by Julia Mills
“I usually only have coffee in the morning,” Grace practically whispered, her voice sounding breathy. He bit the inside of his cheeks to keep from smiling at the sound.
“Well, we can’t let all this food go to waste. You have to be hungry; you hardly ate anything last night. Grab a plate, it’s ready,” Aidan turned back and smiled, very proud of himself. He knew from the way she was breathing and the flush on her cheeks that she was affected by what she saw, just as he was by looking at her. Well, hell, score one for the dragon man, he chuckled to himself.
“Alright, I’ll have just a little,” she agreed. “And is that coffee I smell?”
“Yep, it sure is. Grab a cup, it’s ready too.”
After their plates were made, they sat across from each other at the little table in front of the kitchen window. Grace drank her coffee, looked over the rim, and caught him looking back at her. He pointed at her plate with his fork, “You better eat while it’s hot. Bacon and eggs suck if they get cold and they’re rubbery if you reheat them. You’re gonna need your strength to put the bad guys behind bars today.”
“Did Kyndel tell you I’m an attorney?” she asked, with a snarkiness he wondered if she noticed was there. No matter, he loved her fire. It was sexy as hell.
“Yes, she did. She is very proud of you,” he smiled. “She talks about you all the time. Well, when I am able to get back to the cl…home.” He barely stopped himself from saying the wrong thing and opening up a can of worms he was not yet ready to explain.
She waved her hand in dismissal as she chewed, “She just likes to make it seem like I know what I’m doing.”
The stare she leveled at him had probably intimidated more than one person sitting on the wrong side of the law, and he figured it was meant to intimidate him as well, but it would take a hell of a lot more than that to make him turn away from his mate. He admired her strength and intelligence, along with many other of her attributes. “What else did she tell you about me?”
If he was not mistaken, she was fishing for something, not that he had any clue what that was. He answered quickly to ease the tension he saw growing in her, “She said you two had been friends since the day you both started college.” He watched her relax a fraction. “And that she trusted you with her life,” he watched more of the tension leave her body. “Other than that, she just told us stories of the trouble you two caused,” he chuckled as he watched the remaining nerves leave her body.
“Yea, well I’m sure she made it sound worse than it really was,” Grace smirked, and he got the distinct impression she was remembering all the times they had caused some kind of trouble and had usually gotten away without being caught.
“Did you really throw a red towel in the washing machine with all the Sigma Chi’s underwear, forcing them to wear pink underwear for an entire semester?”
She laughed out loud. It was the most amazing sound he had ever heard, and the way she looked when all the tension and suspicion left her face was a vision that inspired masterpieces.
“Yes, we did,” she sighed. “And they never had a clue who did it.”
Aidan couldn’t take his eyes off his mate as she took another bite of her breakfast and lifted her mug toward her lips. He saw her notice him staring. “Do you always watch people eat?” she asked.
“No, but you aren’t like anyone I’ve ever met.”
She furrowed her brow, “What exactly am I like?” He was sure that was the voice she used to question clients and witnesses. Her tone left no room for argument.
“You are beautiful, Grace, just beautiful.”
She just stared at him dumbfounded, and it warmed his heart. He was sure the very formidable Grace Kensington had never been stunned speechless before. He bit the inside of his cheeks to keep from smiling for the hundredth time since meeting her, taking the opportunity of her stunned silence to pick up their dishes and turn towards the sink. “Can I get you some more coffee, to go?”
Grace shook her head and decided to let his comment go, “No and thank you very much for breakfast. I need to get to the office. Witnesses don’t interview themselves. Sorry I busted in on you last night.” She headed to the door to retrieve her shoes, still sitting where she had left them the night before.
“No problem, at all. Kyndel’s casa, es su casa,” he chuckled at his own wittiness.
Grace giggled and it sounded like the little bells on the jewelry Emma, from his clan, crafted. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Sometimes I work too late to make it all the way out to my house, but I will try to pay closer attention to the time and hopefully not have to impose on you again.”
She opened the front door and called over her shoulder as she exited, “Have a good day and thanks again for dinner last night, too.”
And with that she was gone, and Aidan was left smiling ear to ear in her wake. “Oh, you will be staying here again my beautiful mate, and sleeping is not all we’ll be doing,” he said to the closed door.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Andrew watched Aidan’s mate close the front door and walk to the red Volvo. She got in the car, took a deep breath, buckled her seatbelt, and backed out of the driveway. Andrew waited to the count of twenty before he pulled the rented navy blue sedan onto the street. He had already placed a call to a guy he knew with the pretty lady’s tag number. He needed her name and address, but this morning he was going to find out where she worked and anything else he could dig up. He had a meeting at noon with a group of rogue wizards that were more than happy to help him with his plans for revenge. Aidan would pay for what he had endured, and now, so would his mate.
