A Bite to Remember Page 0,58

old delivery for her. Jackie could see Vincent fed and save anyone from being marked for death at the same time. Brilliant. Or it would be if Darryl, the delivery guy, hadn't decided to deliver early. Now she wasn't sure what to do. Did she wake Vincent up to feed? Or did she send the guy on his way and find some other way to feed him later?

Jackie debated the issue briefly, but there seemed little to debate. If she didn't wake up Vincent then a perfectly good opportunity to feed would be wasted.

"Come in," she sighed with irritation and turned to lead the way up the hall. "I need to get my purse. Follow me."

There was a moment of silence, but then she heard the shuffle of feet and the door closed.

"Do you want me to wait here?" Darryl asked uncertainly as she started up the stairs.

Jackie scowled at him over her shoulder. "I said follow me, didn't I? So follow."

"Right." Darryl rushed forward, the bag swinging from his fingers as he hurried to catch up to her.

Muttering under her breath, Jackie shook her head and continued upstairs, knowing Tiny wouldn't come out of the kitchen to see what was up. He already knew. She'd talked to him about it before making the necessary calls to set the matter in motion. Jackie had needed to know his opinion on the matter, wanting to be sure he didn't think it was disgusting that she was dragging unsuspecting fellow mortals to the house to be fed on by a vampire. She herself could hardly believe she was doing it.

Fortunately, for her conscience, Tiny had merely shrugged and rumbled, "He has to feed. Think of it like they're making unknowing donations to the blood bank."

Sensible Tiny, Jackie thought and felt some of her tension and irritation slip from her as she recalled his words. She'd needed him to say exactly that to make it all right.

"So, let me guess, your purse is in your bedroom, right?"

Jackie glanced over her shoulder at the knowing comment from Darryl and caught him ogling her behind as he followed her up the stairs.

Great! Jackie thought with disgust. Now the guy had the completely wrong idea. Still, she decided that idea would make things easier, so played along, forcing a smile to her face when he finally deigned to glance up and saying, "As a matter of fact, it is. You don't mind, do you?"

She'd tried to instill a sexy purr into her voice, but suspected it sounded more like a growl. Jackie wasn't the sort to play games, especially when she didn't mean it. It was a flaw of her character that could hamper her at work at times.

"No baby, I don't mind," Darryl assured her with a leer. "Lead the way to your boudoir of love."

Jackie managed not to roll her eyes until her face was forward again, then she let the eye rolling rip. Men, she decided, especially young men, could be the most egotistical idiots on the planet when they thought they smelled the possibility of sex. Honestly.

Pausing at Vincent's bedroom door, Jackie turned to glance back toward the delivery guy and froze. Her mouth梬hich she'd opened to speak梥tayed there, hanging loosely as she saw that Darryl had started to strip. The drugstore package now sat on the hall table at the top of the stairs. His shirt lay in a heap several feet past that, and he was already working on the zipper of his jeans.

Snapping her mouth closed as the zipper went down, Jackie turned sharply and opened Vincent's door without knocking. She was desperate to get Darryl to Vincent before the idiot was completely nude.

The room was in complete darkness which took her by surprise. Jackie wasn't sure what she'd expected, but she hadn't expected pitch black. Moving cautiously, she hissed Vincent's name in a bare whisper and moved in the direction she remembered his bed was in from the day she'd come in search of Allen Richmond and found him in Vincent's room. Jackie immediately stilled as the bit of light coming from the hallway disappeared when Darryl stepped into the door frame, cutting it off.

"Wow, you like it dark, huh?"

"Vincent?" Jackie hissed, ignoring the man as she felt the edge of the bed bump her knee.

"No babe, my name's Darryl. You can call me Vincent if you like though," he added quickly as if afraid she might change her mind if he didn't play the game.

Jackie's slightly panicked