Her feet still hurt abominably, and she was still so cold that her teeth were chattering, but she was finally out of the rain. Getting off of her feet was without a doubt the best part of her whole entire day so far.
Next to her, Detective Gorgeous cranked up the SUV’s heat to its highest setting. He thoughtfully angled all of the air vents so that they were aimed squarely at Ana.
“Hold on a minute,” he said, before twisting in his seat to root around in the backseat with one arm. Swiftly, he produced a flannel shirt.
“I thought I still had one in here,” he said, sounding pleased, and passed the shirt to Ana.
“Thank you,” managed Ana between her chattering teeth.
Ana pulled on his dry shirt, its fabric thick and soft and warmer than her skin currently was, but she fumbled with the buttons. Her hands were shaking too much for her fingers to do them up.
“Do you mind if I help you with that?” asked the detective kindly, and Ana nodded.
“Please?” she said, her hands falling away from the buttons.
Ana’s breath caught in her throat as the handsome stranger leaned over to help her. At the first brush of his warm fingertips against her throat, Ana automatically tipped her chin up and then wished that she hadn’t. His fingers had been so warm!
She watched, almost fascinated, as his fingers methodically worked their way down the line of buttons. The detective pulled the thick fabric slightly away from her body then threaded each button through its corresponding hole. He was gentle and respectful, and his hands never fumbled or lingered or tried to grope. And his shirt was very big on her. It was also very warm – or maybe that was the strength of her blush?
When he was done, the detective leaned back into his own seat, and Ana found that she was disappointed to see him go. She had been much warmer when he was near her.
Taking a deep breath, Ana banished her silly longing and reached slightly behind herself to pull her seatbelt over her shoulder. Safely buckled in, Ana basked in the heat blasting at her. She was still cold and wet and her everything was beginning to hurt, but things were finally beginning to look up. Maybe. Probably. Hopefully?
As long as he’s as good as he seems to be, thought Ana, her fingers tightening on the leather wallet and the police shield within it.
“All right,” said her rescuer once they were both securely buckled in. He put his vehicle in gear again. “Tell me where you live.”
Ana quickly rattled off her address and he nodded, saying, “I know where that apartment building is. Do you need to use my cell to send someone back for your car?”
“No,” said Ana unhappily. “I was out walking, because I had to ditch my date.”
The detective’s strong jaw tightened.
“Are you okay?” he asked, and it took Ana a moment to understand what he was worried about.
“Oh! No, I’m fine,” she said hastily. “He didn’t hurt me or anything! We just… had a very strong difference of opinion. And then I left.”
He had thought that she would be easy.
She wasn’t.
And then, she had left. Alone.
That was it, except for all of the blisters and the pouring rain and, now that she was significantly less miserable, the mosquito bites that were beginning to make themselves known.
At least nothing ate me while I was walking myself home, thought Ana, trying to look on the bright side. It could have been much worse.
“He just left you to walk home from the middle of nowhere,” said the man tightly. “What a heel. I’m sorry that happened to you.”
And he sounded so genuinely unhappy – and genuinely angry – on her behalf, that it eased some of the hurt that had been lingering in Ana’s heart.
“Thank you,” said Ana, meaning it. She tried to relax in her seat. “Which detective are you, anyway?”
“Detective Grissom Hale,” said Grissom. “And you?”
“I’m no detective,” said Ana impishly, and then giggled when Detective Hale smiled.
“Sorry, sorry,” said Ana, as he slowed to a stop for a red light. “I’m Ana Alves, hitchhiker, apparently.”
Turning toward her, Detective Hale flashed Ana another of his brilliant smiles.
“I know that the circumstances aren’t ideal for you, but I am really and genuinely happy to meet you,” he said, sincerity ringing through his voice.
And Ana smiled – really, genuinely smiled – for what felt like the first time in years.
Chapter 04 – Grissom
At the sight of her smile, Grissom’s heart gave a peculiar double thump in his chest.
“The light,” said Ana, nodding towards the windshield. “It’s green.”
Grissom startled. “Thanks.”
Easing his foot off of the brake, Grissom returned the bulk of his attention to the road. The rest of it was on his passenger.
All the small talk that Grissom hadn’t been able to manage earlier in the day came easily to him now as he talked with Ana. With her beside him, Grissom found that he felt calmer than he had all day. He was actually sorry to see her apartment building loom out of the rising mist and driving rain.
“I live at the far end of the building,” said Ana helpfully, and Grissom followed her directions to one of the parking places nearest to her apartment.
“Wait a minute, and I’ll take you up,” said Grissom, as he put the vehicle in park.
As he opened his car door, Ana yelped, “You don’t really have to –”
“I do,” said Grissom firmly. “I promised to see you home safely, didn’t I?”
And hell, the woman didn’t even have shoes on.
