Welcome to another week, on the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop! This week's prompt is: "The secondary characters (friends, family, colleagues, etc) in a romance novel can greatly influence the story. Describe a secondary character you've written that you can't forget."
“Hey.” A hand landed on Damian’s shoulder, interrupting his thoughts. “I know you.” The emphasis, and the tone with which the words were spoken, made them practically an accusation. “We’ve met before…haven’t we? I’m sure of it.”
Reining in his instincts, which, at the moment, were heavily weighted toward vivisection, Damian sighed. “I very much doubt it.”
Eyes, blue as a sun-lit ocean, met Damian’s gaze when he turned to face his accuser. There was something vaguely familiar about those eyes. They held entirely too much boyish innocence layered with a hint of determination and were slightly blurred due to an excess of alcohol, but nothing sparked any real recognition for him.
Damian’s eyebrows rose as he examined the rest of the stylish, enticing, and very au courant package, however. A hint of black eyeliner. A single gold earring. An extravagant mane of teased, blond hair. And a build that hinted at exquisitely crafted muscles hidden just beneath his skin-tight clothes. It was the last that convinced him.
He allowed his not-so-subtle gaze to glide over the stranger’s frame for a moment longer, down and then up again, as though he were actually considering the matter, rather than merely taking his time to admire the view. Mmm. Damian was reasonably certain he’d have remembered that if he’d encountered it before in any kind of intimate fashion. “No, I take that back. I’m sure we’ve never met.” It was kind of a shame though, now that he thought about it. Perhaps he should consider rectifying the situation? A quick bite, a hurried rendezvous in the back alley…
“No, really, man. I mean it. That wasn’t just a line.” The other man—little more than a boy, really—readjusted his grip. He was hanging on to Damian’s arm now, as though that were anything that could detain him if he really wished to leave. “Hold up. Gimme a minute. It’ll come to me.”
Damian gave him all of thirty seconds, which was exactly how long it took for him to remember why it was that vampires tended to settle in large, anonymous cities. It was so that they would not find themselves in situations such as this, being waylaid and importuned in bars by tempting and attractive strangers seeking to renew an acquaintance where none had ever existed—nor ever would.
“Time’s up.” Damian favored his would-be suitor with a small, regretful smile. Then he shrugged off the boy’s hold on his arm, turned and disappeared into the crowd.
He didn’t look back as he weaved his way through the maze of writhing bodies that had filled the dance floor, not taking his time, but not hurrying either. Damian Ysidro Esposito-Montoya did not run from danger. Especially not when the danger came packaged in so attractive a guise. Still, he breathed a sigh of relief when he reached the door without being stopped. He wasn’t looking for complications tonight.
Outside, a slight drizzle was falling. Not a downpour by any means, but enough of a rain to have cleared the sidewalks of passersby. Unfortunate. He’d have preferred a little more cover as he made his escape. As it was, he only got about halfway up the block before he heard the door to the bar creak open once again. A frisson of awareness lifted the hair on his neck.
“Damian! Wait up!”
At the sound of his name he halted. What now? He’d given his name, his real name, to very few humans in the last decade. Was this another vampire then? Someone who’d spied him as he made his way through the crowd? Someone who’d recognized him—and would likely recognize Conrad too, if he saw him? Someone who might pose enough of a threat to the twins’ safety that he’d have to be killed to preserve the secret of their existence?
Damian sighed as he contemplated the extreme likelihood that he’d have to do just that. He shouldn’t be so surprised. They’d known all along it was a possibility. Still, Conrad would not be pleased. This was exactly the kind of unpleasantness they’d been hoping to avoid by settling in a series of interchangeable and wholly unremarkable bedroom communities; it was the very reason they’d purposely steered clear of all those very same “large, anonymous cities” in which their kind were known to congregate.
It was strange, though. He hadn’t sensed any other vampires in the bar tonight, hadn’t picked up a single scent. Then again, he had allowed himself to get distracted toward the end. A mistake, obviously. As he should certainly know by now, there was always going to be a price to pay for those. Damian turned slowly, reluctantly, wondering which of his former acquaintances was likely to lose his life tonight. He was surprised, and more than a little relieved, to find himself facing not a vampire at all, but rather the same, distracting young man from whom he’d just taken his leave. Whoever he was, the boy was certainly persistent, but at least he was human. Definitely the lesser of two evils.
