“You can say that again.”
“Well, damn.” As the light turned green, Hugh’s lips quirked, and he turned to face the road. “That’s a surprise.”
When she laughed, so did he. And when he reached for her hand, she laced their fingers together without even thinking about it. As if she were confident in her own worth. As if she deserved the attention and desire of a being like Councilor Hugh Blacke, Esquire.
As if, at long last, reality had given way to her most secret, foolish dreams.
17
Now that Gwen was feeling less like sunbaked garbage, she could better relish the inherent hotness of Hugh’s arrival at his apartment complex earlier that day.
The way he’d broken the speed limit to get to her. His illegal choice of parking spot. The stern, decisive manner in which he’d hauled Haziq and Gwen to the hospital.
The only thing that could have made his arrival hotter?
If he’d been wearing a crop top at the time. Shit, that would’ve beenamazing.
“Gwen.” Silence. “Gwen.”
Jolted out of her pleasant reverie, she sat up straight. “What’s going on?”
“Please tell me what happened in the apartment.” He stopped at another light. “I know you gave a report at the scene, but I also know you probably had to redact a few things. Besides, I want to hear the story directly from you.”
“Okay. So.” She angled herself toward him. “I had another vision, but I managed to get back to sleep afterward. When I woke up again, I immediately smelled smoke.”
Explaining everything that came next didn’t take much time. She was just wrapping up the story when her now-rested mind resurfaced a detail she’d almost forgotten. One she hadn’t shared with the common human officer who’d taken her official statement.
“Wait. I just remembered something.” She laid an urgent hand on his forearm. “When Haziq and I opened the exit door to the stairs and stepped through, it felt like surfacing from underwater for some reason. My ears kind of…popped? And then I could suddenly hear the building alarms. They were incredibly loud. So loud I couldn’t believe how quiet your apartment had been, even with malfunctioning smoke detectors. It was like we were in a bubble, and then, as soon as we stumbled through the door…”
“It popped. Like your ears.” Hugh’s knuckles jutted on the steering wheel, white and tense. “I owe you an apology.”
Mystified, she beetled her brows at him. “For what?”
“Not protecting you.” Self-condemnation freighted each word. “Despite all my promises.”
Pursing her lips, she shook her head at him. “No. Don’t be foolish.”
Wait. Had she just called Councilor Hugh Blacke, Esquire, foolish?Her?The two-bit oracle who’d tried to pass offJurassic freaking Parkas a genuine vision?
Yes. Yes, she had. And she wasn’t finished either. “You did protect me. Youareprotecting me. There was absolutely no reason to believe I wouldn’t be safe in your apartment.”
His glance toward her contained nothing but warmth.
“That’s a kind thing to say.” When he returned his attention to the road, the grim set to his mouth returned. “Also misguided, however. Youweren’tsafe, Gwen.”
Before she could muster her next set of arguments, he continued. “As far as the silence within the apartment and that ‘popping’ sensation upon your exit…what you experienced sounds like a witch’s noise-cancellation spell activated within the warded bounds of my home. It can’t have been placed before my departure early this morning. I would have noticed.”
There was only one reasonable conclusion. “The fire couldn’t have been an accident.”
“No.” His anger manifested as a hot draft in the car, a desert wind contained entirely within a small Toyota hybrid. “Given the actuarial risk inherent in approving policies for demons, my homeowner’s insurance required the installation of an extremely thorough heat-responsive sprinkler system and mandates a monthly test of the numerous alarms within my apartment. The smoke detectors and my sprinkler system were perfectly functional. They should have activated.”
“Someone got inside your wards.” The best money could buy, presumably. “Then set a noise-cancellation spell and tampered with your alarms. How?”
“I don’t know.” The car slowed as they neared a waterfront park. “I had the wards set in place the day I purchased the apartment, and I’ve had no issues with security in the meantime.”
“Do they prevent teleportation too?” If not, that would be a huge oversight for a demon, so she’d guess his answer was—
“Yes.” With a twist of his wrist, he neatly maneuvered the car into a roadside parking spot near the park. “I’d originally intended to head directly to my apartment building and gather anyof your salvageable belongings that can be removed from the site. But let’s stop here for a minute first so we can talk in private. Unless you’re still feeling unwell?”