CHAPTER THREE
He sat on the couch, staring at the front door, waiting for Lance and Royce, remembering the last time he had seen Grace. Had it only been two days since he had watched her walk out that door? It seemed like a lifetime. He was truly climbing the walls. He had thought being in the same house with her and not being able to act on the vast array of fantasies his mind conjured at just the sight of her had been torture, but not being near her, not being able to hear her voice or see her amazing smile, was proving to be the death of him. He had prowled the apartment all of the first night until he finally threw himself onto the bed. When his head hit the pillow he was immediately engulfed in her delectable scent. From that point forward, it had taken supreme effort not to spend every spare second in bed with his nose buried in her pillow. He even thought about carrying it around with him, but decided he had to draw the line somewhere. He needed to get out of this apartment before he gave up and went running after Grace, which was basically what he had planned for after their meeting with the werepanthers. He needed to see his mate. Showing up at her office would be tricky. She missed nothing; she would be suspicious, but he was counting on the pull of the mating call to make her as needy for him as he was for her. Hell, he would use whatever means necessary to have her by his side, even her own desire.
He paced until he was sure he had worn a path in the carpet, and then sat again, unable to keep still for more than a few minutes. Everything he had learned about Grace Kensington in the small amount of time they had spent together, kept going around and around in his mind. He smiled, thinking about how she had admired his body and how it had increased the scent of her arousal. Even when they were old, surrounded by their great, great grandchildren, he would remember the way she looked sleeping on the very spot where he now sat. His angel, fallen from heaven, just for him. So lost in his thoughts, when Lance spoke in the mind speak of their kind, he jumped. “Hey, ‘A’ we’re only about a mile out. We had to transform and land on the other side of The Pointe. Be there in a minute.”
“What the hell took you so long?”
“Kyndel and Royce were comparing recipes…oomph!” Lance groaned in pain. “Damn, Royce that hurt. I think you broke a rib.”
“Shut the hell up then,” Royce grumbled.
“All right you dumb asses. Just get here and don’t kill each other.” Usually their bickering didn’t bothe
r him, but today all he wanted was Grace.
“I won’t kill him, but I am going to make it almost impossible for him to talk if he keeps up his shit,” Royce stated.
“Yea, yea, old guy, just keep talking,” Lance sighed, but Aidan heard the chuckle in his voice. “I can see the back of the house. Be there in a minute.”
He loved his brethren, but sometimes Aidan felt like he had a lifetime part in one of the teenage movies Devon was always watching. It never failed, when there was two or more of them together, someone was always making wisecracks or playing practical jokes. He remembered the time they were across the country, tracking a pack of hunters that had been attacking smaller clans. They had been holed up for almost twenty-four hours in a cave, awaiting the other clan’s Guard to give the signal to move in on the enemy. Everyone was antsy and ready to get the hell out of there but Lance had hidden Aaron’s clothes in an alcove outside the cave’s entrance. What he didn’t know was that a nest of rattlesnakes called that particular space their home. Aaron reached in to get his belongings and a full grown rattler attached itself to his arm.
They all knew a rattlesnake bite would not kill a full grown dragon shifter, but he would feel like his insides were on fire for about an hour while his enhanced healing abilities worked the poison from his body. Aaron launched himself at Lance, snake still attached, and all hell broke loose. Aidan, Royce, and Rayne had to break up the fight, while Devon and Andrew held Aaron until he could cool down and the poison left his body. At the thought of his younger brother, he felt a pain in his heart and right on its heels, an anger that threatened to consume him. He would catch Andrew and return him to the Elders, whatever it took. He had to be stopped, before his need for revenge got the better of him. As his anger reached almost boiling, Lance and Royce came through the front door he had been staring at a few minutes earlier.
Aidan stood. He and Royce hugged in the way of their kind while Lance headed straight to the refrigerator. “What’s up with all the rabbit food in here, ‘A’? You raid a local farm? I haven’t seen a stockpile of fruits and vegetables like this since…” Lance’s eyes got big and he inhaled deeply. “Oh shit! She was here wasn’t she? You were both here at the same time and she’s coming back, isn’t she?”
A shit eating grin crept across Aidan’s face, “Yep, she was here and yes, we were here at the same time.” His smile lost a little of its luster, “But that was two days ago and I haven’t seen her since.”
“Well, go get her, bro.”
“I can’t just ‘go get her’. I have to go slow, give her time to get to know me.”
“Hell with that, ‘A’, go get your woman.”
“Lance, Aidan is right. He needs to handle her carefully. Not all females are as accepting as Rayne’s mate,” Royce agreed. “From what Kyndel says, Grace is very analytical and doesn’t believe in what she cannot see.” Royce turned back to Aidan, “Have you told the Commander’s mate her best friend is your mate?”
Aidan shook his head, “No, I haven’t told anyone but you two.” He shrugged his shoulders, “I let the subject drop with all that happened the day Kyndel was injured and Andrew got away. Not even Aaron knows.” He rubbed his hand down his face, “I know he suspects, but I haven’t come out and said the words. I want Andrew stopped before I bring her to the clan.” He moved towards the hook that held his leather jacket. “So let’s get out there and get this shit over with,” he said as he opened the door.
