Grace waited anxiously outside the dressing room for Aiden. He'd been trying on clothes for the past hour, and she was seriously about to walk out of there, with or without him.
Picking up her backpack from the floor, she tickled Mojo on the snout and gave him a snack from her pocket before sliding the strap over her shoulder.
"Aiden? I'm leaving. The store is about to close. If you're coming with me, you'd better hurry it the hell up!"
His head popped up over the top of the door. "Do the males here seriously fit themselves into these trousers? How, I ask you? I can't even get them zipped!"
Her face burned as she looked around, hoping beyond hope no one had heard him. "Maybe you just need a bigger size," she mumbled.
"Rubbish. I've been wearing the same size for over three hundred years, love." He disappeared again. "And the colors! As if I don't stand out enough."
She rolled her eyes.
"But this shirt though, this shirt is brilliant! I'm going to take it."
The door opened and Grace gasped, then quickly averted her eyes as he casually strolled out wearing nothing but bright red boxer briefs and a body-hugging black T-shirt with a striking green and silver dragon on the front.
But not before noticing why it was, exactly, that he was having trouble fitting into the pants.
She watched him inconspicuously as he hung up the clothes he didn't want on the return rack and wandered over to a nearby display of dark jeans.
Her eyes roamed from his strong, perfectly formed legs to his muscular ass, and she bit her bottom lip to keep from moaning with sheer pleasure at the sight. It was just about the most perfect damn ass she'd ever seen on a guy. A long-dormant desire pooled in her belly as she watched the muscles flex while he walked.
Gods, she'd almost forgotten what that felt like.
She sighed in disappointment when he finally pulled down a few pairs of pants and held them in front of him as he came back her way, blocking her view. She averted her eyes again before he caught her ogling him.
Pausing so close to her she could feel the warmth of his skin and smell his clean, woodsy scent, he purred, "Staring at me like that, love...and in public, no less...is not going to help me fit into these trousers."
"I wasn't staring!" she hissed, mortified.
He leaned down and ran the tip of his nose along her jawline and up into her hair, breathing her in deeply.
"Yes, you were."
Then he abruptly turned away and entered the dressing room, slamming the door closed behind him.
Grace covered her face in her hands. He was right. What the hell was wrong with her? Lusting after him like this? And could she be any more obvious about it? Seriously?
She groaned softly. She'd sunk to an entirely new low. No matter how good-looking he was, she needed to keep her head on straight.
Besides, he was a frickin' vampire. She needed him right now, but not for that. She needed him for way more important things, so long as he was willing to stick around.
Maybe you should make it worth his while.
She guffawed at her own thought. "Yeah, right."
Slapping her hand over her errant mouth, she glanced around discreetly, but no one was paying her any mind.
Great. Now she was arguing with herself. Out loud.
Besides, could vampires even do that?
"Did you say something, poppet?"
"Um, no. Nothing," she responded innocently as the door to the dressing room opened.
Wow.
Her newly acquired vampire bodyguard looked like he'd just walked off the pages of a major fashion magazine. He'd added dark, acid-washed jeans to his black shirt. A pair of ankle-high, black, thick-soled boots covered his feet. And to top it off, he'd donned a men's sweater jacket, also black, complete with a hood that now covered his dark hair.
The clothes hugged his lean, muscular form perfectly. If he was hoping the dark colors were going to help him blend in, she had a feeling he was going to be severely disappointed.
His grey eyes glowed from underneath that signature hood as he watched her drink him in, a contemplative look on his face.
She stared back, wishing she knew what he was thinking. But then he blinked and looked away, and the moment was gone.
Shoving his hands into the front pockets of his new hoodie, he looked at her expectantly. "Ready, love?"
"Um. Yeah. I'm ready." She followed him as he headed towards the exit, bypassing the registers completely.
"Hey," she whispered, knowing he could hear her. "Aren't you going to pay for those clothes?"
He paused just inside the doors to wait for her. When she reached him, he looked down at her with an amused expression on his face. "And how do you propose I do that? I didn't exactly bring my wallet on this amnesia trip. Besides," he grumbled. "It was their bloody grain that ruined my other clothes to begin with."
"That wasn't the stores fault, " she began as he headed outside with her close on his heels, but she was drowned out by the sound of the alarms going off.
Aiden wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her along with him at vamp speed when she made as if to stop.
"Sorry about that," he told her once they'd gotten far enough way. "I must've missed one of the anti-theft devices. Remind me to find it later."
They hit the street and quickly lost themselves in the crowd, heading east towards Zhongshan Square.
