“Am I dressed okay? You didn’t really say where we were having dinner,” Nia asked as she glanced over her shoulder at Thomas.
He didn’t bother to hide that he totally checked her backside out while he examined her outfit. Which included jeans, a floral blouse and strappy turquoise sandals. An appreciative light deepened his eyes to match her shoes.
“You look great.” His husky tone induced fluttering along her spine. “We’re going to The Rowan Tree. Do you know the restaurant? It’s pretty casual.”
“Yeah, it’s one of my favorites.” Of course, chances were good that she’d run into at least one of her sisters there. It was the Muses’ preferred haunt. Please, don’t let it be Callie. She picked up her purse and turned to face Thomas.
Who’d moved into the space immediately behind her. Caught off guard, she stumbled. Her shoulder brushed against his chest as she pivoted and found herself engulfed in his arms as he steadied her.
“Sorry.” She shifted away from his embrace, but he stopped her backward progress.
“I’m not.” He searched her face for a moment, and then concentrated his gaze on her mouth. He bent his head and whispered against her lips. “How about we get the horrible, awkwardness of the goodnight kiss out of the way first?”
Cheesy for sure. But she loved it. His breath kissed her mouth an instant before his lips. The brief caress was butterfly soft. She sighed. “Good idea.”
His chest rose and fell under her palms, solid and strong. He eased his hands along her arm, leaving a trail of heat in their wake. A broad smile illuminated his face as he wove their fingers together. There was an undeniable link between them. She saw it in his eyes, felt it in his brief kiss.
Thomas Wilde was the man to help her with this challenge. Had to be. Why else would Mayhem have appeared to both of them?
“I’m glad to have that out of the way. Ready to go grab dinner?” Thomas asked.
He still held her hand as he led her through the front door. He scanned the maple tree in the yard, as if looking for more threatening birds, while Nia locked the house.
A big, black BMW sat in her drive. When Thomas turned on the ignition, the theme song from Frozen blared from the speakers. He laughed and quickly changed to a rock and roll station. “Somehow, Hailey takes control of the station whenever she’s in the car. We listen to Disney a lot. I know all the words to this song. And the dance moves, as well.” He mock groaned.
She joined him in laughing. “I’d pay money to see that show.”
“No, you really wouldn’t. It’s unsightly and ungainly.”
Nia doubted there was an ugly or awkward thing about him. She’d be willing to bet his dancing would be charming. Catching sight of the pink creeping up his cheeks, she changed the subject. “I have a confession.”
Thomas turned on his signal light and slid her a glance as he navigated around the corner. “You’re a Disney addict, too?”
“Um…no.” His lighthearted banter warmed her insides. “I’ve been watching your program. It’s quite entertaining.” He didn’t need to know she’d binge watched for an entire day.
“Do you have a favorite episode?”
“The one about the Humboldt squid in the Sea of Cortez was engaging. I caught myself yelling at the TV as you swam toward that nightmare of a sea animal.” He also didn’t need to know she was yelling that his ass was perfection as the camera operator followed behind him. “What was it you called that thing? Intelligent…opportunistic?”
“Those beasts are considered the big, bad outlaw biker of the marine world. We wanted to capture a group of them communicating and coordinating as they hunt for food.”
“Seeing them herding the school of fish was astounding. But things got interesting when the hammerheads showed up. Weren’t you a little nervous being surrounded by giant squids and sharks?”
“I live for danger.” His laughter was scoffing. “But we were perfectly safe. And the biggest squid we came across was only eight feet. So much for the twenty foot legend.”
Only eight feet? Almost two feet taller than Thomas didn’t sound like only to her. “That episode was recent. Where was Hailey?”
They’d arrived at the restaurant. Thomas guided the car into a parallel parking spot opposite The Rowan as he answered. “We mostly film in the summer, so Hailey goes with me.” He checked his mirror, and then shut off the car. The sudden silence wrapped intimately around them. He dropped his hand atop hers on the center console. “She really is the most patient kid. She sat on the boat reading, and coloring, and entertaining the crew. The most interesting moment was when we realized that our underwater camera operator, a former special operations veteran, had learned all the words to all the songs from The Little Mermaid. On his breaks, he’d sit with Hailey and color, singing along with her or braiding her hair.”
