Chapter 14
Alastair placed a bottle of champagne on the table. “Here I planned to catch you in a little tête-à-tête with Ms. Fleischer, but you’ve found another lovely woman to charm.”
“Who is this Fleischer? Are you seeing someone else?” I spoke with a Russian accent, grateful for the stupid high school play Sach had forced me to be part of where I’d honed that voice. However, while my voice was fake, my bristling was not. I wanted to finish hashing this out with Ezra.
“Of course not.” My ex glared at Alastair.
The Brit pulled up a chair. “You’re lucky I’m here, Ez, and not Remy. He bribed Eloise to take her shift so he could see his bestie again, but Aviva hasn’t left the house, so I tracked you down.” He chuckled. “Imagine Remy, here. Wouldn’t that have been cozy?”
Ezra groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Remind me to have a chat with him about boundaries.”
“Now, now,” Alastair said, clapping Ezra on the shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on the lad. He’s simply a card-carrying member of the Ezracurriculars. Helped him fill out the form myself.”
“I hate you,” Ezra said.
“No, you don’t, because my presence means you and… Sorry, I didn’t catch your name, love.” Alastair draped an arm along the back of his chair, but there was a weight to his gaze.
My physical disguise was solid, and Ezra had assured me I didn’t smell the same, so was the prickling between my shoulder blades warranted?
“You ruin our dinner,” I said haughtily. “Take your champagne and go.” I flicked a hand at him.
“Let’s not be hasty, sweetheart.” Ezra checked the label on the bottle. “There’s no need to waste excellent champagne.”
I sloshed more wine into my glass. Was parading me under Alastair’s nose fun for Ezra?
The Brit laughed and crossed his legs, getting comfortable. “That’s my boy. By the way, you haven’t seen Hunter, have you? Natán sent him on a job the other day and he never came back.”
I set the bottle down on the table with a too-hard thunk, willing myself to stay calm and keep my heartbeat steady.
“Probably on another one of his blood-drinking benders,” Ezra said.
The other vamp huffed in disgust. “I wouldn’t put it past him. Why Natán keeps him around, I’ll never know.”
“Alastair,” Ezra said flatly.
“Yeah, mate?”
“Three’s a crowd.” Ezra made a shooing motion.
“True, true.” He held up his hands in surrender. “Natán will be delighted to know you’re broadening your social circles, Ez.” He stood up and bowed. “Enjoy the champagne.” Hands in pockets, he sauntered off.
I waited until he was out of vamp hearing range to speak. “Alastair knows it was me and now he’ll run back to Natán about our date. Your father will retaliate for my going against his orders to stay away from you.”
“He isn’t going to harm a Maccabee, especially not one whose mother is a director.”
“Then why did he sic his vampire minders on me?”
“Intel.” Ezra paused and shrugged. “And to mess with us. Be more worried about the day he pulls those vamps, because that’s when he’ll make his move. When we don’t see him coming.”
“That’s super reassuring.”
“Don’t let Alastair or Natán wreck our evening.”
“That’s not all on them,” I snapped. I exhaled slowly. “Sorry. Maybe we should call it a night.”
“Come on. Get back in that dinner headspace, champ.” Ezra threw a couple shadowboxing punches. “It’s romance. It’s sexy. It’s fun.” He looked at me entreatingly. “You don’t want to miss dessert.”
I didn’t want to leave but I didn’t know how to stay. I wrinkled my nose at my congealing dinner. Whatever. “Bring it on.”
“Brace yourself, Fleischer.” He caught the eye of someone beyond the potted orchids and nodded.
“I have pretty high expectations.”
“I know,” he said seriously.
At a footfall, I looked up, worried Alastair had come back, only to see a small army of servers carrying trays laden with desserts.
There were macarons in a rainbow of pastels hues, dark chocolate soufflé, crème br?lée waiting to be cracked open, delicate tulip-shaped glasses filled with layers of fruit, cream, and cake, and handmade chocolate truffles, all set out on the tables around us.
