7. Teresa
Teresa
I stared into the eyes of the woman my inner demon was insisting was my mate. This had to be a mistake. Maybe my mate was around here somewhere, one of the guards perhaps, and my vamp side was confused, focusing on the nearest person it saw.
There was absolutely no way that Flora Meyer was my mate. Surely the gods wouldn’t be that cruel?
When I was a little girl, my best friend and I used to dream about finding our fated mates. Tracie was on Team Hetero, and her dream mate was some dude who was tall, dark, and handsome. Maybe a shifter or a powerful warlock, or even a good-sized human. My dream mate was always someone like me. A ‘tomboy’ as my mother used to call me. Adventurous. Smart. Curvy but fit. Strong.
This petite woman with her carefully styled hair, layers of make-up, and manicured nails was nothing like I’d imagined. She didn’t even know her security team was under a contract, how the fuck was she running a major corporation?
No, this absolutely had to be some kind of a misunderstanding.
She was pretty, no doubt about it, although I preferred a more natural look. Her hair was dark and wavy, her eyes large and brown. She was on the thin side, with a flat stomach and thin legs, and although her breasts were full and natural looking, the rest of her was mostly angles, with no visible muscle tone. She was wearing a blue wrap dress and heels like she’d just gotten back from a luncheon at the country club. Maybe she had.
“Does anyone else live in the house with you?” I asked, tearing my eyes away from her breasts.
“Just my housekeeper, Patty.”
Oh, maybe the housekeeper was my mate. “Is she here?”
“No,” Flora replied. “She went to Portland for a couple of months to help her daughter who just had a baby. Now I just have a temp service come in a few days a week.”
Okay, Grandma Patty was definitely not my mate.
It’s Flora. Flora is your mate! my vamp insisted. I ignored her.
“How many people are on shift for security?” I asked.
“Um? I think two or three. I’ve never seen more than three people here.”
I resisted the urge to sigh. “How many of them are female?”
“None. I’ve only seen men working here.”
Damn it, that meant my mate wasn’t on the security team. Fate had to know I was a lesbian.
“Is anyone else here at your house regularly?” I asked, desperate to associate that tantalizing scent of my mate with someone else. Anyone else.
“Miguel our gardener comes once a week, but other than that, I don’t have a lot of guests,” Flora said. “No one else has been here in months.”
I wasn’t sure what was going on here with the mate thing, but I had a job to do so I told my inner vamp to calm down and resolved to figure this out later. That was one thing I’d learned in the military – how to lock all my feelings up in a box and save them for later.
“I’m going to need to sweep this place for bugs,” I said, looking around with distaste at the size of the mansion. “I think I’ll need to call in reinforcements, otherwise it will take all damned day.”
Sliding my phone out of my pocket, I sent a text to Boris. I knew the restaurant was closed today, so hopefully he and his brothers would do me a solid and come out to help me secure the building.
Boris texted back immediately.
“My guys will be here in less than an hour,” I said. “Why don’t you show me around, but don’t say anything about security until after we’ve cleared the house. Once we’re inside, I’m your trainer, nothing else. Assume someone is listening, and maybe watching us. Got it?”
Flora looked a little shellshocked and I resisted the strong urge I suddenly had to comfort her.
“One question,” she said, raising her hand like she was a kid in school. “What’s with the big sword?”
I glanced down at the bag I’d set on the ground while we talked. I’d almost forgotten I’d brought it.
“That’s Irma,” I said.
“Irma? Your sword has a name?” Flora’s eyes were huge.
“Affirmative. Irma and I have been through a lot of battles together.”
Honestly, none of those battles were real, but she didn’t need to know that. I totally could use Irma to defend myself or kill someone if I needed to. Not that I used it for work though, my gun was a little less obvious to carry around with me.
“Are your battles with the Knights of the Round Table?” she asked incredulously. “Who uses a sword in this day and age?”
“I do.”
“Wouldn’t a gun be easier?” she asked.
“Yep.” I couldn’t resist messing with her. “Now show me around this architectural travesty.”
As soon as we entered the house I assumed the role of personal trainer.
“Let’s talk about your fitness goals while you show me around,” I said to Flora. “Then we’ll look at what you have in your fridge.”
“Fridge?” she said blankly.
“It’s a big cold box in the kitchen where your servants keep the food,” I said snidely.
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t have servants. Well, except the housekeeper I guess. But I certainly don’t think of her like that.”
“Do you cook for yourself?” I asked skeptically.
“Well, no. I’m not very good in the kitchen, but I have an excellent meal delivery service.”
Of course she did.
I followed Flora up a giant marble staircase to the second level. This entire mansion was pretentious as hell. I didn’t understand how anyone could live here, but I kept my opinions to myself.
“You have your choice of six bedrooms,” Flora told me when we got upstairs. “There are three on this side and three on the other wing.”
Her house had wings. I repressed a sigh.
“Which one is closest to yours?” I asked.
She looked surprised but didn’t ask any questions. “This one.”
She led me into a large comfortable looking bedroom. It had a queen sized bed with a comforter that was pure white, matching the carpet. Artfully arranged pillows gave it a pop of color. The room had a wooden desk in one corner, a television affixed to the wall across the bed, and a reading nook with a chair and table facing the windows overlooking the back yard. Two doors inside led to an in-suite bathroom and a walk-in closet with built in drawers and shelves. The room alone was about the size of my entire apartment.
“Does this work okay for you?” Flora asked as she watched me walking around.
“I’ve slept in worse,” I mumbled. “Now let me see your bedroom.”
Flora led me to the room next door, and I cataloged the difference in this space. Unlike the rest of the house, this room was filled with warm colors. The walls were painted a moss green, with a darker green carpet on the floor. Her bed had about a thousand throw pillows on it, all in a riot of color. The chairs near the window were upholstered in a gold fabric that worked perfectly in the room, and abstract art with bright colors adorned the walls. I felt instantly comfortable in here.
“No TV?” I asked.
“I don’t really watch TV,” Flora said.
I nodded. It was the first positive thing I’d heard about her since I got here.
I stepped into the bathroom, noting about a million jars of creams and potions on a shelf next to the sink. In my own bathroom I had two things: shampoo and soap.
“What’s in here?” I asked, pointing to the other door.
“It’s my dressing room.”
I frowned. What was a dressing room? Opening the door I realized it was basically a giant closet with rows of shelves, cabinets and drawers. There was some kind of fancy upholstered bench in the middle. On one side of the space was a brightly lit make-up table with shelves of cosmetics and hair products stacked on either side. A blow dryer, curling iron, and some other appliances hung neatly next to one of the shelves.
Jesus Christ. My mate had ‘high maintenance’ written all over her. I turned around quickly, not realizing that Flora was right behind me. She jumped back, then stumbled on one of her ridiculously high shoes. Fortunately for her, I had supernatural reflexes. I grabbed her arms and pulled her close to keep her upright. The motion made her brush against me, sending a jolt of awareness zinging through my body.
Flora’s mouth opened on a gasp as I stared down at her, my entire body vibrating with the need to claim her.
“Oh my God! Your teeth!”