A Quick Bite (35 page)

Crawling out of bed, her hair still damp, Lissianna had
thrown her clothes on and charged downstairs with Greg on her heels. He’d accompanied them into town, given her a kiss good-bye before she jumped out of the Jeep, then the men had driven off, headed for Greg’s place to collect more clothes to take back to her mother’s home. It had been agreed that he should stay there until he’d adjusted to all the changes he would be going through, and Lissianna was guessing that he was probably knee deep in cousins right that moment, getting a crash course in being a vampire.

“Earth to Lissi. Earth to Lissi,” Debbie repeated and Lissianna blinked as the other woman’s hand passed in front of her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured as she was pulled back from her thoughts. “I was just thinking.”

“Thinking?” Debbie arched an eyebrow. “Honey, share some of those thoughts with me, cause I want to feel whatever made you smile the way you did.”

Lissianna blushed at her teasing and wrinkled her nose, then said, “I really am sorry I didn’t leave a note, Deb. It was good of you to help as you did.”

“No problem,” she said easily. “I’ll even forgive you completely if you’ll just tell me what
happened
.”

Lissianna hesitated, then said, “Well, Greg got ahold of my cousin Thomas, and he and a friend named Mirabeau cleared everything up.” That was about as close to the truth as she could get, she decided. “Mom is happy, I’m happy…” Lissianna shrugged. “Everything is working out great.”

Debbie stared at her face, examining her expression minutely, then said, “You don’t sound completely sure.”

Lissianna dropped her gaze but didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t all that sure. She was mostly happy, but…

“Is it fear?” Debbie asked. “Cold feet? Now that there’s no resistance from Mom, is it giving you a chance to have some doubts of your own?”

Lissianna started to deny it, then realized she would be lying. She was afraid.

Debbie didn’t make her say it. Instead she simply said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if it is. I felt much the same way before Jim and I married. It was fear, pure and simple. I was afraid he couldn’t possibly be as wonderful as he seemed, that something would happen to wreck things, that I’d get my heart broken…” She sighed heavily. “And I was right.”

Lissianna’s head snapped up in surprise.

Debbie smiled wryly at her shocked expression, and added, “The day he died my heart broke irretrievably.” She let that sink in, then said, “Life isn’t always easy, Lissianna. It’s full of tough decisions and heartache, and things don’t always work out the way we hoped. Life just doesn’t come with guarantees. And while it’s true that sometimes, by avoiding taking a chance on people, we can avoid some heartache, we might also miss out on the best times of our life. Don’t be afraid to love.”

Lissianna sat back in her seat as Debbie left her office, the other woman’s words playing through her head. “
Don’t be afraid to love
.” It reminded her of her conversation with her uncle Lucian.

“
You think I am afraid to love?
” he’d asked, and when she’d nodded, had said, “
Well, perhaps…And perhaps it’s true that it takes one to know one.
”

Lissianna blew a slow breath out and acknowledged that she was indeed afraid. Fear had kept her from discussing “forever” with Greg when he’d wanted to talk about it after waking up from the turning, as well as the
two other times he’d later brought it up. She was scared of being hurt. Not by rejection, she already knew that he was willing to be her life mate, and Lissianna knew it wasn’t because she’d turned him. Greg loved her. She felt that every time their minds merged. What she was afraid of was the future and what it would do to their love.

“Life just doesn’t come with guarantees
,” Deb had said, but neither did love. No one knew what the future might bring, but Lissianna did know that the time since she’d met Greg had been the most wonderful of her two-hundred-plus years. She also knew that if she allowed fear to keep her from taking a chance on a future with Greg, the price would be giving up the opportunity for any more of those best times. Basically, it didn’t pay to be afraid to love, she thought, and decided tonight they’d have that talk about forever. She was ready to take a chance.

“Lissianna?”

She glanced up with a start at the sound of her name and found Father Joseph in her doorway. “Yes, Father?”

“There’s a gentleman here to see you,” the priest announced, then turned to wave someone forward.

No one ever came to see her at the shelter, and Lissianna was just starting to frown with confusion, when Greg stepped into view.