“Dessertapalooza,” I breathed. “This is why you booked out this section?”
“Your answer was dessert dependent.” Ezra tugged on his collar, his nervousness sending butterflies dancing through my belly. “I feel ridiculous now.”
I placed my hand over his. “Don’t. This is incredible.”
The servers turned reverently to a portly chef with a handlebar mustache carrying a tower, nay a golden pyramid of cream puffs held together by glistening strands of caramel.
I half rose out of my seat, dabbing at my eyes. “That is the most perfect croquembouche I’ve ever seen.”
Ezra crossed his arms. “You have no clue what a Chateau Petrus is, but you can identify a croquembouche at forty paces?”
“It’s like you know nothing about me,” I said sadly. “Now hush and let me bathe in its magnificence.”
“Mais, oui, c’est magnifique,” the chef said in his thick French accent, carefully setting the dessert down in front of me. “I am the finest pastry chef in tous le monde. Monsieur Cardoso begged to fly me in from Paris on my day off.”
“The money truck I offered didn’t hurt.” Ezra offered a bland smile.
“That’s why we’re doing this on a Wednesday?” I said.
“Duh. Why else would I schedule a romantic dinner on Hump Day?”
The chef wished me bon appétit and withdrew, taking the waitstaff with him.
“I…I don’t even know where to start,” I said, my eyes roaming over the desserts.
Ezra leaned in close, his breath tickling my ear. “That’s the beauty of it,” he murmured in a low husky voice. “You don’t have to choose. You can try them all.” His hand found its way to the small of my back, his fingers splayed possessively across the fabric.
I laughed off the starburst shooting through me at his touch, closed my eyes, and pointed. “That one first.”
“That’s a candle.” He moved my hand a half inch. “How about that?”
I kept my eyes closed. “Feed it to me.”
“You trust me to put something in your mouth without seeing what it is?”
“You trust me to have something in my mouth at a future date if you mess with me now?” I said sweetly.
Ezra barked a laugh.
My grin turned to a moan when I savored the sharp crunch of caramelized sugar, followed by the creaminess of decadent custard. I swallowed it and opened my eyes. “More.”
Ezra’s fingers tightened on the spoon. A slow, wicked smile bloomed across his face then he leaned in and licked the corner of my mouth. “You had some cream.”
My entire body lit up, my nipples going hard. All right, Count von Cardoso, the game was on. My teeth grazed his fingers when he popped a chocolate truffle in my mouth; he wiped a macaron crumb off my lip with tantalizing slowness in retaliation.
We waged a war on a sugar-fueled battlefield of who would break first, every morsel he fed me intertwined with his touch and scent.
Until we hit the point where sexy tipped into “oh God, my stomach is going to explode.”
“Mercy,” I said, pushing away my third choux pastry puff tempting me like some creamy demon.
Phrasing , Cherry muttered.
“Have some water.” Ezra poured a glass and pressed it into my hand.
We hadn’t even made a dent in the desserts that had cost Ezra a small fortune, my fastidious ex had a dollop of something on his pricy shirt from feeding me, and now he was pouring me water, his primary concern my well-being.
“Aviva,” Ezra said, his tone suddenly serious.
My stomach knotted up.
“I know things have been complicated between us,” he said, “but I don’t want to wait. If being with you means keeping us quiet for now, taking it slow, then I’ll do it.”
He was giving me what I wanted but damn. “You’re giving me vertigo from this sudden change of heart. Our chemistry?—”
“Isn’t why I’m saying this. Alastair’s presence made everything my father is forcing you to deal with hit me in a visceral way. And that’s just one pressure you’re facing.” He leaned forward. “I don’t want to be a stress in your life, though I can’t promise your way will always be easy for me. Allegedly, sometimes, I like to be in control.”
