Vampire Romance: Vampire Preference (paranormal shifter romance) (New adult vampire shapeshifter short stories comedy) by Diane Queenston Page B

of women’s hands until the mid-fourteenth century. Before it
was just kings and men of god who got that treatment.”
    “How do you know these things?
Do you live in books?”
    “You might say that,” he
grinned because she didn’t know how true that was. He had been at the battle of
Hastings, fought in the American Revolution, battled Huns during the middle
ages, and fought Christians during the Crusades. Tomas liked to fight for the
underdog. “You look ravishing this evening my dear.”
    “Thank you,” she looked over
his usual attire, “you look good too.”
    “Nonsense. This is what I
always wear. How about we get something to eat?”
    “Okay.” Sometimes when Sammy
was with Tomas it was like he could read her mind. When he said that about the
clothes her chin almost hit the floor because that was exactly what she had
been thinking at the time.
    Inside the waiter sat them at
their usual table in the back and out of the way, but where they could observe
the other people as they came and went. That was one of the things that Tomas
and Sammy had in common. They both loved to watch people and wonder about their
lives. Who they were and how they lived? For Tomas it was less of a guessing
game and more to keep his mind reading skills sharp, but he enjoyed it
nonetheless.
    Sammy ordered the linguini like
she almost always did and Tomas ordered his usual-spaghetti with extra garlic
and meat balls. He liked garlic, but Sammy joked with him about how it made his
breath smell. The meal went quite well and they sat afterwards with a glass of
wine each and watched the people in the restaurant as they went about their
day.
    “I bet that one has at least three
dogs and she calls all of them her babies.” Sammy pointed to an elderly woman
with her hair done up in a severely tight bun. Her clothes were an immaculate
white. A strange choice for an Italian restaurant, thought Tomas.
    “I bet she does and their names
are probably something like Timothy, Jonathan, and Harold, but never Timmy,
Johnny, or Harry. Not ever.” It wasn’t probable in the least. That was what her
mind told her.
    Sammy laughed and moved on to
her next choice. “And that one right there is a business man to the core. Look
at that suit and tie. Look at the bags under his eyes. I bet he hasn’t taken a
vacation day in five years and wouldn’t take a sick day unless he was
paralyzed.”
    “Sounds about right.” Tomas
agreed with a laugh. In fact he hasn’t taken a day off in more than twelve
years, he thought.
    “Your turn.” She sipped her red
wine and waited from him to make a selection.
    Tomas scanned the room for a while
knowing that he could know everything about everyone in it in less that five
minutes if he probed hard enough with his mind. He chose a woman yelling at one
of the waiters.
    “Her,” he pointed and Sammy
followed his finger. “I bet she is the wife of some big shot corporate man and
is used to living the high life, but with the economy the way it is they’ve had
to make some cutbacks so she comes to places like this and yells at the staff
for trivial things to make herself feel better about whom she is because she
knows that her husband has found another woman and her marriage is about to go
down the drain. Her kids have grown to resent her because of her outbursts and
that is the sole reason why her husband started sleeping with the babysitter
and his secretary.”
    “Good god Tomas,” Sammy looked
at him and laughed. “Yours are always so specific. It’s like you really know
what they are going through. Why don’t you tell me the pin number to her bank
account while you are at it?”
    Tomas decided that it was time
to let some of his secrets go and see how she took them. “7454. The 74 stands
for the year she and her husband got married and the 54 stands for the date her
mother and father got married. Anything else you want to know about her?”
    “How . . . you made that up.
Pretty convincing, but I know you