One Last Bite Read online

being wrong many times in his life, but he definitely had been about wanting to stop his brother from eloping with Chloe. Just like he and his own beautiful bride, they made a perfect couple.

  As Sebastian had predicted earlier, Jake was sitting between his mother and new father, happily munching away on his favorite discovery of his French odyssey so far – the soft, fried-dough pastries Paris was so well-known for. His lips and cheeks and fingertips were dusted with confectioners’ sugar, and he was making low mmm-mmm-mmm sounds in his throat, his feet kicking merrily beneath the table in time with his voracious chewing. On his head was a small black beret tipped at a charming angle, adding to the boy’s cuteness factor by about a thousand percent.

  “We ordered for you,” Chloe said, moving her chair to make room for them and signaling to a nearby server that the rest of their party had arrived.

  “Sorry we’re late,” Chuck apologized, taking the seat Sebastian held for her, right beside her sister.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Chloe said. “It’s not exactly a hardship to sit here sipping coffee and eating pastries in Paris-freaking-France. Can you believe it?” she asked, squeezing her sister’s arm tight enough to leech the color from the skin. “We’re actually in Paris!”

  A muscle twitched in Sebastian’s cheek as he tried to keep his amusement from showing. He and Aidan had been just about everywhere in their time on this earth. And though their “condition” meant they had to be careful in their travels, flying in a private jet and being rich enough to buy certain amenities made it much easier.

  But Chloe and Chuck had never been out of Nevada. They’d barely been farther than the Las Vegas or Henderson city limits. Something Sebastian was quite looking forward to rectifying, for his own wife, at least. England, Italy, China, Ireland… he intended to see that she experienced them all.

  Stuffing the last bite of beignet into his mouth, Jake hopped down from his chair and rounded the table. Still chewing to beat the band, cheeks puffy with half-masticated dough, he put his sticky, powdered sugar-covered hands on the knee of Sebastian’s thousand-dollar slacks.

  There was a time Sebastian would have backed away from a sticky child – or any child, for that matter – like he was sunshine in a bottle. But now, he simply reached down, caught the boy under the arms, and hoisted his nephew onto his lap.

  “Uncle Bastian,” he mumbled around the mouthful of food, “Mama says you’re taking us to the loo.”

  Sebastian grinned. “If we were in England and you had to go to the bathroom, I’d take you to the loo. But since we’re in France, I’m going to take you to the Louvre.”

  “The Looooooov,” Jake repeated, dragging the name into three different syllables in an effort to pronounce it exactly as Sebastian had.

  “It’s a world-famous museum, and you’re going to get to see it at night, when no one else is around.”

  Just another perk of being filthy rich, as Chuck would be quick to point out. Sightseeing as a vampire did pose its own special set of difficulties, but it had taken no more than a couple of phone calls to arrange a private midnight tour.

  Jake’s eyes went as round as the UFOs Chuck used to be so fond of writing about. “You mean we’re going to spend a night at the museum? Like the movies?”

  The films he was talking about were ones Sebastian never would have been familiar with before, except in passing. But since becoming part of the somewhat whacky Lamoreaux/Monroe brood, Jake had been spending a lot of time at the Inferno and Sebastian’s private penthouse – which meant that his personal DVD collection was no longer a tasteful mix of documentaries and classic films, but now looked like the children’s section of the local rental place. With Chuck’s help, he’d purchased just about every title ever released by Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks… So he’d seen Night at the Museum and its sequel probably a dozen times, and knew exactly what Jake was thinking.

  “Not quite. This is an art museum. Just a bunch of stupid paintings hanging on the walls.”

  Jake’s face fell.

  “But if you’re really good,” Sebastian told him in a conspiratorial whisper, “and let your mom and aunt enjoy themselves tonight, even though it’s going to be bo-ring, when we get back to the United States, I’ll take you to the Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian. We’ll spend a night at each and see what happens.”

  The little boy flashed a grin that exposed the space where his two front teeth were missing, then jumped down from Sebastian’s lap and raced to his aunt’s.

