One Lucky Vampire by Lynsay Sands

briefly, and then quickly punched in four digits while Cody and Jake averted their eyes. Stepping back, she said, “Done.”
    “Great.” Cody worked at the panel briefly, and then stepped away. “Your turn Jake.”
    “You can watch if you like,” Jake said when Nicole started to follow suit and turn away. “It’s your system. You should know my number in case you want to remove it later.”
    Nicole paused and watched as he punched in his own four digits, repeating them in her head a couple of times so that she could remember long enough to write them down somewhere.
    “And now . . .” Cody punched a bunch of buttons again and then stepped away for a third time. “The guest number?”
    Nicole punched in another number and then stepped away while he finished the setup.
    After a moment’s work, he stepped back and nodded. “There you are. All done.”
    “How long have you guys been here?” she asked curiously as he closed the panel.
    “My men and I got here at about a quarter after twelve,” Cody answered easily, and then added, “When I heard Jake called this morning I didn’t think we’d be able to get out here until later in the week. But we had a cancellation this afternoon so here we are.”
    Nicole didn’t comment. They must have arrived just after she’d lain down, but she was more concerned with the fact that Jake had actually called before he’d mentioned it to her, yet he’d made it sound like he was asking for permission to call when he already had. Now she was a bit annoyed. Like with rekeying the locks, she would have liked being consulted before he actually called about the security system the first time.
    Actually, she supposed, if the front door lock was broken, that had definitely needed immediate attention so she wasn’t annoyed about that too much, but this was a security system, not an emergency. She’d lived here two years without one. She really would have liked to be consulted about this before the first call. What if she’d said no to his calling when he’d brought it up? Cody had already been on the way out by that point. She’d have to talk to Jake about that, Nicole supposed.
    Sighing at the thought of the unpleasant task ahead, she asked, “So is a check all right?”
    “Yeah. Sure. My office gal will send you a bill and you can send a check in then. Don’t worry about it now,” Cody said as they started out of her room.
    “Can you give me an idea of what it will be?” she asked. “I’m heading to the bank now and can transfer the money while there.”
    Cody nodded and gave a price, adding, “Give or take. I’m not sure about taxes. And then there’s a monthly charge for monitoring.”
    Nicole nodded but was surprised by the price. It seemed pretty reasonable. She’d expected it to cost more. In fact, she’d priced security systems when she’d first considered getting one, and the price he’d just given was at the low end of the quotes she’d received at the time. He’d definitely given her a break on the price and she supposed she had Jake to thank for that.
    “All set?” Jake asked as they entered the kitchen.
    “All set,” Cody assured him, offering a hand.
    “Thank you,” Jake said solemnly as they shook hands.
    “No problem. Happy to help,” Cody assured him, and then nodded at Nicole and said, “Nice to meet you.”
    “You too,” Nicole said politely.
    “I’ll see you out,” Jake said, following when Cody turned to leave.
    The moment they were out of the room, Nicole headed for her room to get ready to go. She wanted to brush her hair, her teeth, maybe throw on some makeup and change her clothes for something warmer. Her jeans were all right, but it was cold out and something warmer than a T-shirt was called for. It wouldn’t be if she was the kind of person who did up her winter coat, but she tended to take it off in the car and then just tug it on and not bother to do it up just to run into a store.
    Nicole didn’t know if it was