by Fall, Carly
As she talked, he watched her lips move, but he wasn’t hearing the words. He loved the sound of her voice—warm and soothing. Those lips looked so soft and full. And he liked the fact that she didn’t slather them up with a bunch of goop.
“Noah?”
He returned his attention to her eyes. This simply wasn’t working. He was a hungover piece of shit, he was hungry, and his brain wasn’t functioning. He hadn’t heard one word she had said. He shouldn’t be thinking the way he was about this woman. He shouldn’t be here, period. She had caught him at a moment of weakness this morning. He should’ve called her back when he reached some level of sobriety this afternoon and canceled. No, this whole situation had Really Bad Idea stamped all over it.
Before he knew what he was saying, the words popped out of his mouth. “I’m hungry, Abby. Will you have an early dinner with me?”
Really? What the fuck was he doing?
“There’s a great steakhouse a few doors down. We could head over there.”
Oh, Jesus. Shut up!
“We could kill two birds with one rock. Or stone. Take your pick. You could do your interview, and I could eat. Of course, I would be more than happy to buy you dinner as well.”
Where was this coming from? Did he really need to cut out his own tongue to make it stop?
To make matters worse, she just stared at him. Okay, maybe the whole dinner thing was an even crappier idea than agreeing to meet her in the first place. Well, actually there was no maybe about it. The dinner invitation took the top prize for Bad Idea and would remain there for a long, long time. Possibly forever.
A slow smile crossed her face. “I would like that.”
Okay. Looked like they were going to dinner.
Chapter 10
It turned out that Noah enjoyed his Bad Idea. Immensely.
The steakhouse was a family owned and operated business, a small restaurant with only ten tables and a small back room. Legend had it that the mob used to meet back there, but the owner, Saul wouldn’t confirm it, nor would he deny it. So it remained legend.
Saul greeted Noah as an old friend. He stood at five foot five, about two hundred pounds, had a head full of thick black hair, and loved to laugh. Noah also believed that Saul loved his restaurant and its patrons more than he loved his wife. He didn’t bother trying to hide his surprise when Noah introduced Abby. Noah had been frequenting the place for years, and never once had he brought a woman with him. In fact, he had come here when Saul’s dad ran the place. When it was time for Noah to ship out of the area because hey, he wasn’t aging, he missed the place. He had to wait for Saul’s father to die before returning to the restaurant.
Saul sat them at the back table and lit the small candle in the middle of the red tablecloth. The lights were dimmed, and soft jazz played over the speakers. The walls were decorated with old pictures of Reno and Sparks, as well as Saul’s family going back many generations.
Saul knew how to do two things great. The first was steak, and he did it right. He owned a cattle ranch just outside of town where the cattle were range fed. It translated into a succulent meal every time. The second was pairing wine with dinner to accommodate the taste of the guest.
Noah didn’t think his system could take any more alcohol, but as he sipped the Merlot Saul had brought for them, he found that his system was enjoying it. When his dinner arrived and he sampled the filet mignon and garlic mashed potatoes, his system was totally onboard and very happy. Or maybe it was the breathtaking woman sitting across from him that had him flying high.
After her first two questions, the interview pretty much went out the window. He turned the tables and began asking questions about her. He couldn’t help himself. He wanted to know everything about her. That little voice in his head was screaming at him to get up and run as far and as fast as he could, but the more she talked, the more that voice in his head sounded as though it had been locked in a closet and gagged. By the time dessert arrived, the voice was nothing but a low hum in his head and terribly easy to ignore.
With prodding and a lot of questioning, he found out that Abby’s childhood hadn’t been pretty. She grew up in Sacramento, California, where her father had died before she was born, and her mother was murdered just after Abby’s ninth birthday. He watched as her face saddened, but then the sadness disappeared as she continued talking.
“I suppose that’s why I have such a fascination in unsolved murders,” she said quietly, her finger slowly tracing the lip of the wineglass. Noah knew it wasn’t meant to be seductive; it was just something she did while she thought about what she was saying. But damn, it was sexy as hell. Her nails were cut short, and her fingers were long and graceful. There wasn’t a ring on any of them. She explained how she collected old murder files from the Reno and Sacramento area, and often looked through them, wondering if something had been missed at the crime scene, or if the murderer was just that good. She also said she had wondered if some of the murders had been committed by the same person, simply for the lack of evidence in some of the files.
“They never caught my mother’s murderer. I have this fantasy that one day I’ll be digging through old files and something will jump out at me, and I’ll somehow solve the case.” She sat back and scoffed. Her eyes met his, and he wanted to hunt down that killer and gut him, just for her. He prayed it wasn’t one of his Colonists.
Drawing her out wasn’t easy. She seemed closed off and shy. Not like she had anything to hide, but like she wasn’t comfortable letting anyone get close to her. However, once he got her talking, once she seemed to trust him, she unveiled a lot of herself, which pleased him immensely.
