And yet she sensed he was hiding something. There was a lot more to his feelings than he was willing to admit and it was obvious he didn't want her to delve into it.
So she changed the subject. "Does it hurt when you change forms? Is it like the movies where you get all hairy and bones crunch?"
He snorted at that. "No. That's strictly a Hollywood dramatization. Since we're born of magic, for the most part we wield it painlessly. I feel about as much pain transforming as you did when we bopped from Talon's cabin to my bike. All you get is a little electrical frizz going through you. It's actually kind of pleasurable if you do it right."
"It must be neat to be able to do all that." She tilted her head, squinted her eyes, and looked at him.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to imagine what you would look like as a wolf."
"Pray you never find out."
She stepped back from him. "You know, I think you guys really get off on scaring people."
"Sometimes we do."
Not willing to investigate that any further, Sunshine continued to wait.
Unfortunately, Cameron didn't show.
Vane tried to get her to go back to Talon's but she refused. "Maybe he's just late. Maybe he had a meeting or something. I can't just leave."
Vane gave a low, very wolf-sounding growl at that and took up a seat behind her stand, leaning back against the black iron fence while she sat on her stool, hawking her wares and sketching.
The afternoon dragged on, but nothing happened.
Cameron still hadn't shown up.
Selena left at four for a brief break.
Vane was now sitting on the curb behind her. His long legs were stretched out on the street, and he had them crossed at the ankles. He was leaning back on his arms. The position pulled his cotton T-shirt tight over his impeccable body.
"You do this every day?" he asked.
"Pretty much."
"Man, this is boring as hell. What do you do to keep from going insane?"
"I usually sketch or paint, and before I know it, the day has passed and it's time to go home."
"Well, I don't get it."
People who weren't artists never did.
"Hi, Sunshine, you got anything new?"
Sunshine turned to see Bride McTierney approaching her on the opposite side of the cart. A tall, plus-sized type of voluptuous, Bride had the face of one of Botticelli's angels. Her hair was so dark an auburn that it appeared black unless Bride was outside. Then it was a deep luminescent red. Bride usually wore it up in a clip with tendrils of it falling around her face.
A real sweetheart, Bride was one of her regular clients. She'd even taken some of Sunshine's paintings and used them in her boutique.
"No," Sunshine said, "sorry. I haven't been painting the fantasy or Jackson Square stuff lately. I've mostly been working on commissioned pieces."
"Rats, I just moved into a new apartment and was hoping you'd have something to make the drab walls tolerable."
Sunshine frowned. Bride had loved her place on Iberville. "Why did you move?"
"Taylor doesn't like coming all the way into the city at night so I thought it would be easier if I lived closer to where he works."