“Okay,” she said slowly, unsure if her legs felt ready to give out because of a delayed reaction from facing the war demon or what she felt for Drew.
He took her keys and opened her car door. She slipped behind the wheel, struggling to get a grip on her turbulent emotions.
“I’ll be right back in my Jeep.”
When she nodded, he turned and jogged in the opposite direction.
Blair peered through the windshield. Why the hell was it still raining? She looked at her hands as though she’d find an answer there. How long could she go on like this? How long until the foreign part inside claimed her completely?
A few seconds later the sound of a car horn jarred her, and she recognized Drew’s Jeep. She pulled out into traffic behind him. By the time they reached the next light, she turned the wipers off, the itch in her palm fading with the easing rainfall.
She should have told Drew she couldn’t drive. It took all the concentration she had to follow him, leaving her oblivious to the landmarks she would have otherwise paid attention to. Exhaustion pulled at her limbs, and she had to force her eyes to stay open. She thought about calling him, but remembered her cell phone was dead.
Fifteen minutes later they’d left downtown behind them and she sighed in relief when Drew pulled into one of the newer suburbs. Surprise temporarily overrode the fatigue sinking deeper into her muscles. From the way Brax talked, she’d expected Drew to live in some penthouse bachelor pad, not a house with an attached garage and a basketball hoop stuck out front.
Seconds later, she took the empty space in the driveway and turned the car off. She closed her fingers around her keys to stop the trembling—unsuccessfully—then climbed out of the car, relieved her legs were steady enough to hold her up.
A frown darkened Drew’s face. “What’s wrong?”
She tried for a smile. “Long day.”
He took her hand and, after unlocking his front door, led her inside. He flicked on the hallway light.
Instead of her vision improving, it grew darker at the edges. The ground seemed to wobble and tilt beneath her, and she shot her arm out to brace against the wall.
“Blair?”
Why did he sound so far away? She closed her eyes, blinking to clear them. Her knees quivered and she raked her hand down the wall, hunting for something solid to grab on to.
“Look at me, Blair.” The concern in his voice was the last thing she registered before everything went dark.
“Come on, baby. Open your eyes.”
She stirred and instantly wanted to retreat back under the sheltering warmth of oblivion. Cold seeped from her bones, wrapping around her muscles until she shivered uncontrollably. Her teeth started to chatter, and she instinctively curled into the heat she felt against her right. Opening her eyes proved impossible, and she quickly gave up, caring only about escaping the ice hardening her skin.
“We need to get you warmed up.”
“Drew?” She tried again to open her eyes, taking in little more than blurry shadows before they slid closed again. “Cold,” she gritted out, her teeth snapping together.
“I know.” He tugged at her shirt. Her pants came next, then she felt herself being lifted. She scrambled to hold onto something, but her hands were slow to cooperate.
“I’ve got you.”
She finally managed to drag her eyes open, the fuzziness retreating as she brought his face into focus. Another whole-body shudder radiated from head to toe, and she burrowed closer, shaking so hard she could only breathe in little gulps of air at a time.
Drew carried her into the bathroom. “Don’t let go of me.” He set her feet on the floor, propping her between him and the wall as he reached in and flipped on the shower.
Blair sucked in a sharp breath as he maneuvered them both under the tepid water. Her instinct was to scramble back, but the arm locked around her waist prevented it. “Turn it off,” she hissed as the water felt like it was freezing to her skin.
“Can’t.”
She turned in his arms, tucking her face against his chest. He reached around her and gradually turned the dial up, warming them slowly until he was satisfied with the temperature.
“You still have your clothes on.” The shivering was starting to subside.
“They’ll dry.”
He ran his hand up and down her back. Between the soothing rub and the warm water beginning to wash away the sharp edges of ice embedded under her skin, she let her eyes shut and snuggled closer.
When her teeth no longer chattered, she said, “I don’t know how I do it, make it rain like that.”
“You’ll figure it out.” He spoke so softly she barely heard him above the shower running.
“When?” It had to be soon. Preferably before she ended up drowning herself in another freak rainstorm.
“Before you know it.”
“And the darkness?”
He tipped her face up. “What do you mean?”
Blair shrugged, unable to put a name to the bottomless part of her that she couldn’t seem to fill—except when he made her cry out in pleasure.
“Let’s get dried off, then you need to sleep.”
“With you?” She wasn’t ready to let go of him. Not yet.
He brushed his lips across hers in a barely-there kiss that felt so damned good she wanted to cry. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” she murmured, pushing up to catch his mouth again. Neither of them made any move to deepen the kiss, indulging in the whisper-soft tangle of lips and tongue. Beneath her hands the man was all hard muscle and strength and speed, but his mouth was nothing short of slow, knee-buckling finesse that made her breath catch.
The water continued to run down her back, but she no longer craved its warmth—not half as much as she craved the man slowly killing her with the tender sweep of his lips. His grip at her waist tightened, but the hunger she felt building within him never reached their kiss.
“We should get out,” he said between a long, hot slide of his lips across hers.
