Chapter 29

"Your friends seem to be really invested with watching every move I make. Are they curious about something or still trying to threaten me?" Questioned Eli about Helen's friends who were watching him like a hawk majority of the time he had been seated here.

Thanks to his vampire blood he could hear a lot of what they were speaking about but it didn't take long for him to tune them out. Because their hearing was exquisite, vampires heard many sounds all at once which sounded like a crowded street. Thankfully, they had the ability like many other supernatural creatures to tune out a lot of the noise and focus on one sound.

Coming from royal blood by his father's side of the family his hearing was amplified which meant he had to learn to tune out more noises than the average vampire. Eli also didn't like prying into others' conversations if there was no information being spoken that could be useful to him in the future.

It got extremely boring listening to the many conversations those around him were having. It was almost the same topic every time.

He didn't have to eavesdrop on the conversation Helen was having with her friends to know what she thought of him considering she was pretty much an open book with what she thought of someone. That was one quality he admired about her.

There was so much more he needed to know to be able to figure her out entirely. He just wished he could do this without feeling her friend's eyes on his back. Did she enjoy them watching over her shoulder so frequently? It wasn't like he would hurt her and he was pretty sure whatever he discussed with Helen right now would be brought up whenever she goes back to her friends.

How excited were they that they couldn't wait to hear from her rather than creepily watching? He never minded having an audience when he was with a woman until now.

"My apologies for their behavior. It's at an all-time low today, unfortunately. You're Eli King, a mysterious man who started to trend overnight and you're rich. Plus I haven't been on a date in a couple of months or maybe even a year so they are pumped up to see how this will play out," Helen explained then took a bite of her food which consisted of a steak, sweet potato mash, stir-fried veggies, and a red wine sauce.

Wiping her mouth after tasting the steak she asked, "How was your food? Was it of great quality?"

"It was surprisingly good," Eli replied and immediately noticed how she looked at him afterward.

Helen squinted her eyes at his response. "Surprisingly?" She questioned.

A faint smile started to appear watching Helen become defensive over his words. He could almost hear her sharpening a knife to point at him.

"Normally many new restaurants don't have the right taste off the back. It takes a lot of experimenting and customer feedback unless you have that rare chance of hiring a really good chef given that you didn't come from a connected family. So, for a newbie like yourself, it was surprisingly good. It's a compliment," Eli reassured Helen who backed down after his explanation.

"Hmm…" She hummed accepting his words. Helen thought he had a negative idea of how her business would turn out but she understood the food was probably better than most who entered expected. From the appearance of the building down to the plates the food was placed on, she wanted her business to scream quality and be on the verge of perfection.

She would melt to the floor right now if something had gone wrong.

"Would you like to take a bite of my food?" She asked since Eli was just sitting and watching her eat. He previously had a steak but it wasn't the same dish like the one she had right now. She felt a little bit awkward eating by herself while he just watched.

She was becoming self-conscious of how she was eating in front of Eli and started to think about if she ate ugly or normal, perhaps was there food on her face? It wasn't hard to feel this way with Eli's piercing gaze watching your every movement. Not to mention the fact his gaze brought a tingling sensation throughout her body.

Similar to the feeling of a high schooler being noticed by their crush. His gaze alone would make you want to submit to him but Helen found herself secretly wanting to reverse that. To have him under her control instead, wrapped around her perfectly manicured nails, obeying her every command. The thrill of the idea made her body shiver.

Helen couldn't remember the last time she felt this type of excitement. A man who annoyed but intimated her with his presence. She understood why the women and young girls on social media were going crazy for him.

"Have a bite," She started putting together a small cut of the steak on the fork along with the sauce for him to taste. Helen extended the fork out to Eli who leaned forward slightly with no hesitation to taste what she was offering.

Eli licked the traces of sauce which stained his bottom lip with his tongue while keeping his gaze on Helen. "Even better," He commented on the taste. She surely was the bold type.

"Good," Helen answered.

'This is going to end badly,' she thought feeling herself being pushed over to the deep end where she wanted to explore more of Eli.

Helen slowly removed her hand with the fork from Eli and began to cut more meat for herself. This was not what she was supposed to be doing on the day of her grand opening but maybe another day.

"Don't play with fire Helen or you'll get burned," Eli warned her but unbeknownst to Helen, it meant more than she was thinking he meant.

A devious smile grew due to his words as Helen cut into the meat. In silence, she placed more of the steak on the fork but before placing it in her mouth she replied, "Oh Eli. It's you who needs to be careful. I'm normally the one with matches."

Eli grinned unconsciously running his tongue where his fangs were hidden. She continued to excite him even more to the point where he wanted to sink his fangs in her soft skin to taste her blood. He couldn't be a hundred percent certain he wouldn't drain her body while doing so.

If only Helen knew what she was stirring up inside of him she would run away but he wouldn't let her. She was far too enticing for him to let her slip through his fingers in this lifetime.

"Haven't you caught on by now? I'm not your average woman and I might surprise you in more ways than one."

"Then I look forward to being surprise each and every time," He answered.

Helen softly chuckled at him accepting that she would be a challenge. When was the last time she met a man so assertive?

'Is this how I would be as a man?' She thought inspecting every tiny detail about Eli. He's not so bad when he's silent.

However, she knew with their strong personalities a possible relationship might only lead to chaos. She wasn't the type to easily give in to anyone's commands and Eli looked the same, so if there was ever an issue they would have to break up because she wouldn't falter. Unless she was wrong but what could she possibly do wrong?

Recently everyone was so caught up in trying to be with Eli, she was starting to wonder what it would be like. What made him so special?

Helen took a sip of her red wine to clear her mind of such thoughts. Now she was clearly getting ahead of herself wondering what a relationship with Eli would be like but how could she not wonder? There was a shiny red apple right in front of her, tempting her to take a bit and enjoy all that it had to offer.

She was surely drifting away from her plans.

Unexpectedly, she felt a buzz near her thigh from the cellphone she had been carrying around. "Excuse me," She told Eli as she proceeded to get her phone. It might be Mary trying to see how the opening was going as Mary said she would keep in touch here and there.

Taking out her cellphone she noticed it was a text message from an unknown number which read,

Aren't you haven't too much fun with prince charming?

Agitated, she quickly placed her hand on her lap with the phone because of the message. Was he really keeping an eye on her? Did he not trust her? Or maybe he was just messing with her again.

"What's wrong?" Eli questioned noticing a change in her mood.

"Nothing. It was a spam text," She replied forcing a smile but squeezed the phone tightly under the table.