She stepped closer. "They can smell that we…you know?"
"I know verra well. Unfortunately, a few others have noticed, too."
"Good grief," she muttered. "Can't we get a little privacy around here?"
Ian grinned. "Are ye so eager to jump in bed with me?"
"Quiet." She glanced around the hallway. "I don't want to get you in trouble. And I don't want to get fired. I sure don't want to lose my memory, not after…you know."
"Are ye referring to how ye gushed all over my face?"
She winced. "We shouldn't talk about that." She glanced around the hallway again.
"We're all alone, sweetheart."
She scanned the ceiling. "But there are surveillance cameras around here somewhere."
"Aye. That's why I havena taken you into my arms." He folded his arms over his chest. "I just took a cold shower, and it dinna help."
"Oh, Ian." She sighed. "I don't know where we can go. All the bedrooms down here have cameras."
"I'll figure out something. It'll be easier once Connor takes Roman back into hiding. And Jean-Luc is having a house party in Texas, so a lot of the guests are teleporting there later tonight."
"That's good." Toni yawned.
"Ye're tired. Go on to bed, sweetheart." As he watched her enter the silver room, he knew he could never give her up. He wasn't sure how he could fit into her plan to run an orphanage and school. But he knew he loved her enough that he couldn't bear for her to sacrifice any of her dreams. Somehow they would make it work.
Connor wouldn't dare erase her memory if she was engaged to him. That was a big step, but it didn't cause any warning signals to flare up inside him. It simply felt right. And exciting.
The next morning, Toni called Carlos to see how Sabrina was faring.
"She's fully awake now," Carlos reported. "And full of questions. She wants to know why she can't go home. And how you managed to get her out of the hospital. I asked Teddy to stay quiet till you got a chance to talk to her, but he keeps dropping hints about superheroes."
"Tell her I'll explain everything this evening when I get off work," Toni said. "Or I'll try to."
"There's another problem," Carlos continued. "The local stations have posted Bri's photo on their television newscasts. They say she's been kidnapped. I don't dare take her anywhere she can be noticed."
Toni winced. They couldn't stay hidden in a hotel forever.
"I thought we could meet you at that vampire nightclub," Carlos suggested.
"The Horny Devils? Why?"
"It's a great place to hide. No mortal would ever look for her there. And I doubt any Vamp would call the police to report her. It's also a really good place to convince Bri that vampires are real."
"I don't know." Toni frowned. "It might scare the hell out of her."
"The male Vamps there are strippers. They'll seem harmless." Carlos lowered his voice. "Bri still thinks she's delusional. We have to give her proof that she's right, or she'll end up back in a mental hospital."
"Okay, okay. I'll ask Ian to take me there tonight. We'll meet you at five-thirty." She hung up.
Early that afternoon UPS delivered a small blue box for her from Tiffany's. With her heart racing, Toni pulled out a gold heart-shaped pendant on a gold chain. It came with a note—All my love, Ian.
He loved her. She could hardly concentrate on anything for the rest of the day. She didn't want Howard to know she'd received a gift from Ian, so she slipped the heart underneath her polo shirt and let it nestle between her breasts.
When the sun went down, she hurried to the silver room to change clothes. "Thank you, thank you!" She grinned at Ian as she ran into the bathroom to change.
"We need to go to the Horny Devils," she called out to him. He was in the kitchen drinking his breakfast. "We're supposed to meet Carlos, Bri, and Teddy there."
"They're going to the Horny Devils?" he asked. "Why?"
"So we can convince Bri that she's not delusional." She pulled on a pair of jeans and a green sweater, then opened the door. "Can you teleport me there?"
"Aye." He pulled his cell phone from his sporran. "Let me warn Vanda. And I'll need to tell Howard that we'll be gone for a little while."
Five minutes later, Toni arrived with Ian in the alley outside the Horny Devils.
Carlos was already there with Bri and Teddy. He motioned to the bouncer. "That guy wouldn't let us in."