"Soph, wake up."

Her eyes cracked open to find Eli shaking her arm. When he noticed that she was awake he stepped back. In a flash, she remembered their late night of talking and the Predators who'd maintained a creepy vigil outside the apartment, hoping Eli would come out. She sat up and pushed her hair out of her face. She was still on the lounge.

"What time is it?" she yawned, scrubbing her face with her palms.

"Seven thirty," he replied. He had that guarded look about him again, as if he wasn't sure he should be there. Soph didn't have time to worry about that. She rolled unceremoniously from the lounge, scrabbling to her feet.

"Seven thirty! Fuck! I'm going to be late!" racing past him to the bedroom, she rifled through her closet. She swore again. Nothing had been ironed. Eli appeared in the doorway and Soph glanced at him. "Are the harpy twins gone? Why are you still here?"

"I fell asleep as well," he told her, then added, "they're gone."

A billionaire vampire had slept over at her house, right beside her on the lounge. Luie would have a field day with that sort of gossip.

"I didn't know vampires slept." she yanked a blouse from its hanger in the back of the closet and held it up to inspect it. It was an old one, but it seemed to have the least wrinkles of the lot. Once more she cursed herself for not organising this sort of thing the night before.

"We sleep," Eli said dryly. "Sometimes. What time do you start work?"

She glanced at him once more as she commenced the search for a suitable skirt. "Eight. But at this rate I won't be there til eight thirty, if I'm lucky. Fucking hell, Bradley's going to kill me!"

Eli looked at his watch. "Meet me out front in twenty minutes."

"What? I-" but she couldn't finish before he vanished from the doorway. She growled and pulled a skirt from her closet and dressed.

Twenty minutes later she was on the footpath in front of her building. Eli was nowhere to be seen - though she hadn't really expected him to be - so she tried to flag down a taxi. She hurried along the street as she did, knowing her attempts were futile. It was so busy at this time of morning, even if she did manage to catch a taxi, she'd probably be sitting in traffic for half an hour.

A black Audi swung into the space in front of her and she immediately recognised it as Eli's. The window of the passenger side rolled down, and he leaned over to look at her.

"Get in."

She glanced quickly up and down the street. People were looking at the Audi as they passed. "Fuck," she hissed, then opened the door, climbing into the leather-upholstered bucket seat, dropping her handbag into the footwell before her. No sooner had she pulled the door closed, then Eli swung back out into the traffic and took off down the street.

"Founders!" Soph gasped, scrabbling for her seatbelt. "Do you always drive this fast?"

"Vampire," he reminded her. Without taking his eyes from the road, he lifted one of two coffee cups from the holders in the console and handed it to her. "I took a guess at a flat white," he said.

"Thank... you," she accepted the cup, eyes on him as he lifted his own to his lips, controlling the car that wove through the traffic at an incredible speed with only one hand. He looked as if he'd showered before donning the grey suit that he now wore. "How did you get ready and get back here so quickly?"

"Vampire," he said again. Within minutes they'd driven the seven blocks to the CBD, and he pulled into the underground carpark of his building.

"There," he said, looking at his watch. "Only two minutes late."

"Why did you do this?" she held up her coffee. "Coffee and a lift to work?"

He met her eye, and his expression was soft. A flutter rose in her stomach under his gaze. "You protected me last night when I had nowhere else to go. A coffee and a lift to work was the least I could do. Now," he dipped his head in a small salute. "You better get to work or the speeding would have been for naught."

***

Soph hurried to her desk, then slowed. Getting a lift with Eli had actually made her earlier than she normally was, and now she was the first of her team to arrive at her pod for the day. She dropped her handbag under her desk, turned on her computer and took a leisurely drink of her coffee.

"Soph," a voice behind her made her jump up again.

"Morning, Bradley," she greeted her boss. His eyes swept over the other empty desks, then he made a motion that she should follow him.

"Have you learned how to teleport?" he joked as he led her into his office. "I've never seen you here before anyone else, not even on your first day."

"I'm working on it," she promised, as she had a million times before.

