Eddie shook his head. “As long as I don’t have to attend,” he mumbled under his breath.
Then he took the helmet off the handlebar and handed it to her. “You’ve gotta wear this.”
She took it without protest and put it on.
“Ready?” he asked and felt her arms wrap around his waist.
“Let’s go.”
He pulled into the street, watching his speed as he did so. It was one thing riding with another vampire, it was another having a human on the bike. He never took any risks when Nina was with him. While he could easily walk away unscathed from any accident, a fragile human woman like Nina would not necessarily be as lucky. And Amaury would have his hide if anything ever happened to Nina under Eddie’s watch, just as Eddie would never be able to live with himself if one of his actions resulted in Nina being hurt.
“Does this machine not go any faster?” he heard her complain from behind him.
“It does, but there are speed limits in town,” he deflected, knowing that she would only get pissy if he told her he was driving this slowly because of her.
“You’ve never followed speed limits before.”
“I do now,” he grumbled. “So stop complaining or I’m going to make you walk.” He wouldn’t, of course, but there were few other ways of making Nina shut up.
It took less than five minutes to reach Portia and Zane’s house in the Mission. Eddie pulled into the driveway and stopped, dropping his feet to the ground to support the bike while Nina jumped off. She removed the helmet and handed it to him.
“Do you want to come in for a moment?”
He shook his head when he saw the garage door lift. Moments later he saw Portia walk out of the garage, Zane not far behind her.
“Hey!” she greeted them. Her next words were drowned out by the crazy Labrador puppy chasing her and barking at the motorcycle as if it were an intruder he had to defend her against.
“Z!” Zane chastised the dog. “Get a grip!”
The dog turned his head toward his owner and stopped barking for a second, then turned back to the motorcycle and continued just as loudly as before.
“Z!” Portia now reprimanded him and bent down to lift him into her arms. The dog instantly stopped barking.
Zane approached, putting his arm around Portia, then giving the dog a stern look. “One of these days you’ll find yourself locked out of the house, and I won’t let you in anymore!”
Portia chuckled and grinned up at her mate. “You know that those threats don’t work with him, because he knows that you’ll never make them true.”
Zane grunted, then looked at Eddie and Nina. “Hey guys, what’s up?”
“Oh, I just showed Eddie a house. And now Portia and I are going to do some shopping for the baby shower,” Nina answered before Eddie could stop her.
Zane tossed him a surprised look. “You’re moving out of Thomas’s? He never mentioned anything.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not decided yet,” Eddie replied quickly. “Anyway, I’ve gotta run. See you at the shooting range in half an hour?”
Zane nodded. “I’m just getting ready to leave.”
“Shooting range?” Nina asked, staring at Eddie in surprise. “Since when do you like shooting?”
“Eddie’s been taking almost daily lessons in sharpshooting from me. He’s getting pretty decent,” Zane answered.
“Decent?” Eddie repeated. “I’m more than just a decent shot!” Hell, he’d been working his ass off to perfect his target practice.
Portia laughed. “I guess, Eddie, you haven’t quite figured out Zane’s rating scale. ‘Decent’ is a huge compliment coming from Zane.”
Zane rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to Portia. She’s just trying to make you feel good. You’ve still got stuff to learn.”
Before Eddie could protest again, Nina put her hand on his arm. “How come I’m always the last to find out what you’re up to?”
Eddie shrugged. “Hey, no big deal. It’s just part of my job.” Though his job didn’t require him to be a crack shot. But after Thomas had fought with his maker a few months earlier, and Eddie hadn’t been able to shoot his attacker for fear of hitting Thomas instead, Eddie had promised himself to perfect his shooting skills.
“Anyway, better run. See you!” he said quickly, before his sister asked any more questions, and put on his helmet.
“Thanks for the ride!” Nina called after him as he turned the motorcycle and raced into the street.