by Opal Carew
“There is no one else for me. There won’t be, not ever. From the first moment I saw you, I knew. That’s the way blood-binding works, right? There will never be another woman and if I die a virgin, then, fuck it, I will.” She could hear him breathing now. Sharp, shallow breaths that sounded harsh over the phone line. “I’m through giving you time. If you want to ignore me, you’d better get fucking good at avoidance, baby. ’Cause I’m gonna shadow your every footstep until I die.”
Now their silence held another kind of power. If Quinn had been standing in front of her right now, she would have grabbed him and dragged him to her bed. Instead, he was safely out of reach.
Damn.
After what seemed like an hour, Quinn broke the silence as she knew he would.
“Shit.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry. Damn, I’m sorry. That wasn’t right.”
She loved the hint of South in his voice that came from being raised in Maryland for several years. She loved the deep tone and she wanted to hear him whisper that he loved her while he stripped her naked and threw her on a bed, on the floor, up against a wall. Hell, she didn’t care where.
She just wanted him. And he would be here soon.
“Serena, you still there? Hey, I’m sorry, babe. I got carried away. It’s late and I’m tired and—”
“No, Quinn. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. I’ll see you when you get here. Stay safe.”
She hung up before he could say anything else and make her break down in tears.
Which she did anyway.
* * *
Gabriel couldn’t wait any longer.
He’d let Shea sleep for four hours while he sat and flipped through more than two hundred channels in the TV room off the atrium, finally settling on Cartoon Network. He had a thing for old Bugs Bunny cartoons.
But now, they had to talk. He eased open the door to the bedroom and looked around.
Shock gripped him by the throat when he realized she wasn’t there. Only Leo slept on the bed.
Where the hell was she?
Not caring if he woke the kid, he turned and began pushing open the rest of the doors on that side of the house. She had to be here somewhere. She wouldn’t abandon Leo. But she wasn’t in any of the other rooms.
He pushed open the last door and got a blast of flower-scented steam.
“Hey, don’t let all my hot air out, Leo. Shut the door.”
Shit. This was not good.
He should leave. He knew he should close the door with him on the other side, putting solid wood between them. Instead, he stepped into the bathroom and enclosed them in the warmth together.
The bathroom didn’t have a tub, but it did have an enclosed shower stall in the far corner opposite the toilet. On the sink to his right sat a small bag.
“Hey, Leo, I want you to take a shower when I’m done, okay? I know you hate the idea, but it’s been two days and you’re starting to smell a little ripe, buddy.”
Come to think of it, he hadn’t a shower in, oh, a couple hours, at least. What would she do if he shed his clothes and stepped in there with her? His balls tightened and his cock began to harden.
He could just make out her silhouette through the heavily frosted glass, twisting muscles low in his gut. What was it about this woman that made him feel like a teenager with raging hormones? Yeah, she was beautiful, but hell, he’d been with beautiful women before, and it’d been easy to walk away every time.
He’d learned to control his base emotions, but when they became overwhelming, he took care of them with one-night stands and forgettable women.
He’d never met his soul mate. Was pretty damn sure he didn’t want one. His dad had taught him you couldn’t have ties, not real emotional ties, to a woman and still function efficiently. You couldn’t split your concentration. Something or someone always suffered for it.
After Nino and his dad had been murdered, it’d been easy for Gabriel to shut off his emotions. Easy not to let anyone in, get too close.
Now, he wanted to get close to this woman, get inside her.
“Leo, come on. I’m done.”
Before he could respond, she opened the shower door and stepped out. Naked.
She paused when she saw him and her eyes widened, but she didn’t scream. Or hurry to cover herself.
In fact, she acted like men stared at her naked body all the time.
Shit, he really was losing it. He’d forgotten how she’d made a living. Thousands of men had stared at her smooth, olive-toned skin, full breasts and long, toned legs.
“Sorry, I thought you were Leo.” She reached back into the shower to turn off the water then reached for a towel on the rack next to the shower. He watched the sway of wet, dark hair on her back, drawing his gaze to her perfect, heart-shaped ass.
Then she wrapped a towel around her body.
He drew in a deep breath and forced himself to speak. “We need to talk. Come to the atrium—”
“What?” She tossed him a glance over her still-damp shoulder. “The sight of a little naked flesh makes you just another stupid male? You’re here now. Talk.”
He straightened at the challenge in her raised eyebrows. Fine. He could do this.
“I called for backup. I’ve got a man coming. When he gets here, we’re going to head to the compound.”
Pulling a small bottle from the bag on the counter, she squeezed some of the contents onto her palm. “Where is this compound?”
“Outside the city limits.” He watched her rub her hands together then smooth the cream onto her arms. Heat spread over him and he swore he felt her hands running over her skin, along his own skin.
Hell, it was just hot in here. Probably all he felt was the steam from the shower.
“And what is this compound?”
She lifted her right leg and rested her foot on the sink so she could rub cream into her thighs and calves. The towel shifted enough for him to catch a glimpse of dark curls between her legs.
