A waiter must have dropped a tray of food because a loud clatter sounded right behind Della. She knew she should turn and flash away at the sound of the crash, but it was too late. She watched in horror as Lee pulled his hand away from his fiancee's and looked up. She saw his eyes widen at the sight of her. Was it a good widen or an "oh shit" widen? She didn't know.
Leave! Don't stand here and look pathetic. But her feet felt concreted to the restaurant floor and pathetic was all she could feel. Her gaze locked on his as he stood up and started moving toward her. Right toward her. And she knew she looked even worse than pathetic.
She looked pitiful.
Sad.
She looked alone and heartbroken.
Embarrassment and shame washed over her. But she didn't have time to let it engulf her. Someone grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close. Shocked, she looked up at ... at Steve. He smiled down at her.
"I missed you already," he said and then he kissed her. Not a simple sweet first kiss, but one that involved tongue and ... lots of desire.
Chapter Three
Della felt the embarrassment seep out of her as something else seeped into her. And it wasn't just Steve's tongue. It was ... passion. It was the feeling of being alive. It was hope that her sad little life wasn't over. Since being a vampire, since she'd lost Lee, she'd thought she couldn't feel this anymore. Or maybe she just thought she wouldn't feel it anymore.
Someone cleared their throat. Realizing the familiar disapproving sound came from Lee, she put a hand on Steve's chest and reluctantly pulled back.
She met Steve's eyes briefly. She knew he'd kissed her to save her ass, but she also knew he'd enjoyed it as much as she had. The evidence was there in his warm brown eyes. Even with one of those eyes bruised, she saw the just-been-kissed heat in his gaze.
She turned to Lee. Only to realize she still didn't have a clue what to say to him. "Uh, hey. I..."
"What are you doing here?" Lee asked. "Besides making out in the middle of a restaurant?"
Hadn't he just been kissing his date?
As crazy as it was, Della saw something in Lee she hadn't seen before. Her dad. Or at least his disapproving attitude. Had Lee always been that way and she just now noticed? Or had he changed?
"What's wrong? Can't you talk?" he asked.
His words ran amok around her head and she couldn't decide how they made her feel or how to respond. And if she did decide she wasn't sure her tongue could take speaking orders, it was still in shock at having just had company-Steve's tongue.
"We were having dinner," Steve answered for her. "Actually, we're celebrating our three-month anniversary." His gaze went to Della.
"Three months?" Lee asked as if annoyed she'd started dating so soon. But hell, the guy was engaged. Where did he get off thinking ... She opened her mouth to say something again but Steve jumped in first.
"I'm sorry," Steve said. "I didn't introduce myself. You must be an old friend of Della's. I'm Steve...?"
Lee ignored Steve and looked at Della. "I thought you were at that school."
That school? Could he not even remember what school she'd been attending? "I am." She finally got two words out. "We ... just slipped out."
"So you met him at school?" Lee asked and damn if he didn't sound upset. Anger started to spark inside her again. He had no right to be upset. None!
Steve spoke up again. "Love at first sight." He glanced at her and ran his warm hand around the curve of her waist and pulled her a little closer. His gaze shot back to Lee. "Still don't know how I got so damn lucky." If so much honesty didn't resonate from his voice, it might have sounded false. For a second she wished she had listened to his heartbeat-another little vampire talent. Had Steve been interested in her at first sight?
Lee's fiancee rose from her chair behind them and stopped at his side. Della couldn't help but notice how pretty she was-pretty in a very traditional Asian way. Her hair was longer, sleeker, and blacker than Della's. Her facial features were doll-like. Beautiful and perfect-a tiny nose, a bow-like mouth, and slanted black eyes that sparkled with intelligence. No doubt, Lee's parents had chosen well.
Or had Lee chosen her? Had he planned to break up with Della all along? He'd seemed pretty happy sitting next to her until Della showed up.
Not that he looked too happy now. He frowned when the girl slipped her arm through his, but he did the right thing and introduced them. "Mei, this is Della, and her ... friend." The word friend came out sounding like a four-letter word. "Her friend who obviously likes to fight, if his black eye is any indication."
Della tensed, ready to tell him that Steve got that black eye standing up for her. Something she suddenly realized that Lee had never done. Not even with his parents.
"Actually," Steve spoke up again, "we were just wrestling around in bed and Della got me in the eye with her elbow."
Lee's shoulders tightened and all Della could think was, Go Steve.
Mei looked up at Lee and seemed to see his reaction. A tightness pulled at the girl's brow as she glanced back at Della. Della recognized that tightness as plain ol' jealousy. She'd felt it tug at her own brow every time she thought of Lee with someone else. Oddly, now Della felt ... What did she feel? Angry. Hurt. Sad. But she didn't feel jealous. That meant something, Della knew that, but now wasn't the time to contemplate it.
"We should..." Her words got hung up when she met Lee's eyes again. The sad feeling swelled in her chest and she realized a better name for that emotion. Grief. She had loved Lee. Loved him with everything she had. And she'd given him her all-her heart, her body, her mind. Now she'd lost him. And now she grieved for what used to be.
"Go. We should go," Steve finished for her. "I already took care of the bill." Steve let go of her waist and held out his hand to Lee. "It was a pleasure to meet you."
Lee didn't take it. Which was super-awkward and not like Lee. He normally wasn't rude. Or was he? Had she missed that about him, too? Della nodded at the couple and when Steve's arm found its way back around her she let him guide her away.
They left the restaurant and it took a few seconds of the cold fall air hitting her face to realize she was still holding onto Steve. Holding onto him as if the ship of her life had been capsized. As if he was the only thing floating in the stormy waters to cling to.
The sense of weakness, feelings she could easily drown in, washed over her and sparked another flicker of anger. A big one this time.
She pulled away. Confusion bounced around her gut. The grief clung to her heart as tightly as she'd clung to Steve just a few minutes ago, but then the anger she'd experienced earlier returned. She opened herself up to that emotion. Anger she could handle, anger she could run with. So she let it roll around her, washing away the other emotions that made her feel weak and vulnerable.