by Mandy Rosko
"Sweet girl." She looked over her shoulder, her hand frozen over the cup and waiting to put in the fifth spoon of sugar.
She blushed and put the spoon away, taking her coffee and sitting down. "I guess I am."
"So, Gorgeous" He thumbed the mouth of his bottle, holding it like a man would hold his beer. "Do you have a boyfriend or anything?"
She couldn't help but smile through the irritation of hearing his pet name again. Not to mention she was sure she didn't look in the least bit seductive. "Don’t call me that. And not for a while … You?"
"Boyfriend? No. Guys don't communicate so I decided to switch teams."
Jackie nearly snorted hot coffee through her nose. She got up and ran for the paper towels with her hand over her mouth, ripping one off the rack across the kitchen and cleaning up before allowing herself to freely laugh.
Kyle was laughing too, at her, she could tell, but she wasn't bothered by it.
"Are you alright?"
She waved her hand and exhaled deeply, a giant grin still on her face. "Fine, fine. I guess that answers that question, doesn't it?"
He raised his bottle. "You got that right, Sweetheart."
She raised a brow. “Sweetheart?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “You don’t like Gorgeous. And because you’re so sugary I figured Sweetheart fit better.”
She waved her hand at him “I might as well just let you do what you want.”
“Doing what I want with you sounds perfect.”
She blushed, not sure how he meant for that to sound. The purr in his voice certainly made her suspicious. But knowing that he didn't have a girlfriend was enough to lighten her mood.
It should have made her more aware of the fact that they were obviously attracted to each other and alone in her apartment, but in the last few minutes he'd managed to get her to forget her problems. From her sister visiting, to the wreck that was now the store, even the fact that someone was purposely sending out feral vampires to kill her. All of it gone.
She checked her watch, hating herself for searching for an excuse, but she needed a kiss.
"The sun rises in an hour. If I was going to be attacked it would’ve happened by now."
His grip on the bottle tightened as his golden eyes turned dark. "That's very true."
She couldn't stop herself from babbling. "And if I was to be attacked you would still have your gun, and you could probably use the sleep—"
His vampire speed had him up with his mouth on hers before she could finish.
She inhaled sharply, her eyes sliding shut when Kyle’s hands found her waist. He lifted her from the floor and kissed her back into the bland wall.
The heat returned to his flesh as the magic tingled through her lips, but even as his temporary cure was finished he didn't stop massaging her lips with his. It didn't stop him from slipping his tongue across her lips or stop her from opening her mouth to let him slide in.
No, there was nothing wrong with this, just a kiss, she was doing him a favor. It wasn't like she planned on dating him. Just a kiss.
One of his hands tangled in her hair and the other cupped her breast through her tank top. He worked her nipple between his fingers to a tightened nub and she remembered she wasn’t wearing a bra.
She moaned. She couldn't help herself. Every other man she’d gone out with had obviously done it wrong because they didn't know how to kiss if this was kissing.
He released her mouth and she was aware of being pressed so close to his chest that she could feel his heart beating, but she was also aware of the proof of his arousal between them. Dread followed that awareness like a splash of cold water.
She couldn't do this with him.
She untangled herself from his arms and slipped out from between them. He remained where he was, his hands still out and reaching for her and confusion on his face.
She hadn’t meant to lead him on, felt like a damn tease for it, but now it was too late. "I'll get you a blanket for the couch."
She walked away, leaving him standing there gaping.
NINE
Something happened. Not when she kissed him but before she kissed him, and it changed something in both of them.
How had he gone from chastising himself, demanding that he keep his hands off her, to losing total control like that?
It shouldn’t have happened. Shouldn’t have come to that, especially when she started throwing out her hints at him. So why?
Because she wanted it. Somehow in her conflicted emotions she’d started wanting him to kiss and touch her just as much as he did.
Even now while he helped Jackie and her mother clean their store, taking out the busted door and anything else too heavy for them, he couldn't get her out of his mind.
But that probably had something to do with watching her bend over to sweep the broken glass into the dustpan, and standing on her toes, stretching to reach high and grab a broken bottle of something Kyle didn't recognize.
His blood hummed in appreciation at the sight, and he had trouble looking away even as he was supposed to be helping her mother board up the window.
"See something you like?"
"Hm?" His face heated at the sight of the older woman’s little smirk. Shit. Busted.
He kept holding up the piece of cardboard for her to put the last bit of duct tape on before lowering his arms. "Sorry," he said, not knowing how to properly apologize to someone's mother for staring inappropriately at their daughter.
The one side of her lip quirked cattily, a knowing little thing his own mother gave him when she thought she knew something. Patty looked to make sure Jackie was safely in the back room before speaking again.
"You're a cutie," she said, keeping her voice low since there was no longer a door to separate the store from the back room. "and after what you did for her I wouldn't mind it if you decided you had a bit of a crush on her."
Kyle smirked this time. Crush was putting it mildly. If she knew what he thought of her little girl she might just toss him out.
She patted his cheek. "You're a good boy, I can tell."
"Is that a power you have? Like when Jackie kisses me?"
