by C. L. Parker
He meticulously straightened his jeans so that they hung just so over his boots and then looked at her again. “Shall we?” He held out his hand to her.
He did have a point. The only reason she had found her way there in the first place was because she was following the pull. She furrowed her brow, still not understanding what all that had been about. Dammit, she would have to come back, but hopefully, he wouldn’t be there next time. Knowing her parents were probably going ballistic over her extended walk, she nodded her head but refused to take his hand, walking past him toward the exit instead.
“After you then,” he said with a smile in his voice. She heard the hiss of the fire being doused and then the heavy thud of his boots on the stone floor behind her.
Once outside, a chill swept over Tori and she crossed her arms to smooth the goose bumps there. In the wake of the rain shower and nightfall, the temperature had dropped dramatically. She could feel the warmth of him as he stepped close to her back and she almost sank into his chest to seek out the heat of his body, but before she could, something heavy was draped over her shoulders. She looked to her right and saw that he had put a black leather jacket on her.
“Unless you’d rather go back inside and strip down to snuggle in my arms again, I think you should wear this.” Another chill went through her, but not from the cool night air. This chill was brought on by the sensation of his breath at her ear again. She inhaled deeply. It might have looked like she was taking in the fresh air, but in truth, she was drawing his scent into herself. It was an invigorating aroma, masculine with an earthy musk and natural spice.
“Thank you,” she whispered as she pushed her arms through the sleeves of his jacket. It was far too big, but comfortable and warm.
“Not at all, Angel. Let’s get you home.” He went over and perched himself atop a black-on-black motorcycle that would have looked like it had just been driven off the showroom floor had it not been for the splashes of mud kicked up by the tires. He started the bike and then turned to look at her over his shoulder expectantly. “Hop on. I won’t bite . . . unless you ask me very nicely.”
“Again, not gonna happen,” she said, holding onto his shoulders for leverage as she straddled the seat with him between her legs.
“We’ll see.” He moved forward, catching her off guard and forcing her to slide closer until she was caught between his backside and the hump of the seat behind her. “There, that’s much better. Might want to hold on, Angel. This is going to be a bumpy ride; one I believe you’ll thoroughly enjoy.”
“Shouldn’t I have a helmet or something?”
“Rest assured you are perfectly safe when you’re with me. I’ll never let anything happen to you.”
With that, he took off. Caught by surprise, Tori wrapped her arms around his waist, her fingertips pressing into his stomach and holding him closer as she buried her face into his shoulder. She could hear his laughter over the roar of the engine. He might have been enjoying the fact that she was clinging to him like her life depended on it, but no way was she letting go. She just had to endure the torture of being so close to him while the power of the engine beneath them sent a delicious vibration through her for a short time and then she would never see him again. Strangely, Tori wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
She kept her eyes closed while the mystery man weaved through the woods, but she knew that if she opened them she’d see that he was purposely hitting dips in the path to force her impossibly closer. Tori should have been scared to death, but holding tight to him made her feel safer than she had ever felt before.
Before long, the bumps and jars stopped and he called over his shoulder to her. “You can open your eyes now.”
No way. She had never been on a motorcycle before and never really had a desire to. There was just something terrifying about being exposed to the elements and absolutely no defense between her body and certain death should they crash. She preferred not to see that death coming. It seemed crazy that with the horrific nightmares she had endured, this was something that would scare her so much. But in her nightmares, she was safe, somehow protected. On the bike, she was as vulnerable as it comes.
“Which house?” the stranger asked when they turned onto the same street where Drew lived.
Tori opened her eyes and took a very quick, necessary look along the row of houses, spotting the Dickenses’ estate on the corner. “There.” She pointed toward it, but quickly wrapped her arm back around him and squeezed her eyes shut again.
She heard him laugh again as he shook his head. “What’s so funny?” Tori asked.
He slowed down when they neared the house. “Nothing. I know a bloke who lives here, that’s all.”
