“You,” he answered quietly. “Every inch of you, in every way possible. I want to start at the top of your head and nibble my way down to your toes.”

“Well, I’ll give you this—you’re more honest than most.” After the image he had painted in her mind, it was an effort to keep her voice steady.

The music changed tempo, going from an oldies song to something slower and more romantic.

Zack held her closer, tighter. Straps crisscrossed the back of her top, leaving parts of her back bare to the touch of his hand. His dark eyes burned into hers, hot and hungry. Kaitlyn’s heart skipped a beat. She had seen looks like that before, in the eyes of her father’s people. But Zack didn’t belong to her father’s coven, or any coven.

Still, the look unsettled her and when the music ended, she told Zack she needed to sit down. She wasn’t tired, but she needed to put some space between them. She couldn’t think clearly when he was holding her, when he was looking at her like that, as if he was a hungry cat, and she a tasty mouse.

He escorted her to a nearby table, held her chair for her. “How about a drink?” he asked, and when she nodded, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and called the bar in the casino.

“Why didn’t you just order from the bar up here?” Kaitlyn asked.

“That’s for the tourists. I have my own private stock downstairs.”

Less than five minutes later, a waiter arrived at their table carrying a bottle of Clos Du Mesnil champagne and a bottle of Dom Pérignon Rosé. A waitress arrived moments later bearing a tray with a pair of crystal goblets and a plate of canapés.

Zack dismissed the help with a smile, then gestured at the bottles. “What’s your pleasure?”

“I don’t know anything about champagne.”

“Well, the Clos Du Mesnil costs about seven hundred dollars; the Dom Pérignon about half that.”

“Are you kidding me? Seven hundred dollars for a bottle of champagne?” She shook her head in amazement. “I have got to try that.”

He filled two glasses with liquid that was straw gold in color, then handed her one. “What shall we drink to?”

“Beginnings?” she suggested.

“Beginnings,” he repeated, and touched his glass to hers.

He watched her over the rim of his glass as he sipped his wine, and for one moment out of time, Kaitlyn imagined his lips pressed against the side of her neck, his tongue lightly stroking her skin.

“Katy, let’s go where we can be alone.”

She nibbled one of the canapés, then shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not? Are you afraid of me?”

“Yes.”

He sat back, his brow furrowing. “What are you afraid of?”

“The way you make me feel. We’re moving way too fast. I hardly know you.”

“What do you want to know?”

She sipped her drink, then set her glass aside. “Everything.”

“Everything, huh?” He dragged a hand over his jaw. “My parents are dead. I’m an only child. I’m rich and single and I’m crazy about you. What else do you need to know?”

“How old are you?”

“Thirty-one.”

“When’s your birthday?”

“August the fourth.”

“A Leo,” she said, smiling.

He nodded. “You?”

“I’m an Aries.”

“Both fire signs,” he mused.

“Are you into astrology?”

“No, not really.”

“Do you read your horoscope every day?”

“No,” he said, laughing. “Why, do you?”

“No. Well, not every day.”

“How old are you?”

Grinning, she said, “Don’t you know it isn’t polite to ask a woman her age?”

“At least tell me you’re over twenty-one.”

Kaitlyn laughed. “No worries. I turned twenty-one on my last birthday.”

“Just a baby.” He wondered what she would think if she knew how old he really was. “Do you have brothers and sisters?”

“No. My mom wanted more children, but . . .” She shrugged. “I would have liked a brother or a sister, but it wasn’t meant to be. My dad comes from a really large family though, so I have lots of aunts and uncles and cousins. Of course, there was a plus side to being an only child,” she said, grinning. “My parents spoiled me rotten when I was growing up.” She ran her finger around the rim of her glass, her expression thoughtful. “They still spoil me rotten.”

Zack nodded. He would love to pamper her, to give her everything her heart desired, to show her all the wonders of the modern world. To introduce her to the magic between a man and a woman.

“Why did you call me Katy?”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone?”

“No. No one.” She smiled a shy smile. “I like it.”

He leaned toward her, his gaze resting on her face. “Come home with me, Katy.”

“Zack . . . I can’t.”

“Just my luck,” he said with a good-natured grin. “You’re a good girl.”

