A Quick Bite (26 page)

Lissianna blinked at her own thoughts and leaned weakly against the wall. Her
boyfriend’s
sister? Greg wasn’t her boyfriend. She wished he was, but he wasn’t. And wasn’t that interesting? She wished he was her boyfriend? But it was true. She did wish he was her boyfriend, that she could lay that claim to him. She really liked him. And she liked kissing him, too, and had found herself wondering what it would be like for him to do much more than kiss her.

“Oh yeah, you’re in trouble, girl,” she muttered to herself and knew that it was true. She was a goner. Had it bad for the doctor and knew it. On the other hand, he seemed to like her, too. Lissianna had noticed the possessive way he’d put his hand on her shoulder while she’d been talking to the guy with the phone. He’d definitely been staking a claim. She smiled to herself, thinking that maybe it would be all right. Maybe he was her true life mate. She could imagine living out the rest of her days with him. They did have a lot in common, liked the same things, and—

“Hello there, beautiful.”

Lissianna straightened away from the wall, her thoughts scattering at that seductively spoken greeting. A tall, dark-haired man in jeans and a leather jacket was standing before her in the small hallway. He was good-looking and obviously knew it, and he was eyeing her up and down like she was a tasty treat.

“Are you waiting for someone, pretty girl? ’Cause if you are, I’m available.”

She stared at him with disbelief, wondering if he often approached women outside bathrooms, and if so, if his
lines actually worked. She was about to tell him to take a hike when she recalled her hunger and the empty ladies’ room.

“You’ll do,” Lissianna decided, and took his hand to lead him into the empty bathroom.

The man was grinning like an idiot as she led him straight into the farthest stall and closed and bolted the door behind them.

“Oh yeah. I knew you were a hot one the minute I saw you,” he said, reaching for her the minute she’d closed and bolted the bathroom door and turned to face him.

Lissianna smiled and slid her hand to his head, catching him by the hair even as she probed his mind, then took control of his thoughts. The stupid I’m-a-sexy-dude-about-to-rock-your-world smile died abruptly, leaving a very good-looking man, and she thought it was a shame that his personality wasn’t as attractive as he was. Then she sank her teeth in his neck. She’d barely started to feed, when she heard the bathroom door open. Turning quickly, she shifted her dinner in her grip and lifted him in her arms as she perched on the edge of the toilet, settling him in her lap with his legs slightly raised so that his feet wouldn’t show should anyone look under the stall door. She was glad she had, when she heard Mrs. Hewitt call out, “Lissianna?”

Heart jumping, she quickly withdrew her teeth, pausing to lick the wounds to be sure there would be no blood to hamper her when she went back to feeding before she said, “Yes?”

“Are you all right, dear? You were looking so peaky and taking so long and Greg said you were hypoglycemic. I started to worry and came to check on you.”

Lissianna rolled her eyes. It just was not her day.

“I’m fine,” she assured her. “The bathroom was full when I came in and I had to wait.”

“It was?” Mrs. Hewitt asked and Lissianna couldn’t blame her for the doubt in her voice since it was completely empty now.

“Yes, they all left at once,” she lied.

“Oh, I see. Well as long as you’re all right.”

Lissianna waited for the sound of the outer door opening and closing, but instead heard a stall door open and close next to hers and nearly groaned aloud. She couldn’t possibly feed with the thin barrier of the stall all that separated her from Greg’s mother. But there he was, right in her arms. He would ease the pain she was suffering, give her more energy. Besides it wasn’t like she was a loud feeder. Lissianna sank her teeth back into her donor.

“This is a nice restaurant, isn’t it?”

Lissianna retracted her teeth. “Yes.” Her voice was slightly strained.

When silence followed, she went back to feeding again, sighing as the pain she was suffering began to ease.

“Are you hungry?” Mrs. Hewitt asked suddenly.

Oh God, yes
, Lissianna thought, but merely mumbled, “Mmm hmm,” against her donor’s neck.

“So am I. I hope our orders are there when we go out.”

Lissianna didn’t bother responding and a moment later retracted her teeth, having fed as much as she dare from the man. She could have easily taken three or four more donors, but he would do for now. After they got away from Greg’s family, she could find another donor or two. Maybe they could go to a club or something.