“Greg!” She pushed her desk chair back and got to her feet, but then paused and refrained from running around the desk to throw herself at him as her first instinct had urged. Trying to maintain a professional attitude for Father Joseph’s sake, Lissianna managed a calm tone as she asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to drive you home,” he announced. “Are you ready to go?”

“Oh.” Lissianna glanced down at her watch and frowned as she realized it was past quitting time. As usual she’d lost track of time. Her gaze slid over her desk, and she grimaced. “I need to put away the files and leave a note for the girl who has my job during the day, so she knows what calls to make and—”

“Go ahead,” Greg interrupted. “I don’t mind waiting.”

Lissianna smiled, then glanced toward Father Joseph.

“Thank you, Father,” she murmured, moving around her desk to the door. “Thank you for showing him back.”

“It’s all right then?”

“Oh, yes. He’s a friend,” she assured him.

“Oh.” Father Joseph nodded. “Good.” He hesitated, then backed away from the door as Greg slid into the office. “I’ll just…” The priest waved his hand vaguely, then turned and moved off down the hall.

Lissianna watched him go with concern. Father Joseph still wasn’t sleeping, and it was beginning to worry her. He had bags under his eyes big enough to store groceries in, and his complexion was taking on an unhealthy gray tinge. Sighing as he moved out of sight, she closed the door and turned to Greg, gasping in surprise when she found herself suddenly pulled into his arms and his mouth descending on hers.

“Mmm,” he murmured as he ended the kiss. “Hello.”

“Hello,” she whispered huskily. “Have you been waiting long?”

“Thirty-five years, but you’re worth waiting for,” Greg assured her.

Lissianna laughed softly and kissed the tip of his nose, then said, “I meant tonight.”

“You mean this morning,” he corrected. “Though it seems like night still since the sun hasn’t risen.”

“It is a bit confusing having the opposite hours to everyone else,” she acknowledged.

“Yes, it is,” Greg agreed. “And to answer your question, I’ve been waiting about half an hour. I got here five minutes early. Actually, I hit town half an hour early and stopped at a donut shop so I wouldn’t look pathetically eager by sitting in the parking lot.”

“Pathetically eager, huh?” Lissianna asked with amusement, relaxing back in his arms and toying with the buttons of his shirt. “It’s probably good you stopped at the donut shop. I doubt you’d have been in this good a mood if I’d kept you hanging about for an hour.”

He shrugged mildly. “You didn’t know I was here.”

Lissianna nodded absently, her gaze on the button she was fiddling with until Greg gave her a squeeze, and said, “I recognize that look, it’s your ‘worrying’ look. What’s up?”

“I was just wondering—”

“Worrying,” Greg corrected dryly.

“If you’d thought about what this will do to your practice,” she went on, ignoring the interruption.

“Ah,” he said solemnly. “You mean you’re worrying that it will affect my practice and I’ll resent its affecting my practice and come to resent you for turning me.”

Lissianna smiled wryly at being so easy to read. “You’re pretty smart, huh?”

“Smart enough to recognize a good woman when I see her,” Greg said easily, then pressed a kiss to her forehead, and said, “In fact, I
have
thought about that and it’s not a worry. Most of my clients are employed and prefer evening appointments that don’t interfere with their work. Up until now I’ve spent most of the day working on my book and updating patient notes, and the late afternoon
and evening in sessions with patients.” He shrugged. “Now I’ll only take patients from five o’clock on and work on my book while you’re at work, then sleep during the day.”

Lissianna frowned. “So you’ll be working while I’m off and writing while I’m working?”

Greg blinked. “That’s right,” he said slowly as realization sank in. “You start work at eleven o’clock and I’d probably be taking patients until ten. We’d never see each other.” Now he was frowning too. “Maybe I could—”

“No wait,” Lissianna said quickly, her mind working swiftly. “You wouldn’t see clients on Saturday and Sunday, so if I changed my nights off to Monday and Tuesday, then it would only be Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that we didn’t see much of each other.”

“So I’d see you half the week? I don’t think so,” he said with dry displeasure, then blinked and a slow smile started on his lips.

“What?” Lissianna asked.

“It’s just nice to know you
do
want to continue to see me,” he said quietly. “I haven’t been sure where I stood. You didn’t seem to want to discuss the future.”

