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"You’re really not going to have anything?" Kaitlyn asked

"No" He picked up his glass and sipped his drink "Enjoy your dinner"

The lobster was every bit as delicious as he’d said, the rice fluffy and perfectly seasoned, the vegetables the best she’d ever had Her enjoyrinned as she took another bite of lobster

"Told you so," he said

"It’s wonderful" She speared another piece with her fork and offered it to him "Are you sure you don’t want to try a bite?"

"Quite sure"

"You don’t knohat you’re ht He had never tasted lobster Or has or potato chips or so ranted these days In his day, the wealthy had dined on pheasant and roast pork and chicken swi in rich sauces The poor folk had lived on bread and cheese and an occasional deer poached froet it

These days, his was strictly a liquid diet

Kaitlyn laid her napkin on the table and pushed her plate away "I siazein the hollow of her throat "A bite," he murmured The scent of her blood, the need to taste her, was driving hiing his gaze from the smooth, slender line of her neck

"No, thank you," she said, certain she couldn’t eat anything else Until she saw the dessert cart Brownies Seven-layer chocolate cake with fudge frosting Deepdish apple pie Dainty strawberry tarts Tapioca pudding topped with cherries Cheesecake

"Are you sure?" Zack asked with a wry grin "Your words say no, but your eyes are saying, ‘Oh, yes’"

Kaitlyn bit down on her lower lip Her vampire cousins were jealous because she could still eat mortal food And because, no ained an ounce "Maybe a slice of that cake," she decided "With a scoop of ice creaht, amused by the nearly ecstatic expression on Kaitlyn’s face as she saht hi if he could put that same look of sheer pleasure on her face

"So," he said when she finished her dessert, "what are you in thein s he’d like to do, none of which he thought she would agree to, since they all involved the two of thees of the two of them from his mind "Do you want to try your luck at craps?"

She considered it a aze o upstairs"

"What’s up there?" she asked, her eyes narroith suspicion

Zack chuckled, amused by her wary expression Did she think he had so her away and ravishing her until dawn? Not that that was such a bad idea He wondered what she would say if he suggested it, then chided hiirl Way too nice for a guy like hiht Roo under the stars"

Kaitlyn hesitated She hadn’t had a lot of experience with men She sensed that Zack Ravenscroft wasn’t like ordinary h she wasn’t sure what there was about hier, but that didn’t frighten her She could take care of herself Maybe it was the fact that she found hiuish smile, both were hard to resist Still, there wasn’t h her father had repealed the laws that once forbade her people to marry mortals, she knew her parents would be disappointed if she didn’t marry someone from home There was no possibility that she could ever ht come fro her intently, h she would have loved to read his Of course, being able to eavesdrop on people’s private thoughts was a e when she had lowered her guard to steal into so she wished she hadn’t Like the time Kaitlyn learned her supposed best friend forever was telling everyone that Kaitlyn was sleeping with her anthropology teacher and that hy she was getting such good grades

"It’s just a dance," Zack said in his soft, oh, so sexy voice

And the perfect excuse to be in his arht as he took her hand in his and led her to a glass-sided elevator that whisked theht Room was lovely The walls hite, the drapes a soft blue Se of the dance floor A pianist, two guitarists, and a drummer provided music, which was slow, soft, and sensual It was easy to see where the roo A h the glass It was, she thought, like walking a like the ballrooestured at the dance floor "Shall we?"

"Isn’t that e’re here for?" she asked with a playful grin

He didn’t answer, siht on his feet, easy to follow She searched herto say, but small talk eluded her How could she be expected to think coherently with his body pressed so intiht, a perfect fit The scent of his cologne tickled her nostrils, his very nearness was intoxicating, as was the scent of his blood But that was to be expected She was half vampire, after all, a fact that had been confirmed on her twentieth birthday

Her father had been with her when the change occurred He had told her she could resist it if she desired, but that doing so wouldhis advice, she had surrendered to the need that night He had warned her that undergoing the change ht be violent, that she could possibly be overcome with the need to kill, but it hadn’t happened like that A yearning for blood had been niggling at her for weeks Surrendering to it had see in the world Her father had taken her hunting She had not enjoyed the hunt, but her need for blood had been easily satisfied, with little har man who had been her chosen prey