One Lucky Vampire(43)

“Is Ottawa still your home base?” Jake asked, hoping to get the man talking again.

“Toronto was his home base, not Ottawa,” Nicole explained, and then added, “He has a house in Florida now, but pops around for a visit on occasion.” Turning to her brother, she asked, “How long are you staying this time?”

Jake glanced to the man with interest. Nicole’s question seemed to suggest Joey would be staying, which could be good. With the other man there, he’d have help keeping an eye on Nicole.

“Actually, I’m not staying with you this time, Nicki,” Joey announced and popped a potato wedge in his mouth.

“What?” Nicole seemed surprised. “But where will you stay then? Not a hotel?”

“Yes. I booked a hotel . . . I thought Melly would be more comfortable there than being thrust on family for the first meeting.”

“Melly?” Nicole asked, smiling faintly. “A new girlfriend? And one who’s lasted more than a week and that you’re actually willing to travel with?”

“She’s lasted six months,” Joey informed her, and then grinned and added, “And I asked her to marry me.”

“What?” Nicole’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Joey said with a grin.

“That’s marvelous!” Nicole cried, jumping up to hug her brother. “Congratulations, bro.”

“Thank you,” he murmured, hugging her back.

Moving back to her chair once they’d finished hugging, Nicole asked, “So who is she? How did you meet? When do I get to meet her?”

Joey chuckled and reached for his wine. He took a sip and then set down the glass and said, “I met her in Florida. Her name is Melanie, and she’s a model from Toronto.”

“A model?” Nicole asked, appearing impressed. “And from Toronto?”

Joey nodded. “She has an apartment in New York too, but lives here in Ontario when she’s not working. But she was on vacation in Florida when I met her.”

Nicole sat back with a laugh. “That is so you.”

“What?” her brother asked, smiling uncertainly.

“You move all the way to Florida to meet a gal from your hometown,” she pointed out.

He smiled wryly and nodded. “Yeah. What are the odds, huh?”

“With you? Pretty good. Things like that always happen to you,” Nicole said with a smile, and then repeated, “So when do I get to meet her?”

“How about tomorrow? A late lunch?” he suggested. “Or breakfast for you, I suppose. But late lunch for Melly and I.”

Nicole hesitated the briefest moment and Jake suspected she was thinking of all the work she had to do, but then she nodded and breathed out with resignation. “Of course.”

“Well then, I should let you get back to work now,” Joey said, apparently having understood the hesitation as well.

When the other man pushed back his chair and stood up, Jake glanced to his plate, surprised to see that Joey had finished his meal. So had Nicole, he noted, glancing to her plate next. Apparently, he was the only one with most of his food still on his plate.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Nicole agreed apologetically, getting up as well. “I’ll see you out.” Turning to Jake then, she said, “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Jake nodded and remained seated as they left the room, but then stood up and began gathering plates. He put the empty plates in the dishwasher, but covered his and put it in the refrigerator. If his headache cleared up, he would finish it later, he thought as he quickly finished clearing the table.

When Nicole hadn’t returned by the time he finished, Jake moved into the living room and up to the railing overlooking the lower living room to listen, relaxing when he heard the murmur of voices from below. When silence fell and he heard the door close and the click as it was locked, he continued on to his room. His head was killing him and since immortals weren’t supposed to get sick, it had to be a tension headache. Perhaps lying down would help. He hoped it would. Jake didn’t know if seven years of pain-free living had made him less tolerant to pain or what, but this headache was killing him.

Jake didn’t bother turning the lights on in his room; he didn’t really need them anyway. The moonlight coming through the window was enough for him to be able to navigate his way to the bed. He lay down on top of the blankets and tried to relax, but the pounding in his head made that impossible. He closed his eyes, opened his eyes, turned on one side and then the other before returning to his back, and finally gave up. Lying there he had nothing to think about but how much his head hurt. It just seemed to make it worse.