“Probably more than you’d like. I’m an excellent meddler.” She raised her glass in a toast. “To dangerous men!”
“I’ll drink to that.” Life just couldn’t get any stranger.
Dec rolled over to watch the door for movement. Tense, ready… something had pulled him from a hard sleep. Listening intently, he searched for the source of the sound. A scratching at the window? No. The sound came again. It was the irritated exhale of the resident canine coming from under the bedroom door.
Domino.
He cracked it open for her. She used her snout to push her way inside and waited for him to close the door again. Once all was in order, she hopped up on the bed, sniffed his pillow, and curled up into a ball. She gave Rori a dismissive glance before resting her chin between her front paws.
I missed you.
“I missed you too, pup. Come on, scoot your butt over so I can slide in.” Careful not to wake Rori, he peeled the covers back enough to squeeze underneath. He curled around the dog and kissed the top of her silky head. She let out a long sigh and kicked her leg out a couple of times. She really did miss him when he was away. Sometimes she moped for days. Needing to ease his guilt, he stroked her ears until her breathing evened out.
Rori turned to snuggle against his back as soon as she sensed his presence. Mumbling something indistinct, she settled deeper into her dreams. When her breasts pressed softly against him, he thought he’d never been more content.
“So this is your latest charge?”
Maybe she’d go away if he closed his eyes. A heartbeat later, he cracked an eye.
Shit. Still there.
Standing stiffly beside him on the stairs, Dani showed no signs of teleporting back out the way she’d come in. Below them in the basement, Mica was fitting Rori’s gloves and showing her how to tie them. Rori was so focused on Mica’s instructions that she hadn’t spotted his pain in the ass ex yet. He sort of hoped she wouldn’t. This wasn’t going to go well. He should’ve expected Dani to show up, but he thought she’d have more class than that.
“You’re not going to make a scene, are you? She’s still healing.”
Dani sneered, “I’m sure she is.” Pushing past him, she threw her trademark sunny smile over her shoulder and called out to Mica.
“Hey, Dani. Come on down. This is my friend, Rori. Rori, Dani. Dani’s a good friend of mine. She’s the one I told you about. She’s helping me with the studio and with the kids. I don’t know what I’d do without her!”
He straightened a bit at Mica’s warning tone. She’d stressed the word ‘my’ when making the introduction. That’s my Mica. Mothering all lost puppies and wandering souls. Warning or no, he wasn’t a dumbass. No way was he leaving Rori alone with an angel with a shitty attitude. She could blast Rori to another country, and they’d have no idea where to look! So he jumped into the ring to keep the peace.
“Come on Rori. I’ll spar with you. Mica, why don’t you and Dani go do your business? We’re G2G here.”
As soon as the two women cleared the top of the stairs, Rori gave him the hairy eyeball with hands on each hip. “Let me guess. Your ex?”
“Not really. It’s complicated.”
Before they got moving, he plugged in his iPod and set the playlist to start. He was in the mood for some old school alt rock today. The list was full of The Cure, Jane’s Addiction, Green Day, and Nine Inch Nails. While “Been Caught Stealing” kicked off, he strapped on his favorite gloves and started to loosen up. He hadn’t been sparring in months. It was kind of odd to work out with someone other than Sean. He rarely sparred with anyone else. Over the years, he’d worked with Mica some, but she was waaaay more intense than he was thrilled with. She was an excellent fighter, but he didn’t feel comfortable slamming her with his full strength. He was much heavier and stronger. He could seriously hurt her, so he pulled his punches and avoided moves that were dangerous. The problem was she got carried away and actually broke him a few times. One time she’d cracked two ribs and another time she got a lucky shot and hit him in the nuts. That happened more than once. Probably he needed to wear a cup around her! He could heal himself, sure, but that didn’t mean the pain hurt any less! He avoided her like the plague these days. He and Sean sparred well together. They just happily beat the shit out of each other until they were tired or there was too much blood to see. It was a guy thing.