“That’s a great story.” The heat between their hands blossomed up her arm, swirling languidly like the school of fish had in the Sea of Cortez.
Like a true gentleman, Thomas came around the car to assist Nia out. He dropped his hand to the small of her back as they walked to the crosswalk. The moon was a plump sliver of white against the fading blue evening sky. Although she found its unaccustomed location disconcerting, she knew the power of the gods kept anyone else from noticing.
As they waited for the signal to cross the street, a large, beat-up truck careened around the corner. Tires screeched as the driver steered across two lanes of traffic, headed directly for a group of pedestrians standing near the park entrance across from the restaurant.
A hard, determined expression darkened the driver’s face. Horror rose in Nia’s throat as she realized the truck was aimed at the innocent people on the opposite corner.
Her scream and Thomas’s shout of “look out” filled the air, followed instantly by a sickening thud as the truck slammed into one of the pedestrians. Nia buried her face against Thomas’s chest, hoping to erase the image of the body flying through the air like a rag doll.
Summoning her courage, she peeked. The driver exited the truck and stalked around the front end. As he stood over his victim, several other bystanders joined him. After a moment of silence the entire crowd began to disperse. Not a single one of them offered any type of assistance. The driver spat on the downed pedestrian’s chest. Without a word, he climbed back into the truck. Revving the motor, he popped the clutch and then lurched away as if nothing had happened.
“God! What the hell is wrong with them?” Thomas grasped her arms and eased her away from his body. “Nia, I have to go help. Call an ambulance.” He jogged toward the limp body lying under the bushes by the sidewalk.
Nia dialed emergency services as she chased after Thomas. As soon as the call connected, she hollered, “Someone’s been run down by a truck in front of The Rowan Tree.” She rattled off the cross streets. “Please send an ambulance.”
Chapter 9
What the fuck was wrong with these people? Panic and anger crowded Thomas’s chest as he raced to help the injured man on the sidewalk. Not only hadn’t the bystanders tackled the dipshit who’d driven into the crowd, they’d wandered away from the screaming man as though nothing had happened.
Bile rose in his gullet as he spied the awkward angle of the man’s legs—both pointed outward like a broken marionette. The victim continued to scream as Thomas reached him, thrashing his head from side to side. Blood trickling from the corner of the man’s mouth splashed the grass with each violent twist.
“Hold still,” Thomas commanded in a stern voice. He laid his hand on the man’s forehead, hoping to still the motion. “We’re calling an ambulance. Do you know the guy in the truck?”
“No,” the man bawled. Tears and snot merged with the blood on his face.
Nia joined them, kneeling next to Thomas. “The ambulance and police are on the way. How is he?”
Thomas shook his head. He wasn’t a doctor, but even he recognized the man’s injuries were severe. Possibly fatal. She laid her
hand atop his and pleasant, tingling warmth seeped into his skin. Under their joined hands, the man finally stopped thrashing.
Nia scanned the area, confusion and concern shadowing her face. “Why did everyone walk away? I can’t believe none of those people stayed to help.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it. Total lunacy. Jesus, is the moon full?”
Above his head, a bird cackled, the sound harsh and maniacal. Nia drew a sharp breath, her eyes wide as she stared at the black and white animal. He tracked the bird’s crazy path from one branch to the next. He looked at Nia in time to see her lips moving.
Although her voice was inaudible, her words reverberated in his head. As if she’d spoken aloud, he clearly heard her tell the magpie to shove the fuck off. The bird didn’t fly away, just bobbed its head and flapped its wings. The feathers on the ends of the striped wings lifted, like it was flipping Nia off. She squinted hard at the bird, and blew a breath at it. A blast of not-quite pain, more like hard pressure, gripped the base of Thomas’s neck. As the man laying before them slipped into unconsciousness, the bird took off. Feathers fluttered to the guy’s chest in its wake.
