“You’re going to be fine,” Jamie assured her with a smile and a pat on the arm. “You’ve got this.” That smile, faded a bit as the vampire’s eyes moved over her. “Aren’t you cold? I mean, it’s New Orleans but it’s still winter.”
Sophia shook her head and reminded the woman, “Dragon. We have a built-in furnace.”
That elicited a grin. “Nice.”
Sophia caught a slight shimmer to the vampire’s skin under the sunlight and had Sophia looking at Jamie more closely. It was odd seeing a Turned vampire out in the daytime. Sophia had asked about how it was possible, but Jamie had only grinned and said ‘magic’, unwilling to disclose any details. That was fine. Sophia was simply glad to have the woman, who was rapidly becoming one of her best friends, at her side on this first venture out into the wider world. But that shimmer suggested that Jamie hadn’t been joking, that there was indeed something magical going on. Her curiosity was once again piqued, but she didn’t ask, wouldn’t press. If Jamie wanted to tell her the secret, she would.
The house was magnificent. Brick fronted, with tall, arched windows framed by black shutters, but it was the odd shape of the dwelling that struck her. Sophia didn’t know much about architecture, but this place wasn’t built like a typical southern mansion or shotgun row house. While it had plenty of balconies with wrought iron railings, it was built with odd angles and almost whimsical sections that curved. The sight made her want to go inside and explore how those curves translated within the interior.
“Oh, it’s lovely,” Morgan breathed, turning back to smile at Sophia, who was lagging behind with Jamie and Archer. “Isn’t it?”
“Definitely not what I was expecting Kane to choose,” Jamie returned.
“More than likely,” Archer suggested, “Kane just gave a list of what he wanted to the realtor and this is one of the options.”
The conversation continued to buzz around her, more oohing and ahhing over the house, but Sophia heard none of it. The man who just stepped out the front door with a smartly dressed woman in a tailored, navy skirt suit at his side, had to be Kane Fletcher. He was too beautiful to be anything but one of the Born, and everything inside of her, including her dragon, had gone still at the first sight of him.
Her step slowed as she drank him in. Tall, dressed all in black from his leather jacket and jeans to the biker boots on his feet. He had a strong, muscular frame that was perfectly proportioned to his height. His skin was a warm copper, his beard neatly trimmed and even from this distance, she could see his eyes were a deep brown and thickly lashed.
His hair was pulled back from his forehead, the back just touching the collar of his leather jacket, and was a rich, chocolatey brown with ribbons of caramel glinting under the morning sun.
Sophia frowned at the odd comparison which sounded remarkably like a Milky Way commercial and almost chuckled. Maybe she was hungry, and that was why her system had gone haywire. While she didn’t have a candy bar with her, she had brought food for just such an emergency. Digging into her leather hobo, she pulled out a Slim Jim, split open the plastic wrapper, and took a bite… Which brought Kane Fletcher’s eyes straight to her.
“You brought snacks?” he asked, a delighted look on his face. “A woman after my own heart.”
He strode toward her, graceful, beautiful, deadly. Kane Fletcher moved like a predator. Had Sophia not already known he was a vampire, she would have pegged him as a shifter. Most likely one of the big cat species, maybe a tiger – no, a jaguar – a cat so beautiful to look at that you longed to stroke it despite the risk of losing a hand should you indulge the urge.
He halted a few feet from her, his spine stiffened, and his lips tightened before he closed his eyes and rolled his head on his neck. “I’d forgotten that reaction,” he murmured, “I’ve gotten so used to your brother.”
Ah, yes. It wasn’t just dragons that felt that overwhelming urge to kill in the presence of the Born. The trigger went both ways and it had been her ignorance of that fact that had caused her to be captured by Rodolfo.
She tensed in preparation for an attack, her dragon still shockingly quiet within, but Kane Fletcher surprised her when he grinned once more and held out his hand. “You must be Sophia. I’m Kane.”
Moving her half-eaten snack to her left hand, she extended her right, waiting for that uncomfortable burn under her skin to take hold. It didn’t come. Perhaps proximity to Morgan had desensitized her, but all she felt was warm, slightly calloused skin against her own as she shook Kane Fletcher’s hand.
“So. You got any more Slim Jims in that bag?” he asked still smiling, and Sophia actually felt a bubble of laughter rise up in her throat – in the presence of a Born – how bizarre.
Kane saw those full lips twitch with amusement and had the urge to pull that ball cap off her head to see the woman before him fully. Currently, he found her adorable, but he was willing to bet she’d be breathtaking once her face was no longer shadowed by the hat’s bill. Not that he’d admit that out loud in the presence of Travis. The dragon had a protective streak at least a mile wide and the woman Kane was admiring was the man’s sister. Kane liked his ass too much to risk having it lit on fire.
He watched as she dug into her bag. “Two more Slim Jims, a bag of mixed nuts, dried blueberries, and some Chex mix.”
Kane let out a dramatic gasp and placed a hand to his chest, stepping closer as if to peer into the hobo to see for himself. “All of that in your bag? You really are a woman after my own heart.”
The statement elicited a warm, rich laugh from Sophia. “I’m always hungry,” she told him.
“Me too.” He shook his head sadly, though his lips were still quirked with amusement. “No one understands how hard it is.”
Another little chuckle from her had him extending his hand. “Come on. I think you’ll appreciate this more than anyone else.”
She hesitated for just a moment before she took his hand and let him lead her into the house. Her head was on a swivel as she took in the brightly lit, tiled foyer, but it was the mammoth kitchen with its marble countertops, six-burner stove, and enormous refrigerator that was his destination. “Do you realize how much food this baby can hold? I want to buy this place just for the kitchen.”
Another delighted chuckle from Sophia before he tugged her through the sliding glass doors to the patio. “And check this out.”
There was a wrought iron patio set that seated eight, a kidney-shaped inground pool with an attached hot tub set into the paving stones, but his destination was the gas grill set into rocks to make it look like it was part of the landscape. He presented it with a flourish. “I’ve already sent the realtor’s assistant off to get some burgers and dogs. We’re going to fire this bad boy up.” And then cupping his hand around his mouth, he whispered, “I think she really wants to make this sale.”
Sophia threw her head back with laughter, enchanting Kane, and left him staring at her with wonder as she told him, “It’s just after nine in the morning. Most people are still eating breakfast.”
His lips twitched with amusement as he teased, “Says the woman who just ate a Slim Jim.”
