by R. A. Boyd
Paddie blew a raspberry and flitted her hand in the air, dismissing Emma’s comment. “I met him two weeks ago, and last night was date number four. Don’t be so dramatic.” She sighed and poked Emma’s arm. “But alas. It won’t go any farther. He’s leaving to go back to wherever the hell he’s from.”
The soft gray of Paddie’s eyes appeared in her line of vision, and Emma jumped when Paddie put her hand on hers. “Emma. Stop shifting the focus from you. You’re important too.” She stooped down beside Emma and turned her chair to face her. “You are going to burst open if you keep trying to hold in everything. You did it when you first started here a few years ago after Richard left you and Lily. You did it when your mom and grandma passed away. And you’re doing it now. I know I’m so much younger than you,” she teased. “But I’m here. And you can talk to me. You know that, right?”
Slowly, Emma’s eyes rolled shut as she took in Paddie’s words. She was ten years younger than Emma’s thirty-six years, but the young woman was sweet and wise beyond her age. Other than her parents, Paddie had been Emma’s biggest cheerleader and helped her get a better paying job when Richard decided he didn’t want a family.
There was no time for tears. Especially over a man who made it clear she wasn’t the one for him. Scratch that. Two men made it clear she wasn’t the one for them. It was okay, though. Emma had learned to be enough for herself and for Lily. Before her mother died, she made sure Emma knew how to take care of herself and not be at the mercy of a broken heart.
“I know I can talk to you,” Emma said, resting her head against the back of the chair. Sighing, she puffed out her cheeks and put her hands on the desk. “I know. Her brother… Audra was always sweet to me. A little extra in the slightly crazy department, but always sweet. She even threatened to break one of Jace’s kneecaps for hurting me.”
“I’m in love with her already,” Paddie said, standing and resting her hip on the edge of Emma’s desk.
Emma snorted a laugh and crossed her arms. “She was a good friend. I’m not going to be in the wedding, but I didn’t want to say it over the phone. I respect her more than that. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be in her wedding, but I just don’t want to see Jace. Ever. Again.”
“What are you doing here?” Emma screeched.
This was not happening. How could this be happening? Jace was the last freaking person on the face of the planet she wanted to see. But, here he was in front of her, holding flowers and smiling like this was their first date. Now she understood why he was so damn sexy. Weren’t angels some of the most beautiful creatures in creation? Well, Jace must have gotten a double dose of manly beauty and sexy looks. Despite the fact that he’d stomped on her heart and left her in a hotel room, she still couldn’t get over how delicious he was.
No time like the present to get over that crap. No one was entitled to make her feel used and expendable, and she wasn’t going to allow it to happen. Not anymore.
Emma shot up from the park bench that sat across from the diner where she was supposed to meet Audra and her fiancé. Audra had set her up. Typical Audra. That tiny woman was off her rocker, but always had her hands in the lives of her brothers and anyone else she felt needed her ‘help.’ Emma loved Audra, but this wasn’t her business. Audra must have felt the need to involve her in her games. Was Jace in on it? Didn’t matter.
Despite the hurt and rage that pulsed through her veins, Emma would not let him see her cry. She wouldn’t break down outside so that even the strangers who walked by could see her weakness. Nope. Not today.
She went to walk away to get back into her car, but she had a mouthful for Jace. “Back for seconds? Did the first bite not work and you want me to take another crack at biting you? Forget it. I’m not going to let you fuck and abandon me. Again.” Dang-it. She dropped the F-bomb. She was pissed.
A look of pure shock blanketed Jace’s handsome face, and his bright blue eyes flashed to a brilliant amber. She knew something like that should scare her away from him, but it didn’t.
His navy blue t-shirt fit perfectly over his toned body, his sloping shoulders making him look as if he swam two-thousand laps every day. And his hair was shorter than the last time she saw him. His chin-length blond hair had been shaved on the sides, and the top was laid down flat and away from his face.