I snorted and twisted my linen napkin. It’s funny how our encounter with Alastair had driven different things home for us. For me, it demonstrated that Ezra and I were always a hairsbreadth away from being discovered—if we hadn’t been already. I hadn’t calculated how much time had to pass before it was safe for us to come out about our relationship.
What if it was never? At least, not as long as Ezra remained at the Copper Hell.
“Avi?” He held out his hand.
“Fuck it.” I placed my hand in his. “I’m in.”
Finally , Cherry groused.
Ezra pulled away with a look of mock outrage. “‘Fuck it, I’m in’? That’s how you want to phrase our grand reconciliation?”
“I’m so full that if I was wearing pants, I’d have unbuttoned them, so I definitely do not have the energy to rephrase myself in a more romantic fashion.”
“But you had the energy for that speech,” he groused.
“In or out, Cardoso?”
Ezra held up his chalice. “To new beginnings,” he said.
I mirrored the gesture with my water glass. “And old friends. Who are also new friends. But also, not just friends.”
Shut up before you drive him away, loser , Cherry said. No. Wait. That was my voice in my head. I mean, fair. “To new beginnings,” I said.
We clinked glasses.
Ezra’s eyes lit up with a mischievous glint. “I have an excellent bottle of Merlot back at my place. What do you say we continue this celebration somewhere more private? We’ll portal directly to my accommodations. Delacroix will never know you were there.”
I appreciated his forethought as much as I hated that we had to sneak around. Mostly, though, I was all fluttery at the prospect of making love again as a couple. “What happened to taking it slowly?” I teased.
“I plan to slowly explore every single inch of you. Does that count?”
“Okay,” I squeaked.
The smile that broke across Ezra’s face was radiant. “Yeah? We’re really doing this? Us this, not sex this, though we will do that too. A lot.”
I nodded and took his hand, trying not to laugh, but also so relieved that he was as nervous as I was. “Yes, Zee. We’re doing this.”
“We should probably kiss,” he said.
“Only to make it official and not because we’d enjoy it.”
“Not at all.” He grimaced and slid his hand into the hair at the nape of my neck.
A gooey sensation speared my chest.
Ezra brushed his lips over mine, sighing my name and igniting a spark inside me that sent shivers cascading down my spine. His kiss was soft at first, almost reverent, his warm lips teasing and nipping.
I chased his lips, wanting to throw “slow” under a bus and drive over it a few times for good measure, but he kept pulling back slightly, ruthless in keeping the kiss light.
Ruthless in driving me into a hot ball of need.
I lightly punched his chest. “I’m invoking my woman’s prerogative. Enough of this.”
He sat back with a half grin. “Enough kissing? Aw. Too bad.”
“Ezra,” I growled.
He leaned slowly toward me—then turned his head and nipped my ear, scraping his fangs along the side of my neck.
I sighed breathily.
He yanked me onto his lap, his lips claiming mine, and thrust his tongue into my mouth, tasting of wine and a darker copper note that Cherry flared to life at.
The kiss wasn’t a slow ripple, it was a plunge into the deepest part of the ocean where only the brave dared swim.
I dove in headfirst, meeting him stroke for stroke, all lips and teeth and tongue, my fingers clasped in the curls at the base of his neck and my other hand gripping his biceps.
Ezra gave this sexy-as-fuck rumble that vibrated through me, curling my toes.
I tumbled between kisses that felt like the swell of waves, so lit up, I swore my buzzing was audible.
“?Cono!”
Cotton-headed, I clutched at his shirtfront.
“Avi.” Ezra nodded at the table. “Our phones.”
They were buzzing simultaneously. We shared a look of disbelief before checking our messages.
Mine was a douse of cold water. “Some asshole smashed my car in my underground parking at home.”
Ezra made a face at his screen. “Trouble at the Copper Hell that demands my attention.”
“This was orchestrated,” I said.
“Fucking Alastair.” Ezra stood, offering his hand to help me up. “Rain check?”