She told him of growing up in an orphanage, as none of her remaining family would take her in after her mother’s death. She worked hard in school and went to the University of Nevada, Reno, on a partial scholarship, student loans, and credit cards. In college, she’d learned how much fun partying was, and the boozing helped her break out of her shell a bit and make some friends. She kept her grades just good enough to keep the scholarship. When she graduated with a journalism degree, she wasn’t anything special, so any hope of getting into a big-city paper pretty much flew out the window. The Reno paper was happy to have her, and the rest was history.
As he split the last bit of wine between their glasses, he asked how she liked her job.
She sighed. He really liked that sound. Depending on her mood, it seemed to convey so much feeling. Right now, it was uncertainty. When he had talked to her on the phone, it had been frustration. He had never known anyone who could communicate so much with so little.
“It’s okay. It’s fine. I can pay my bills.”
He thought it was a shame for such a pretty and intelligent female to be stuck doing something that she obviously didn’t like all that much.
Noah glanced at his watch and saw that the sun would be going down in about an hour. He was surprised that they had spent three hours together. It seemed like minutes. He hated to leave, but the last thing he needed was to explain why his eyes were glowing orange. His tech-head Talin had actually invented contact lenses that kept the nighttime glow of their eyes to a minimum, but they were highly uncomfortable, and Noah had not bothered with them except for a couple of times. He wished he had some now, because he felt like he could sit at the table with her all night.
He looked at Abby. Her cheeks were slightly flushed from the wine, her eyelids just a little droopy. As she sat back in her chair—her slim fingers twisting the stem of the wineglass—he really, really, didn’t want to leave, and he couldn’t remember the last time he had enjoyed himself so much. Probably some party on SR44 was the last time he had been this happy—certainly never on Earth. But often what one wanted to do wasn’t what one needed to do.
“I have an appointment at six,” he said.
She paused a beat, then sat up in her chair, seeming to go back into business mode. “I understand,” she said. “I should get going as well.” She reached behind to ge
t her purse that she had hung off the back of the chair.
Noah threw a couple of bills on the table and began walking out behind Abby.
“Noah!” Saul called. “Noah, you know your money isn’t good here!” It was the same thing every time Noah dined in the place. And just like every time before, Noah didn’t look back, just gave Saul the one-finger salute over his shoulder. And just like every other time before, he heard some of the other patrons laugh, Saul’s chuckle the loudest of all.
Noah walked Abby to her car, a red Honda that should have been made into scrap metal about ten years ago. But at least the damn thing got her from point A to point B most of the time.
“Thank you for everything,” she said as she fished around in her bag for her keys. “Dinner was really wonderful. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted steak like that. I’m going to have to remember this place.” As if she could afford it on her salary, but maybe if she saved up it could be a special treat for herself.
She watched Noah out of the corner of her eye as he leaned his back against her car and looked her over, smiling. It made her feel slightly uncomfortable, the way his eyes roamed her face, watching her dig through her purse as she tried to find her damn keys. Her cheeks flushed and chastised herself for not putting her keys in the designated key pocket of her purse. That was what they made all the pockets in purses for—a place for everything, and everything in its place. It was too bad she ran her life a little bit differently, despite her best intentions. Mainly, wherever it dropped was where it stayed. If she put things where they belonged, she wouldn’t spend a good portion of her time looking for things and wondering where they were. She certainly wouldn’t be digging through her purse looking for her keys.
Finally, she found them.
She met Noah’s eyes and smiled. What she saw there surprised her. She watched as his eyes grew even darker, but yet the half grin on his face made him look endearing, almost like a little boy who had been caught stealing cookies and was sheepishly trying to get out of it. She held her breath as his hand suddenly grazed over her cheek, slid down her shoulder, and briefly squeezed her hand.
“Good night, Abby,” he said, and turned back toward his car. As he walked into the sunset, Abby watched his large body move, feeling stunned. Her cheek burned where he had touched her, and her heart beat a little faster. She reminded herself to breathe. She loved the way his shoulders seemed to roll with every step, the way his long, strong legs carried him with a lethal grace.
She shook her head and tried to bring herself around to reality. If he could make her feel like that with just a touch to the cheek, she couldn’t imagine what would happen if he kissed her.
Chapter 11
Noah drove home slowly. Usually he floored it to get home, but not tonight. Tonight he wanted some time to himself. He appreciated the heavy-duty tint job on the windows of the car because he knew his eyes were glowing a piercing orange.
His mind was awash with everything Abby. He could see her large brown eyes looking at him from across the table, the little dimple in her cheek when she laughed. He thought of her long legs and the way the muscles in her calves flexed when she walked in her heels, the way her butt swayed in her skirt. He thought of her long, pale hands playing with her wineglass, and he imagined them wrapped around his . . . he adjusted the way he was seated.
He replayed the night over and over on his way home. He had really enjoyed himself, and not the type of enjoyment that came with getting drunk with one of the Six Saviors and kicking their asses at God of War. No, this had been something different. He didn’t know the name to place on it, but it had been something he hadn’t experienced in his life on Earth.
Abby was unique.
She was unlike any woman he had ever met before. He couldn’t place his finger on why she was so special, but he knew he felt a connection with her that he had never felt before with anyone else, even with his lovren on SR44.
