Eyes alight, Lee rose and tugged the coat of his tux straight. Physically pushing the vampire out of his way, he came out from around the desk. Trent entered, and his gaze became even more animated. “Trent!” he exclaimed, striding forward with his hands extended. “How are you, old man!”

I stepped back as Trent and Lee warmly clasped hands. You’ve got to be kidding me.

“Stanley,” he said, smiling, and it finished falling into place. Stanley, long for Lee.

“Damn!” Lee said, pounding Trent on the back. “How long has it been? Ten years?”

Trent’s smile flickered, his annoyance at that back slap nearly undetectable but for the slight tightening in his eyes. “Almost that. You look good. Still hitting the waves?”

Lee ducked his head, a roguish grin turning him into a scalawag despite him being in a tux. “Now and again. Not as much as I like. My damn knee has been giving me trouble. But you look good. Got some muscle on you now. Not that skinny boy trying to keep up with me.”

Trent’s eyes flicked to mine, and I gave him a mute look. “Thanks.”

“Word is you’re getting married.”

Married? I was wearing his fiancée’s dress? Oh, this was getting better and better.

Lee brushed his hair out of his eyes and sat against the desk. The vamp behind him started to rub his shoulders in a sultry, whore-bitch sort of a way. She hadn’t taken her eyes off me, and I didn’t like it. “Anyone I know?” Lee prompted, and Trent’s jaw clenched.

“A beautiful young woman named Ellasbeth Withon,” he said. “From Seattle.”

“Ah.” Brown eyes wide, Lee smiled as if he was laughing at Trent. “Congratulations?”

“You’ve met her,” Trent said sourly, and Lee chuckled.

“I’ve heard of her.” He made a pained face. “Am I invited to the wedding?”

I puffed impatiently. I had thought we came here to knock heads, not have a reunion. Ten years would put them in their late teens. College? And I didn’t like being ignored, but I supposed that was standard for hired help. At least whore-bitch hadn’t been introduced either.

“Of course,” Trent said. “The invitations will go out as soon as she decides between the eight options she’s narrowed it down to,” he said dryly. “I’d ask you to be my best man, if I thought you’d ever get on a horse again.”

Lee pulled himself off the desk and out of the vamp’s reach. “No, no, no,” he protested, going to a small cabinet and bringing out two glasses and a bottle. “Not again. Not with you. My God, what did you whisper into that beast’s ear, anyway?”

Trent smiled, a real one this time, and took the offered shot glass. “Fair is fair, surfer dude,” he said, and I blinked at the accent he affected. “Seeing as you almost drowned me.”

“Me?” Lee sat back on the desk, one foot off the floor. “I had nothing to do with that. The canoe had a leak. I didn’t know you couldn’t swim.”