Thumpity-thump, thumpity-thump. The sound of a heartbeat filled her dreams. Maxine stirred and breathed in the heady scent of blood. With a gasp, she sat up in bed. Shit. There was someone in the hall outside her room. It wasn’t Jimmy—he had better sense than to wander through the vampire’s living quarters before breakfast.

She thrust her legs out from under the covers and shook off the heavy lethargy induced by the effect of the sun. She had to get moving or she was going to have a crisis on her hands. Stumbling a bit in her haste, she didn’t even think to grab a robe to cover the skimpy T-shirt she’d worn to bed. Jerking open the door, she glanced first to the right and then to the left.

The hallway was empty.

With an exasperated sigh, she closed her eyes. Where the hell was… The heartbeat was clearly coming from the playroom. She stalked down the hallway. As she neared the source of the blood, her mouth began to water, and she could feel her fangs threatening to lengthen. She forced her thoughts away from feeding and focused on her anger.

She flung the door open. It bounced off the wall and rebounded toward her, but she stopped it with the ball of her hand. At the sound of the thud, the intruder turned. Maxine’s breath caught in her throat. Not only was he gorgeous, six feet tall and built like a linebacker, he smelled luscious, too. Her fangs cut into her lip. As if he sensed her hunger, he brushed a lock of sandy blond hair off his forehead and took a step back, his hand sliding smoothly under his brown leather jacket.

Maxine hissed. The man didn’t look familiar—she would have remembered a hunk like this in the club last night. If this wasn’t Victoria’s murderer it had to be…

“Zach Fox, I presume.” She knew she should offer to shake his hand, but just thinking about touching him made her warm in all the right spots and hungry as hell. Speaking of which. After only a moment’s hesitation, she turned her back on him. She needed to shut and lock the door to this room. As she twisted the deadbolt in her hand, she felt the caress of warm breath on her cheek. The scent of his spicy aftershave mixed with the aroma of coffee. Her mouth went dry. For a slayer, he wasn’t very smart. Didn’t he know he was standing entirely too close? All it would take would be one move for her to turn, grab him, and rip his throat out.

Or one move to step back into the wooden stake he had aimed at her heart.

He was tempting her. Well, she might be a young vampire, but she wasn’t stupid.

“You shouldn’t be up here.” A thud on the door, followed by soft knocking punctuated her words. Maxine turned slowly to face Zach. If he’d had a stake in his hand, it wasn’t in evidence now. He was certainly standing way too close for comfort. Her nipples hardened, and she suddenly realized all she was wearing was a thin white T-shirt. Deep in her belly, she felt a punch of desire, both for Zach’s cock and for his blood. Thank goodness, he didn’t seem to notice.

A puzzled frown sat between Zach’s shaggy blond eyebrows. “But it’s daylight.”

Maxine sighed with exasperation. The old legends still thrived even among those supposedly well-versed about vampires.

“We don’t sleep any more than the living, eight to ten hours. If something disturbs our rest, like a living heartbeat,” she gave him a sharp look, “it’s like waving a cup of coffee and a box of doughnuts under our noses.”

There was another thump and knock at the door.

Zach pulled a face. “Sorry.”

He didn’t look the least bit sorry. In fact, Maxine got the impression that he’d take on the entire population of Temperance without hesitating.

“Don’t lie. Are you really that stupid?” Of course he wasn’t. He knew his presence would wake and draw out every vampire in the club. Was that his intention?

Zach leaned his hands on the door, trapping her up close to his chest.

Damn him. His heartbeat was right next to her ear, calling to her like a siren’s song. Even stronger was her attraction to him. The heat of his body warmed her. She wanted to rip his clothes off, wrap her arms and legs around him, rub her hardened nipples through the hair on his chest, and impale herself on his erection.
His lips moved against her ear. “So, what do we do now?”

What indeed? She knew he expected her to go for his throat. She also knew she’d be dust before she got so much as a nibble. So, instead of going for the kill, she went for the kiss.