He watched as the gate to the silo opened, and he drove in. He parked next to the other five cars—a black Range Rover, a gray Mercedes convertible, another Escalade, and two Explorers. He felt light on his feet as he went to the door and punched in the code. As the door opened, he felt like doing a little Ginger Rogers down the stairs, but stuck to his normal pounding.
He punched in the code on the second keypad and walked into the kitchen area. No music tonight, no one cooking. He heard the TV going and listened. Sounded like an MMA fight.
“Get off the mat, you fucking loser!” someone screamed, and that pretty much confirmed his suspicions. He grabbed a Heineken out of the fridge and made his way to the TV room.
Hudson sat at the end of the couch in blue track pants and a T-shirt. Judging by the sweat stains, he had just finished a workout. Talin and Cohen slumped in the middle of the couch, a six-pack of beer between them because God forbid if they actually had to get up and move during the match.
“Hey, man,” Cohen said, dragging his eyes from the TV. “Where you been?”
Noah took a long sip of his beer to hide the smile that was creeping across his lips. He wasn’t going to share where he had been, or what he had been doing with anyone.
“Just had an appointment,” he said, heading for the elevator. He didn’t feel like being social. He wanted to think about Abby some more.
As he rode down to the bottom floor of the silo, he closed his eyes and thought of Abby. Her soft, soothing voice, the way she cocked her head to the side when she was thinking. The way her shoe had dangled from her foot when she bounced her leg up and down. And that smile. She could light up a city with the wattage of that smile.
He opened his eyes as the elevator dinged, signaling the arrival of his floor, and he began to rain on his own parade.
What the hell was he doing? He shook his head at his own stupidity. He should be running away from that woman. He was a warrior here for a dire purpose. He had to clean up the mess of his people. His kind had already been responsible for thousands of human deaths, and it was up to him and his fellow Warriors to stop the carnage. He had no business thinking about or wasting his time with a human woman regardless of how attracted he was to her.
He swore violently as the elevator door opened. He had to stay away from her. He couldn’t have anything more to do with her. End of story. Game over. Dead end. He began to gather his resolve on the matter.
As he unlocked the door to his quarters, his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID. Abby. He stopped in his tracks. As much as he didn’t want to answer, he wanted to hear her voice. It was more than a want; it was a need. He felt the inner tug-of-war within him growing stronger. There was the warrior, dedicated to his cause, threatening to shoot the other part of him that simply just liked Abby and being in her company. Maybe it was time for him to let go of his high code of warrior ethics and just enjoy something for a change. But the warrior part of him did have the gun . . .
He quickly came to terms with the situation by telling himself it was just a phone call. It was talking to another being over a device that carried your voice to them and their voice to you. Nothing more.
He hit the ON button. “Hello?”
“Noah?”
He stepped into his quarters and didn’t bother with the lights. His eyes were casting the room in an orange glow.
“Hi, Abby,” he said, sitting on the bed and kicking off his boots.
“I’m sorry to disturb you.”
“You didn’t.”
“Okay. Well, I realized on my way home that we didn’t finish the interview. In fact, you only answered two questions.”
Noah fell back on his bed. “Really.” Like he didn’t know that.
Abby laughed, which made him smile. He closed his eyes, letting the sound reverberate through his bones. God, he loved to hear her laugh.
“I think you’re far more interesting,” he said quietly.
Silence.
“Well, I would like to continue the interview at a time that works for you,” she said, m
atching his quiet tone. “I’m sort of on a deadline, so if you’re available at some point tomorrow . . .”
He mentally went through his schedule for the next day and didn’t come up with anything earth-shattering or even mildly important.
“I’m yours,” he said without thinking. Shit. Why couldn’t his brain catch up with his mouth and put a stop to words like this?
“Excuse me?”
For both your sakes, you better rephrase that one, asshole. “Whatever time you need me, I’m yours. I’ll make room in my schedule.”
“Okay,” she said, then paused. He could hear pages turning, as though she were looking through a calendar. He liked the fact that she still used an old-fashioned organizer instead of a phone calendar.
“Well, I have meetings tomorrow afternoon, but I can meet you in the morning. Maybe around ten or so?”
The warrior in him, the one bound by duty and honor, was talking really loudly. He really should just stay away from her. He should just be an asshole and hang up, or say something crude, or rude, and make her not want to have anything to do with him ever again. Yeah, that sounded great, but that wasn’t what came out of his mouth.
“Ten sounds good,” he said. His voice was a low rumble.
“Thank you, Noah. Where would you like to meet?”
“I’m flexible. You go ahead and pick.”
“Well, I would like to conduct the interview somewhere private where we won’t be disturbed, if that’s okay.”
“That’s fine.”
She explained to him that her office was anything but private, but there was a small sandwich place around the corner from her office building that was usually pretty quiet at ten in the morning.
“Give me the address,” he heard himself say.
Chapter 12
Abby hung up the phone and tossed it on the bed in front of her, a small smile creeping to her lips. Tomorrow at ten in the morning she would get the rest of her questions answered, write her piece for the paper, and hopefully keep her job. That would be that.