I thrust my chin out, hoping I looked tough and macho instead of the quivering mass of Jell-O I actually was. “You’re no vamp. Who are you?” My eyes narrowed. “What are you?”
He grinned in a way that I was pretty sure was illegal in at least 14 different states then leaned forward to sniff me again before whispering in my ear, “Darlin’.” His rich voice was the stuff of dreams. “You’ve just found your Sunwalker.”
Well, hot damn.
After making me promise not to try killing him until we’d had a chance to talk, he led me to the nearest coffee shop. Common Grounds was a uniquely Portland experience and one of my favorite places to relax with a cup of coffee. It was stuffed full of comfy couches and mismatched mugs and smelled of roasted coffee beans and fresh grilled toast. Best of all, it was open from 5 a.m. to midnight. It would have been even better if it was a twenty-four hour place, but sometimes you just had to take what you could get.
Fortunately the place was nearly empty and we found a table far enough away from everyone that we wouldn’t be overheard. I couldn’t imagine what the other patrons would think of our conversation. Though it was the Hawthorne District. Creative weirdness was the norm. They’d probably think we were rehearsing for a play.
I was pretty sure the Sunwalker was humoring me with that whole promising-not-to-kill-him thing, since I was beginning to doubt my original plan to get the amulet and dust him was going to work. In fact, I wasn’t sure I could dust him. He was far too strong and fast, and that weird mind control thingy had me worried.
Nothing about this guy was anything like I expected. I’d imagined him as another run of the mill bloodsucker. Only one who could walk around in daylight. This guy was nothing like any vampire I’d ever seen.
The Sunwalker wasn’t a creepy monster that hung around in dark corners. No, this guy owned his space. I eyed his broad shoulders, muscular frame and seriously tight backside as he paced the room in front of the bank of windows overlooking the street.
Oh, yeah, I bet he owned anything he wanted to. An opinion no doubt shared by the barista who was ogling his butt as eagerly as I was. Poor girl was practically salivating. I surreptitiously checked to make sure I wasn’t doing the same.
The weirdest thing of all was that he felt familiar. I didn’t recognize him, so I knew I’d never seen him before. I never forgot a face. But it felt like I knew him, or that I should know him.
“OK.” I straightened my shoulders. No way was I letting this … Sunwalker get to me. “So, Mr. Sunwalker, have you got a name?”
He glanced up, startled, and then gave me a grin, flashing a pair of canines that were slightly longer than strictly necessary, but nothing in the realm of vampire. “Jackson. Jackson Keel. You can call me Jack.”
Jack? A Sunwalker named Jack? That was almost as bad as Bob. “Morgan Bailey. Nice to, uh, meet you.” Right. Let’s go with that. “OK, Jack, why don’t you sit down and explain to me why you found it necessary to scare the shit out of me. And while you’re at it, you might as well tell me why you stole my client’s property.”
I tried to give him a severe look a la Kabita, but it wasn’t working. It was that mouth. Sweet baby Jesus, he had such a mouth. It made me want to do very bad things. There really should have been a law.
I cleared my throat and stiffened my spine, dragging on my professional vampire hunting aura with all the willpower I could muster. I folded my hands primly in front of me and waited. This was a Kabita trick. Unfortunately, she was a lot better at it than I was.
He just smirked at me, the big fat jerk. “First off,” he said in that voice that also should have been outlawed, “I wanted to make sure you understood just how difficult killing me would be.” Score one for him. I was seriously rethinking this whole dusting thing. Hell, I hadn’t even been able to find him, never mind kill him.
“Uh, yeah. I get that. And secondly?”
“Secondly, I didn’t steal the amulet from Darroch. He stole it from me.”
I blinked. Well, that was a turn of events. “Yeah, right,” I scoffed. “Likely story. Let me guess. You inherited it from your grandmother.”
His eyes darkened. “It was entrusted to me by a friend a long time ago.” A muscle worked in his jaw. “I swore to protect it. I failed. I’ve been tracking Darroch ever since.”
I honestly couldn’t imagine this guy, this Sunwalker, failing at anything. My mind was reeling with questions. If I was honest, very few of them at that moment had anything at all to do with the amulet and everything to do with the sexy piece of man standing in front of me.