“Yeah, I thought that was you.” The boy’s tone matched his walk. Cocky. Confident. Sure of itself. “I got thrown at first ’cause you look so much younger than I remembered.”
“Do I?” Damian frowned. “How very odd.” Relief mingled with confusion. It wasn’t often that he found himself at such a disadvantage. He studied the young man as he sauntered closer, seemingly unmindful of the rain that had begun to fall a little more earnestly now. Within a handful of seconds they were face to face once more, with barely a foot between them. The boy continued to smile at Damian as though they were old friends and Damian still could not place him. Perhaps he could trick the young man into giving him a hint? “And here I was, thinking that you look very much the same as you did the last time I saw you.”
“What?” The young man’s eyes widened in an expression of surprised dismay. “Oh, God, no. Fuck, don’t say that! I mean, it’s been a few years. I must’ve changed a little, right?”
“Mmm. I suppose it’s possible. Refresh my memory. How long has it been?”
“I dunno. Five or six years, isn’t it? Or, you know, maybe a little more.”
“How much more?”
“I dunno. Eight? Or, you know, something like that.”
“Ah. I see. Well, what I meant was you hadn’t changed since I last saw you in the bar a few minutes ago,” Damian lied, busily trying to calculate where he’d been and who he’d been doing it with five or six—or eight—years ago. “It was a joke.”
“Oh.” For an instant, a confused frown creased the young man’s forehead then his eyes narrowed. “Wait. No, it wasn’t. You’re just saying that. You really don’t remember me at all. Do you?”
But, all at once, Damian did and he couldn’t help but smile at the irony. “Quite the contrary.” Maybe it was due to the rain having darkened the other man’s hair to a shade closer to its natural color. Maybe it was the slightly crestfallen look he now wore. Replacing his earlier cocky self-assurance, his current expression gave him the appearance of a much younger, much less confident man. Or maybe it was nothing so mysterious. Perhaps it was due to nothing more than the fact that Damian finally had a timeframe in which to place the boy. “As it happens, I remember you very well, Paul.”
A heartwarming romance that will leave you cheering for love to conquer all obstacles.
What Colby Harte didn’t ask for at Christmas was his wife to empty their bank accounts and leave him and his eight-year-old daughter, Emma, a few days before the holiday. At a loss as to how to move on, he takes a new teaching job in the tiny Montana mountain town of Pine Meadows. A new start may be just what they need.
Cheyenne Wilde loves her job at the Pine Meadows Resort in her hometown. The trouble is she’s just turned thirty and can feel her biological clock ticking away. She’s never met a man who made her want to settle down. That all changes when Colby Harte walks into her bar.
When their friendship, built on her desire to help Colby and his daughter adjust to a new environment, begins to turn into something more, the fact that he’s still not technically divorced looms over both of them. Can either of them feel safe acting on the passion that flares between them? Just when they decide to take a chance, the return of Colby’s missing wife threatens to bring it all crashing down. But sometimes love wins.
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This free Shifter-themed collection is only available for the next few days. It includes my short story: Can't Fight the Moonlight
The Sierra Nevada foothills have been vampire Josiah Lodge’s hunting grounds for over a century. Alone since a lover’s betrayal cost him his family, the former trapper-turned-wildcrafter has given up on ever again finding love or acceptance. If he didn’t have to eat, he’d never venture out of his woods again. But needs must.
When Coldpelt (Cole) Moonwalker’s true shifter nature asserted itself, he was judged an abomination and cast out of his pack. Without a territory to call his own, he’s constantly on the move—which is how he ends up on Josh’s doorstep. While Cole dreams of someday finding a place where he can belong, he knows that place can never be with the scarred and surly vampire who undoubtedly has the blood of Cole’s people on his hands.
Will the attraction they feel for one another allow these natural enemies to overcome their sense of mutual distrust? Is enemies with benefits even a thing? Find out when you download this FREE anthology!
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