Page 8 of Twice Bitten

“Gross, Guillermo.”

He shrugged again. “Some men like to be dominated. That vampire wants you to make him your…” He trailed off. “I can’t think of the English word. Little girl doggie?”

“Bitch?” I blurted.

His gap-toothed smile made me burst out laughing. “Bitch! Yes!” Except it sounded likebeechwhen he said it.

“I dunno, G. He seems dangerous.”

“He vampire. They all dangerous. You make his dangling parts tingly.”

I groaned. “G. Please. Stop.”

“You never get tingly. Maybe go tingle together?” He made jazz hands and jokingly leered at me.

I held up a hand. “Absolutely not.”

G’s laughter followed me further into the back of the shop as I scooted away from him and his tingle suggestion.

I stayed in the back until Addy came to get me.

She shook her head when she spotted me. “That guy is obsessed with you. I don’t know what you did, but you have his bits all fired up.”

“Please don’t say tingle,” I groaned.

She laughed. “He’s into some weird shit. I can tell.”

“G said he wants me to make him my bitch.”

Addy cracked a laugh. “Maybe that’s what it is. He askedfor your number, but I refused to give it to him. Maybe you should lie low until the conference is over.”

“For an entireweek?” I stared at her, aghast. “I can’t go without a paycheck for a week.” I could, but I didn’t want to. Dipping into my savings was the last possible option. Opening my shop was my top priority.

She shrugged. “I’m just saying he’s going to come around here again. The conference is only for a few days.” Her gaze turned sympathetic. “You don’t want to fall on the vamp’s radar. It’s bad for you and the shop.”

I groaned. “Addy.”

She held up her hands. “I won’t make you, but I’m telling you, this is the best option. I have a charm I can give you to hide your scent from him. You definitely don’t want him tailing you home. Check your car when you get in.”

I closed my eyes, resisting the urge to argue. She was right, and I knew it. Addy didn’t know about my online shenanigans or my background, and I didn’t want her to find out when the police were digging my body out of my house if Beckett managed to follow me home and drain me dry.

“Fine,” I said with a heavy sigh. “I’ll lie low. But if he doesn’t come around for a while, I’m coming back. There’s bound to be plenty of vampire chicks to take his mind off a lowly barista at that conference, right?”

Addy gave me a long look. “Vamps rarely date their own kind.”

I snorted. I thought about the hungry gleam in Beckett’s eyes. Dating was the furthest thing from Beckett’s mind. “My blood only has low-level magic. He shouldn’t be attracted to me.” I was lying through my teeth, but that was what the talisman was for, at least according to my mother: keeping my power levels concealed. Mom had once joked about a drop of elemental blood when she realized I could do high magic. Maybe myfather had given me more of that bloodline than she thought.

“We can’t help who makes our bits tingle,” Addy said, her lips twitching with amusement. She winked at G a few feet away, who let out a rumbling laugh.

“Ugh! Stop.” I stood up, abandoning the pile of coffee beans on the table. “For that, you get to sort the rest of those.”

“Anything to get away from the front,” Addy said with a shudder.

“Wimp,” I accused, but there was no heat in my voice.

She flicked a hand at me. “That’s why I have minions. Be gone, minion. Go make me money.”

I rolled my eyes and headed back to the front. “I still get paid for the time off, right?”