Page 25 of A Touch of Crimson
“Good morning,” he greeted her, with that low resonance in his voice that damn near curled her toes. “Did you sleep well?”
She dismissed the déjà vu she was feeling as a lack of coffee combined with the remnants of her very erotic dreams. “I was very comfortable. Thank you.”
“I thought you might sleep for another few hours yet.”
“It’s nine o’clock back home. For me, that is sleeping in.”
“Are you hungry?”
Knowing he didn’t eat food himself made his thoughtfulness even more meaningful. “I’d like some coffee, if you have it. And a few moments of your time.”
“Of course.” He shot a speaking glance at a man standing guard, one of the brawny ones. The guy gave a curt nod before entering the house. “Would you like to go inside?” Adrian asked.
“And miss the air show? No way.”
That earned her a slight smile. She was determined to coax a different sort of smile from him—an intimate one like he’d given her in her dream.
As he gestured toward a teakwood table set nearby, his wings dissipated like mist. “Damien.”
The other angel followed, his wings vanishing just as Adrian’s had. Adrian pulled a chair out for her, then rounded the table and sat next to Damien.
Lindsay was positioned so that she faced east, setting the two impossibly gorgeous angels against the backdrop of sunrise. She took a deep breath, knowing she was at a crossroads. “I’ve taken a serious and sudden detour here. I relocated to California for a job. I had plans, including a hotel reservation last night that I didn’t cancel and will have to pay for. I?—”
“I’ll take care of that.”
“I don’t want you to take care of it. Just listen.” Her fingertips drummed on the armrests of her chair. “I appreciate the offer you’ve made to train me, and I want to take you up on it. I’d be stupid not to, since I’m self-taught and apparently blind. I can feel what’s not human, but I can’t narrow that down to what I should—and want—to be hunting. That said, I need to be self-sufficient. I need to have my own place, pay my own way, and come and go as I please.”
“I can’t allow you to put yourself in danger.”
“Can’t allow?” Lindsay would’ve laughed, but this was a deadly serious turning point in their association. She was well aware that he was a being not of this world, a man of immense wealth in his mortal guise and even greater power as an angel. But she would not be subservient to anyone. Especially him. If she didn’t set the ground rules now, it would be too late.
The guard returned with a tray bearing a carafe, one mug, cream, and sugar. He set them down in front of Lindsay, then resumed his position nearby. Lindsay wondered why angels would need protection, especially from individuals who radiated less power. From what she’d gathered from the conversation over dinner, lycans were guarding the angels. There was apparently some kind of organizational structure to this supernatural underground she’d been brutally introduced to as a child.
She realized she knew little about the things she’d been hunting, which had made the killing so much easier. She was going to have to put them into context now, possibly humanizing them in the process, while still slaying them.
Not for the first time, Lindsay wished she could go back in time. If she hadn’t begged her mother to take her on that damn picnic, Regina Gibson might still be alive now.
“I’m sitting down with you,” she went on, “in an attempt to discuss this situation reasonably so we can brainstorm ideas to meet the challenges while still giving me some independence. But if you’re going to take a my-way-or-the-highway stance, I’ve got nothing more to say to you aside from goodbye. I don’t want to be a sitting duck out there, but, frankly, I’d rather take my chances under my own free will than to lose my autonomy.”
Damien shot a sidelong glance at Adrian, but Adrian never took his eyes off her. There was a faint lifting to one side of his mouth, as if he was tempted to smile. “Point taken.”
“All right then. Any suggestions?”
He leaned back in his chair, sliding his long legs forward to assume a graceful sprawl. Her attraction to him presented yet another hurdle. She’d been looking forward to exploring their chemistry before she knew what he was. Now…? Well, it was going to be very complicated.
She didn’t have long-term relationships—she barely had time for herself—and she’d never had a fling with a man she worked with, to avoid the postbreakup awkwardness. She knew if she was still living with Adrian after their affair was over, she would have to watch him date other women. She’d never lived with a lover before, let alone with a former lover who had a new girlfriend.
Just thinking about Adrian looking at another woman the way he looked at her incited a possessiveness that startled her with its intensity, especially considering how short a time she’d known him.
She poured herself a cup of coffee and sweetened it, needing her brain cells to hurry up and start firing.
“You do realize,” Adrian began, “that you can’t continue to straddle your two lives? If you want normalcy, I can see that you have it. Raguel Gadara takes the safety of his employees very seriously. I can arrange for you to move into one of his residential properties. Between work and home and the cessation of your killing, you should be fine.”
“I can’t quit. Not until I find who I’m looking for. Maybe not even then. I can’t imagine going through life knowing those things are out there terrorizing others, and me not doing something about it.”
Something flashed in his eyes. Triumph, maybe. “The alternative is for you to stay here, train hard, and focus on hunting.”
“Isn’t there some sort of compromise? Can’t I live off-site, train on the weekends, and call you for backup when something sets off my freak-o-meter?”
