Enchant the Night - Amanda Ashley Page 0,17
she didn’t even feel the bumps in the road.
At the restaurant, he pulled up in front of the valet parking sign. The valet opened her door for her. Then Quill was there, reaching for her hand. A shiver of awareness slid down her spine as his fingers closed over hers.
As they entered the restaurant, she didn’t miss the fact that every female in the place turned to look at Quill with wide-eyed admiration. The waitress seated them immediately, ignoring several other couples who were ahead of them. As she handed Callie a menu, the woman leaned close to her ear, whispering, “Honey, you are one lucky lady,” before sending a radiant smile in Quill’s direction.
Callie looked at him, one brow raised in astonishment. “Does that happen often?”
He shrugged.
“What did you do to her?”
“Nothing.”
“Is she a friend of yours? Is that why she let us go ahead of all those other people?”
“I never saw her before tonight.”
Callie glanced at the tables closest to theirs. Every woman, regardless of age, was looking at Quill, some surreptitiously, others with blatant interest. “So, do females just naturally fall all over themselves around you?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “What can I say?”
Eyes narrowed, she stared at him. Was she like those other women? There was no denying that even knowing what he was, she’d been attracted to Quill almost from the beginning.
Before she could ask any more questions, the waitress returned. She placed a large basket of breadsticks on the table, then took their orders. Callie decided on her usual, spaghetti and meatballs. Quill opted for lasagna and asked for a bottle of red wine.
With a wink and a smile, the waitress left to turn in their order.
“You look upset,” Quill remarked. “Is something wrong?”
“Are you using whatever it is that’s attracting the attention of all these other women on me?”
“What?”
“You know what I mean,” she hissed. “You’re a . . . you know. Are you using some kind of supernatural aphrodisiac to make me care for you?”
Quill scrubbed a hand over his jaw, amazed that she’d even thought such a thing. Not that he didn’t have the power to control human thoughts. When he fed, he always erased the memory from his prey’s mind. He had wiped the incident from Callie’s memory, too, for all the good it had done. He still didn’t understand why it hadn’t worked. But he’d never tried to use his preternatural power to make a woman care for him.
“Is that what’s bothering you? You think I’ve used some kind of love spell on you?” He shook his head. “Believe me, Callie, if you have any feelings for me, they’re all your own.”
She reached for a breadstick, her brow furrowed thoughtfully. Maybe he wasn’t doing anything. He was, after all, a remarkably handsome man. If she thought so, it seemed only natural that other women would think so, too. Glancing at some of the men the other women were with, Callie couldn’t blame them for staring at Quill. He was easily the best-looking guy in the place.
“Callie?”
She looked up at him, feeling foolish.
“Do you believe me?”
“I guess so.”
They made small talk over dinner. It wasn’t until they were in the car again that Quill brought up the subject that had been nagging at him. “Tell me about your family.”
Startled, Callie stared at him. “My family? Why?”
“I’m just curious about you,” he said with a negligent shrug. “About your past.”
“Oh. Well . . . my parents died when I was six and I went to live with my Grandma Ava. She’s really the only family I had.”
“What about your other grandparents? Didn’t you ever see them?”
“No.” She shifted uncomfortably, remembering how hurt she’d been when they cut her out of their life. “My Grandpa Henry thought I was a changeling because I’m left-handed. He was always looking at me strangely, as if he was waiting for me to put a curse on him or turn into some kind of . . . I don’t know what. It got to be an obsession with him. After my parents died, he refused to have anything to do with me and wouldn’t let Grandma Martha visit me, either. She sent me money in birthday cards and Christmas cards for a few years, and then they stopped.” Callie blinked rapidly to stay her tears. “I guess she passed away.”
“But you were close to your other grandparents.”
Callie smiled. “Grandma Ava’s husband passed away before I was born. But I loved living with her. She was so good