Page 56 of Immortal Unveiled

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Kim let the door of her condo snap in behind her and flipped the light switch. “Are you still here?” she asked in a low voice.

“You don’t have to whisper just because I’m invisible,” Manus said.

She whirled in the direction of his voice, not having expected that he’d entered the apartment ahead of her.

“Let’s close the curtains,” he suggested, “so no demon can look in.”

Quickly, Kim followed his suggestion, closing the drapes in all rooms. She’d had dinner with the Stealth Guardians and their wives and children at the compound before Manus had led her back to the portal. This time, they hadn’t exited at the strip club but in an old abandoned warehouse. Once there, Manus had indeed made himself invisible while they’d walked to the nearest bus stop and taken a bus to her place. During the entire time, he’d held her hand to assure her that he was still there.

She’d never felt anything more unreal than feeling his hand in hers but seeing nothing.

“I still can’t get over the fact that you can make yourself invisible,” Kim now said, wandering back into the living room.

“It’s a pretty handy skill,” Manus said from behind her, sending a shudder down her spine.

She turned to him and watched him appear before her eyes.

“For tonight,” he added, “I wanted to make sure that should the demons watch you, they’d see you return home without a Stealth Guardian in tow.”

“Do you think they’re watching me?” That thought made her shiver involuntarily.

“We have to assume it. They probably suspect that your mother told you about whatever was in her possession, which means they’ll expect you to retrieve it at some point. They must have had you under surveillance when we went to the storage unit. Unfortunately, the demons are good. I didn’t notice anyone following us.”

“I don’t blame you. Your priority was to stop me from exposing you and your people.” And she hadn’t exactly made it easy for him to fulfill his task. Instead, she’d caused him plenty of grief.

She sighed and stretched out her hand to touch his bicep. The bandage was gone now, but he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, preventing her from seeing how well the wound had healed.

“Does it still hurt?”

He shook his head. “It’s already healed. Vampire blood is the best medicine.”

“I’ll remember for next time.”

Manus smirked. “Oh yeah? Planning on shooting me again?”

Kim felt her face flush from shame. “I’m so sorry for doing that. I should have trusted you.”

“You had no reason to trust me. I’m a stranger to you.”

She moved closer, reducing the distance between them to a mere foot. “Not a complete stranger.” She hoped he understood that she was alluding to the intimacy they’d shared.

Manus cleared his throat, his eyes now pinning her. “Sex doesn’t necessarily make somebody trust you.”

She placed her hand on his chest and moved it downward. “No, but intimacy does.”

He inhaled sharply and put his hand over hers, stopping her from reaching his waistband. “What are you doing?”

“Making up for shooting you, for nearly killing you.” Though it wasn’t her primary motivation. What she wanted was to feel what she’d felt the night before. To be close to Manus, to feel connected to him.

“I’m not asking you to make it up to me,” he said though his eyes said something different. There was desire in them and a hunger that turned her insides molten.

“But I want to.” She pulled her hand free of his grip and slid it farther down, onto his pants, where she laid it over his zipper. A firm bulge greeted her. Big and hard, just like the night before. Oh, how she loved a man who responded so quickly.

“Kim…”

“No complaints, please.”