Stone Haven, Pennsylvania
“Another kind of fireworks are about to begin,” Alessandra said.
Kenton moved toward her on the blanket as a flash of blue exploded in the night sky.
“You could say that.”
While the majority of Stone Haven’s residents were blessedly unaware a few vampires and a superpowered human sat among them along the riverbank, celebrating their independence, one person knew the truth. Alessandra’s best friend, Toni, who had just arrived with her boyfriend from hell, otherwise known as Tyler.
“I mean, just look at them,” she whispered.
Them meaning Lawrence and Toni. They shot each other looks that could only be described as electric.
Alessandra forgot about her friend when Kenton’s hand, so innocently placed over hers on the flannel blanket, crept toward her wrist. His thumb moved over the sensitive flesh there, circling and teasing, which meant trouble. They’d only just arrived themselves, and Alessandra had promised Toni she wouldn’t leave her alone with Lawrence. The Derricksons sat on a blanket next to them.
“Don’t,” she warned, looking at Kenton rather than the fireworks.
His brows arched, the picture of innocence.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Her most unladylike snort greeted Toni and Tyler.
“Scooch over,” Toni said, ensuring she was as far away from Lawrence as possible even though she sat nowhere near him.
So, they were still arguing.
She and Kenton shifted toward the Derricksons and engrossed themselves in the display above them. It was better that way. As much as Alessandra disliked Tyler, Kenton was much more unapologetic about his disdain.
Toni’s argument with Lawrence had stemmed from an incident at Murphy’s Pub, where Toni worked part-time. Alessandra hadn’t been present, but according to Toni, Tyler had done nothing more than act like his normal “flirty” self. He was gregarious, she explained, and liked people. It was one of the qualities she loved about him. As the owner of the most successful home building business in Stone Haven, he pretty much knew everyone in town too.
Lawrence told a different story. He’d met Alessandra the next day for a run … and had harped on about how Tyler’s incessant attention to a pretty blonde tourist had turned more than one head, especially since his girlfriend had been forced to watch it all go down from behind the bar. Alessandra knew Lawrence had gotten so worked up because he actually liked Toni, but she couldn’t very well say as much. By the time he finished his tirade, Alessandra found herself making excuses, as Toni often did, for a guy she didn’t like. It seemed disloyal to bad-mouth him behind Toni’s back, even though she had no qualms about doing so with Kenton.
“Be nice,” she whispered to Toni.
“I am always nice,” she whispered back, taking a bottle of Corona Light from Tyler.
Normally, that was true. Only her friend had gotten a bit more riled up over this argument than usual.
But she didn’t say that out loud. Implying she cared about what Lawrence thought would only make her reconsider her feelings toward him. Something her friend had insisted she would not do.
So stubborn.
“Glad to hear it,” she said, ignoring her fiancé’s feather-light touch on her wrist.
Or trying to, at least. She really wanted to see these fireworks.
“Remind me to tell you about the day in August when London learned about your Declaration of Independence,” Kenton said, though not loudly enough for Tyler to hear.
She smiled. “My declaration? I’m not Thomas Jefferson.”
Kenton’s hand moved from her wrist up her forearm, his intent clear.
“You are an American now too, you know.”
“Hmm” was his only response.
“Although I would like to hear the story.”
As a history buff, Alessandra could listen all day to Kenton’s firsthand accounts of events she’d only previously read about in books. He’d told her about the real Middle Ages, the one with lightweight swords and not thirty-pound monstrosities no one could lift. What fascinated her most, however, were women’s roles in a medieval period that was more enlightened than she’d imagined. Innkeepers, trade masters … they certainly did more than tend to their kids and keeps.
“Perhaps tonight,” he said, his voice low, reverberating through her.
She couldn’t resist. Alessandra leaned into him, her lips meeting his in a kiss that hinted at what was to come.
“I’ll never get used to it,” said a female voice from Kenton’s left.
Pulling away, Alessandra gave her attention to Lawrence’s sister.
“To what?” she asked, knowing Laria spoke of her and Kenton.
“His softer side,” she said with a grin.
Predictably, Kenton scowled at being called soft. He was a seven-hundred-year-old vampire, after all, and an English knight.
“I told you she was a pain in the ass,” Kenton said of Laria, who didn’t take offense. Instead, she laughed, though her tinkling laughter cut off abruptly when Lawrence sprung up to his feet. Everyone turned to watch as he saluted them in parting . . . and left.
“What was that all about?” Alessandra asked.
Laria shrugged, scowling after him, and then gave her attention to the sky.
“That was odd,” Alessandra murmured, to no one in particular.
Kenton’s hand had wandered from her forearm to the back of her shirt. No longer attempting to hide his intentions, he allowed his fingers to slip under the waist of her shorts at her back.
“Very,” he said, distracted. In truth, she was too. Pretending to stare at the sky in awe, Alessandra was acutely aware of the fact that people sat all around them.
“Kenton,” she whispered, the censure coming out more like an endearment.
“Yes, love?”
Incorrigible. He definitely did not heed her warning.
She turned to Toni instead.
“Pretty, aren’t they?”
But Toni wasn’t paying attention to the fireworks. Thankfully, she also wasn’t paying attention to Kenton’s amorous advances. Or to her boyfriend, who appeared, as usual, oblivious to everything besides the beer in his hand.
She was looking at Lawrence, who hadn’t left quite yet after all. He’d extended his hand to a pretty woman not far from them. As she watched, he pulled her up, and both of them walked away from the crowd.
When Alessandra looked back at Toni, her friend’s expression was unguarded.
As if sensing her gaze, Toni shifted her eyes to meet Alessandra’s. Toni shook her head as if to tell her to stay out of it, so she shifted her attention to Kenton instead.
“Who is that woman Lawrence left with?” she asked.
Alessandra didn’t want Laria to hear her, so she’d leaned in close to Kenton … too close, it turned out. Lifting her hair, he placed his lips on her neck in the exact place where his fangs sank into her flesh to feed.
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
“Do you think he’s going to feed from her?”
In response, Kenton opened his mouth on her neck and touched his tongue to her skin. She clenched, prepared.
Too many people.
“Let’s go,” she said, not caring that Toni had just arrived. At least she’d fulfilled her promise: Toni wouldn’t be alone with Lawrence. Alessandra had worried about everyone else all her life, and if Kenton had taught her one thing, it was to begin living for her.
And that meant finding a more private spot.
“You don’t have to ask twice.”
Putting Toni and Lawrence out of her mind for now, Alessandra uttered a few hasty goodbyes, laughing when Kenton guided her toward the parked train cars.
“I’ve heard the caboose is a fine place to watch fireworks,” he said.
“They’ll be over by the time we get there,” she protested.
“Oh, no they won’t,” Kenton said with a devious grin. “They’ll just be getting started, love.”