A Bite to Remember Page 0,101

of V.A. Productions.

Once the attention was off her, Jackie glanced back toward Elaine and Roberto Notte. Cassius had moved on and Max Kunstler was now there, speaking solemnly to the couple. Jackie started to peer around in search of Cassius, then sucked in a breath as she saw he was moving in their direction, his eyes fixed on Neil. She had no doubt he was coming to offer his condolences and suddenly wished she was anywhere but there.

Jackie felt Vincent step closer, his arm sliding around her waist. At the same moment, Tiny moved nearer on her other side, then the rest of the men crowded closer as well, puffing up like protective roosters. It seemed they'd been paying attention to what Cassius was doing too. The entire group was suddenly stiff and tense.

You aren't nineteen anymore. The words floated through her mind and Jackie turned her gaze to Marguerite. The woman stood a little to the side, watching the men with amusement. As her gaze shifted to Jackie, Marguerite's expression became solemn and she nodded meaningfully. And now you're immortal too.

Straightening her shoulders, Jackie turned back as Cassius paused at Neil's side. She peered at him curiously, noting that he wasn't nearly as attractive as he'd always been in her memory. His hair was blond as she recalled, but when she'd met him at nineteen it had seemed to shine like spun gold and she'd ached to touch it. Now, it just looked dirty blond to her. As for the body of Adonis she'd always recalled him having, he was slender and wiry, and not especially tall. Five foot ten was her guess. Every man around her had at least four to six inches on him.

Jackie turned her attention to his face, inspecting him closely. His lips were a bit thin, his nose straight, his eyes neither large, nor small. He was just average in looks. Only the color of his eyes was not average, at least compared to mortal eyes. His were a shining bronze brown, incredible next to normal, mortal eyes, but not nearly as beautiful as Vincent's silver-blue eyes, or as interesting as the silver-flecked black eyes of the Nottes.

Jackie shook her head with confusion. There was absolutely nothing noteworthy about Cassius. Either her tastes had been vastly different at nineteen, or the man had controlled her from the moment she'd opened the door to him that day a little more than ten years ago. Jackie suspected the latter was the case. Cassius had come to their home intending to seduce her and shame her father. He'd made himself appear beautiful in her mind to do it.

She hadn't had a chance, Jackie realized. For years she'd felt guilty, thinking that if she hadn't followed her attraction for Cassius and rebelled enough to go on that first date with him, he'd never have been able to get control of her as he had. But she no longer believed that was the case. He'd made her think he was attractive. Perhaps he had even instilled that rebelliousness in her to go against her father's wishes and sneak out to meet him. Cassius had set out to control her from the start. He'd probably even arrived when he knew her father wasn't home just so that he could do so.

Finished with his duty, Cassius glanced expectantly around the group, obviously awaiting introductions. Jackie stiffened as his gaze slid from Sharon, to Lily, to Vincent, then her, but his eyes continued on to Tiny without stopping. His expression was polite and enquiring. He hadn't recognized her.

Neil started his introduction with Christian, Marcus, Dante, and Tomasso. The four Italians stared at Cassius with cold eyes, none of them accepting the hand he offered in greeting. Neil raised a curious eyebrow at their rudeness, then introduced Vincent. "And this is Vincent Argeneau. The V.A. in V.A. Incorporated and V.A. Productions."

Cassius's attitude immediately became annoyingly obsequious. The fact that he behaved so with Vincent and not Neil, said he considered himself an equal to the vice president of V.A. Productions. But then, Jackie supposed, he wouldn't feel threatened by Neil, or as if it was not worth much effort to impress him. Neil was the vice president of V.A. Productions, not V.A. Incorporated, where he worked. Vincent, on the other hand, was the owner of both, and Cassius was suddenly basically brown-nosing, telling him how pleased he was to meet him and how much he admired him.

Vincent stared at the man with open