“But I’m hungry, dude,” Lance complained, as he grabbed two fruit bars and a banana, following Aidan out the door with Royce bringing up the rear. “Guess girl food will have to do for now.”
“You’re always hungry,” Royce said as he smacked him in the back of the head.
Lance turned, about to throw a punch at Royce’s shoulder, when Aidan grabbed his arm. “Can you please cut the bullshit? We really need to get the information Max has and I somehow doubt they will think you two girls’ bickering is helpful to the situation.”
Aidan threw his leg over his Harley while his brethren got theirs from the back of the house. He watched as they pushed them to the end of the driveway and got on, ready to drive the fifty-some miles to the meeting place specified by the big cats. From the way Lance was favoring his left leg, Aidan was sure he had mouthed off to Royce again. That ass would never learn that Royce was older, bigger, and less willing to take his shit than any of the others in their Force. Aidan had to chuckle to himself; they may be pains in his ass, but they were his family, and he couldn’t ask for better men to have at his back.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Where had the last two days gone? It had been a blur of sifting through files, talking to potential witnesses, filing motions, too much coffee, and not enough sleep. She hadn’t even left the office. Alice warned her that if she did not leave tonight and at least get some fresh air, she was going to carry her out the front door herself. Not that that tiny slip of a woman could even lift Grace’s foot, but it was the thought that counted. She knew one person that could lift her foot and a whole hell of a lot more. Aidan. No matter how swamped she had been for the last two days, her mind still wondered about the man that set her body on fire. She thought of his amazing body and the images of the two of them quenching their undeniable lust flooded her mind. She shook her head. If she didn’t stop these erotic thoughts, she would never get out of this damn office and to a shower that was bigger than a postage stamp with her shampoo and her stuff. That is what she really needed to restore some of her sanity, her stuff. Then she would be able to focus and find the last little piece of the puzzle that continued to elude them in their investigation. She had to find it. His identity was somewhere in the mountains of paperwork surrounding her. It was her duty to put ‘The Auctioneer’ behind bars, along with all his associates. They could not be allowed to hurt any more young women.
She thought about Aidan again and smiled. She could not explain why, but she just knew he was a good guy, a protector of some kind. She had seen a few scars on his mouthwatering body and guessed he had been in a fight or two. She just knew that whatever he had done to get those scars had been in the defense of someone else. When she looked into his eyes, she saw kindness and felt at ease, like it was where she belonged. Well, that was after she got past the jolt of electricity that warmed her through and through. No matter how hard she tried, Grace could not help feeling safe when he was around. A man she had just officially met and had spent less than twelve hours with gave her more comfort than her own parents. It was a feeling she had only ever felt with Miss Annabelle, and then later in life, with Kyndel. Dammit, she missed him. What the hell was wrong with her? Once again she shook her head. Get your shit together, Gracie girl. You need to get through this file before you can go home. Get to it, she scolded herself.
She needed a cup of coffee and some sugar. Not that her butt needed any sugar, but her brain definitely did. She grabbed the money she kept stashed in her top drawer, decided against putting her shoes back on, and stood. On the way past her desk, she grabbed a hair tie, throwing her hair on top of her head in a messy bun as she went. She headed down the hall to the break room, devising a plan to get all the information needed for an indictment against that asshole kidnapper as she went. Turning the corner into the break room, she heard the elevator at the back of the office ‘ding’. It was the elevator only the Assistant District Attorneys had keys to, so it had to be one of them coming back into the office, she reasoned. It was pretty late for any of the ADA’s to be here, let alone coming back in, but this case was a big one. Everyone in the office wanted to see this douche bag behind bars and his operation shut down. Still, something just did not feel right. A chill ran down her spine and her special intuition was screaming that she needed to get back to her office and away from whoever had gotten out of that elevator. Deciding against waiting for the coffee to brew, she grabbed a Diet Coke and a bag of cookies and headed towards the door. At least in her office she could lock the door and there was a phone clo
se by.
Several times on the trip down the hall she looked over her shoulder; the itch between her shoulder blades alerting her that someone was watching her; but every time she looked, no one was there. The little hairs at the nape of her neck stood on end and she broke out in goose bumps, despite the sweat trickling down her back. She walked into her office, shut and locked the door, and sat behind her desk, trying to catch her breath while figuring out what to do next. She thought about calling the police, but what would she say? She imagined how that conversation would go, “Oh, hello officer, I’m a first year at the DA’s office. I’m here by myself and I have a bad feeling. I think someone is here that shouldn’t be. Can you come and check it out?”
“What was that? No, no I didn’t see anyone. No, I only heard the elevator and then the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I hurried back to my office, locked the door, and called you.”
“What did you say? No, there is no history of mental illness in my family.”