Sighing, Lissianna put the possibility away and concentrated on wiping her donor’s memory and planting suggestions in his mind for how he’d come to be in the
women’s bathroom. Eager to get out of her stall before Greg’s mother got out of hers, Lissianna then stood and turned to set the donor to stand on the toilet seat.

She flushed the toilet, mentally instructed the guy to stay crouched until he heard the bathroom door close as they left, then she slid out of the booth and sent him the order to bolt the door behind her.

“Do you know, I think you have a little more color in your cheeks, dear,” Mrs. Hewitt said as she joined Lissianna at the sink a moment later. They chatted as they washed their hands and used the air dryer. They then left the room together, moving to one side of the hall to make way for an older lady coming the opposite way.

Aware that her donor was probably coming out of the stall even now, Lissianna grimaced, but kept walking. There wasn’t anything she could do about it. Well, she could, but she wasn’t willing to waste the energy and make up the excuses necessary to hurry back and prevent the woman from finding a man in the women’s washroom. It served her donor right for picking up strange women outside of bathrooms. Really, a little embarrassment was nothing—she could have been a serial killer.

The meal had arrived by the time they reached the table, but Greg was missing. Before she could ask, Anne explained that he’d gone to the men’s room. She’d barely finished saying so when Greg arrived at the table and took his seat.

“Sorry I took so long,” he excused himself. “There was a bit of a disturbance as I came out of the bathroom. Some guy had gone into the ladies’ room by mistake and a woman was hitting him over the head with her purse yelling ‘Rape.’ It took two waiters and four waitresses to
calm her down and get the poor confused guy away from her.”

“Oh?” Lissianna asked weakly. She ate without thinking, enjoying the flavors and textures in her mouth after so long on a liquid diet. However, she still couldn’t eat as much as the others and the amount of food she left behind drew attention and comment from the others along the lines of it was no wonder she was so pale and so on.

The ring of a phone brought an end to the concerned murmurs and everyone fell silent as John pulled a cell phone from his pocket and answered it. He listened for a moment, then began to talk, discussing what was obviously work. Lissianna knew he was an accountant and that it was tax time for a lot of businesses he dealt with. When a child at the next table began to scream, he frowned, and said, “Hang on, Jack, I can’t hear you. I’m taking you outside.”

He stood, paused to kiss his wife on the way by, then moved toward the entrance of the restaurant.

They were all silent for a minute, then Anne suddenly said, “John and I were talking while you were all gone, and he suggested we just drive you home when we leave here, then you don’t have to borrow money, Greg.”

Lissianna was aware of Greg stiffening beside her, and understood his problem at once. They couldn’t go to his apartment, it would certainly be watched, and he couldn’t explain to his sister why he couldn’t go to his place. She reached out under the table to pat his leg soothingly.

“Actually, Greg’s car is at my place,” Lissianna lied smoothly. She’d had two hundred years to perfect the skill, and though she tried not to use it unless absolutely necessary, it had been necessary more often than she
cared to think about thanks to who and what she was. “We took the tram downtown.”

“Oh, well where do you live, Lissi? We could drop you both there so Greg can collect his car.”

Lissianna gave Debbie’s address without even hesitating. If Greg couldn’t borrow money, they had nowhere else to go.

Chapter 16

“Thank you, Debbie. I really appreciate
this,” Lissianna said sincerely as she followed her to the front door.

“Not a problem, Lissi. I was young once, too.”

Lissianna blinked. She always found it startling when people assumed they were older than she…and, of course, Deb did. She thought Lissianna was twenty-five to her fifty. Little did the woman know she was talking to someone who was more than a century and a half older than herself.

Debbie gave a little laugh. “I do understand. My mother didn’t approve of anyone I dated either. Up to and including my husband, who was a prince among men until the day he died.” She paused at the door and turned back to face Lissianna, her glance shifting to the kitchen doorway where Greg waited. A grin split her lips. “And your Greg seems like a prince too: good-looking, polite and a
doctor
. Way to go, girl!”