“Complicated? That’s a bullshit word and you know it. Come on, now. Spill it.” She didn’t look unhappy, but he wondered if he needed a cup…
He tossed a right jab at her in slow motion. She blocked it and then swung a right jab of her own. Good form. Impressed, he grinned down at her and repeated the movement a few more times. Once she had gotten comfortable with that, he switched to the opposite hands. She kept up pretty well except for once. He gave her a light tap on the jaw when she failed to block him.
“Bam! You’re on the ground.”
“Funny! Ha. Ha.” She attempted a roundhouse that missed when he easily leaned out of range. Scowling now, Rori asked, “Who is Dani to you?”
They exchanged a few more blows before he shrugged and said, “She’s someone I cared about once.”
Rori hesitated with hands raised in front of her chest. “And now?”
“Now?” He paused for a split second before adding, “Now, she’s someone I know.”
“That’s it? You don’t love her?”
He moved in close to look her straight in the eyes. “Yes, that’s it; and no, I don’t love her. And before you ask, no, I never did.”
Well, that’s short and sweet. She wasn’t stupid. The tension between Dec and Dani was thick enough to cut with a sword. She didn’t miss the veiled warning from Mica either. This Dani person had hurt him. She heard it in his voice, saw it on his face. He might say she was nothing to him, but his eyes said differently.
Dropping her arms, she offered her lips for a kiss. A little surprised by the gesture, he pressed his lips lightly to hers. She eased up on her toes to fit herself against him.
“I love you, Declan Manning.” Her words were barely a whisper, but he heard them. He blinked with surprise and then smiled slow and easy. Her lower half turned to jelly.
With gloves still on, he put his hands on either side of her face and pressed their foreheads together. After what seemed like forever, he responded, voice hoarse with emotion, “I’ve waited lifetimes for you,” before slanting his mouth over hers once again.
Those words hit Dani like a spear to the chest. The pain took her breath away. Holding herself up with the railing, she watched as she lost Declan forever. He held Rori in his arms and kissed her with longing and passion and real love. There was no misunderstanding the tenderness in his touch. No way to excuse it as just a little fun before casual sex. His eyes promised forever when he broke the kiss just long enough to say, “I love you too.”
She’d waited too long.
Chapter 16: And the Plot Thickens
“WHERE IS THIS PROPERTY?” He was in full detective mode. Serious words, serious expression… there was no evidence of the happy-go-lucky guy she fell in love with. This new face of Dec’s was intriguing though. He looked like a sexy FBI agent. Note to self: Ask him to wear a suit with a bad tie sometime… just for the fantasy.
She shot him an amused glance before peering more intently at the laptop screen. For the millionth time this week, she wished for her stuff. She had a notebook full of research but it was long gone now, along with most of the things she owned. After that rat bastard demon, or RBD for short, set her apartment on fire, Killian managed to grab her purse and an armful of clothes before the place was too hot for him. The big man had apologized the next time he saw her. He’d actually felt bad that he wasn’t able to save her things in spite of the fire raging out of control. It was very kind of him to even try. She was starting to understand why Mica was so devoted to him. Still waters and all that…
“Thank God for the internet! Here we go. The deed was registered in the name ‘Rob
ert Austin’. I figured that must be my grandfather, though I don’t know for sure. My mom died when I wasn’t quite three yet. The property is located near Albany. It’s out in the woods.”
Dec slid his butt onto the bench neatly pushing her off the end. He didn’t even notice that she’d moved. His face was practically pressed into the screen as he appeared to do math in his head. Resorting to his fingers, he counted off a couple and mumbled to himself. Both eyes were mostly closed and he chewed his lower lip between his front teeth.
Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh.
He gave a sure nod and started in on the keyboard. With fingers flying at warp speed, he sent out several messages to God only knew who.
Snorting with laughter, she finally asked, “What on earth are you doing to that poor keyboard? I think I see smoke.”
Barely slowing down, he replied, “We have an awesome lab of techies. It’s time for them to earn their paychecks. I just sent all the deed info. They can access much better data than we can here. They’ll be able to trace the property AND your mother’s info. With any luck, we should know if this is your grandfather’s property or not by the end of the day. We’ll also know what happened to your grandparents and confirm a lot more about your mom’s life.” With one final click, he shoved his hair back and yawned hugely. “I’m ready for a break. Want to take a ride?”
