“As in, Ryder Galen? Doesn’t his wife work in our legal department?”
Mike shook his head as he chewed on a morsel of steak. “She left when your father stepped in to run the business. She now works as Galen’s legal counsel.”
“Darn,” Vivianne muttered. “She was good.”
“Good for Ryder,” Zane said, nodding.
He knew this Galen? Vivianne didn’t know if that was good or bad. If the lycans were in any way affiliated with Galen, then that was probably bad news for vampires.
Zane twisted in her direction.
“How is the wine?” he inquired, then frowned. “Please tell me that’s wine, and not blood.” He made a gagging sound, and she pursed her lips.
“What’s it going to take to re-open the river channel to market?” she asked, determinedly focusing on the handsome vampire in front of her, and not the annoying werewolf at her side.
Mike shrugged. “Not sure. It’s difficult to get them to the table. They’re very eager to strengthen the relationship with Woodland, and apparently that lycan your brother killed was well liked.”
“Aw, now that’s sweet,” Zane said, sniffing as he dabbed at his eye. “They did that for me? That warms the cockles of my dead little heart.”
Vivianne’s gaze dropped to the fork in her hand. It was so tempting...
“Go on, you know you want to,” Zane said, indicating the fork with a lift of his chin. “I’m sure Wheezy Whistler here would love to see you go batcrap crazy on empty space. They can’t see me, remember?” He blew a kiss at Mike, who smiled, oblivious, at Vivianne. “See?”
Vivianne forced herself to place the fork gently on the plate. “Find out what they want. Then make sure we get it.”
Mike nodded, then glanced down at the fork. “You don’t like your meal?”
“It’s fine.” It was the company she had issues with. Oh, not Mike, he seemed nice enough. She smiled brightly.
He reached over and covered her hand with his. “I’m glad you’re still with us,” he told her softly. She was surprised by the contact and instinctively pulled away. She wasn’t the touchy-feely type.
Zane dropped his forehead to the table. “I really wish I could puke.”
“Me, too,” she said. “Glad I’m still here,” she clarified, when Zane lifted his head to look at her in surprise. No, she didn’t mean she wanted to throw up with him.
“Like, hurl until I get this sick all out of my system. But I can’t,” Zane elaborated, his fist tapping his flat stomach. “Can’t pee, can’t poop. Can’t puke. Must be a dead thing. Hey, you’re dead. Well, undead. But you pee and poop. How does that work?”
She closed her eyes as warmth bloomed in her cheeks. Had he been stuck with her when she did that? And just like that, he’d obliterated any hope for an intimate evening with Mike.
“Is everything okay, Vivianne?” Mike asked, and she opened her eyes to see his concerned expression.
She nodded. “I’m fine. I just remembered I have some work to finish at home before a meeting tomorrow,” she lied. “I’m sorry, can we do this another time?”
“Sure,” Mike said, smiling in understanding. “I figure it’s going to take some time for you to adjust to your normal routine.” He signaled for the waiter, and in moments she was back in his car, her date ending earlier than she’d expected. Earlier than she suspected Mike expected.
* * *
She turned in the foyer that led from the elevator to the front door of her penthouse. Mike stood there, his expression curious, tinged with anticipation.
And right next to him stood a hulk of a werewolf, muscular arms folded as he glared at her.
“Do not invite him in,” Zane warned her. “You and I need to talk.”
She arched an eyebrow and looked at Mike. There was no way in hell she would let a wolf order her about. “Would you like to—”
Zane snarled, and in a flash, her clutch flew out of her grasp.
Mike’s head reared back to avoid the missile, his expression clearly surprised.
Vivianne covered her mouth. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she gasped. She’d nearly smacked her date in the head with her bag. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at Zane. No, he’d nearly smacked her date in the head with her bag.
“Uh, that’s...fine,” Mike said as he bent to retrieve her purse. He handed it to her. “You were about to say?” he prodded her.
This wasn’t going to work. Not tonight. She had a furious, impatient werewolf ghost, or spirit, or phantom, or hallucination, or whatever the hell he was, effectively blocking any attempt she made at communicating with this man. Frankly, the effort to ignore him and pretend everything was normal was exhausting.
“Would you like to do this again sometime?” she finished gently.
Mike’s disappointment was quickly replaced with a smile and a nod. “Sure.”
He leaned down to kiss her, and Zane’s nose blocked her view of her date for a moment.
“I swear, if this turns into some sort of twisted voyeur experience, you’re going to need to make me some popcorn. Just saying.”
Vivianne tilted her head away from Zane, and Mike’s lips landed on her cheek. “Uh, thanks for a great evening,” she said, then turned and unlocked her door, stepped inside and gave him a shaky wave. She closed the door, then leaned back against it, shutting her eyes.
That had to be the most embarrassing, weird and frustrating—
“Can we talk now?”
She opened her eyes to glare at the six-foot-three-inch wall of infuriating male. He arched an eyebrow, and with his scruffy brown hair, and a short beard that framed his jaw and—wow, he had really nice lips. The bottom one was slightly fuller, and a mental image of her sinking her teeth into it surprised her. Mainly because it wasn’t an image of her ripping him to shreds like she tried to convince herself she wanted to, but because the image was playful and sexy and all kinds of wrong.
His brown gaze met hers, and for the first time she realized he had hazel flecks, green and gold shards the gradually lightened the longer they stood there, staring at each other.
She frowned. This...man, if she could call him that—was he even real? She reached out, swiping her arm across his body, and he closed his eyes as her arm swept through his body. She felt...nothing. No, maybe there was a slight change in air temperature. Or was she desperately clutching at any detail to justify what was going on?
Was he just a hallucination? But she didn’t really know him... She’d never heard his name before today. Would she hallucinate about a guy she never knew existed?
“We need to talk,” he told her quietly.
She shook her head. “No. You need to go away.”
She moved away from the door and walked right through him, hearing his swift inhalation as she passed. She strode up the stairs.
“I can’t,” he exclaimed as he followed her. Damn, he was so big. Even as some insubstantial existence, he seemed to swallow up her awareness, and she found it was hard to focus on anything else. Just like it had been hard to focus on Mike with this large, attention-consuming presence next to her.
Normally she was repulsed by the werewolves. They were animals, reverting to their inner beast with ease and frequency, their civility only a thin veneer, and their fragrance quite odious. Zane, though, smelled of something different. His scent