“Dante?” It made sense given their proximity in age.
He simply nodded and then cut the engine. Tori opened her eyes to see the bike rolling into the drive and suddenly became very anxious. She could picture her mother running out, yelling at her for being gone for so long, and then her father ripping this perfect stranger off his bike to beat the shit out of him first and ask questions later.
“You don’t have to pull in. Just stop the bike and let me off.”
He ignored her and held the motorcycle upright so she could climb off. When he put the kickstand in place and climbed off, Tori panicked. “What are you doing? Leave!”
He gave her an incredulous look. “What kind of knight in shining armor would I be if I didn’t see you to your door safely?”
“You got me back safe and sound; you don’t need to stay any longer.”
He shook his head and took her hand, leading her to the front door. “Those American sods . . . Again, not how we do things here, Angel. I’m not leaving until I see for myself that you made it inside.”
Tori huffed and took her hand out of his. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when my dad distorts that pretty-boy face of yours.”
“Oh, so you like the way I look, do you? I knew it,” he goaded her playfully. Leaning against the door frame, he kept his eyes on her and rang the bell. The chords of Westminster Chimes echoed from inside the house.
When she heard footsteps approach from the other side, Tori held her breath, trying furtively to prepare herself for the embarrassment of a lifetime. Mystery Guy was still watching her, making no attempt to hide the fact that he was mentally undressing her down to her panties and bra—and probably beyond—again.
“I was right about you, you know?” His voice was calm, cool, and collected while she mentally wished she had put on an extra layer of deodorant to counteract the layer of sweat that was beginning to coat her body. “You are an angel.”
Wrong. Angels didn’t sweat, but then again, she wasn’t a hundred percent angel.
The door opened and she started, and then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Drew standing there without her parents.
“Tori, your parents have been worried sick,” he said before he turned his attention to Mystery Guy, giving him a confused look. “And since when do you ring the bell to your own home, Dante?”
“Dante?” Tori asked, stunned. “You’re Dante?”
“In the flesh.” It was cheeky of him to remind her just how much of his flesh she had seen that evening, which would undoubtedly be a reminder of how much of her flesh he had seen in return, but Dante couldn’t just let the opportunity go. “Mystery solved, Angel. Now what will we do with ourselves?”
She narrowed those gorgeous teal-colored eyes at him again and their brightness flamed even more with her anger. He really liked it when she did that; it reminded him of a firefly that had worked itself up into a tizzy. Yes, he knew who and what she was. Victoria Grayson, heir to the gift bestowed upon the prestigious women of the Cruz bloodline.
It had been dark in the woods and in the fairy mound, but he hadn’t been mistaken when he saw that flash in her eyes after having taken hold of her wrist to keep her from leaving. The lack of natural light was the reason he hadn’t seen the glow of her skin or recogni
zed her for what she was: a Guardian—something they had in common—and an angel, something they did not. Dante supposed he should have considered it an honor to have been in her presence, felt something akin to the air of royalty considering what he had heard of her and her destiny, but she seemed like any other red-blooded American girl. Well, woman was definitely a more apt term.
Drew closed the door once they both stepped inside and ran his hand through his hair as he looked at Dante and sighed with relief. “I have to say, I’m rather relieved she was with you. I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened to her, and within hours of her arrival at that, especially since I’m the one who practically begged Dominic and Kerrigan to spend the bloody summer with us.”
“Tori! Oh, thank God!” Kerrigan ran out of the parlor followed closely by Dominic, Gabe, Colton, and Sinclair.
They sounded like a herd of buffalo stampeding into the foyer, and Dante plastered himself against the wall to make room for the advancing storm of coddles and the inevitable examination of Tori’s welfare. Dominic and Colton had their jackets on, and Dante noticed for the first time that his father had donned his as well. Apparently, they had been within moments of launching a search party. He had gotten her back in the nick of time. It might have been awkward had the search party actually found his fairy mound and walked in on Dante and Tori barely dressed.