Lissianna sighed and leaned her forehead against his chin. “I’m sorry. I was just a little…”

“Scared?” he suggested, when she hesitated.

“Yes, maybe. And a little overwhelmed too, I think. It’s all happened so fast.” She lifted her head and assured him, “We’ll talk about it all when we get home; us, our hours, everything. We’ll figure out a way to make it all work out.”

“Okay.” Greg hugged her, then he pulled away and gave her bottom a slap. “Go on, get your note written so we can get out of here. The sun will be coming up soon, and I’m already hungry again. I shouldn’t be, I had a bag of blood before I left the house.”

“You’ll be hungry a lot for the next little while,” Lissianna said sympathetically as she slipped from his arms.

“Yeah. Your family has been warning me about all the things to expect,” he murmured, watching her reclaim her seat and pull a notepad in front of her. “Thomas has also promised to show me how to hunt some night while you’re at work, so I won’t be completely clueless if there’s ever an emergency, and I need to feed off the hoof.”

Lissianna stiffened and peered up at him to ask archly, “He has, has he?”

“Why, Lissianna, my love. Is that a touch of green I see in your eyes? And here I thought they were silvery blue.”

Lissianna scowled at his teasing. “It would seem to me you know how to feed off the hoof. You’ve certainly practiced on me enough.”

“How’s that letter coming?” he asked with a grin.

Mouth twisting, Lissianna turned her attention down to her note and continued writing.

“I’ll make a deal with you,” Greg said as he watched her write.

“What’s that?” she asked absently.

“You promise to bite only other women from now on, and I’ll promise that when Thomas takes me out to teach me, I’ll bite only another man.”

She glanced up with surprise at his suggestion and found he was frowning at his own words.

“Or, maybe I’ll change that to I promise only to put the whammy on other women and not actually bite them,” Greg decided. “As you say, I can practice the biting part on you, and I’d really rather not get that close to another man.”

Lissianna grinned with amusement as she finished her letter and stood. “But you don’t mind me getting that close to other women?”

“Hmm.” He considered it briefly, looking torn, then sighed. “Okay, so amendment number two, I’ll cure your phobia so that you don’t
have
to bite anymore at all, and I—”

“Greg,” she interrupted gently and he paused to glance at her questioningly. Lissianna moved to collect her purse and coat, and said, “We can discuss this when we get home too, but right now we need to get moving, the sun will be up soon.”

“Yeah.” A crooked smile curving his lips, he caught her hand and walked her to the door.

Father Joseph was standing at the end of the hall when they left her office, and Lissianna slipped her hand self-consciously from Greg’s when she saw him. She had barely done so when the priest glanced their way.

“All set?” he asked, as they approached.

“Yes.” Lissianna smiled as they reached the door, then commented, “I’m surprised Kelly isn’t already here. Has she called in sick?” While Claudia filled her position on those evenings Lissianna had off, Kelly was the girl who filled her position during the day shift. She was usually there before Lissianna left.

“No.” Father Joseph shook his head. “I told her you had someone in the office with you, so she went down to the kitchen to fetch a cup of coffee. She should be along soon.”

“Oh, okay.” Lissianna smiled. “I guess I’ll see you tonight, then.”

“Yes. Have a good day,” Father Joseph said, then glanced at Greg, and added politely, “It was nice meeting you.”

“It was nice meeting you, too, Father,” Greg answered, then opened the door for Lissianna.

“Where’s the Jeep?” Lissianna asked, as they crossed the parking lot.

“You mean Thomas’s Jeep?” Greg asked with surprise.

“Yes. Didn’t you borrow his Jeep to come get me?”

“No. I brought my own car,” he said, then explained, “We picked it up when Thomas took me to my apartment to pack a suitcase. He drove back in the Jeep and I followed in my car. It makes me feel less like—”

“A prisoner?” Lissianna asked softly when he cut himself off.

Greg grimaced, but nodded as he led her to a dark BMW. He unlocked and held the front passenger door for her to get in, then closed it and walked around to the driver’s side. Lissianna leaned over to unlock the door for him, then sat up as he got into the car. She did up her seat belt as he stuck the key in the ignition and turned it, then raised her eyebrows when nothing happened. Frowning, Greg tried again, but the engine wasn’t even turning over.