The wail of sirens reached his ears and Thomas breathed easier knowing assistance was coming. He focused his attention back to the injured man. Beside him, Nia gathered the scattered feathers. She stared at them, a frown marring her brow, and then tucked them in her pocket.
An ambulance careened to a halt behind him. One of the paramedics raced to his side, while the others gathered a gurney and equipment from the rear of the truck.
Thomas scooted out of the way to let the EMTs work. He put his arm around Nia’s shoulders and held her trembling body close. When she turned her face to his chest, he stroked her hair in a soothing motion.
The cardiac monitor the medic had attached to the guy’s chest showed an erratic heartbeat. A loud, solid squeal from the monitor indicated the man’s heart had stopped. A more high-pitched whine underscored the other noise as the paramedic applied defibrillator paddles to his chest. The man’s body contorted and the heart monitor beeped again. They’d restarted his heart, but Thomas wasn’t at all sure the poor schmuck was going to make it.
The police arrived and pulled them to the side, questioning them about what they’d seen.
By the time they were excused from the accident scene, neither of them had much of an appetite. “What would you say to a stroll along the river promenade?” he asked.
Nia chewed her lip as she studied his face. She nodded slowly. “I’d say uh-huh.”
He took her hand and they walked in silence toward the waterfront. They passed by the marina before stepping onto the boardwalk leading to the jogging path.
The weather was ideal for this type of evening activity. The mulched walkway was lit at regular intervals with lights designed to look like torches held aloft in the arms of ancient Greeks. The lights had just flickered to life. Even though the sun hadn’t gone down yet, there were shadowy areas between the lights.
Nia opened her mouth, then snapped it closed again as shudders wracked her frame. Thomas drew her off the path in a shaded area, and slid his arms around her. The gesture comforted him as much as it seemed to ease her distress.
“Why did they all walk away? All those people. Surely someone was more qualified than us to help that poor man.” Nia’s voice was muffled against his shoulder. The warmth of her hands oozed into his pecs, triggering a heated response in his groin. Her body snugged tightly to his was about the only thing that seemed right in the world.
“Who knows? Tonight kind of proves my theory that there isn’t any good left in the world. People are absorbed in their own lives. They don’t care about what is going on around them.” He tightened his grip around her waist.
“You can’t possibly believe that. What about people volunteering for charities? What about all those random acts of kindness the media likes to report?”
God, he wished he could believe in those things. He rested his hands on the small of her back. “When was the last time you actually read or heard about someone doing anything altruistic? Even the charities you mentioned are only really in it for the money.”
She leaned away and gazed into his eyes. “That’s an awfully jaded view of the world, Thomas.”
“I’ve seen too much pain and suffering. In my own family and others. Human kindness is as much of a myth as the Loch Ness monster.”
“Actually, Nessie isn’t myth at all. He’s one of Poseidon’s offspring condemned to the loch for some infraction eons ago.” A shock of her sunny red hair flopped over her brow as she shook her head. A grin spread across her face. “That’s it. I’m officially on a mission to enlighten you about the goodness of human nature.”
“You’re welcome to try.” He slanted a kiss across her smiling lips, probed them with his tongue.
She slid her arms around his neck, stretching up on her toes. Her breasts pressed to his chest stirred him. His cock jumped to life. Gathering her closer, he pressed the curve of her buttocks, increasing the contact between her hips and his. He didn’t care if she’d become aware of the depth of his attraction to her. Or that the attraction he felt to her happened this fast, or was more powerful than anything he’d ever experienced. Days. They’d known each other only a handful of days, and already, he wanted more with her.
The fact was—he was enthralled by the feel of her body, the press of her lips, the glide of her tongue against his. He let go the residual negativity left by the accident, and the crowd’s response. Sinking into the kiss with this gorgeous woman warmed his heart and soul.
