Vampire Romance Series - Coffee And Vampires 1-7 (Vampire Romance Bundle) by S L Hartley Read Free Book Online Page A

Nicholas’s discomposure a little more than she should. Apparently the composed young man could get flustered after all. “And I’d like to see your home. You’ve seen both of mine, after all.”
    Nicholas chewed his lower lip uncertainly. “Do you understand what this means? For someone like you to see what my life is like?”
    “ Not really,” Page said honestly. “But I’d like to understand.”
    Page paid the check, adding a generous tip for the waitress who’d had to jog over to refill Nicholas’s cup so many times. Then, together, she and Nicholas rose and exited the diner just as the sun set.
    Nicholas walked quickly, almost dragging Page along by their linked arms. His nervousness back at the diner still hadn’t fully dissipated, as evidenced by the sharp echoing sounds his fast steps made over the brick streets.
    Page wondered what he’d been on about at the diner. Do you understand what this means? Did that mean she was about to see whatever the vampire equivalent of dirty laundry was?
    Or was it something else? Perhaps something related to Nicholas’s inability to enter another’s home uninvited? Was there some kind of prohibition against a vampire inviting a human into his home?
    Page wanted to ask and very nearly did, but a glance up at Nicholas’s fixed, distracted look made her reconsider. He’d explain when he was ready. Van had been similarly closed-off when it came to his own strengths and weaknesses in wolf form, she remembered. Maybe it was an intensely private thing.
    In any case, she wouldn’t push more than she already had. She couldn’t stand the thought of accidentally chasing Nicholas away.
    His home turned out to be a few blocks away from Armand’s café, in the opposite direction from her new place. The unassuming brick building appeared to be another divided house – normal apartment buildings seemed to be a rarity in this part of town.
    Nicholas let go of her arm in order to unlock the front door, then led her down the stairs to the basement. Page balked a bit at the steps.
    “ I can’t see,” she explained. Nicholas blinked uncomprehendingly for a few moments, then glanced back down the stairs, which to Page’s eyes terminated in gloomy darkness.
    “ Of course,” he said faintly, peering around.
    He doesn’t know where the switch is , Page realized, helping him look. There had to be a switch, as there was a single bare bulb just about their heads in the stairwell. Nicholas finally found the switch, flooding the stairs with yellow light.
    “ Thank you,” Page said, finally following him.
    “ I’m sorry,” Nicholas said, voice still a little too quiet. “I forget that you see differently than I do.”
    Page tried to force a laugh, wanting to break Nicholas’s suddenly dark mood. “I’d say being nearsighted is a decent trade for night vision.” That did make him smile briefly, and Page immediately felt better.
    Nicholas fumbled with the lock on the door at the bottom of the steps for a minute. “It sticks,” he explained as it finally came open.
    Page hadn’t been sure what she was expecting. A stereotypical bachelor pad, complete with piles of dirty underwear and molding pizza boxes? A gloomy but seductive dungeon, all red velvet and grey stone? She hadn’t been expecting this, in any case.
    Nicholas’s basement apartment was spacious and tastefully furnished, mostly in light shades of silver and gray with a few startling touches of color. A fish bowl housing a bright green and blue beta sat on the coffee table in front of two gray easy chairs. The place was very clean, but permeated with a sharp odor. Antiseptic, Page realized after stepping inside. The apartment smelled like it had just been cleaned.
    “ Sorry about the smell,” Nicholas said. “I brought home a shipment earlier, and I always disinfect once I’ve got everything put away, and again once I’ve delivered.”
    Page followed Nicholas into the kitchen, trying not to look as though she