was rich. A top-of-the-line convertible like this one didn’t come cheap.
He held the door for her, slid behind the wheel, and punched the ignition. She wasn’t surprised that he preferred to drive instead of programming the destination autodrive. She didn’t know him well, but she had already determined that he liked to be in control.
It was a beautiful night. The sky was clear, dotted with millions of twinkling stars, glowing satellites, and a full moon.
Derek drove the way he did everything: masterfully. It was a trait she found attractive. “Where are we going?”
He shrugged. “No place in particular. It’s nice to breathe some air that’s just air.”
“True.” Nosferatu’s Den was a high-class nightclub, but the combined scents of perspiration, liquor, and perfume were occasionally overpowering.
A short time later, he pulled onto the freeway, headed toward Angelus Crest Highway. Sheree had been there before, during the day. It was a lovely ride, with a spectacular view. The air was filled with the fragrant scent of pines and earth. Some people claimed ghosts roamed the hills.
They climbed steadily upward for a while, and then Derek pulled into one of the turnouts along the side of the road. After shutting off the engine, he got out, opened her door, and offered his hand.
“I’ve never been up here at night,” Sheree remarked. “The view is breathtaking.”
“Yes,” Derek said, gazing into her eyes. “Breathtaking.”
She flushed at his compliment. “You like the night, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure. It suits you somehow.”
A wry grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. She had no idea, he thought. “What about you? Are you a night person?”
Not until I met you. Aloud, she said, “I’m more of a morning person. Sunrises and early morning walks. Dew on the grass. The sense of newness that comes with each day.”
“I guess opposites do attract.”
“So they say.” Silence settled between them. Sheree looked out over the valley. “It’s a long way down. I remember reading about some man who accidentally drove over the edge and fell five hundred feet.”
“Don’t worry,” Derek said, slipping his arm around her waist. “I won’t let you fall.”
The trouble was, she was falling already. Falling for a man she scarcely knew, but desperately wanted to know better.
His arm tightened around her waist, drawing her closer to his side. When she looked up at him, he lowered his head and claimed her lips with his in a searing kiss that made her toes curl with pleasure. He had kissed her before, but never like this. Surely no one had ever been kissed like this.
His tongue skated across her lower lip and hers darted out to meet it, eager to taste him.
Murmuring her name, he drew her into his arms, holding her body flush against his. They had danced together but he had never held her so tightly.
When he drew back, she released a deep, shuddering breath. “Wow.”
He smiled down at her, his dark eyes glittering in the moonlight. “Wow, indeed,” he agreed, and kissed her again.
He was breathing heavily when he released her. Taking a step back, he turned away from her, his hands tightly clenched at his sides. Her nearness aroused his hunger, tempting him almost beyond bearing. His whole being ached with need, urging him to take what he wanted. She was close. Too close. The steady beat of her heart, the scent of her blood, her desire. It was almost overpowering.