He shifted his gaze to the window. “After the streghe came to America, Serena built a home here. The area was mostly forest, rocky, hard to farm. Today, it’s been preserved as woodlands and provides good cover. There aren’t many neighbors and it’s difficult to get to the house without a four-wheel-drive. And there’re some pretty serious wards surrounding the property. It’s built on a convergence.”
She frowned at him over her bare shoulder. “A what?”
Damn, didn’t she know anything? “A ley line. Like Stonehenge.”
She nodded, her confusion clearing. “So, Serena’s the leader of the boschetta now?”
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her switch legs and his body temperature rose another five degrees. He couldn’t tell whether she was tormenting him or truly didn’t have a clue.
“Not really. After Dafne was killed, the remaining streghe scattered across Europe. Serena attempts to keep in touch with the others but there are a few who haven’t been in contact for decades. One hasn’t been heard from in a couple of centuries. Serena lost touch with Celeste more than twenty years ago.”
She fell silent as she finished her legs and reached for her clothes sitting on the sink. Finally, she was going to put him out of his misery.
Instead, she moved the clothes so she could open the doors under the sink. Then she bent over to check the contents of the vanity and that was the last straw. He turned away.
“Shea, put your damn clothes on and then we’ll continue this conversation.”
He couldn’t see her, but he knew she’d straightened and was staring at him.
“You’re kidding, right?”
He drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. “No, I’m not kidding. I’m not a eunuch and you’re parading around—”
“Parading?” She choked out a laugh. “You’re kidding, right? Are you really that much of a prude, Gabriel? You’re the one who came in here in the first place.”
No, he wasn’t a prude. And yeah, he’d consciously closed the door
behind. But he was fast losing the grip on his control around her and he didn’t like it.
“Look, just come downstairs when you’re dressed and we’ll finish this.”
She went quiet for a few seconds. Then she sighed. “Do you really think this is ever going to be finished?”
She wasn’t talking about their conversation now.
He turned and found her sitting on the lid of the toilet, her head bowed, dark wavy hair draped around her face, shielding her.
Christ, he was an asshole.
“Shea.” He reached for her shoulder and she flinched away.
“Don’t touch me.”
Fuck tha— Oh, wait. Those damn voices. He didn’t want to hurt her. Instead of resting his hand on her shoulder like he wanted to, he dropped to his knees beside her. “Shea. Look at me.”
Sighing, she lifted her head. Her mouth was set in a line and her eyes were dry. But despair lurked under the surface.
He fought the urge to take her in his arms. If he did, he was afraid he wouldn’t let go, voices be damned.
“We’ll find a way to finish this, Shea.”
“I can’t let anything happen to Leo.”
“That’s why you came to me. You’re not in this alone anymore. I won’t let anything happen to him. Or you.”
She drew in a deep breath and blinked. “That’s a far cry from three days ago when you didn’t want anything to do with us.”
Rub it in, babe. “Yeah, well, things change.”
She snorted. “Tell me about it. Three days ago I was a stripper. Today, I’m the only hope of reversing a five-hundred-year-old curse. Guess I might just amount to something after all, huh?”
She smiled, just a crooked twist of her lips, but Gabriel swore he felt a crack in the wall of reserve he’d built over the years, the reserve that kept him from getting too close. The wall he’d built after Nino and Davis.
He nodded, afraid to do anything else. “I’d never count you out in a fight. Now, will you please get dressed so we can go downstairs?”
He should move. He should get up and walk out the door. But her gaze continued to hold his, her smile fading.
When she leaned forward and pressed her mouth against his, he froze.
God, her lips were soft and mobile against his, but her kiss wasn’t sexual. It was sweet and hot and—
Oh holy hell, this was one big catastrophe waiting to happen.
Heat rushed through his blood and his heart pounded until he was sure she could hear it. He reached for her again, lacing his fingers through the wet strands of her hair.
He let her kiss him, just a light touch, a soft press, almost as if she didn’t know what she was doing. But it was more than enough to completely scramble his circuits.
And make him want more.
With a softly indrawn breath, she pulled away and he forced his fingers to release her hair.
Her shell-shocked expression mirrored his feelings. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, pull her against his chest and kiss her until she gave him what he wanted.
Hell if he knew what that was right now.
Before he did something really stupid, he stood and walked out.
* * *
Shea watched Gabriel pull the door behind him, leaving her alone in the bathroom.
What the hell had she done?
The last two days had been a mess. Information overload and emotional turmoil.
And now she’d kissed Gabriel.
She hadn’t thought about kissing him. She’d just moved in and pressed her mouth against his gorgeous lips. It’d been a surprise response to the strength she found in his words. To the way he’d protected Leo. She knew she didn’t need to do everything anymore. She could transfer some of the burden she’d been carrying onto his broad shoulders.
Three days ago, she wouldn’t have thought a man would enter into her life plans for the next, oh, ten years, at least. She hadn’t met a man yet who could divert her attention away from the mess of her oh-so-screwed-up life.
