an easy out at first. "Pizza?"
Vicki tossed him the phone. "It's my place, you're buying."
One lone slice lay congealing in the box and the Jays had actually managed to acquire and hang on to a two-run lead when she told him she was heading for London.
"England?"
"No, Ontario."
"New case?"
"Right first time."
"What's it about?"
I'm looking for the person, or people, involved in shooting a family of sheep-farming werewolves with silver bullets. At least it was real work. Important work. "Uh, I can't tell you right now. Maybe later." Maybe in a million years....
Celluci frowned. She was hiding something. He could always tell. "How are you getting there? Train? Bus?" Stretching out his leg, he poked her in the side with a bare foot. "Jogging?"
Vicki snorted. "I'm not the one carrying the love-handles."
In spite of himself, he sucked in his gut.
Vicki grinned as he tried to pretend he hadn't done it, visibly forcing himself to relax. Pity, Vicki mused, because he's just going to get tense again. "Henry's giving me a lift down tomorrow night."
"Henry?" Celluci kept his voice carefully neutral. She had, of course, every right to spend time with whoever she wished but there was something about Henry Fitzroy that Celluci most definitely didn't like. Casual inquiries had turned up nothing to make him change his mind - given that they'd turned up nothing at all. "He's involved in this case, is he?" The last of Vicki's cases Henry Fitzroy had been involved with had ended with her half dead at the feet of a grade B movie monster. Celluci had been unimpressed.
Vicki pushed her glasses up her nose. How much to tell him... "He's friends with the people I'm working for."
"Will he be staying after he drops you off?" Correctly interpreting her lowering brows, he added, "Calm down. You know and I know how much trouble a civilian can be around a case. I just want to be sure that you're not complicating things for yourself." He could see that she wasn't convinced of his purity of motive. Tough.
"First of all, Celluci, try to remember that I am now a civilian." He snorted and she scowled. "Secondly, he's just giving me a lift and filling me in on some of the background details. He won't be interfering." He'll be helping. We'll be working together. She had no intention of letting Mike Celluci know that, not when she didn't know how she felt about it herself. Besides, it would involve an explanation it wasn't her place to give. And if she wanted to work with Henry Fitzroy, it was none of Celluci's damned business.
Celluci read the last thought of her expression and almost got it right. "I was thinking about your career, not your sex life," he growled, tossing back the last inch of tepid beer remaining in the bottle. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Vicki."
"My mind?" It was her turn to snort. She peeled herself out of the recliner, sweaty skin coming away from the vinyl with a painful tearing sound. "I didn't bring it up. But seeing as you have... "
He recognized her next move as a distraction, an attempt to pull his attention away from Henry Fitzroy. As distractions went, it wasn't bad and he decided to cooperate. Time enough later to do a little investigating into the elusive Mr. Fitzroy's background.
Halfway to the bedroom, he asked with mock seriousness - or as close as he could get given his current shortness of breath - "What about the game?"
"They're two runs ahead with an inning an a half to play," Vicki muttered. "Surely they can win this one without us."
As Henry's teeth opened the vein in Tony's wrist he looked up to find the eyes of the younger man locked on him. The pupils dilated and orgasm weighted the lids, but through it all, Tony watched avidly as the vampire drank.
When it was over, and he was sure the coagulant in his saliva had stopped the bleeding, Henry raised himself up on one elbow. "Do you always watch?" he asked.
Tony nodded drowsily. "S'part of the turn on. Seeing you do it."
Henry laughed and pushed a long lock of damp brown hair back off Tony's forehead. He'd been feeding from Tony as often as had been safe for the last five months, ever since Vicki had convinced the young man to help save his life. "And do you watch while I do other things?"
Tony grinned. "I don't remember. You mind?"
"No. It's pleasant not to have to hide