Page 15 of Forever Found

At least, shethoughtJustin would be a good host. He was easygoing that way. Pausing on the other side of the door, she let her heart rate slow. Energy coursed through every part of her. The problem was, she couldn’t tell if it was because of the surprising morning or David Snyder’s presence. Every time she took stock, her pulse raced and she felt warm, even when she was freezing from the wintry weather. Why was that?

She slipped into a pair of jeans, then layered on a shirt and sweater.

The house still seemed cold to her.

She scrolled to the top of the page, and shots of the gothic mansion rolled over the screen. Then she came to the ones with David and Rylan in the frame.

That’s strange…

Rylan was clear, but David’s image was blurry. She scanned the other pictures of him. All were out of focus and unclear. She blew out a frustrated breath, scrolling through more of the same. What was the deal? She wasn’t a sloppy photographer.

She skipped over images until she came to the ones she’d taken last evening. Some shots of lighting the fire, but the glow in the background didn’t make for a good chance to see David, anyway. Then there were some of him and Val up close. Again, David was blurry.

Lyndsey pursed her lips, still glancing between the pictures. She’d always had a special connection with her photographs. It seemed she usually captured almost otherworldly elements. That was the only way she could describe it, which might be what made her photos so appealing. Glimpsing moments before or after events, experiencing how it felt in those moments—that was what she tried to achieve for her audience.

She moved to the final few shots. David filled the frame, a set of glorious wings of white-and-gold expanding behind him. She inhaled sharply. He was in midair, in mid-flight, and he looked like…like anangel. He was magnificent. The photo of him was crisp and clear, unlike all the others she’d taken of him.

Behold the truth. She blinked. This was crazy.

A few frames later, she’d captured a man beside the streetlight, glaring at David. David’s brows almost touched from his intense scowl. She could practically see the anger wafting off his shoulders like steam on a hot road in summer. In the next shot, the same man faced the camera full-on. Lyndsey gasped, her entire body feeling suddenly weak. She’d seen that man before. A long time ago when she’d been a child.

Her roiling stomach sank to her toes with a memory she couldn’t quite bring to her consciousness. Lyndsey had known back then she hadn’t liked the man. She liked him even less now.

But why was he following David? What did he know of this man?

She eased the laptop lid down. There were so many things about Terror she didn’t understand. Why she’d felt compelled to visit was at the top of her list. Yes, she enjoyed seeing Justin. It had been far too long, but there was something more to it, something she couldn’t explain. That inner guide had been with her entire life, and it had drawn her to Terror.

* * *

As soon as Lyndsey went into the bedroom, he stood and paced. He was getting mixed signals from his head and his gut. She seemed to be telling the truth, yet the evidence said differently.

And Jesus… When she’d come to the door with a sweater covering her PJs, that was the sexiest thing he’d seen in a long time. The PJs looked like an oversized shirt…buttons up the front, pale green, with a curved hem that stopped slightly above her knees. She had lovely legs, and a vibrant blue sweater clung to her body to below her hips. Bare feet peeked out farther down, showing her pink polished toes. Ugh, he shouldn’t be getting so worked up over her.

But he was.

David blew out a ragged breath. He wanted to draw her into his arms and hold her. Maybe kiss her. And, at the same time, he felt compelled to protect her. If she were the child he’d saved all those years ago, what did it mean that she was here now? At the same time as that demon, no less…

His steps quickened as he turned and walked around to the seating arrangement in the kitchen. The bedroom door opened, and she came into the room carrying her laptop.

He’d been wrong earlier. She looked sexy as hell this minute in her ripped-at-the-knees jeans and tan sweater, still barefoot. He cleared his throat, trying not to think about her like that.

“Did you get something to drink?” she asked.

“No.”

In the kitchen, she placed the laptop on the table, walked to the refrigerator, and opened it. She leaned in, looking around. “I see water, milk, Coke, and beer. Although it’s too early for beer, right? Any of that interest you? Or I can make coffee.”

“Water is fine, thanks.”

She plucked a water and a Coke bottle from inside, closed the door with her elbow, and faced him. “Here you go.”

He took the water she held out. From where he stood, her scent wafted to him, a mixture of flowers and smoke from last night’s bonfire. She hadn’t showered, he surmised. Of course, hehadwoken her just moments ago, so duh. Her scent was a delicious mixture anyway, and he had to resist the urge to move closer to her.

She walked to the table, eased into a chair, and opened the laptop. Then took a long drink of soda, tipping her head back and showing her slim throat working as she swallowed. He glanced away, into the living room. “Come closer, and I’ll show you the stuff I took last night.”

He took a sip of his water, then did as she suggested, taking the seat next to her.

She tapped the keys a few times. “Here you go.” After another gulp of Coke, she moaned. “Mmm. Caffeine.”