"You're seriously just going to steal those clothes?" she asked as he took the black bag from her and tucked her hand inside his elbow, making it appear as though they were out for nothing more than a romantic evening stroll.
He looked down at her, aghast. "Borrow, love. I would never steal."
"You just did! They have cameras, you know," she reminded him.
"Perhaps. But by the time they look up the footage, we'll be long gone."
He slowed down as they entered the Square. "Now, which way, poppet?"
She glanced around. The "Square" wasn't actually a square. It was more like the grassy center of a round wheel, with streets heading in every direction acting as the spokes. She guided him to one of those spokes coming up on their right and headed down Zhongshan Rd.
"I have a place that we can hide. It's not far."
"A secret rendezvous, you say? Why Grace, I didn't know you felt that way, love. It's the pants, isn't..."
He stopped speaking halfway through his sentence, and Grace felt him stiffen under her hand. She glanced over at him curiously.
"Aiden?"
He was scanning the street, his expression intent. "Poppet. I need you to do exactly as I say, all right?"
"Why? What's going on?" She looked around, even checking behind them, but didn't see anything but the usual street traffic of cars and people.
"I just need you to trust me, my lovely. We're being followed."
"How do you know?"
He gave her a strange look, hesitating a moment before telling her, "I'm not certain, I just know."
"Human?"
Her question seemed to catch him off guard, but only for a moment. "No."
To anyone passing by, they would look like any couple strolling down the street, but Grace could feel the tension radiating from his body and into hers like sound waves.
She pressed closer to him, whispering, "The place we're going, it's secure. We can hide there. We just need to get to it." She pointed ahead of them with her bad hand. "See that street up there? Jiefang Rd? We need to take a left there, and head to Labor Park. There's a soccer ball sculpture there..."
"I'm familiar," he interrupted. "What's at the soccer ball?"
"My families' emergency shelter."
"Smashing." He casually scanned the area around them again as they approached the corner. "Hand me your rucksack."
She did. Tucking Mojo into the top pocket, he zipped it up, then put his arms through the straps. Taking Grace by the hand, he pulled her close to his side. "Stay close. And be ready."
"Ready for what?" But no sooner had the words left her mouth then he pulled her tightly against him and lifted her into his arms as if she weighed no more than Mojo. Tucking her against his chest just as he turned the corner, he sped up to vamp speed, becoming nothing more than a passing blur to the people around them.
The speed made her dizzy, so Grace tucked her head into his neck and wrapped her arms around him.
In no time at all, he was setting her down amongst the trees surrounding the giant red and white soccer ball sculpture.
They waited until a small group of young tourists wandered away, but when Aiden made to leave the cover of the trees, she stopped him by stepping in front of him and placing her hands flat against his chest.
"Aiden," she said in a firm voice. "I need you to stay here for just a minute, and let me go over there alone."
"No," he immediately answered.
"Aiden, please!" she implored him. "I'll be fine. Just stay here for a few seconds, and please keep an eye on Mojo."
Reaching up, she unzipped the top pocket on her pack and let the little guy stick his head out. She looked directly at him. "Stay with Aiden. I'll be right back."
Aiden's displeasure was clearly written all over his face. He pushed his hood off of his head in exasperation. "Grace, I don't like this. Where are you going exactly?"
She held up her hand. "Just stay here and listen for me to call you. We don't have time to argue." Then, with a quick look around, she left the cover of the trees and jogged over to the sculpture.
She remembered halfway there that she was supposed to be limping, but there was nothing to do for it now. Maybe she could explain it away by the fact that her adrenaline was flowing and her ankle was wrapped, and therefore didn't hurt near as much.
Once she reached the ball, she cautiously circumvented it, keeping an eye out for witnesses. Crouching down, she checked the bottom white sections in front of her, brushing off the dirt here and there.
Finally, she found what she was looking for. A monogrammed "M" etched into the top of one of the sections. You wouldn't see it if you didn't know what to look for, but fortunately for them, she did.
Checking around one more time, and making sure she was out of view of Aiden, she closed her eyes, and began to chant quietly. A moment later, the section began to open, disconnecting from the rest of the ball and lowering like a ramp to the ground.
Once it was open, she called Aiden's name quietly, and jogged to the side until she could see the trees where he was hiding just in case he hadn't heard her, but he was already heading her way at an easy run.
Their pursuers must be close. Or he just wasn't good at following directions. Either way, it was time to go in. Throwing her legs over the edge of the opening, she flipped onto her belly and felt for the ladder.
Aiden arrived just as she found the top rungs, and she reached out for her backpack as he shucked it off his shoulders and handed it to her.
She threw it over her shoulder and headed down into the darkness.