Excerpt of Enchant the Night by Amanda Ashley

“Are you dating anyone?” Vivian asked.

“Not since Bryan.” Callie had met him at a friend’s wedding earlier in the year. They had dated for a couple of months. He’d been nice enough but they’d had little in common and even though he’d been easy to get along with, he’d been as dull as dishwater. She’d felt bad when she broke up with him, but there had been no real chemistry between them, no sparks. She had the feeling Bryan had felt the same and was relieved when she called it quits so he wouldn’t have to.  “How about you?”

“I met a new guy. We’ve only been out a few times but he seems really nice,” Vivian said, grinning ear to ear. “I have high hopes for Greg.”

“That’s great. I hope it works out.” Vivian rarely had trouble meeting men. She was tall and slim, with fiery red hair and bright-green eyes.

“You’re awfully quiet tonight,” Vivian remarked as she helped herself to another slice of garlic bread. “Something on your mind?”

Callie ran her fingertips around the rim of her glass. “Can I ask you something?”

“Well, sure, hon. What is it?”

“I had a really weird experience on Friday night.”
“Oh?” Folding her arms on the table, Vivian leaned forward expectantly.

“You’ll probably think I’m crazy. I think so, too, but this guy took me into an alley--”   

“What? Are you all right? Did you call the police?”

“I’m fine. The thing is, I’m just not sure if it really happened. It was like some bizarre nightmare. When I got home that night, I couldn’t remember what happened from the time I left Sally’s to when I got into my car. It was like those stories you hear about people who’ve been abducted by aliens and how they lose hours of time.”

“You think you were abducted?”

“No, nothing like that, but it was equally creepy.” Callie lifted a hand to her neck. “I think the guy bit me.”
Vivian stared at her in disbelief.

“I know it sounds crazy.”

“For sure!”

“But the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced it really happened.”

Vivian leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, brow furrowed. “So, you’re saying this guy, whoever he was, took you into an alley and bit you?”

Callie nodded, wishing she had never mentioned it. Said out loud, it sounded preposterous.

“Maybe he was a vampire,” Vivian said, stifling a grin.

“That’s not funny! What if he was some crazy, homeless guy and he had some horrible disease?”

Vivian leaned forward again, her gaze narrowing. “Did it leave a mark?”

“No. But it kind of tingled for awhile afterwards.” Callie took a deep breath and blew it out in a long sigh. She never should have said anything.

Callie was reaching for the check when the oddest sensation engulfed her. Almost as if drawn by some invisible hand, she turned toward the entrance, felt a sudden chill snake down her spine when she saw the tall, dark-haired man standing in the doorway. It was him! The man who had bitten her. She was sure of it. “Vivian! Look! Over there, by the entrance! It’s him!”

“Where? I don’t see anyone.”

Callie frowned. “But…but he was there a second ago. I saw him! I know I did.”

Quill melted into the shadows, shaken by the peculiar sense of awareness that had passed between him and the woman when their gazes met. Had she felt it, too?

And what the hell did it mean?