Kissed by Claw and Fang novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Warm Hands

The next night, a green pickup was parked two spaces down from my Honda in lot C.

It was two in the morning, my feet hurt, and I had spent the whole day pretending I had not met a vampire.

I knocked on the pickup's window with one knuckle.

The glass rolled down, and Rhys Kendrick grinned out at me.

"Hey, Pengelly," he said. "Fancy meeting you at the worst parking lot in New Hampshire."

"What are you doing?"

"Eating," Rhys said, and held up a greasy paper bag. "I bought too many. It's a medical condition."

"You're stalking me," I said.

"Mildly," he said. "With fries."

He had the most irritating face in the world, open as a barn door, with a smile that went all the way to his eyes.

I took one fry out of the bag.

It was still hot.

"Get in," Rhys said. "It's freezing, and the heater in here works. Mine isn't broken."

"Mine is broken. People tell me it builds character."

He laughed so hard he had to put his forehead on the steering wheel.

I got in.

The cab smelled like pine and wool and warm bread, and I felt my shoulders unlock one by one.

He turned the vents toward me without saying anything.

We ate the whole bag between us.

"Okay," I said, with my mouth full. "Two questions."

"Shoot."

"Why did you say 'mine' in front of four hundred people?"

"I didn't say it," Rhys said. "My mouth said it. Next question."

"What do you want from me?"

He wiped salt off his fingers and thought about it honestly, which I had not expected.

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