“Well, a psychologist anyway,” Lissianna said with a faint smile, grateful—not for the first time—that Debbie had been home when Greg’s sister had dropped them off.

Debbie had been understandably surprised when Lissianna had shown up on her doorstep with Greg in tow. Lissianna could have controlled her and “made” her let them stay, but hadn’t wanted to. Instead, she’d taken a chance and asked for her help. She hadn’t explained much, just telling Debbie she’d been staying at her mother’s house while her apartment was painted, but they’d had a falling-out and she needed a place to stay for the night. Debbie had taken one look at her tense expression and Greg’s grim one and come to her own conclusions, apparently assuming the falling-out had been over him. Sympathetic, sweet, and a sucker for romance, she’d welcomed them into her home.

“You’re a dark horse, aren’t you?” Debbie said now. “You never mentioned your apartment was being painted, let alone that you were in love.”

“I’m not in love,” Lissianna protested automatically, startled by the woman’s words, but Debbie just chuckled softly.

“Lissi dear, I recognize the way you two look at each other. It’s how my Jim and I used to look at each other.” Her expression turned sad at the thought of her deceased husband, then she shook off the melancholy and smiled. “There is no way you’ll convince me you don’t love the man.”

Lissianna hesitated, she wasn’t prepared to use the love word yet, but did confess, “I do really like him, Deb.”

“But?” Debbie asked. “I hear a but in there.”

“But how do you know if a guy is the right one?” Lissianna asked. “I mean, my mother thought my father was the right one when she married him and ended up miserable for sev—…er…a long time.”

Debbie considered the question, then said, “You once said your mother was very young when your parents were married?”

“Fifteen,” she said with a nod.

“Fifteen!” Debbie squawked. “That’s not young, that’s a crime.”

“My grandmother had to give special permission,” Lissianna lied, silently reminding herself to be more careful in her conversations. Next she’d be blurting that she was a vampire.

Breathing out slowly, Debbie shook her head. “Well, honey, you can’t let your mother’s mistake scare you. She was just a baby when she met and married your father. Good lord, fifteen-year-olds are riding the hormone boat, they can’t make lifelong decisions like who to marry.” Deb shook her head again, then said, “But you’re a little older and you’re very mature for your age. I think you should trust yourself. You can tell whether a man is what he claims to be or not.”

“Yes,” Lissianna agreed, and knew that she had an advantage in that area. Other women had to judge a prospective mate based on what a man might say or his actions in the time before they married. While Lissianna couldn’t normally read Greg’s thoughts, she’d actually been inside his head when she’d bitten him and knew what was what with him. She
knew
he was a good man.

“Just listen to your head and hear what it says, then place it next to what your heart says and weigh the two. And remember, no one is perfect, including you,” she added, then smiled. “You’ll work it out. And, lucky you, you’ll have my place to yourself until tomorrow morning to do so, since I promised to visit Mom tonight before work. I’ll just head to the shelter rather than waste time stopping in here.”

Lissianna nodded. “I really want to thank you, Deb. I don’t know where we would have gone if you hadn’t—”

“I’m more than happy to help,” Debbie assured her, then announced, “There’s plenty of food in the kitchen,
and I think I may even have a bottle of wine somewhere. Help yourself,
mi casa es su casa
. Now, I’d best head over to Mom’s before she gets impatient and starts calling.”

Debbie gave Lissianna a quick hug and left.

“She seems nice. I like her,” Greg commented, coming up the hall from the kitchen now that their hostess was gone.

“She
is
nice.” Lissianna locked the door and watched Debbie get into her car. The older woman started the engine, then glanced toward the house, spotted her, and waved. Lissianna waved back and smiled as she told him, “And she liked you, too.”

“I gathered that,” he murmured, as she moved past him into the living room.

“Listening, were you?” Lissianna asked with amusement as she dropped onto the couch. She was exhausted. It was eight o’clock at night, and the only sleep she’d managed since the day before was the short nap in the movie theatre.

“You look wiped out.” Greg settled on the couch beside her.

“I am, but I should call Thomas and find out what’s going on at the house.” Lissianna started to stand, but Greg caught her arm and urged to sit back down.