  “Aunt Chuck! Aunt Chuck!” he cried, tugging at the arm of her turquoise blouse. “Did you hear that? Uncle Bastian’s gonna take me to the museum and make the dinosaur bones come alive.”

  Taking only a moment to cast him a reproving glance, she hugged her nephew close and ruffled his brown hair. “If anyone can pull off such a feat, it’s your uncle.”

  “Hey!” Aidan put in from the far side of the table, sounding pained. “What about me? I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve, too, you know.”

  Leaning into him, Chloe slung an arm across his back and let her head fall to his shoulder. “Aw, poor baby. Are you feeling left out?”

  He adopted a mock pout. “A little.”

  “You should be relieved,” she told him. “While Uncle Sebastian and Auntie Chuck are babysitting, we can jet off to all those exotic locales you’ve been promising to show me.”

  That seemed to perk him up. “Ah, yes. The Egyptian pyramids. The Great Wall of China. Big Ben.”

  “Not to mention luxury hotel suites in Egypt, China, and London,” she said in a low, intimate voice that carried on the night air all the same.

  Beside Sebastian, with Jake now perched soundly on her lap, Chuck chuckled and shot him an equally heated glance over the top of her young nephew’s head.

  Aidan’s mouth tipped up in a wide, lascivious grin. “Now that does sound like a good plan. Let’s get this tour of the Louvre out of the way so we can move on to more of that.”

  Chair legs scraped on concrete as everyone pushed back and climbed to their feet. Jake jumped down and rounded the table to stand between his mother and step-father, taking one of their hands in each of his own.

  “Don’t worry,” Chloe said with a wink as they strolled down la rue, “there’s no hurry. I have it on pretty good authority that we have an eternity to enjoy ourselves.”

  About Must Love Vampires

  Nightclub dancer Chloe Lamoureaux just met the man of her dreams: Aidan Raines is charming, considerate, rich, and hot. Of course, he's a little mysterious about his age. And his favourite drink. And he's not much for sunlight. But he's asked her to marry him, and she's ready to do it.

  Her identical twin sister, Chuck, isn't so sure. Maybe being a tabloid reporter has skewed her judgment, but to Chuck, Aidan and his brother Sebastian look like honest-to-Dracula vampires. Especially Sebastian: beguiling, seductive, and just a hint of dangerous. Maybe she wouldn't mind him taking a little taste. But with Chloe's life in the balance, she has to know - do they want hot love or hot blood?

  Or maybe... a little of both?

  Must Love Vampires

  Coming September 27 2011 from Kensington

  "Heidi Betts pens another culinary masterpiece for our reading pleasure. Must Love Vampires is filled with humor…used in such a way as to delight and entrance the reader. [This story] will take its place on your keeper shelf.” - SingleTitles.com

  About The Author

  National bestselling author Heidi Betts loves all things scary and paranormal… though she’s not a big fan of things that go bump in the night (Hello! Sleeping, here!). When she’s not writing about vampires (among other things), she often dreams of being an undead creature of the night—if only so that she can sleep all day, stay up all night, and never age another minute or gain another pound. The drinking of blood doesn’t necessarily appeal, but it’s something she thinks she could get used to.

  Plus, she hears it tastes like chicken.

  For news, inform
ation about upcoming books, and tons of mischievous fun, visit Heidi online at HeidiBetts.com and HeidiBetts.com/WIPSandChains.

  Quotes

  “Heidi Betts has a winning ability to mix comedy and sensuality with a lively flair!” - New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas

  “Heidi Betts gives romance a sexy, fresh twist!” - New York Times bestselling author Carly Phillips

  “Nobody can write sexy and sassy like Heidi Betts!” - Goodreads Review for The Bite Before Christmas

  “The Bite Before Christmas made me smile, laugh, and even made me want to cry…a book I would recommend reading curled up by the light of the Christmas Tree!” - Bitten by Books

  “The Bite Before Christmas was exciting and fun to read, with its witty conversations and clever plotting.” - SingleTitles.com

  “A delicious, fun, sexy treat from start to finish!” - New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster on Tangled Up in Love