the waitress, lips parted, blinking doe eyes at Ethan, and Ethan, much to my amusement, shifting his feet uncomfortably.
"How about we'll just take that," he finally said, pulling the tray carefully from her outstretched hands. "And thank you for bringing it."
"Oh, no, thank you," she said, grinning dopily at him. "You're just... that's just... great,"
she said again, then turned to skip away through the crowd.
"I believe you have a fan," I told him, biting back a snicker.
He gave me a sardonic look, offered his tray. "Dinner?"
"Seriously. You have a fan girl. How bizarre. And, yes, thank you." I looked over the offerings, hand poised above the tray, and settled on a wooden-toothpick-staked cube of beef accompanied by a greenish sauce. As a vampire, I didn't care for the staked-meat analogy, but I wasn't going to turn down what was probably a choice cut.
"I'm not sure if your shock about my having a human fan is insulting or not."
"Much like everything else about me, it's endearing." I popped the beef into my mouth. It was delicious, so I scanned the tray, prepared for a second dive, and nabbed a pastry cup full of a spinach concoction.
It was also delicious. Say what you wanted about my father - and I mean that literally: be my guest - but the man had good taste in caterers. You'd find no whipped shellfish at a Joshua Merit party.
"Would you like me to give you a few minutes with the tray?"
I glanced up at Ethan, my fingers poised over another beef cube, and grinned. "Could you, just? We'd really like to be alone right now."
"I think that means you've had enough," he said, turning away and setting the tray on a nearby side table.
"Did you just cut me off?"
"Come with me."
I arched a brow at him. "You can't order me around in my own house, Sullivan."
Ethan's gaze dropped to the medal at my neck. "This is hardly your house any longer, Sentinel."
I made a sound of disagreement, but when he turned and walked away, I followed. He strolled across the room like he owned it, like there was nothing unusual about a Master vampire sauntering through a crowd of Windy City bigwigs. Maybe, in this day and age, there wasn't. With those cheekbones, that sleek tux and the unmistakable air of power and entitlement, he looked like he belonged.
We reached a gap in the crowd, and Ethan stopped, turned, and held out a hand.
I stared at it blankly, then lifted my gaze to his. "Oh, no. This is not part of my assignment."
"You're a ballet dancer."
"Was a ballet dancer," I reminded him. I glanced around and saw the multitude of eyes on us, then leaned toward him. "I am not going to dance with you," I whispered, but fiercely. "Dancing is not part of my job description."
"It's one dance, Sentinel. And this is not a request; it's an order. If they see us dancing, perhaps they'll adjust to our presence a bit faster. Perhaps it will soften them up."
The excuse was hokey, but I could hear the mumbles of the people around us, who were wondering why I was standing there, why I hadn't yet accepted his hand.
I had the strangest sense of deja vu.
On the other hand, I was at home, which meant a meeting with my father was imminent.
My stomach was beginning to knot. I needed something to keep my mind off of it, and dancing with a ridiculously handsome, if often infuriating, Master vampire would probably do the trick.
"You owe me," I muttered, but took his hand, just as the quintet began to play "I Could Have Danced All Night."
I slid a glance to the members of the quintet, who grinned like they'd made their very first vampire joke. And maybe they had.
"Thank you," I mouthed to them, and they nodded back at me in unison.
"Your father hired comedians," Ethan commented, as he led me to a spot in the middle of the empty floor. He stopped and turned, and I placed my free hand on his shoulder.
His free hand, the one that wasn't clutching mine, went to the back of my waist. He put pressure there, pulling me closer - not quite, but almost, against the line of his body. His body around mine, it was hard to avoid the scent of his cologne - clean, crisp, irritat ingly delicious.
I swallowed. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. On the other hand, best thing to do was keep the mood light.