He opened his lips on hers and stroked his tongue into the warm cave of her mouth. He backed up until his shoulders contacted the rough bark of a massive, old oak tree. Tightening his grip around her waist, he spun them in a half circle until he had her sandwiched between the tree and his body. The kiss deepened until it bordered on voracious. He was hungry for her in a way he hadn’t been hungry for a woman in a long time. There was no denying he wanted this woman. In his arms…in his bed. In his life.
The touch of her fingers on his cheeks incited him. He dragged his lips from hers, then coasted them along her jaw. He buried his face in the hollow of her throat, laving his tongue on the erratically beating pulse he found there. He drew one hand up her ribcage, teasing the underside of her breast before claiming the orb.
Ah, God, it was a perfect fit. The taut nub of her nipple seared the flesh of his palm. He molded the warm mound, flexing his fingers as she moaned quietly in his ear. Working his thigh between her legs, he pressed up into the heat coming from her. What would she feel like surrounding his fingers, or his cock? He rocked against her, encouraging her to ride his thigh as he continued to massage her breast.
Knowing she was moved as physically as he was pushed him closer to an edge he shouldn’t plummet over in public. His breath was ragged as he eased away. He leaned his forehead on hers, gazing into her bright eyes.
“I should apologize for getting carried away.” Smoothing the strap of her top back into place, he rested his hand on the bare skin of her shoulder. “But I won’t.”
“I didn’t mind.” Her husky voice slid across his senses like a good twelve-year-old scotch, heady and filled with heat. To prove her point, she nibbled his lower lip like it was a delicacy.
He threaded his fingers into her hair and spun them again, until his back was against the rough bark, instead of her tender flesh. He spread his legs and she stepped between them, and then laid her head on his chest. His cell phone jiggled in his front pocket.
She started to laugh. “Hmmm, something’s buzzing in your jeans. I’ve never encountered that reaction before.” She eased away.
“Now I am sorry.” He snagged the phone and examined the display. “Nia, I have to take this. It’s from Hailey’s sitter.”
She gestured for him to go ahead, then stepped away to give him some privacy.
She dug in her purse as he answered. “Hi, Marilee.”
“I hate to bother you, Thomas, but it’s Hailey.” Guilt riddled his elderly sitter’s voice. “I had the television on and she saw some news reports of a bombing overseas and some other crazy stuff.”
There was a reason Thomas had left the boob tube unplugged. Marilee must have really needed to see the news.
This was bad. He’d spent the last two years protecting her from reports of violence. Shoving away from the tree, he paced from one edge of the path to the other and back. It was a short, tight circuit. “How did that happen?”
“I was on the phone with my daughter. Thomas, I swear I thought she was in the kitchen, coloring. Poor little tike must have needed something, so she came to find me. I’m so sorry. She’s mighty inconsolable right now.”
“Put her on.” Anxiety gripped his chest tightly and he sucked in a deep breath to alleviate it as he waited for his niece to come on.
“Uncle Thomas?” Hailey’s voice was faint and frightened. “I’m scared. People are awful to each other. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, munchkin.” He moved to Nia’s side. “What scared you?”
“The TV man said a bomb blew up somewhere. What if someone else’s mommy and daddy got killed?” The kid’s sniff told a huge story. She was crying.
Nia tipped her phone toward him, letting him scan the headlines she’d pulled up. She focused her glance on the moon, instead of looking at the phone’s display. A frown puckered her brow and her lush lips were pressed together in a tight seam.
In addition to the bombing in Greece, there’d been a riot in London, and a mass murder in Detroit. Throw in his experience with someone crazy enough to drive a truck into a crowd, and it seemed the world was destined for chaos.
Heart lurching sickeningly, he shoved calm into his voice in an attempt to ease his niece’s fright. “Hailey, can you practice the deep breathing I taught you? Ask Marilee to help you. I have to take Nia home. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Can you hold it together until I get there?”
Mayhem: Goddesses Of Delphi Page 7