“Should being the operative word.” This felt too good—he felt too good.
He ran his tongue along her bottom lip. “You need to rest.”
“What I need—”
“—is to sleep,” he said quickly, shutting off the water. “You okay to stand on your own?”
“If I say no, will you stay right where you are?”
He laughed and guided her down to sit on the edge of the tub while he stripped off his soaked clothing.
She gave the tub a thoughtful look, thinking how much stronger she’d felt with his arms wrapped around her. “Maybe you should just get me a blanket.”
With a towel around his waist, he efficiently stripped off her bra and panties. The muscles in his jaw ticked as he draped a second towel around her. “Come on before you collapse again.”
“How long was I out for?”
“Long enough to scare a few years off my life.”
“Sorry.” And she was. Sorry that he had to keep coming to her rescue. The only thing she hated more than what was happening to her was Drew getting caught up in it right along with her.
She gave a soft cry of surprise when he scooped her into his arms. “Worried I might trip you if you let me walk on my own?”
“Do you really think you can walk on your own?”
“Probably not,” she agreed, glad to have a reason to stay close to him.
He nudged his bedroom door open with his shoulder. She swept her gaze around the room. “I knew you had to have a serious flaw.”
“I do?”
“You’re a total neat freak,” she said, unimpressed.
He laughed and set her on the bed, nodding for her to shimmy under the covers. He left her to shut off the lights, and the dark quickly pressed in on her. Before she could voice the unexpected panic that burst through her chest, the mattress dipped and he slid in next to her.
She rolled against him, her eyes growing heavy faster than she’d anticipat
ed. “Does this ever happen to you?”
“Only when I’ve been a very good boy.”
She smiled in the dark. “I mean passing out like I did.”
“Not really, but it’s different for everyone. Not everyone absorbs the same amount of demon essence.” The edge to his voice niggled at the back of her mind, but she was too tired to give it any thought.
“Just let me sleep for an hour.”
“Have big plans for later, do you?”
With the last bit of energy she could muster, she leaned up on one elbow and kissed him. “You might say that.”
“Go to sleep, woman, before you drive me crazy with lust.”
She snuggled against him. “Just hold onto that thought for a bit.” She sighed then gave herself over to sleep.
“Whoever said there was anything wrong with burnt pizza clearly hadn’t tried yours.”
“Smartass,” he quipped, stuffing the last bite of partially scorched pizza into his mouth. He’d never claimed to be any kind of cook. “It’s your own fault.” Hers and the T-shirt she’d borrowed from him that had been way too tempting when she’d bent over earlier, offering him one hell of a view.
“Can I help it if you find me irresistible?” She stretched next to him on the couch.
Highlights from an earlier basketball game played on the television, but he wasn’t paying attention to anything but Blair. She fascinated him and he enjoyed watching her, listening to the sound of her voice, the way her hands moved faster when she talked about something she loved.
Like her career.
He’d known the night they met on the resort that her career meant much more than just a job. She loved it. And she loved her family.
She shook her head. “I still can’t believe Braxton has been able to read my thoughts and I never knew he was doing it.”
“I doubt he did it that often.”
She arched a brow.
“I can hear my neighbors,” he explained, “but unless I want to drive myself crazy, I’ve learned to filter a lot of stuff out.”
“Brax too?”
“Hell, he’d have to. Most people don’t make any conscious effort to keep their thoughts guarded. That’s a lot of psychic traffic for even the most by-the-book telepath. Trust me, he filters plenty.”
Her brows drew together. “So how do I know if I’m good at keeping my thoughts shielded?”
“That’s something Brax or Darcy will work with you on.” Preferably before Braxton picked up on things that wouldn’t win Drew any points with his friend.
She shuddered. “Definitely not my brother. I think he’s freaked out enough by all this.”
“And you’re not?”
“As if collapsing wasn’t your first clue. I’m really not looking forward to that happening again anytime soon.”
Neither was he. “We just have to keep you out of trouble until you get a better hold on…keeping it together.”
“You were there for the thunderstorm a few hours ago, right?”
Hard to forget. If there were any doubts left in his mind about how much essence she’d absorbed, they’d been put to rest by tonight’s light show and her crashing afterward. “The first week after my genes mutated I contemplated having myself committed. I couldn’t take all the voices. Couldn’t tune them out.”
“But you adapted.”
“And so will you.”
She snorted. “Before or after I accidentally electrocute myself with a rogue lightning bolt?”
“You’ll probably want to stay away from rivers and lakes for a while too.”
“Thanks for the tip,” she said dryly.
“How’s this for a tip? You’d look better naked.”
With surprising reflexes, she jumped from the couch. “Easy, Energizer Bunny. I need to check my voicemail.”
He rose to his feet, coming around the end of the couch to cut her off. “The battery is dead.”
“Right.”
“Besides, you’re probably ready for bed.” He sure as hell was, and not just because he was tired. The few hours they’d caught before he’d been awakened by the rumbling in her stomach had been sufficient to put the worst of tonight’s worries behind him. “I’m wiped.” He stripped off the boxers he’d dragged on earlier.