"As long as you get your work done, I don't care." he sat at his desk and faced her, giving her an appraising look. "Though if you did pick up in other areas of your job, you'd be well on your way to becoming Head of Design."

"Really?" Soph leaned forward, shocked. "But we don't even have a Head of Design!"

"We will soon," he smiled, and the expression was strange on his usually stoic features. "I wanted all the team to be here when I announced the news, but I'll tell you first. After a rigorous tender process, we've secured ourselves a two million dollar deal and a new client. If you can get us through their phase one plan, the Head of Design job is yours."

"Are you serious? That's amazing! Who is it?"

"SinCorp wants us to design and run their entire advertising campaign for the three new nightclubs they're about to open."

"SinCorp," she echoed. Eli.

"That's the one. We'll need to provide them with an initial concept within a week."

Soph let Bradley talk as a feeling of surrealism settled around her. Only hours ago, the CEO of SinCorp had been hiding in her apartment. The CEO of SinCorp had given her a lift to work and bought her a coffee that morning. And Bradley had no idea.

"Soph? Are you listening? Their Marketing Director will be over later this morning, so get started on anything you can before then."

"Sure, Bradley," she responded. "I'll get right on it."

The day went by in a blur of meetings, mock ups and brief analysis. The winning of such a prestigious tender had the whole of Paxus rearing to go. By close of business, though, Soph was well and truly feeling her sleepless night. She left her office on dark, letting her eyes roam across the street to the SinCorp building.

Eli was leaving it, as he did at this time most days. He was looking at his phone as usual and Soph watched him walk towards the car park, wondering if he would be running for his life that night like he had the last. His two worlds appeared to blend seamlessly. At the last moment he looked up, meeting her eye from across the street. He gave her a small smile - which she returned - before continuing on his way.

Soph's phone suddenly rang, and she dug through her bag to find it, holding it to her ear before checking the number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Soph? This is Marco. We had dinner last night with your Nona and my mother?"

Soph smiled and started down her own side of the street. "Hi Marco, how are you?"

"I'm good. Actually, I can't get you off my mind. Are you free for dinner tomorrow night? Just us, no mothers or grandmothers."

Soph glanced once more in Eli's direction, just in time to see him disappear into the car park. "I'd love that, Marco. Pick me up at seven?"

***

"I know Italian food is a bit of a cliche at this point, but I promise this place has the best bolognese you've ever tasted." Marco pulled Soph's chair out, then sat down opposite her.

"Really, it's fine," Soph said with a laugh. "If I didn't like the food, I'd make a pretty bad half-Italian."

"On your mother's side?" Marco guessed. He accepted a bottle of wine from the waiter and poured them both a glass.

"Yes. My father is Greek. What a scandal that was."

"I can imagine." Marco set his chin on his fists and surveyed her with a smile. Soph blushed under his scrutiny. He was even more handsome without his mother present. "Are they still together?"

Soph laughed. "Oh no. My father met Nona only once and ran a mile. By that time my mother was already pregnant. I keep in touch with him from time to time. He lives back in Greece and has a few other children."

"And your mum?" Marco queried. "I've never met her at any of Mother's things."

"No, you probably wouldn't have. She's a bit of a nomad; floats in and out of my life as she pleases, each time with a fresh man on her arm. Nona mostly raised me. What about you? Any horrid upbringing stories from you?"

"No, no I had the textbook childhood. Two parents who fight but love each other, one brother - older - and a dog. My brother and I went to Saint Sebastian's Grammar School, and then I did a degree in marketing and business management."

Soph let out a low whistle and smiled at Marco over the rim of her wineglass. "A Saint Seb's boy, huh? I better watch my back."

"Oh yeah? And where did you go to school? Laurie's?"

"I was a Wickham's girl. Co-ed all the way for me."

"Co-ed?" Marco made to stand. "I think tonight was a bad idea."

"Shut up," Soph laughed, smacking his arm. He grinned and sat back down.

"I'll be honest," he said, reaching across the table to take her hand, twining his fingers through hers. "I was so nervous about calling you yesterday, but I'm really glad you said yes to this date. It's been a long time since I've had someone that I can talk so easily with."

Soph smiled at him. "Me too."