If she were strong enough, she would punch Jace in his chest and stomach until he cried and hurt just as much as she did. What the hell was she thinking? She was strong enough. And skilled enough. But what if he pressed charges? Damn. Time to walk away.
“Emma. Wait. We need to talk.”
His voice was constant behind her as she walked to her car. Anything he wanted to say to her needed to be disclosed before she finished walking the five blocks to her car. Parking in downtown Baltimore was hell.
“Save it, Jace.”
A low growl came from behind her, and she didn’t know whether to be upset or turned on. Dang sexy angel-shifter.
“Emma,” he said, voice almost drowned out by the honking cars that blared at someone who refused to run over a group of pedestrians. “I’m not here for seconds. Your bite worked.”
Standing at the crosswalk and clicking the pedestrian light-changer button ten times to get it to change the color of the traffic light so she could cross, she scoffed and turned to face him. “Well, good. I gave you your beast back, Angel-Boy. Congratulations. It's a cat!”
She’d done her homework. Most people thought they were called saber-tooth tigers, but that was wrong. They were cats, and saber-tooths were the biggest. Trying to ignore his pleading words, she wondered for a moment if he and his family were like cats. Did they like milk? Did they want your attention when you were trying to do something that didn’t include them? Maybe they knocked things over whenever they felt like it. Jace sure did. He’d knocked Emma and her heart on their asses without even trying.
After clicking the button a bajillion more times, the light turned yellow, and then red, and then the little walking man symbol popped up just in time for her to make a dramatic exit. Emma stepped off the curb. She was surprised to a halting stop as Jace grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the way as the sound of shrieking tires and a car horn blared next to her. Some douche bag was trying to make a right at the red light even though she had the right of way.
“No turn on red. Look at the light, douche nozzle!” Emma yelled as she started to step off the curb again. She had actually yelled at the man behind the wheel of an orange jeep who was threatening to run her over.
It was her turn to cross and he was going to wait. Besides, she wanted to get away from Jace.
“Fucking bitch!” the man screamed as she walked.
The notion of giving him the finger ran through her mind. Before she could turn and raise her hand, a cold blast of electricity crawled up her back and stopped her cold. When she turned around, Jace was standing in front of the jeep, eyeballing the man who’d cursed her.
Whoa. Were Jace’s shoulders getting wider? With his arms open wide and his fingers splayed like he was ready for a fight, Jace was nothing short of a beast of prey about to pounce on the unsuspecting animal.
A low snarl worked its way from his lips, but Emma doubted that the guy in the car could hear amid the busy sounds of the Inner Harbor. She could, and it did something to her insides that made her want to drag him to her car and mount him in the backseat. Stupid hormones.
“You want to get run over too, jackoff?” the man shouted out of his window. His bald, sweaty head glistened in the sunlight.
Jace’s eyes burned like one of the golden neon lights that sat above the storefront across from them. With the grace of a lion, or a saber-tooth, he took two steps toward the man’s car, bent down, and put his hand under the front bumper.
Holy crap. This was bad. Well, at least Jace was preoccupied and she could make a clean getaway.
No. She wouldn’t do that. Her father would not be happy if she let him get arrested for beating up a ma
n who resembled an uncircumcised penis.
Apparently, the idiot behind the wheel didn’t get the memo that an apex shifter was about to rip his car apart. He continued to berate the both of them as Jace stooped in front of his car. Dead man driving shut his stupid mouth when Jace picked the vehicle up by the front end of the jeep at least twelve inches from the dark asphalt, and then dropped it on the ground.
“Do something,” Jace roared.
The sounds of traffic died down around them as everyone stopped to see what was happening.
Dang-it. Jace couldn’t behave this way. From what her father told her, the Ghost shifters were trying to show how normal they were. Yes, there was the occasional shifter somewhere in the world that did something really horrible, but the same could also be said of humans. Jace and his family didn’t need anyone to connect him with the Ghosts if he flipped this dude’s car over.
