The Vampire’s Promise (Neon Moonlight #3)

Chapter 1

“Ryder, I need to hear you say it again. Please.”

I didn’t think I had it in me. Once seemed like enough, but everyone in the room was staring at me. So I took a deep breath and tried like hell to steel myself.

Nope, there was no steel to be found. My legs had turned to goo. But I did it.

“Marry me,” I repeated. James still didn’t speak, leaving me to ramble nervously. “I mean it. We can hop a flight to Vegas and be married by New Year’s, or we can do the big white wedding. I don’t care how we do it. I just want you. Marry me, James Campbell.”

My heart thundered so violently that blood rushed in my ears. James still held me tightly, searching my face for any hint of a doubt. He wouldn’t find one. Hannah and Kian sat on the couch with bated breath, waiting for James’s answer.

“Yes.”

I heaved a sigh of relief. “Yes?”

“Yes. Of course, I’ll marry you.” My vampire hauled me into a kiss, his arms the only things holding me upright. Next to me, Hannah squealed and Carlos bounded at our legs, wanting in on the attention. It was messy, chaotic, and impulsive…

And it was ours.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“Nope,” Hannah said, “and don’t you dare ask Kian! You know he’s the weak link.”

“Hey!” came an objection from behind me.

Peering over my shoulder, I crooked a brow at my daughter’s boyfriend.

He flushed as red as the Christmas lights hanging above his head and wrenched his attention away from me, his mousy hair serving as an extra layer of protection.

“I’m still not telling. I was sworn to secrecy. ”

Following the destruction of James’s house a few weeks ago by two vampire sisters and a vengeful former coworker that left Kian in the ICU, Kian was forced to quit his job to recover.

Since it was basically our fault that he was hurt, James and I had hired him to bartend at Liz’s.

With Shi in Houston for the holidays, we could use the extra pair of hands anyway.

Two days in, Kian took to the job eagerly, even if his still-fresh injuries slowed him down.

While things had settled down over the last few days, today it was clear that everyone was in on something that I was obviously missing.

I’d just returned from a well-deserved break, and the energy in the room felt…

off. Thinking back on it, Kian had been bursting at the seams all day, throwing knowing grins my way and nearly bouncing on his toes with energy.

When Hannah showed up well before closing, I knew something big was about to happen—especially when she took a seat at the bar.

He couldn’t be proposing… I’d already done that a few days ago. Helplessly, I looked at Hannah. Unfortunately, my daughter was just like me and could keep a secret until she was blue in the face.

Someone walked up to the bar and ordered a drink, distracting Kian before I could interrogate him.

Two hands curled around my hips, and James rested his chin on my shoulder. He was always affectionate but damn, he’d really been hamming it up today.

A year ago, that would have annoyed me. Now? I welcomed the feeling of being caged in his arms, leaning into his touch before pulling away.

He didn’t let me.

His hands tightened, vampiric strength pinning me in place. “It’s been a busy night. Why don’t you sit down? Let us make you a drink.”

Us?

“We’re at work.” Despite my protest, I couldn’t help but giggle when his lips tickled across my neck. People were starting to stare. The attention didn’t make me uncomfortable, but we did have a business to run.

“I’m still your boss, and I told you to sit down.” This time, he urged me from behind the bar and onto a stool on the other side.

“Oh-kay…” Confused, I slid into the seat next to Hannah.

James turned his attention to her. “You ready, kid?”

Blue eyes shining, she practically leapt off the stool, rushing around to join the two men behind the counter.

Considering she was underage, I crooked a brow. “What the hell is going on?”

James swept a hand through his dark hair, then leaned across the deep, polished mahogany.

Muscles rippled up his forearms and biceps…

distracting me, the bastard. Something danced in his brown eyes, and I found myself longing to see that hint of red that he kept when no one was watching. “Trust me, love.”

Shamelessly, he planted a kiss on my lips before returning to whatever the hell these three were scheming.

Each had a cocktail shaker in front of them, and one by one, began to mix a drink: my drink.

Ice fell into the stainless-steel shakers with a simultaneous clatter and the bottle of Absolut fell down the line: First Kian, then James, then Hannah.

Raspberry liqueur followed, and with a flourish, three caps snapped into place.

