Fangs For The Memories. Kathy Love

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      Jane Mary Harrison could not believe she had just yelled at a complete stranger. She’d never been that rude in her entire life. But then, she’d never been in a big city either. Or in a bar. Or done tequila shots. Oh, the difference a day makes.

      And what a day she’d had. She’d been in New York City only one day, and in that time, she’d lost the job she’d just gotten, which in turn caused her to lose the apartment she had lined up. When she was leaving the realtor’s office, some man had stolen her purse, and she’d had to spend nearly six hours in a police station with all sorts of frightening people, waiting to place a report with a very uninterested officer. If she was going to start doing tequila shots, this seemed like the time.

      Today was supposed to be the beginning of her new, adventuresome and fun life. So far, it had been long on adventure, and very, very short on fun.

      But she was determined to have a little fun tonight. It was Christmas Eve, for heavens sake. And, thankfully, she’d had the foresight to put traveler’s checks in her suitcase, so she wasn’t destitute—yet.

      She looked at the one full and three empty shot glasses in front of her. Was she going to have to spend her precious money on four shots? Three of which she didn’t order.

      She sighed. Ah, well. At least Joey had been nice—the nicest person she’d met so far in the Big Apple. She glanced at him, leaning over the pool table, lining up a shot. He was sort of cute, too. And he’d flirted with her—at least, she thought he’d flirted.

      Her eyes darted briefly to the man sitting beside her. He wasn’t flirting with her. In fact, he’d done nothing but cast her cool looks since she entered the bar. And she would never describe him as cute. She’d be willing to bet that cute wasn’t even used to describe him as a child. No, he was stunningly, dauntingly beautiful. She couldn’t recall ever seeing anyone that—perfect.

      He had long hair that just brushed his broad shoulders. She’d never been that crazy about long hair, but on this man, it looked amazing. Glossy and thick in shades of sable threaded with burnished gold.

      In profile, she could see the cut of his jawline, the wide, sculpted shape of his lips and slight arrogant flare of his nose. But it had been his peculiar eyes like whiskey in flickering firelight that had taken her breath away. They were so beautiful, so intense—almost predatory.

      He was gorgeous.

      She cast him another furtive look. In his black turtleneck sweater and black trousers, he didn’t seem to fit in here any more than she did, although not for the same reasons. He looked too affluent for a place like this. Too cultured. But under all that beauty and urbaneness, she still sensed something dangerous about him—that feral quality that lurked in his strange eyes.

      She snorted quietly. The stress of today must be addling her mind. She was sure the only thing this man would be dangerous to was the female heart. With those looks, he was the definition of a heartbreaker.

      She regarded the full shot glass in front of her. Her throat still burned, but she was starting to feel a nice, soothing heat in her limbs. Who would think such a small amount of that stuff could make her feel so much more relaxed. And after the day she’d had, she needed to relax.

      She reached for the salt shaker.

      The third shot went down so smoothly, she grinned with pride. For a nondrinker, she was a pro.

      She lined the glasses up in front of her and tried to decide what to do next. She didn’t want to go back to her hotel. But she didn’t exactly feel comfortable here.

      Plus, she kept having this uncontrollable urge to look at the man beside her. She shifted on her stool, peeking at him quickly. Maybe she should apologize to him.

      “Oh, baby”—Joey suddenly reappeared at her side, startling her—“you drank my shot.”

      She looked at the empty glasses guiltily. “I did. I’m sorry.”

      “Well, I guess we just have to order another round.”

      “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” a deep, husky voice said from beside her.