Her gaze ran down past his waist, lingering long enough to make the ache at the base of his cock throb harder. “I can see that,” Blair quipped, then bolted for the bedroom.
He gave her a three-second head start, just to let her believe she might escape him, then he pounced, catching up with her at the end of the hall. She squirmed when he lifted her off her feet and carried her into his room.
The second her back hit the mattress, she tried to wiggle out from beneath him. Every bounce of her luscious body pulled her T-shirt higher, exposed more of her soft skin, more sexy curves.
“You know that saying, ‘you can run but you can’t hide’?” he taunted, slipping a hand between her legs to knead the inside of her thigh.
She closed her eyes, her bottom lip trapped between her teeth. “Can’t say it rings a bell.”
He nudged her legs wider. “Liar.” He tunneled through the moist warmth of her sex to circle her opening.
Blair shuddered, lifted her hips. Leaning down, he captured her mouth with his, kissing her until she nodded.
“Okay,” she admitted. “Vaguely familiar.”
“Oh, yeah?” He caught both her hands, pinning them to the bed, as the head of his arousal nudged her sex.
She grinned wickedly. “Or not.”
He rocked his hips, pushing against her damp flesh. “Not what I want to hear.”
Locking her legs around him, she arched her back. “Too bad.”
He held her gaze and thrust inside her. They moaned low and deep.
The shrill ring of a telephone cut through the air, making him tense. Christ.
The sweet, snug walls of her sex gripped him tighter. “Got to answer it, huh?” she guessed.
Suspecting it to be Rae and knowing his boss wouldn’t stop calling until he answered, he nodded, easing away from her. “Don’t move.”
She sat up. “You know that saying, ‘good things come to those who wait’?” She ran her fingers down the center of her stomach, to her sex.
He closed his eyes, banishing the erotic vision she made before he was tempted to ignore the phone after all. He was halfway down the hall when the machine kicked in.
“Drew, are you there? It’s about Molly.”
He heard Blair in the bedroom doorway before he saw her.
Conscious of her eyes on him, he snapped up the phone. “I’m here.” He listened to his mother explain the situation, acutely aware that Blair’s attention never wavered from him once.
“I’ll be right over.” He hung up.
Blair stood motionless, her expression equal parts curious and wary.
He set the phone back on the base and made up his mind. “You up for taking a drive?”
“Sure,” she said carefully. “Where to?”
He took a breath. “To see Molly—my daughter.”
He had a daughter. The revelation ran through her mind for the thousandth time since they’d dressed and left the house in his Jeep. Somehow it had been the last thing she’d expected, especially knowing what she knew about Shadow Destroyers. How did people aware of the kind of evil stalking the human race, the very people who fought it, raise children?
In less than ten minutes, Drew pulled into the driveway of a large home with a brick front and large windows. Though it was the middle of the night, a light blazed from both the main floor and a room upstairs.
Molly’s?
Blair shook her head. It seemed so trivial now to recall their fight at the resort and know it was his daughter who had called him that day. “How old is she?”
“Five.”
So why hadn’t he admitted who Molly was in the beginning? Had women been that turned off by his having a daughter he didn’t mention her to people
he’d just met?
He undid his seatbelt, but sat unmoving, staring at the house. “It’s a little complicated.”
“We don’t need to talk about it now.”
His gaze met hers, and for a moment she thought she caught a glimpse of fear in his eyes. Then he got out of the car, and she followed, not sure what to expect, but wondering all the same why his daughter was here and not with him. She couldn’t remember seeing any signs of a child’s presence back at his place, not that she’d seen much between collapsing and curling up on the couch later.
Blair hesitated on the doorstep. Was this his ex’s house?
Before she could offer to wait in the car, figuring that had to be less awkward than what was coming, the door opened.
A fifty-something man stood in the doorway. Relief flashed across his face.
“Is she any better?” Drew strode past him.
“She settled a bit when your mother said you were coming.”
Drew’s father, she realized. The older man gave her a warm smile, but she didn’t miss the look of curiosity on his face. She couldn’t guess if it was because Drew hadn’t mentioned her before now or if she was still looking rough from the fallout of facing the war demon.
Drew paused at the bottom of the staircase leading to the second floor.
“I’ll be fine,” she said.
He nodded, gave his father a quick glance and then darted up the stairs in a blur. She’d seen him move quickly during a fight, but couldn’t help but stare at where he’d been half a second ago.
“It took us some getting used to too.”
Blair frowned. “You know about him?”
His father smiled. “How about something to drink?”
She followed him into a brightly lit kitchen, wondering how many more surprises she could handle tonight.
“Tea okay?” He rooted through cupboards, partly to give himself something to do, it seemed to Blair.
“Sure.”
“Have you and Drew known each other long?”
Well, that answered her question about Drew mentioning her. “A couple of weeks.”
“And you already know about him?” He plugged the kettle in to heat the water. “So either you saw him use his gifts and he couldn’t talk his way out of it, or…”
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