She shook her head. "No, no I wish I had a natural gift. I always said she was given it because of her poor skills with magic. Balances everything out, don't you think?"
He knew absolutely nothing about magic, but it seemed to make sense. "It sounds like it does." He bent down to pick up a fallen spray can, was about to throw it into the trash when he saw name and picture.
Fairy dust. Guaranteed to attract pixies and fairies to any garden within minutes of being sprayed. Wow. The same way someone normal might want to attract butterflies and hummingbirds to their garden.
Patty ignored his open mouth, took the bottle from his hands, and nodded. "Of course it does, anyway, I'm sorry to say that Jackie's taken."
Aside from a brief widening of his eyes, Kyle forced himself to keep a calm face. Either Patty had the wrong idea of her daughter’s love life or Jackie lied to him.
Having already been lied to and betrayed by a witch once, he wasn’t sure he could handle it again. "Oh? I hadn't known that."
Patty nodded, and he didn't need to sense what was going on inside her to feel the sympathy rolling off her. "She and Michael have a little something. It's cute really, but I keep telling her that if she keeps playing her little hard to get games with him he might not want to see her anymore."
Relieved but confused, Kyle didn't know what to say. According to Jackie's own mother she was tease. But she was wrong, no matter what had happened between him and Jackie last night, she wasn’t a tease.
Which made Patty the kind of women who enjoyed her gossip too much.
He could neither agree nor disagree without disrespecting someone. He opted to keep his mouth shut despite how Patty’s eyes implored him to keep the conversation going.
He would not believe Jackie had lied to him, but that didn’t mean she didn’t share something with Detec
tive I-Wear-A-Cowboy-Hat. Something that could lead to something bigger once Kyle was out of the picture.
Patty was either ignorant to his souring face or simply chose to ignore it. "Don't they make a cute couple? Known each other for years, a bit shy though, which is why it's so hard for them to take the proper steps forward."
'Shy' was another word he wouldn't use in this situation. Jackie had certainly overcome her shyness when she invited him to kiss her ... right before she ran away and left him to sleep on the couch that is.
Jackie walked out of the back room, slapping her hands together with a job well done. She wore her long jean jacket coat and there was snow on top of her head. "I got the last of the boxes in the recycling bin." She stopped suddenly, eyeing them and no doubt aware of the silence.
"What's going on?"
***
Kyle's lips lifted in a poor attempt of a smile. She could feel his irritation radiating. "Your mother just told me some nice stories about you and Carter."
Jackie groaned and pierced Kyle with a hard stare. "I’m not dating Mike."
It was typical of her mother to try and scare off Kyle by telling him she was dating another man.
Then a thought struck her. If Patty was doing this it meant she thought of Kyle as a threat to Jackie and Mike’s nonexistent relationship.
Shit. Was she sending out signals she wasn’t aware of that her mother was picking up on? Was she really that obvious?
Kyle, at least, smiled and nodded, as though her word was all he needed for confirmation. He did, however, cock his head and look at her mother, who in turn ignored his questioning gaze.
"But you will be, soon." Patty singsonged.
Jackie grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked.
"Mom, I'm not interested in dating anyone right now."
"Is that so?" Kyle asked with one eyebrow raised.
She blushed. "Well, maybe one day, but not right this second. And not with Mike." She added when Patty opened her mouth.
Patty shrugged and walked to the other side of the shop, picking up a clipboard and writing on it. She spoke without looking at either person in her store. "All I'm saying is that I'm not getting any younger, and your sister sure as Hell isn't going to give me a grandbaby any time soon if she's so eager to keep that little figure of hers."
Jackie did not want to have this argument while someone watched, especially Kyle. "So that leaves me?"
Patty's writing turned into violent checks against the paper. "It would be nice."
Jackie threw her hands in the air. "I'm leaving."
"What? But I still need help with the store, young lady."
Kyle handed Jackie her purse. He already wore his leather jacket because of how cold it had been when he helped Patty replace the windows. "I'll go with you."
"No, I want to be alone."
"And there are people out there who just might want you dead. Wherever you go, I go."
Jackie looked at her mother, who stood in front of the counter with her mouth open, shocked that Jackie could even think of leaving her.
It made her feel just guilty enough to explain. "There's not much left to do, I'll be back in an hour," she said, taking her purse from Kyle and walking out into the thick snowfall, with him trailing behind.
She was making herself look like a pouting child in front of Kyle, but she didn't care. She wanted to cry. The uncomfortable lump in her throat and contorting muscles in her face battled to take control. Like a warrior, she sucked it up and talked her tears into staying out of the cold.
When Kyle caught up and walked beside her, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. "I'm really sorry about her. She likes to gossip."
"Yeah, I got that."
She flinched.
"I didn't mean that in a bad way,” he said. “You're not alright."
"Yes, I am."
He took her shoulders, stopping her. "No, you're not. I don't know how but I can tell when you're not okay."
She turned her head away, embarrassed again. She kept forgetting he had that ability over her.
She didn't realize she was staring at his hands until he removed them from her person. They clenched at his sides. "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that."
