“A text message telling me you were here before jumping out of the darkness at me, would have been pretty effective.”
“I didn’t jump out at you.”
“No,” she said. “You hid and I jumped.”
“I’m sorry,” he said softly, his hand stroking down her hair, the apology rolling off his tongue with the ease of a man without ego. “I really didn’t mean to scare you.” She melted with both the touch and the words, never before having quite the reaction to a man that she was to this one. Inside the warmth though was a memory far less appealing, a memory of Detective Wright pressing her against the wall – of the piercing pain in her neck, she didn’t understand. Had he bitten her?
“I’m sorry too,” she said, shaking off the odd thought. “It’s not every day a girl becomes the focus of a killer. I’m not my usual calm self. I’m pretty on edge.”
“With good reason,” he assured her. “And stay that way. On edge means you’re alert, and alert will help you stay alive.”
“Help me stay alive,” she repeated. “You really aren’t batting a good score here.” He opened his mouth to apologize again, she was sure, and she flattened her palm on his hard – make that really hard – chest. “It’s okay. Just tell me what comes next? What do I need to do?”
“Assume you’re being watched, and do what you would normally do. I’ve checked for monitoring equipment and your place is clean but that doesn’t mean your routines haven’t been studied, especially with Wright’s obvious interest in you. I’ll be here, but I’ll stay away from the windows, and Troy isn’t going anywhere either.”
Her fingers curled around his light blue t-shirt. She didn’t want to let him get away. A sexy bodyguard was really darn appealing right now. “What about when Troy sleeps?”
“Neither of us need much sleep. You’ve been by the door too long. You need to get moving - turn some lights on and off, and get some normal activity going on.”
“Okay.” But she didn’t move. “You think Detective Wright will come for me tonight, don’t you?” He’d said he didn’t think so earlier, but his actions said differently. “You think he wants to kill me because I know too much about him.”
“I think exactly what I’ve already told you. I think he’ll be trying to find out if I was there to help you, or hunt him. And he’ll worry we’re doing just what we are – using you to get to him, which is against everyth
ing I believe in doing and if there was another answer, I’d take it. But no matter what I think he’ll do, I’m going to treat every second like the moment before he comes for you.” She stared at his chest, recognizing the certainty in his statement. The moment before he comes for you.
As in when he comes for her, not if he did.
His finger slid under her chin, lifting her gaze to his. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I meant it when I said I’d die to save your life.”
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t die to save me and don’t get hurt. I don’t want that. I couldn’t live with that. No one needs to get hurt for me.”
His eyes poured into her, black as a starless night, as intense as a stormy night. “You leave this to me and the only people who’ll be getting hurt will be the bad guys.” He turned her towards the living room, his mouth lowering near her ear, breath warm on her neck. “I’ll be here if you need me.” She inhaled and resisted the urge to sink back against him. She could do this. She wanted to save lives, and that was a risk worth a little discomfort, and in the end, if everything worked out, that was all this was.
Kelly forced her feet to move down the hardwood hall, past the cozy living room to her left where she often read books, often favoring true crime stories in hopes of stimulating ideas to solve cases at work.
She thought that maybe it was time for a romance without the mystery, maybe a small town family one at that, with the promise of a happy ending.
She turned down the hallway to her left and entered one of the two bedrooms, to the master, but not before she flipped on the lights and checked it out. One look at her unmade Queen sized bed and she grimaced. So much for thinking no one would see it but her. She should make it really quick. Maybe he wouldn’t notice. It was illogical, she realized, but something to worry about other than being killed.
“It’s safe,” Aiden said from behind her. “You’re safe, Kelly.” She swallowed hard and turned to find Aiden leaning on the doorframe. He was spectacular – so tall, so big and broad, and that hair. Suddenly, she was all too aware of being alone with the hottest man she’d ever met – just her, him, and her unmade bed.
Chapter Seven
Aiden watched Kelly disappear into the bathroom and shut the door. He tried not to look at the damnable unmade bed that looked all too ready for the two of them to enjoy it. Naked. Oh yeah, he could imagine them naked, her naked, in vivid detail, and apparently, so could his cock, which was pressing uncomfortably against his zipper.
Aiden sat down in a high backed chair in the corner of the room, not nearly far enough from the bed to suit him. He tried to focus on other matters, texting Troy to confirm they were still clear of trouble.
Thankfully, she had blinds and curtains, so he didn’t have to worry about outside prying eyes – not from the bad guys, or his brother. He couldn’t win here. Troy hadn’t been pleased that Kelly had called him on his personal involvement in this case, and putting Troy inside with her was more trouble than not. Putting him inside with Kelly – more trouble than was safe.
The bathroom door opened and Kelly stood there, her face scrubbed free of makeup, wearing a red ‘I love Paris’ t-shirt that reached to her knees, and thankfully, covered more of her than her bar outfit had. That didn’t stop him from wondering what she had on underneath it, and he silently cursed himself, for even going there.
“I have an entire pizza in the fridge, if you’re hungry? It was buy one get another for a penny and that was just too good to pass up.”
He was hungry, alright - for her. “Pizza sounds good,” Aiden said, pushing to his feet, ready to get out of this bedroom, away from the curse of temptation that was the bed. He’d more than eagerly join her in the kitchen, where the small window over the sink wouldn’t be hard to avoid, and the bed would be. “Lead the way.” And pizza sounded damn good. He’d take any kind of substance that might tame the craving he had to taste Kelly’s blood again. He might be a vampire, and like all vampires, he had blood on his menu.
But his race had evolved, the days of sunlight intolerance and daily blood intake long gone. Blood had become more a necessary monthly supplement.
Fifteen minutes later, they sat at her wooden kitchen table with girlie floral cushions on the back of the chairs. Between them sat a large cheese only pizza, two diet Sprites - because diet Sprite was all she kept in the house - and two plates.