Stifling the jab of panic in her chest as the light turned green, Emma grabbed Jace by the forearm and pulled him to the other side of the street. She thanked her lucky stars he let her drag him along. Jace just picked up a two-ton vehicle. He wasn’t going anywhere he didn’t want to go, and the fact that he’d yielded to her brought Emma some sense of satisfaction.
By the time they reached the crosswalk, the driver had quietly skidded away before Jace changed his mind.
“What the heck, man? Are you crazy? You can’t do that.”
She looked up into his eyes and shook her head. The anger that had been there in his expression bled to one of sorrow as he looked at her. He shouldn’t be sorry. He had what he wanted. He was whole again.
“Emma.” His deep voice was melodic, and from his lips her name sounded like a prayer. “I didn’t leave you. Well, I did leave, but I came back. You were gone.”
Doubt filled her body as he watched her, sadness seeping from him in waves. How could she feel that? She didn’t have a drop of shifter blood in her body. Sensing emotions wasn’t something a plain old human did, and she was as plain and human as they came.
She raised her hand and poked him in the middle of his chest. “You did leave. You were gone when I woke up. And I waited three hours for you to come back.” That night she waited for him, she’d wished on every star she could see from the hotel window that he would return. It didn’t work. “All your stuff was gone.”
Him not being there by the time she left the hotel had shattered her. It hurt almost as much as it had when he told her he didn’t want her. That heartbreak did something to her that she had never recovered from. Despite falling in deep like with Richard and getting married, there had always been a part of her that longed for another chance with Jace. And when he’d called and wanted to meet her, she thought that maybe this was their time. But it wasn’t.
“You were gone.” Her voice was barely audible, even to herself. This couldn’t happen again.
Jace ran his hand down his face, and then let his palm settle on his chest over his heart. “I couldn’t walk out the hotel butt-ass naked. We checked in together, remember? All I had were the clothes on my back. I left my cellphone in the drawer.”
The wind whipped around them and flung her hair in her face, but Jace reached his hand up and brushed the strands behind her ear. They had a quiet stare-off right there at the busy intersection. Understanding took over his features as he watched her.
This didn’t make sense. “Why would you leave your cell? In a drawer? And how long were you gone?”
She needed this to make sense. God, please let it make sense. Emma already had it in her mind that she would hate Jace for the rest of her life, but now everything was so fuzzy. That night, she wanted to believe that he was coming back, but her heart wouldn’t be able to withstand it if he was lying to her right now.
“Baby,” Jace whispered as he stepped closer to her. The heat from his body warmed her, causing her breath to catch in her throat. He cupped her face and gave a smile that set butterflies loose in her stomach. “I held on as long as I could after you bit me. I stayed until you fell asleep. But then I drove to a shifter sanctuary and ran around for a few hours. It was the first time I’d shifted since we were let off of the Ark. I wanted to come back sooner, but my beast needed freedom. You were gone when I came back. I thought you left because you didn’t want me.”
She gasped as the realization hit. A hot shudder slid over her skin where Jace’s thumb traced small circles on her cheek as he cupped the side of her face.
“Wait,” she said, taking a step back as he still held tight to her. “Ark. Like Noah’s Ark?”
That’s not what she should be focused on right now, but come on. Did he just tell her that he and his siblings had been on Noah’s Ark? She needed details.
Jace moved toward her and nodded, grinning like she was the cutest idiot in the world. “Yes. That one. But that’s not the point. We both made huge mistakes, and we need to work it out.” She started to argue, but he held up one hand to quiet her. “I know it doesn’t make up for the way I treated you before, but at least we can talk. Right?”
Yes. They could do that.
“And just to be clear,” she muttered, “I didn’t make a huge mistake. You should have left a note or woken me up to tell me, and you should have been honest with me a long time ago.”