Kerrigan wrapped Tori up into her arms and squeezed so hard Dante thought Tori’s eyes might actually bulge out of their sockets. Something instinctive almost propelled him to yank the poor girl out of her mother’s arms before any real damage could be done, but the sensible side of him managed to rein it in.
Kerrigan pulled back to look at Tori. “Oh my God! What happened to your head?” Her fingertips hovered over the slightly pink spot at Tori’s hairline.
“That would be my fault,” Dante confessed. “But she’s quite all right. I made sure to examine her thoroughly for any injuries that might need immediate medical attention.” He was sure Tori caught his smirk at his own innuendo so she would get his underlying meaning while their parents would think he was referring to his Guardian ability. Judging by the glower she shot back at him, she had most definitely caught it.
“He tried to run me over with his motorcycle,” she told them, like a tattling brat. When every pair of eyes in the now very cramped foyer turned to give him an accusing stare, she actually stuck her tongue out at him. It would seem brat was a very apt description.
“Dante!” Sinclair said, aghast. She sighed in that motherly way that always preceded the guilt trip she was about to lay on him. “See? This is exactly what I was talking about when I said I didn’t want you to get that thing.”
“To be fair, Mother, you said I’d kill myself on it, and as you can see, I am still very much alive, as is Victoria.” He slanted a look toward Tori. “And it wasn’t intentional.”
Dominic wedged himself between Kerrigan and Tori and took her face in his hands to examine the damage for himself. He gave Dante a disapproving scowl and said, “Yeah, well if it weren’t for the fact that you’re my godson, I’d kick your ass for being so irresponsible with my daughter.”
If only he had known that Dante had had his daughter half-naked and in bed with him, Dominic probably wouldn’t have given a shit about the whole vow to care for Dante as if he were his own son thing. Dante was pretty sure hitting his daughter with a motorbike would be nothing compared to that.
Dominic kissed Tori on the top of her head and Colton took his place, flashing a penlight in her eyes. Oh, for the love of . . .
He didn’t have time to finish the thought before Dominic turned to him with a broad smile. “Come here, you.” He wrapped Dante up in a manly hug and then pulled back, ruffling his hair. “Look at you. You’re all grown up now, huh?”
Dante had to smile back. It had been too long since he had seen his godfather. He held an admiration for Dominic that rivaled what he had for his own father. The man had been there, done that—and kicked some major ass along the way.
Kerrigan lovingly shoved Dominic out of the way and stood on her toes to hug Dante as well. She pulled back and brushed his bangs out of his face. “You need a haircut. I can barely see your eyes, and they’re so gorgeous.”
“I’ve been telling him the same thing,” Sinclair interjected. “You know how these kids are. They never listen to a thing their parents tell them. Maybe he’ll listen to you.”
“I like my hair just the way it is, and so do the ladies.” Dante winked at Tori so stealthily no one else saw it.
Tori shrugged out of his jacket and shoved it into his chest with enough oomph that Dante would catch her drift without being so hard that the others noticed. “Thanks for the ride home, and for not killing me on your deathtrap.” There was a bite to her tone that changed to saccharin sweetness when she turned to the rest of the house. “I’m tired and I feel gross. I’m going to take a quick shower and go to bed.”
Give me enough time, Angel, and I’ll have you feeling downright filthy, Dante mentally projected toward her.
As if reading his mind, Tori turned to look back at him with yet another scowl on her face. Maybe she had heard him. Her problem was that she tried too hard to show him she detested the thought of him, which meant she most certainly didn’t. She was going to be a fun one to play with.
Dante couldn’t keep his eyes off the seductive sway of Tori’s rounded bottom as she ascended the staircase and disappeared around the corner. “I think I’ll take my leave as well,” he said, pushing off the wall with his shoulder.