Twenty minutes later, they rolled into the parking lot at The Broken Wing. The closet-sized shop bragged about having the best chicken wings in the state. She had her doubts--it couldn’t possibly be better than Buffalo’s in Brooklyn. Johnny Mencini was from Buffalo, for crying out loud. The man was a genius with sauces. The garlic teriyaki was sublime. It didn’t really matter much at the moment. They could be eating cardboard, just as long as they were not home. They were on a mission to get away from the house, computer, and Dani the Nanny. Dani was working with Mica today. She hadn’t been rude exactly, but the air was frosty.
They sat at one of the tall, round tables and relaxed, while the freckled-faced teenaged girl threw their wings in some red sauce. Somewhere between the farmhouse and the restaurant, Dec’s oh-so-serious detective face had morphed into sexy man-candy.
She couldn’t resist burying her face against the side of his neck and nibbling him. He gave her an encouraging sort of groan. Apparently biting his earlobe was taking it too far. He decided to take charge by dragging her onto his lap. Clutching at him, the table, and the air, she barely stayed off the floor. Her hero easily snagged her and plopped her on his knee. Catching her breath, she glared in mock anger. “You are so wrong! You know that, right?”
“Really? I don’t see you trying to move. I think you like sitting on my lap.”
Drawing back, she laughed, “You smell amazing! I can’t resist you.” With that, she gave his biceps a squeeze.
“Do me a favor? Don’t try. If you start resisting me, I’ll have to beg, and that would kill my badass reputation.”
“You have a badass reputation? Really?”
With an oddly dark chuckle, he said, “More than you want to know, Rori.”
He caught himself before he said too much. Huh, there was a first time for everything. To keep himself out of trouble, he stuffed a wing in his mouth and let her do all of the talking. No hardship, that. Rori’s big doe eyes sucked him in big time. She had no idea how pretty she was. As he drank her in, she chattered on about wings and things and how cute and adorable he was… yeah, sure, whatever. He would listen to her talk about nuclear reactors if that was her thing. Just the way she said words tied him up in knots… all Brooklyn-ish and shit. Oops. She was waving a wing to get his attention. Busted.
“Hey! Are you listening to me?” she demanded around a bite of wing. A smear of sauce stuck to her cheek. She rubbed to clean it, but just smeared it even more. She was adorably clumsy.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m listening. You’re in love with me. I know. But you should hold back a little. It’ll go to my head.” He stripped a wing bare to gesture with the bones. “You, woman, have no pride.”
Totally dismissing his lame attempt at a joke, she nodded towards the window. “Do we have time to have a beer over at The Lizard? It’s nice out. I’m not ready to go back yet.”
Nice? Was she mental? He had to double check the window to be sure they were looking at the same view. It was snowing like mad--again. It wasn’t even Christmas yet and they’d had feet of snow already. Personally, he had mixed feelings about snow. On the slopes? It was perfect. On the roads? With his baby still brand new? Not so much. He’d sweet talked Mica into letting them borrow her SUV so he could leave the Challenger in the nice, safe driveway. Luckily the SUV was ready to drive because, unlike his baby, Mica’s truck had a place in the garage. It got to sit right next to Killian’s badass ride. Since coming back from England, the McLaren NEVER got out in the cold of winter. It was warm and happy under a custom cover inside the garage. Man, he was so jealous of that garage.
“I want a house.” Did he just say that out loud? What was wrong with him? He had no filter whatsoever.
Rori tripped over the door seal, gripping his arm to keep from falling. She looked confused. Okay, back peddling… “A house would be nice. You know, with a yard and a dog, a Dalmatian…” He was making this soooo much worse… he clamped his big mouth shut as they zigzagged behind a building on the way to the bar. The narrow alley gave them some protection from the blowing snow. As they neared the end, a figure stepped from a doorway to their left. The light was weak so the man’s face was shadowed, but the challenge in his stance was clear. Dec pushed Rori behind him, drawing his knife at the same time.