Admitting she was wrong was never a problem, but this was all on Jace. Too many times in her life, she’d taken on the responsibility for the actions of others. Not this time.
Chewing the inside of his lip, he dipped his head once and took a step toward her. “You’re right.” His eyes zeroed in on her lips as he moved in to kiss her, but she took another step back and stumbled on a sprout of weeds on the ground.
His powerful body was intimidating. Not in a bad way, but in a way that turned her knees softer than the light breeze that ghosted past them. She put her hands on his firm, muscular chest to keep him at arm’s length. Any closer and she would give up her bid at still being angry with him. His steady hand still cupped the side of her face. Part of her wanted to tell him to back off, but the other reveled in the feel of his warmth.
“You can’t kiss me.” The breathy whisper of her voice caught her off guard. “Everything goes sideways when we touch. If we’re going to talk, then we need distance. I need distance.” Gently, she rubbed his hand that cupped her face and then pulled it away from her. “Things are different.”
They needed to go somewhere and talk. It didn’t seem appropriate for them to have this conversation in public, but inviting him back to her house was a bad idea. He would have her legs up in the air in a goal post position before she even knew what was happening.
Emma started walking toward her car, but Jace reached out and took her hand, curling his fingers around hers. The small act of allowing him to hold her hand without a fight sent tingles from their entwined fingers straight to her heart.
Jace lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I know things are different, but I need to tell you something. No confusion. No misunderstandings.” He pulled her along, and when she went to speak he said, “I’m parked in the same lot as you. I saw you driving around when I was looking for a parking spot. There was one closer, but I followed you to make sure you didn’t walk alone. We can talk in my truck. Or your place.” His eyebrows hitched up as he gave her a sly smile.
She snorted and walked beside him. Going to her place would be a no-go. They needed to be in a semi-public area where they could talk, but still be out in the open. She wanted to keep at least a shred of dignity and not give in too quickly.
Once they left the shade of the towering buildings, she had to lower her eyelids to find relief from the sun that was now shining down on them. The light hit his eyes just right and reminded her of the clear, blue waters at Flamenco Beach at noon in Puerto Rico.
Jace took her there a year before they broke up. The water was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen, probably because it reminded her of staring into his eyes. She could stand in the water and see straight down t
o the bottom. He’d made love to her on the sandy white beach one night, stars shining above them as the full moon guided the waters. That had been one of the most perfect times in her life.
No more of those thoughts.
“Your truck is fine,” she said, pulling her hand away to look through her purse. She didn’t need anything from her bag, but holding on to Jace as they walked made it seem as though everything was okay between them.
But it wasn’t.
Chapter 3
Jace started the engine of his truck and turned up the air conditioner to its highest cold setting. He remembered that she didn’t like being too warm. Even though it wasn’t hot outside, his truck had been sitting beneath the sun in the open parking lot. It was at least ten degrees hotter inside.
“Thanks,” she said, sitting straight and looking out the front window. She cleared her throat and toyed with a loose thread on her jacket. It snagged when he tried to help her up into his truck and she refused his assistance. “Look, I’m sorry. I’ll try not to be mean. It’s just, with you it seems like it’s the best reaction to keep me from getting hurt.”
That made sense. He wouldn’t blame her for protecting herself. It would take time, but he knew he would earn back her trust.
“You don’t have to apologize.” He turned in his seat to face her. “I know you don’t want to, but can you look at me, please?”
If she let him, he would spend the rest of his life making all of this up to her.
Emma’s head bobbed as she thoughtfully chewed on her bottom lip. When she faced him, her dark hair blocked his view of her eyes. With hesitation, he leaned over to tuck her hair behind her ear. Relief flooded his insides when she didn’t pull away. Instead, she leaned her face against his touch, letting go of a sigh so low he almost missed it. Try as she might, Emma longed for his touch just as he craved hers. She looked up at him, full lips pursed as she waited.