No, he probably shouldn't have. Jackie looked at him, and smiled a little. Even through the fog of falling snow she could make out the color rising in his cheeks. "Don't worry about it."
She turned to continue walking, then realized he had no idea where they were going. "There's a coffee shop around the corner, we can sit in there and warm up." She looked back and noticed he resumed trailing behind her by a few feet. "You can walk beside me you know."
He hesitated before catching up. "I usually keep my distance from the people I'm hired to protect."
"Really? What for?"
"To watch the surrounding area, mostly. There aren’t many times when it’s required to stay on top of a client.” He blinked into the grey sky and falling snow. “I can barely see anything in this weather. It probably is best to stay close though.”
Jackie nodded, looking for something else to say so that they wouldn't have to talk about her. "Is it dangerous, what you do?"
He chuckled and shook his head. "It depends on who you're protecting and when. If it's a celebrity with a stalker then it has potential to be dangerous, but if you get someone like Sarah Valier, it's really boring."
The answer threw her off. "Boring?"
"Yeah, all that training is pretty much wasted on someone like her. I was being paid to be seen and not really do anything, except occasionally carry her shopping bags."
She didn't get it in the least. "But that doesn't make sense. Why would someone hire a bodyguard they didn't need?"
He shrugged. "Nothing tells the public how important you are like having a well dressed man in shades who carries a gun and knows martial arts follow you around."
Wow. The thought that Kyle knew martial arts actually made her mouth wet. She swallowed quickly. "And, do bodyguards normally date the people they're supposed to protect?"
He looked at her sharply and she turned away, wishing she kept her mouth shut.
"Sorry."
"No, don't be." He sighed heavily. "My job, regardless of how dull it was with that particular client, was to execute my duty to the best of my abilities or not at all. I failed. When I tried to make it right, I couldn't even stop her from cursing me."
A swell of sympathy ballooned inside her for him. If only she were more skilled with magic so she could do more beyond giving him a kiss every now and again.
She inwardly snorted at herself. Give a kiss and make it better. What a joke. "I wish I was like you."
She kept her eyes pointed firmly ahead, but from her peripheral vision she caught him staring at her before looking away, searching for all the dangers that could be lurking. "Do you? What for?"
"A lot of reasons. Last night Evey nearly killed herself to protect me, and even then we still might not’ve gotten out of there if you hadn't shown up. I wish I could defend myself. I'm sick and tired of being the only witch in town who can't do any magic at all without blowing something up. I can’t even read Tarot Cards right."
"You should stop being so hard on yourself, I wouldn't be here if you couldn't do anything right."
Jackie winced. He didn't mean it like that, he was trying to cheer her up, had to be. But even if he hadn’t meant it harshly, it didn't stop his statement from being true both ways.
She was hopeless.
They walked the rest of the way in silence, entered the fifties style shop with checkered floors, and got in line.
“It all looks so normal.” Kyle said, his eyes scanning the patrons at their tables beneath hanging lamps.
“Makes me wonder what you expected.” Jackie said, pointing to the front of the line. “That’s Claire, Charity’s daughter.”
Kyle looked at the woman behind the counter, serving customers without any energy or smile.
He frowned. “She looks li
ke her mother.”
Jackie knew it was no compliment.
Kyle lowered his head when their turn came and bought a peppermint tea while Jackie ordered her coffee with extra sugar. All the booths were filled with people seeking refuge from the outside, so when a couple got up from a small circular table with two chairs they rushed for the seats.
Jackie sipped her coffee, decided it was still too bitter and stirred in one more packet of sugar.
“She’s miserable half the time but she makes good coffee. Doesn’t need as much sugar.”
Kyle chuckled and shook his head, but he said nothing as he proceeded to scan the patrons in the shop.
She didn’t know what he was looking for and decided if she didn't speak she wouldn't either. Probably because he figured he was on a job with her and that required keeping your eyes and ears open, not your mouth, as Jackie could see by the way he watched with suspicion in his eyes.
She tried looking around, to see what he was seeing, but only saw people young and old laughing and talking over the oldies while drinking and eating donuts.
Did he do this for Sarah? He said working for her was boring, so probably not. The way he described her, Jackie couldn’t imagine Kyle being so focused while on the job. It would’ve flattered her had she not actually had someone who might want to kill her.
“So, why become a bodyguard?” She asked, idly stirring her coffee.
One side of Kyle’s lips turned up. “Honestly?”
She leaned forward and nodded.
“I’m just not that skilled at anything else.”
She laughed. He didn’t return it.
Jackie stopped abruptly and realized he meant what he’d said. “I don’t believe it.”
He lifted the paper cup of tea to her. “You’re a saint there, Gorgeous, but it’s true.”
“What happened to sweetheart?”
“I like Gorgeous better. Anyway, I couldn’t do science to save my life and I earned my B minus in math only after killing myself studying. Only thing I ever succeeded in was Fitness and Health. So after I finished high school I went out to take the right courses and get my license to be a bodyguard.” He gave her a steady stare. “And you better believe I had to study my ass off for that too.”