Only the knife wasn’t there. He’d left his gun and knife at the house. You’d think you could get some friggin’ wings without getting mugged in this town. Unarmed, in the dark, with one, no make that three, assholes lining up in front of them. Awesome.
He didn’t dare take his eyes off of any of them. They fanned out to block the entire road. Rori clutched at the back of his jacket, sidling closer.
With voice just loud enough for her ears, he ordered, “Turn around and run. Get back to the main street and get inside. I’ll come for you.”
“No way! I’m not leaving you here! They’ll kill you!”
The cockiest of the men casually swaggered to about ten feet in front of them. About the same height and weight as him, the asshole was bundled up for the cold, so naturally he had a handy black ski mask pulled over his face. He clearly thought he was dealing with an idiot since he said, “We just want your wallet. We’re not going to hurt anyone.” The telltale glint of metal flashed in his right hand.
“Rori, go now.” He gave her a hard shove. Even without weapons, this would be a piece of cake. There were only three of them. He wanted her out of here before the violence started. She would freak.
She took off at a sprint, putting 30 yards of distance between them before hiding behind a dumpster to watch. Dec might need her help. No way was she leaving him all alone. She’d just jump in if things went sideways.
What the fuck was that? Asshole number one sailed into the brick wall with a hoarse cry and a sickening crunch. Ewww. She kinda hoped that was only his nose and not his entire head! That did not sound good. Dec stood with his back to her, so she couldn’t see his hands clearly. One was held out in front of him, moving weirdly. Was he egging the guy on? Was he nuts? The man answered the call with a grin, swinging as he came. In a practiced move, Dec ducked out of reach and swept his legs. Asshole number two went down hard, but quickly shoved himself to his feet as number three moved in for the kill.
Number two dove into Dec’s legs, taking him down on his butt. Before Dec could move, number three landed on top of the pile. She screamed, multiple times before slamming her hand over her mouth. Oh, my God, she sounded like such a damn girl! She would probably be embarrassed by that forever. She ran forward and hovered to the side, wanting to help, not sure what to do. Dec and the two men were rolling around in a pile of vicious swearing a
nd blood splattering blows. Dec was up. Then he was down. He was on top. He was on bottom. Just when she thought he was really hurt, he laughed and threw asshole number two into the closest wall, just missing Rori. The man didn’t move.
Number three wasn’t doing any better. Dec had him on his stomach, one arm wrenched behind his back. He shoved the guy’s face into the snow with his free hand and snarled, “I could kill you right now. Maybe I’ll just break your shoulder.” He pulled the arm back and the man screamed.
“No! No, don’t!”
“Yes, please don’t break him. He’s useful to me.” The arrogant deep voice with a Southern drawl came from just behind Rori’s head.
Dec swore but didn’t release the human beneath him. The demon held Rori in front of him. His filthy hands covered her face, scaring her to death. Her eyes were frantically begging him to do something. Dressed for topside, the demon wore the façade of a black man in jeans and a dark leather jacket. His eyes gleamed greenish in the dark alley. Thank God Rori couldn’t see behind her. She’d flip out.
“What do you want, demon? This your bitch?” He gave the man’s arm a turn. He squealed again. “You can have him back. We’re done here.”
The demon grinned over Rori’s head. “Tsk, tsk. The Primani has an attitude? This is new for you, isn’t it, Declan?”
His cocky grin faltered. “Do we know each other? I don’t recognize the meat suit.”
Rori whimpered for air. She tugged on his forearm to get him to move it from her throat. The demon’s expression turned oddly regretful. He leaned into her ear, asking, “If I let you go, are you gonna scream? You can’t scream anymore. The police will come.”
She shook her head, mumbling something negative. He flashed next to Dec’s side, leaving Rori to sink to her knees in shock.
He straightened for a fight before the demon got to his side. Now, they stood just feet apart, each judging the other, gauging strengths. Finally, Dec’s face split into a grin.
“Holy sonofabitch! Is that you, Kyrrin?”
Broken Souls (Primani Book 4) Page 24