I Only Have Fangs for You(14)
Rhys stepped around the desk to Jane and reached for her hand. She slipped out of the chair and into his arms.
“You should really try it. You don’t know what you are missing, baby bro.”
Jane grinned and added in her best “pusher” voice, “Yes, try it. What? Are you scared?”
Sebastian rolled his eyes as his brother and sister-in-law grinned at each other and then kissed.
“Room. Find one. Now,” he muttered.
Rhys pulled away from Jane, but his gaze didn’t leave his wife’s face. “My thoughts exactly.”
Jane smiled impishly, the grin somehow naughtier on her innocent features.
They left the office hand in hand, leaving Sebastian in the office, forgotten.
“I’ll be doing the same thing later tonight,” he called after them. “And it will be just as good.”
He leaned toward the door and added loudly, “Better even.”
Jane’s laughter was his only reply. A melodious, and altogether disbelieving, giggle.
Sebastian snorted, then rose to move to the other side of the desk. He settled down at the computer, minimized the payroll program that Jane had been working on, and opened the sales report. He started to peruse last month’s numbers.
But quickly the columns of figures blurred as he thought about both Rhys and Jane’s happy smiles. He did appreciate the love between his brother and Jane. Still, that didn’t mean he wanted the same thing in his life.
Unbidden, a memory of Wilhelmina’s small smile appeared in his mind, rather awkward and stiff, yet somehow endearing in its valiant attempt. He wondered what her real smile looked like. Would it be sweet? A little naughty? A bit of both.
He frowned at the computer. Why was he thinking about this? He wasn’t interested in the vampiress. She was weird with bad hair and glasses. What vampire wore glasses? And she owned a cat! Everyone knew cats didn’t like vampires.
He determinedly refocused on the document on the computer screen. He had enough to think about without thinking about Wilhelmina.
She did have the softest skin he’d ever touched. He growled, pushing away from the desk. What was his fixation with this new waitress? Why did he find himself remembering the most unimportant details about her?
“Because you need exactly what your brother’s getting,” he stated aloud to the empty room. Well, not exactly what his brother was getting. He needed fun, dirty, uncommitted sex. Then he’d have control of his wayward thoughts.
The bass of the dance music in the club thumped in muffled repetition. A call to find his companion for the night. He punched off the monitor and stood just as Nadine appeared in the doorway. A frown pulled at her dark brows and created creases on either side of her wide lips.
“What’s up?”
“Health inspectors are here,” she said, seeming a little confused.
“Health inspectors? Why?”
“Apparently, they got a call stating we have a rat problem.”
“What?” He strode out of the room, heading to see what this was all about.
Wilhelmina made her way through the crowd to where Sebastian stood talking to a man and a woman near the doorway that led to the employee lounge and back storerooms. Both the man and woman wore business suits, and didn’t look remotely like regular patrons of the club. The woman reviewed a paper on the clipboard she held in her hand.
The health inspectors.
That hadn’t taken long. Wilhelmina couldn’t contain the smile that tugged at her lips as the woman wrote something on the paper. Probably the notice saying that the club would have to be closed down until the rat problem was resolved.
She stepped closer, trying to hear the conversation.
“We’re sorry to have to take up your time like this,” the man was saying in a raspy, almost breathless voice. His suit coat barely buttoned around his paunchy middle. The health inspector was hardly the image of good health himself.
Sebastian smiled at the man. “Well, you have to do your job.”
Wilhelmina frowned. He was taking this too well. He had to be furious that his business would be closed indefinitely.
She edged a little closer.
“But it’s unfortunate to waste your time, and ours, when there are obviously no health code violations here,” the woman muttered and scribbled something else on her clipboard.
No violations! Wilhelmina stepped closer to the group. What was the woman talking about? There were a dozen rats roaming the backrooms. How could they have missed that?
“Can I do something for you?”
She startled at Sebastian’s question.
He frowned at her. “Is there something you wanted to ask me?”
Hugging her empty drink tray to her chest, she shook her head. “No. Um, no.” She hurried off to the bar, her mind still trying to wrap around the fact that the health inspectors had found nothing. Nothing. That couldn’t be.