Waning Moon by Elisabeth Morgan Popolow Read Free Book Online Page B

way around this predicament. Gabriel was a customer and Tony worked here so he’d just treat it as if he were any other customer. Yeah, that’s what he’d do.
    Determination swimming inside, Tony went out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. He overheard Mia asking Gabriel for his order and the vampire said he’d have an onion bagel with cream cheese and lox with a medium vanilla coffee.
    When Mia walked to the kitchen to confirm the order with Tony, she asked, “Do you know him? He’s a vampire, you know. Strange that he’s out during the day. You’re acting like you know him from somewhere.” She snickered.
    Tony bit his lower lip. “Um…yeah, I do. He’s the new neighbor. The one that’s been making all the loud noise.”
    “Oh, okay. I’m gonna go take my lunch break so Anna will be at the register, ’kay?”
    “Okay.”
    Tony suddenly felt a strong compulsion to leave his station and go to Gabriel. The urge was great and he felt like he had to see the vampire, he just had to. He abandoned the kitchen and strode into the main part of the café where he sat on the opposite side of the round table that Gabriel was seated at and began to sweat bullets.
    “You finally came,” the vampire commented.
    Tony rubbed his neck. “I just felt a sudden urge to sit with you. And why are you here? How did you know I work here?”
    Gabriel sipped his coffee daintily. “My marks tell me where you are at all times. It was rather easy to follow your scent, too. You smell like lavender and morning dew.” He made a fanged grin.
    “That’s creepy! And how are you able to stay awake so long? Aren’t you tired?”
    “I admit I am very tired but it’s worth it to see you, my cute little servant. When will you be done with work?”
    Tony was at a loss for words. Gabriel neglected his daily death sleep to see him. Why? Why did he have such a profound interest in him? He was nothing, nothing important, nothing special. Nothing at all.
    “In three hours my shift will be over,” he said sourly.
    Gabriel replied, “All right. I will come to get you when you’re finished.” He drank the rest of his coffee and wrapped the bagel in a blanket of napkins. “I’ll see you later, Tony.” He dabbed some Purell on his hands, pushed his chair beneath the table, and left.
    Tony cringed. The way his name rolled off the vampire’s tongue as if it were an exotic candy frightened him, made his whole body shudder. Why did this man have such an effect on him?
    Why?
    And how?
    Why did muscles deep within his groin clench at the sight of this man. His cock was twitching and aching for his gentle mouth to take him. Tony raced back into the kitchen just in time for another order and pondered how this man now gave meaning to his once empty life.
    He broke four more dishes and one mug. Luckily, no one saw and he painstakingly waded through the next three hours until he heard the door to the café swing ajar and he peeked his head out to see Gabriel had come back.
    Heart fluttering in his chest like a hummingbird, Tony hung his apron on the rack in the kitchen, signed his name off the work schedule sheet, and ran into Gabriel’s arms. He inhaled his musky, rosy scent and combed his fingers through the silky mane of hair. Gabriel uttered, “My, my, someone is eager to see me.”
    “I’ve been thinking about you all day,” the were-panther remarked with a sniffle.
    Gabriel slipped out of the hug and took Tony’s hand within his. “We’re going to go somewhere, so just hold my hand and follow me, all right?”
    Tony nodded. He felt as if some part buried within him had been unlocked and set free—the beast he had ignored for so long. His panther rubbed against his metaphysical walls, purred lowly and softly, padded around his mind and laid down like an obedient housecat.
    He had been so afraid. Afraid for so long, and for what? He’d set the panther free from the cage that he had trapped it in and now it was like a kitten. It craved