“’Fraid so.” She couldn’t blame him for having thought otherwise, considering the sexy “come and get me” outfit she was wearing.

He nodded. He might be a lot of things, but he had never forced a woman into his bed, or taken advantage of a virgin, although Kaitlyn tempted him sorely. He was about to refill their glasses when his cell phone rang.

Murmuring, “Excuse me,” he put the phone to his ear. “What is it?” He listened a moment, then slipped the phone back into his pocket. “I need to take care of something in the casino. I’ll be back shortly.”

“All right.” Lifting her glass, she watched him walk swiftly toward a door marked STAIRWAY.

She sat there a moment, thinking about Zack. He wanted her; there was no doubt about that. And she wanted him. There was no doubt about that, either. She glanced at her watch, drummed her fingertips on the table as she wondered what kind of emergency—if that’s what it was—had called him away. Too curious to wait any longer, she took the elevator down to the main floor.

The first thing she noticed was the silence. Standing in the doorway, she glanced around, searching for Zack. She gasped when she saw him. He was standing in front of one of the poker tables. On the other side of the table, a man wearing a Hell’s Angel leather jacket stood holding the edge of a knife to the dealer’s throat. The dealer’s face was paper-white, a vivid contrast to the angry red flush on the face of the Hell’s Angel wielding the blade.

“He cheated!” the man declared, his voice carrying throughout the casino. “He’s dealing from the bottom of the deck!”

“Put the knife down,” Zack said. “And we’ll talk about it.”

The man shook his head. “I want my money back! And I want this cheat fired!”

Zack looked at the dealer. “Were you cheating, Henry?”

Kaitlyn frowned as a ripple of power raised the hair along her arms. Was that coming from Zack? It felt much like the preternatural power her father possessed.

“No, sir,” Henry said, his voice laced with fear. “He’s just a sore loser.”

“He’s lying!” the man insisted.

Kaitlyn couldn’t see Zack’s face. He stood there, unmoving, as that same ripple of power washed over her.

When he spoke again, his words were slow and distinct, and there was a peculiar edge to his voice. “I want you to put the knife down, Farris, and follow me outside.”

Kaitlyn frowned, wondering how Zack knew the troublemaker’s name. Was he a regular at the casino?

Farris glared at Zack for stretched seconds, then he dropped the knife on the table and followed Zack out of the casino.

Kaitlyn waited until Zack and Farris were outside, then hurried after them. She paused just beyond the entrance, her gaze darting left and right, but there was no sign of either man.

How had they disappeared so quickly? Puzzled, she left the casino. She had a lot to think about and she couldn’t do it here.

It took only moments to navigate the path home. Kicking off her shoes, she went into the kitchen and fixed a cup of hot chocolate, then curled up on the sofa, the cup cradled in her hands as her mind replayed the scene at the poker table. She hadn’t imagined the power that rippled through the air when Zack spoke. She had felt it too often in the past to mistake it for anything but what it was—the same kind of preternatural power that her father and others of their kind were able to command. Was it possible that Zack Ravenscroft was one of them? She had never seen him eat, but that didn’t prove anything. At dinner the other night, he had said he’d already eaten. She’d had no reason to disbelieve him then, and none tonight. He drank wine, but so did millions of other people. He possessed a strong aura of danger, but, again, that didn’t prove anything. But that rush of preternatural power—no mortal possessed that kind of supernatural energy.

What if Zack really was a vampire?

Kaitlyn shook her head. If that was true, it changed everything.

Chapter 7

Standing in the shadows, the watcher followed Kaitlyn home. His first task was to learn all he could about her. Thus far, he hadn’t accomplished much of his goal. All he knew was that she was able to abide the sun, a fact he had learned while he lurked outside her house at sunset and saw her walking up the path, a grocery sack tucked under one arm. It was obvious she had left the house earlier in the day. He presumed she was able to walk by day because of her tainted blood. The second thing he had learned was that she could still eat mortal food, something that should no longer have been possible for her.

She was also very beautiful, a dark-haired angel with pale golden skin and sky-blue eyes.

He thrust the thought away. Lovely or ugly, it mattered not. He had a job to do, and he would do it. To fail was to incur his mother’s wrath, and that was worse than death itself.