Gabe stepped into Dante’s path to the stairs with his hands on his hips. “Um, excuse me? I know you wasn’t just about to haul ass out of here without acknowledging my presence. I thought ya’ll bowed to queens and shit over here? That’s false advertising. Kind of like how they put all those half-nekked mancandies on display at Abercrombie and Fitch and then tell you that you can’t touch them . . . like they’re not for sale.” He huffed, tossing his head and running his fingers through his short hair. “Normally, I’d be offended that I wasn’t the first person whose arms you ran into, but given the circumstances with my mini-me, I’ll let that slide.”
Colton cleared his throat from behind him, and Gabe stiffened as if he had just remembered that his partner was standing there.
“You’ve played touchy-feely with the models at the mall?” Colton asked.
Gabe made an uh-oh face, but recovered quickly. With an indignant set of his chin, he turned toward his husband, clearing his throat before he spoke. “I thought they were mannequins.”
“So you thought you were feeling up dummies?”
“All looks, no brains. That sounds about right,” Dominic mumbled. Kerrigan giggled and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket to abandon ship.
“Hey! Those people who brought me into this world wouldn’t let me play with Barbies! I never got the chance to see if they were anatomically correct like other little girls. It’s supposed to be a rite of passage. I just figured the mannequins were like life-sized versions, so I might have copped a feel . . . well, almost. Chaz stopped me before I could get a splinter on his woody.”
Colton arched a brow. “Chaz?”
“One of the models. He told me his name.”
“Let me see if I have this right: You thought a flesh and blood human was actually a life-sized doll and that it was talking to you?”
“Well, he didn’t have a cord hanging out of the back of his neck, but, duh . . . animatronics? Technology makes them so lifelike nowadays.”
Dante cleared his throat. “I feel like I’m intruding, so I think I’ll go on up and catch up with the two of you later.”
Drew seized the opportunity to back out of the conversation gracefully as well. “I’ll go with you. I’d like to have a word with you.” When they reached the second flight of stairs, Drew stopped Dante before he could go to his bedroom on the third floor and then looked around, making sure they were out of earshot of an
yone else.
Dante sighed and took his foot off the step he was about to take, turning to look at him. “I suppose you’re going to scold me for the incident with Victoria?”
“Not at all. It was clearly an accident and she’s no worse for wear.” Dante leaned against the wall, waiting for what his father really had to say. “I probably should’ve had this conversation with you before our guests’ arrival, but I hadn’t thought it necessary until I saw the way you and Tori looked at each other.”
Oh, so he had caught that, had he?
“Dante, I’m not one for standing in the way of true love, but I want to warn you—”
Dante nearly choked on his own saliva. “True love? Bloody hell, Father! Where did that come from?”
Drew gave him a stern look that warned him not to interrupt again, but kept going. “Tori is not your play thing. We must be very clear on that. She’s special, very special, and she deserves your respect. It’s your duty to spend time with each other, to forge a bond that is both practical and crucial, but I also realize that may inevitably lead to a blossoming romance. All I ask is that you please remember that she has a role to play, as do you. If either of you loses focus, it could be detrimental to us all.”
“Would you prefer I stay away from her?” He knew that wasn’t what his father meant because it would completely negate the reason Tori was there in the first place, but he didn’t know what else Drew could mean.
Drew put his hands on his son’s shoulders and looked him in the eye. “No. I’m asking you not to break her heart.”
Judging by the look on his face, it was clear his father was serious. He was probably the wisest person Dante had ever known, but he must have been losing touch with reality in his old age because relationships just weren’t something Dante did.
“Tori has been under Kerrigan and Dominic’s watchful eye from birth, and they’re a little anxious about letting her out of sight. They’ve agreed to put their trust in you so that we can establish that what we believe to be true is a fact, but I imagine she’d like to have a little fun while on holiday as well,” Drew said the last part conspiratorially. “I’ll keep her parents entertained, but she still needs someone to watch over her. I’m charging you with that responsibility. Will you let me down?”