A crowd began to form around me, but my eyes were trained on the man in the middle.

Everything about James oozed sex, and this was no different.

Only now, he wore a ring on his left hand—my ring.

Mixing the cocktail with one hand, he reached under the bar with the other.

The music transformed from the classic rock we normally played to something slower, with a bit of twang.

Luke Combs.

It was our song. The one I’d played the first time we danced together in the kitchen.

Like a choreographed routine, the three of them flipped sugar-rimmed frosted martini glasses onto the counter and poured in the cocktail through a strainer.

When James lifted a bottle of champagne, everyone’s attention in the room zeroed in on him.

He agitated the Asti, popping the cork and getting cheers from the people around me.

As he poured, my eyes caught the simple black band on his finger.

It had only been a few days since I’d impulsively proposed to him on Christmas morning.

The very next day, I took him to buy a ring.

I said he could have whatever he wanted, but he picked an unadorned tungsten band, saying that it meant so much more to him that I’d been the one to ask him.

I still wondered where I got the nerve to do such a thing.

His “yes” played on a loop in my mind. If I really thought about it, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

He’d been all-in from day one. I’d always been the one who hesitated.

Sitting there, watching him look back at me as he mixed the very drink I’d made for him the first time we met, I couldn’t imagine a time when I didn’t love him.

Rimming his cocktail with syrupy fake blood, James tossed me a wink before topping it with a pair of plastic fangs he produced from seemingly nowhere.

Three drinks slid across the rail, but there was something different about his.

Set into the groove in the fake plastic teeth was a ring. Thin bands of silver encompassed a deep sapphire, a color I almost recognized but couldn’t quite place.

My heart seemed to pick up on it before my brain did. Heavy thumps against my ribcage, and I looked up at the man in front of me. Red flashed across his eyes before he remembered himself. “What’s this about?” I croaked.

“I have something to ask you.” He took in a visible breath—something he only did when he was nervous.

“The Kind of Love We Make” faded out, giving way to “Better Together.” Hannah and Kian took a step back to allow James through the partition, and the crowd parted just for him. He plucked the ring out of the plastic…

Then dropped to one knee.

He was proposing. I’d given him the quiet one he always wanted, and now he was returning the favor. He was giving me a splashy proposal worthy of Ryder Clark.

“You bastard,” I muttered, throat tight. I crossed my arms over my chest to hide how violently my hands trembled.

“A little over a year ago, we met in this bar, over this very drink. I’d never seen anything like it before—anything like you.

Ryder Clark, you blew me away the first time I ever laid eyes on you.

Every day since, my love for you has only grown.

You’re reckless and impulsive, but you’re also one of the most passionate and selfless people I’ve ever met.

You’re an amazing man and an incredible father.

I couldn’t imagine living another day of my life without you by my side. Will you marry me?”

“Yes.” My voice was hardly a whisper, but James heard it, and that was all that mattered.

He slipped the ring onto my finger, and my lips were on his before he could completely stand.

Pops sounded through the room, and paper confetti tickled my bare arms. I broke off the kiss, letting James brush a piece of tissue paper from my nose.

I leaned in close, making sure my next words reached no one’s ears but his. “You’re good, vampire.”

James’s arms closed around my waist, and he leaned in for another kiss. “I know.”

The music returned to normal, and the people in the crowd dispersed back to their tables and booths.

“Here, lovebirds.” Hannah slid her drink across the bar to James, and I took the one he’d mixed. “You have to do the arm thing!”

Smiling, we indulged her, twisting our arms together and taking a sip from our cocktails. While James could chug all three and not feel a thing, I left mine alone—I still had a shift to work.

Hannah moved for the partition, but I intercepted her. “How’d you get James to agree to let you mix?”

She didn’t even hesitate. She flashed what I presumed to be a fake ID before slipping it into her pocket. “It was his idea. This was just a precaution.”

Wow. Color me impressed. I was still her father, so I masked my pride and ushered her from behind the bar. I pulled her into a hug—and snatched the ID from her pocket.

“Hey!” she protested. She attempted to snatch the card, but I held it out of reach.

“There’s no way I’m letting you keep this. Your mom would kill me.”

Ignoring the scathing look she gave me, I snapped the card in half and threw it away.