Today, she couldn’t imagine what she’d have done without Gabriel.
Whoever said they didn’t make heroes the way they used to had never met Gabriel.
If he hadn’t been at the club, those men would have killed her and taken Leo. He’d walked in at precisely the right moment, had gotten them out and away before Leo had fallen into the wrong hands. He’d gone from bastard to hero in hours and now she kept thinking about kissing him, about running her fingers through his hair and wondering how his beard would feel against her skin.
And yet it wasn’t just his physical strength that drew her.
Whenever she looked at him—and she’d been looking a lot—she yearned for something she’d never wanted before.
An emotional connection.
Groaning, she dropped her head in her hands. How could she be so damned stupid?
Hell, he’d been embarrassed by her nudity, not turned on. He hadn’t kissed her back, hadn’t responded to her kiss in any way.
Could a person die of embarrassment?
Chapter Ten
Shea walked into the kitchen twenty minutes later—after forcing herself out of the bathroom—to find Gabriel at the table, steaming coffee mug in front of him, cleaning the barrel of a gun. A radio in the background played smooth jazz. Soothing. So at odds with the man himself.
He didn’t look at her as he spoke. “We’ve got maybe fifteen minutes, half an hour before Quinn shows up. Then we’re going to leave.”
Gabriel sounded pissed off. Business as usual.
Good. That was good.
She didn’t want to talk about that kiss anyway. Didn’t want to want him.
Nodding, she walked to the counter to get a mug, filled it with water then set it in the microwave to heat. There had to be tea here somewhere. “For the compound.”
“Yeah.” He put down the barrel and picked up the stock. “I want to make sure we’re not followed, so I don’t think we’ll get to the house until after midnight. Do you know how to shoot a gun?”
Ah-ha, a box of Lipton. She could deal. She snagged a bag and took her steaming mug out of the microwave. “I can shoot.”
“Have you ever had to?”
Dipping her bag, she shook her head as she turned back to face him. “I will if I need to. For Leo.”
“You might have to. They’ve seen what Leo can do and they’ll want him even more now.”
A chill ran through her that not even the hot tea could dispel. “What are we going to do?”
He caught and held her gaze. “That’s what we need to decide. How far are you prepared to go, Shea? What are you willing to do to save your brother?”
She didn’t have to think about that one. She owed Leo so much. “Whatever it takes.”
“Sometimes that’s not enough.”
Although his expression showed no emotion, she heard something in his tone. “You know that for a fact, don’t you?”
He nodded, his gaze never wavering. “What if I told you I could send you away, somewhere they’d never find either of you? But it’d mean you’d be in isolation for years. Could you do it? Would you be willing to give up your life to save his?”
Six years. She’d been out in the world six years. Had it been enough? Was she willing to give up the rest of her life to save Leo?
She blindly reached for a seat at the table and folded herself into it. Guilt and anguish settled on her chest with all the weight of a collapsing building.
She swallowed before speaking. “I was fifteen by the time I got truly pissed off at my parents, about the secrets they’d kept from me. When I was seventeen, I left. I was going to be a ballerina. I was so sure I’d land a spot in the Rock School in Philadelphia.”
That had been just the first of so many misconceptions and mistakes on her part. The teachers had said “Thanks, but no thanks” at the open auditions.
And blown her every hope and dream out of the water.
A soft thunk brought her attenti
on back to Gabriel. He’d set the gun on the table and she had his full attention.
“What happened?” he asked.
His gaze locked on hers, completely focused. Those dark eyes mesmerized, made her want to tell him everything. But after all this time, that rejection still stung like an entire nest of hornets.
She looked away, shrugging. “I didn’t get in.”
“Why?”
Damn him, why wouldn’t he let this go? “Because I wasn’t good enough.”
He snorted and picked up the gun. “Yeah, right. I’ve seen you dance, Shea. You’ve got talent.”
Sudden tears made her blink. What was she supposed to say to that?
He saved her from having to answer. “Why didn’t you go home?”
Because I was too stubborn to admit defeat. “I thought about it after the first few nights on my own. There were too many people, too many buildings, too much of everything.” She’d felt like a complete failure. And she’d wrongly blamed her parents for that. “I knew I’d have to get a job and waitressing looked easy, but you can’t earn enough at a bar to pay the bills. So I started dancing. Clubs always need women willing to take their clothes off and I don’t have much of a problem with that. About three years ago, I got lucky and found a job with a lucani businessman.”
Gabriel’s eyebrows rose. “Who?”
“James Riley. He was good to me, gave me a job in Trenton, found me a place to live.”
“What’d you tell him? About yourself.”
“That my parents kicked me out because I was different and I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
Gabriel snorted. “Yeah, Jimmy can be a sucker for a pretty face and a sob story. Still, he can smell a lie before you open your mouth.”
“I think…I think maybe my dad knew all along where I was and asked Riley to look out for me. He had me waitress for a while but I wanted to dance.”
She’d often wondered what her father thought of that. Had he been horrified? Mortified?