drawled, shooting her a wink.
“Yes, you’re steeped in regret,” she said, her mouth tugging at one end. “Anyway. Hence all the crying I do. I’ve been sort of living vicariously through others. Now…when there is attraction between two humans, that can get very interesting. Immortals are much harder to read. I have to reach out. Dig into them.” She suddenly looked nervous. “Do you already regret agreeing to drive me because I might scream or cry from time to time?”
“Of course not. It’s just that…” He stopped to clear his throat, his hand gesturing in a kind of wild motion. “My friends are stone cold warriors, but when their wives cry, it’s like they can’t even think straight.” Jesus Christ, he’d just compared Mary to a wife. “That’s not to say you’re, ahh…that we could be married. That’s not what I meant. I’m just saying that a strange chemical seems to be released in a dude’s brain when a girl cries and I’ve already got enough happening upstairs to add whatever it is to the equation.”
She sniffled, wiped at her nose. “So I c-can’t get my ears pierced?”
Immediately, his insides became a crime scene. “You can. Of course you can.”
“Did the chemical release?” she asked excitedly, turning in her seat.
Anxiously, he scanned her, head to toe. “You’re not really crying?”
Mary managed to appear contrite even while laughing. “No.”
“Lord, you women.” He shook his head. “Weapons of mass confusion.”
She seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. Probably because she didn’t get out much, not because he was dazzling her out of her wits. “Did all your knowledge of women come from the wives of your friends?”
There was a huge part of Tucker that wanted to lie. To tell her he’d dated scores of females on seven continents and lived to tell the tales, like some jacked-up vampire James Bond. “Yeah. For the most part,” he admitted, instead. Lying to Mary would feel sacrilegious. Like a breach of trust. “My options are slim, unless you include hooking up…and that’s, uh…not really my thing. Human women are supposed to be off limits, although that rule has been soundly ignored by those same chemically-impaired friends I mentioned earlier. It’s more of a light suggestion at this point. And female vampires…well, we aren’t exactly holding co-ed dances, you know? Plus, if a female vampire isn’t your mate, you best get to stepping or else when she finds him, you’re going to have an enemy on your hands. There are places where unattached vampires can meet, but old Tucker doesn’t want to be treated like a piece of meat.” He laughed too loudly. You’re not even convincing yourself. “Anyway. Dating in the underworld is a complicated business.”
“It sounds like it,” she breathed. “I’m glad I get to skip it and go straight to marriage.”
“Yeah, that’s so great,” he deadpanned, wishing for a stake to bury right in the center of his ribcage. “All right, so we’ve got ear piercing and trick-or-treating.” The items on her list were such simple things. No one could have helped her achieve them? Really? “Those should be easy enough,” he said, forcing the irritation from his voice. “How old are you, Mary?”
“Nineteen.”
“Total? Or you stopped aging at nineteen?”
“Total.”
Jesus. Nineteen.
Tucker didn’t know a lot about the fae, but he knew they were immortals who matured to varying points in their life. Mary was legitimately nineteen, though. Too young to be sacrificed to a vampire with dark intentions. Too young to be a tool used in a war.
He wanted to go back to the meeting with Tilda and rail at the unfairness of what she was putting her daughter through. Beg the fae to change her mind. How was he going to ferry Mary somewhere potentially unsafe, turn around and leave? Already it was a feat beyond words not to reach across the console and hold her hand. Was the magnetic pull all in his mind? Was his protectiveness pathetic considering she was betrothed? Already he was devoted to her happiness in ways that only a husband should be—and considering he had no choice but to leave her with Hadrian, that could prove detrimental to his sanity.
“Is it true that you work for the new vampire king, Tucker?”
“The one Hadrian wants to overthrow? Yes. I do.”
She wrung her hands. “Are you going to get in trouble for transporting me to Hadrian?”
“You mean because you’re the linchpin in the alliance that could end with us being defeated?” God. She didn’t deserve the shortness in his