Don't Bite the Bridesmaid Read Online Free

use it. Not what he’d like to be drinking—nor the best beverage from which to get his energy—but he’d have to deal with it. Besides, he’d fed well with Charles the night before. Although Charles, like usual, had been annoyed Noah insisted on bagged blood. He’d be okay for a while yet.
    He carried his suitcase and followed her out to her car, setting the house alarm along the way.
    “That was a long security code,” she said after they were loaded into her Accord.
    He shrugged. “You’ve seen the size of my television.”
    “True. Not to mention your furniture. And I suspect a lot of the art on your walls is real.”
    “Have you been casing my house, Miss Shepard?” He slipped his sunglasses on.
    She snorted in a most unladylike way. “Yeah. I’m only taking you on vacation with me so my accomplices can rob you.” Her smile dropped off. “Actually, that’s going to sound super suspicious if someone actually does rob you while we’re gone.”
    A laugh escaped him before he realized it was coming. “If there’s one thing I’m sure of about you, Miss—Alice. You’re not a thief.”
    “I’m not?” Her smile returned in full force.
    “I don’t think you could lie believably if your life depended on it.” Was that what made her so attractive to him? He glanced at her and leaned into the door as they made a hard turn into the Starbucks drive-thru.
    “Whatever,” she said good-naturedly, dismissing his observation.
    They ordered at the staticy box. A simple black coffee for him, but her order gave him pause.
    “Apple cider?”
    “Spicy apple cider,” she said, pulling the car around to the window.
    “Not coffee.”
    “I had coffee earlier. It’s already twelve-thirty.” She put the car into park and then turned to look at him, pushing her sunglasses up. “Do you think I need more caffeine?”
    “God, no.”
    She laughed and took their order from the gangly Starbucks’ boy at the window and slipped the drinks into the cup holder sandwiched between their seats.
    He played with her radio until he found an oldies station. “I still don’t think this is the best idea.”
    “What?”
    “This whole thing. Why can’t you tell the guy your boyfriend can’t come?”
    “Yeah. That’d be convincing.”
    He couldn’t argue, and besides, he’d committed to this course of action. He’d see it through. And Charles was right. He needed to be out of town when The Council came calling. Alex might be able to wrangle him out of the arranged bonding, but it would be more difficult if he were easily accessible. It would take Alex time to change their minds. Vampires—especially ones as old as those who graced The Council—did not easily alter their paths.
    And he didn’t mind Alice’s company. Of course, that was the heart of the problem.
    They drove most of the way to the cruise ship in companionable silence. He did his best to ignore the smell of apples, and beneath it, the fresh scent of her skin. A short time later, they were making their way through the boarding line.
    “How many people are coming to this cruise wedding?” he asked Alice while they waited for an elderly couple in line in front of them to check in.
    “Hundred and twenty-five. Something like that.”
    “That’s a lot of people to coordinate.”
    “Well, not everyone is attending everything. She’s left the activities pretty open. The wedding party has more required things to go to—that’s us, by the way—but for the most part, people are on their own except for the wedding and reception.” She tucked a chunk of hair that had escaped her clip behind her ear. Again the urge to yank the clip and release her long hair to tumble down her back hit him.
    “What things do we have to attend?” At least the salty smell this close to the ocean made her scent fade to the background.
    She reached out and took his passport from his hand, her fingers brushing his ever so slightly. A spark of heat ran up his arm from her touch.