"Fair enough. If I ask, will you slap a knot anyway?"
"No, and don't misbehave, I don't want to hit you."
"Did somebody really stab you?" He was serious, suddenly.
"Yes, he did. I threw him out of the car and had to go get the wound cleaned out. That wasn't fun." We walked toward his rental. The weather had let up and the clouds were blowing away as Tony unlocked the doors of his compact SUV. He even opened the door for me. The rental was nearly new and smelled it as I slid inside and buckled up.
"There's a bar and restaurant in Port Aransas, are you hungry?" he asked, sliding into the driver's seat.
"No, not really," I said. "I'll just have a drink. You can eat if you want."
"Good enough," Tony said and off we went. The restaurant was called Victoria's. It had a nice bar and tables lined up along wide, plate glass windows overlooking the water. Boats were coming in and going out, although it was long past nightfall. Port Aransas is a sleepy fishing village most of the time; it just turns into a Mecca for college kids on summer weekends and during spring break. Tony ordered fish caught locally, along with a pile of coleslaw and French-fries. I asked for a bloody Mary while he had a beer.
"So, you do security?" he asked while he ate.
"Yeah. Patrol the building, secure the perimeter, boring stuff."
"Ever have any excitement?"
"Not since two guards got fired for having sex on the job."
Tony laughed again. "I don't think I've ever run into that one before. Have you ever gotten hurt, doing what you do?"
"Only when I was moonlighting," I said. I didn't want to go into detail with that. That was dangerous territory. "Where are you from, since this is vacation?"
"Virginia," he said. "I know, I'm a long way from home, but somebody told me Florida would be coast to coast college kids when I left and recommended this place as a little quieter."
"It is, unless you go down by the main beach," I said. "Are you staying in town or farther down the beach?"
"Staying at the Aransas Queen," he said. That was a condo about half a mile from Winkler's beach house. It was one of the nicer ones on the beach, too.
"Do you like it?" I asked.
"It's nice," he said. The waiter came by and Tony asked for a club soda. "Driving, you know," he told the young man, who asked if I wanted another bloody Mary.
"No, I'll take a club soda, too, with lime, please."
"I don't suppose you'd be interested in coming by my place for a while?" Tony asked as we walked out of the restaurant later.
"Not tonight," I said. I figured Gavin and Winkler would be having a cow as it was. I shouldn't have to answer to either one of them for every minute of my time, but that's how things were. Tony drove me back to the Cadillac. Barnes and Noble had been closed for nearly half an hour by that time and they stay open late.
"Nice car," he said when we pulled up.
"It's not mine, it's borrowed," I said.
"Can I get a kiss or do you not do that on a first date?" Tony was smiling as he opened my door.
"Is this a date? Good lord, I had no idea." I patted his cheek. "Maybe next time. I did enjoy it, though. I don't think I've laughed in a while," I told him. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," he said, leaning in faster than I expected and kissing me anyway. It wasn't forced, he only kissed me lightly, but I was still shocked. I hadn't kissed any man except Don (aside from the quick peck I'd gotten from Winkler at a basketball game) for more than twenty-three years and didn't really know what to do. Tony didn't push it; he just took my keys, opened the Cadillac for me and got me inside. "Here's my card and this is my cell number," he pulled a pen out of a pocket and wrote a number on the back of the card. "Now, I'll wait until you get away," he said, closing my door.
I started the car and pulled away, leaving him standing in the parking lot, staring after me. I didn't look at his card until I got back to the beach house and parked the Cadillac in the garage. The hair almost stood up on my head when I did look. It read Anthony Hancock, Director, Joint NSA and Homeland Security Departments, listing an address in Washington, D.C.
"Holy f**k," I muttered, shoving the card in my jeans pocket. Clutching my bag of books, I left the garage and trotted up the guesthouse stairs.
Chapter 11
The shower felt good. I felt guilty about washing Tony's scent off my body, but there wasn't any way I wanted a nosy werewolf asking if I'd been meeting somebody. And I liked Tony. Even if he might be bigger and badder than some of the werewolves I knew. Freaking NSA and Homeland Security. Crap. If he was the Director, who the hell was his boss? I was brushing my teeth when Gavin walked in.
"I just wanted to make sure you got back," he said. He could tell just by checking if the Cadillac was in the garage, but I wasn't going to point that out to him.
I wiped my mouth with a towel and looked at him instead. "I got some good books, I think. You might want to borrow one of them. It's by that author you like."
"Which one?"
"Conner Phelps."
"I'll borrow it," he nodded. "What did you do tonight, little vampire?"
"I had a drink with a man. I didn't bite him and he managed to kiss me once, despite my best efforts." I wasn't about to lie. Why should he care what I did? "And I don't know how I feel about being called little vampire. That hasn't been part of my life for very long. It doesn't define me, I don't think. Is that what you think? That's all I am? A bloodsucker?"
"It wasn't my intention to upset you," he said. "Did you enjoy your time with this man?" Gavin leaned his shoulder comfortably against my bathroom door.
"He made me laugh. I haven't done that in a long time," I said. "I'll likely never see him again. Is it wrong to want to feel normal, now and then? You know what I was afraid of, tonight, when I went out for drinks? That you and Winkler would ask for an accounting of my time. Is that any way to live? I used to have a life. I used to get to make decisions for myself." I tossed my hand towel onto the sink.
"I have tomorrow off. Perhaps you will come out with me," he said, shocking the hell out of me.
"Where were you thinking about going? I don't do tractor pulls or greyhound races." That seemed to encompass the local offerings. Besides movies and dinner, that is.
"Little girl, I do not do either of those things." Gavin actually smiled at me. That might have been as rare as a blue moon.