I sighed, allowing him to pull me to my feet. In some ways, these petty strikes were reassuring. Natán could get to us anytime; he wouldn’t do anything drastic while we were braced for it.
Ezra growled when his phone buzzed again.
We straightened our clothing as best we could, but his shirt was rumpled and my lopsided do was missing about seven bobby pins. There was no hiding what we’d been up to.
I followed him to the foyer with a longing glance back at all the desserts.
The hostess retrieved my jacket from the cloakroom.
“Darn. I forgot my scarf,” I lied. “You don’t have to wait.”
He gave me a patient smile and nodded at the hostess, who produced a white bakery box tied with a pink ribbon. “A dessert sample to go.”
“It’s like you really know me,” I said.
Even in our moments of frustration, there were sparks of magic, reminding us why we chose to fight for this reconciliation. As I held the bakery box with its brilliant satin bow, there was a familiar ba-bump in my chest—the one that always appeared when Ezra’s thoughtfulness caught me off guard, making me fall for him all over again.
Half an hour later, I was home, sitting on the trunk of my car, eating macarons out of my take-home box of goodies, and staring at the wreckage of my plastic bumper on the concrete. Earworm from Hell Muzak played on the twenty-four-hour insurance claims line.
Sach strode out of the elevator, whistling at the damage. “Bet it was that asshole in 7D.”
“It was one of Natán’s crew.” I put my call on speaker. “I can’t prove it, because they still haven’t fixed the cameras down here, but I’m positive.”
Sachie selected a chocolate truffle. “Are you and Ezra back together again?”
My fingers drifted to my lips and the memory of that kiss.
“That’s a yes, then.” Sach poked me in the forehead. “Make that dopey look go away.”
I grinned. “Dopey is good. Better than anything requiring a Disney villain’s karaoke playlist, right?”
“The jury’s still out,” she grumbled, then winked.
It meant everything to me to have her approval on this, since she’d dragged me through the darkness of that breakup and back into the world of the living.
My phone buzzed and I clicked on the photo of a demon caught mid-transformation. The half bat, half goat crouched by a Li’l Hellion who held a silver spoon like a makeshift stake, the two of them looking on with identical expressions of horror at Ezra, who was inexplicably covered in green goo from the knees down.
I showed the photo to Sach, who snagged another truffle and announced she was leaving before we started sexting.
I looked around. “In the parkade?”
“Public places can be sexy.”
“While I’m on hold with the insurance adjuster?”
“Like I didn’t have to hear the two of you more than once.”
“When Ezra is covered in demon goop?”
“You define threesomes as you see fit, boo.” She booped me on the nose.
I pointed to the elevator. “Go now.”
Chuckling, she wandered away.
Count von Cardoso: Wish you were here?
I grimaced at the demon goo photo. Not remotely.
Fair. How bad is your car?
Didn’t expect her to need a butt lift so early in our relationship, but here we are . How about next time we ignore our phones and run away?
I’m in .
When there was nothing further, I assumed he’d been distracted by more shenanigans at the Hell, but a final message popped up.
I miss you already .
I pressed the phone to my chest, like a giddy schoolgirl. Back at you, Zee .
My heart sank. I was already so far gone for him again. I crossed my fingers. Please don’t let this go wrong .
It won’t , Cherry said firmly in my head. You’re different people now and you both want this to work. So chill the fuck out and enjoy this.
I ran my thumb over the message on the screen. I miss you already .
Okay, Aviva Jaqueline Fleischer, time to stop overthinking this and worrying about all the ways it could go wrong. Sachie and Darsh accepted Cherry, my mom and I were getting along better than ever, and now Ezra was officially back in my life.
I was allowed to be happy.
I was happy, and no one, not even my own dumb brain, was going to take that away from me.
And when the insurance agent answered my call, and I described the damage to my car? Well, even that didn’t seem so bad.
Happy was kind of awesome.