“But it’s still raining really hard,” argued Ana, and Grissom smiled at her concern. “You’ll get wet!”
“It’ll be good for me,” said Grissom cheerfully. “Build character.”
“If that were true, I’d be an animated princess by now.”
Grissom laughed. “Hold on. I’ll get your door.”
Without waiting for any more of her arguments, Grissom slid out of his seat and into the storm. Rain pelted against his skin, hard and fast and utterly refreshing, and wind buffed his frame. Within moments, Grissom was utterly soaked.
Smiling, Grissom slammed his car door shut and went around to get Ana’s door for her. As Ana started to slide out of the vehicle, Grissom caught her around the waist, his smile widening to a grin when Ana gave a surprised squeak.
Grissom hauled her up and against his body, taking Ana into his arms bridal style. The curve of her hip and the warm line of her side pressed deliciously against his front, warm where the rain was cold. And in his arms, Ana turned enough to loop her arms around his neck, a movement that pressed her soft breasts against his hard chest. Ana felt so good – so right – in his arms that Grissom couldn’t help but hold her a little bit tighter.
Lady secure in his arms, Grissom nudged the SUV’s door shut with his hip.
“What are you doing?” Ana demanded, her voice raised to be heard over the weather.
“Carrying you! It’s a parking lot! What if there’s broken glass?”
Ana made an odd noise – a laugh, Grissom decided – and snuggled closer against his chest.
Grissom tried very hard not to think of other contexts in which she might snuggle closer like that. He failed.
“So, where’s your place?” he called over the storm, and then followed Ana’s directions up to a third floor apartment, the exposed metal staircase shaking beneath each thump of his foot against it.
It wasn’t flying, but it wasn’t down in the mud either. And it was the highest floor in her apartment building. Pleased by her choice in dwellings, Grissom nearly pressed a kiss against Ana’s temple before he set her down on her own welcome mat; only nearly, though, because he wasn’t entirely without sense.
Turning away from him, Ana fished in her sodden dress for a moment before producing a single key. Leaning down, she peered at the doorknob, probably looking for the lock that she was meant to
slot it into. While she did, Grissom admired the line of her back, the swell of her hips, and the curve of her butt under the hallway’s dimmed lights.
After a moment, Ana shifted slightly to one side, changing the way that the hallway’s dimmed lights fell across the knob. She fitted her key into the slot and turned it, unlocking her apartment. Straightening, she turned back to Grissom saying, “Well, this is it. Unless – Do you –”
She was beginning to shiver again.
“Do I what?” asked Grissom, hoping to hurry her along a little bit. Humans were so fragile. She was probably catching cold right before his very eyes.
“Do you want to come in for a moment?” blurted Ana, and even in the poor lighting, Grissom could see the flush in her cheeks. “It’s still raining really hard, and I could give you a towel to dry off with – and – and this is a dumb idea, isn’t it?”
“It’s a great idea,” said Grissom quickly. “I’d love to come in. And it is raining pretty hard.”
And he wasn’t ready to part with her yet.
Smiling, Ana led him into her apartment. And, smiling to himself, Grissom followed her in.
It was really small.
That was Grissom’s first impression of Ana’s place.
Ana lived in a studio apartment with a small kitchenette along the far wall and a door tucked into the corner diagonally across from the front door. That, presumably, led to the apartment’s bathroom.
To his immediate left were a couple of hooks on which were hung her jackets, an apron, and a couple of smocks. Past the clothing hooks, there was a long length of blue curtains and then an easel tucked away in the leftmost corner of the room. Along the length of the wall between the easel and the bathroom door were a small bedside table with drawers, a narrow bed, and an armoire. At the foot of the bed crouched a battered black sea chest.
Grissom’s second impression of the space was that it was bright. The apartment’s boring white walls had been decorated with a myriad of artworks.
“I think I have some sweat pants that might fit you,” said Ana as she crossed the room, still wearing his shirt and shivering.
“You need to dry off and warm up,” he said as Ana knelt in front of the armoire.
“So do you,” returned Ana.
There were two drawers beneath the long space in the armoire meant for hanging up clothes. Putting Grissom’s wallet on the floor next to her knee, Ana pulled open the top drawer. She rooted around in it for a moment, allowing Grissom to glimpse some very interesting underwear before she produced two folded up plaid fabrics.
As he watched, Ana tucked some of that interesting underwear inside of a folded t-shirt and then added it to her stack of clothes. Sitting back on her heels, Ana twisted to frown up at him. “I don’t have a shirt that’ll fit you.”
“That’s fine,” said Grissom hastily. “I’ll make due. Just – Just go take a shower and warm up. Please. Otherwise, you’re going to shake yourself to pieces.”
For a moment, it looked like she might argue with him. Instead, Ana bit her lower lip and nodded.
Watching her white teeth sinking into her lip, Grissom wished that it was him nibbling on her plush lower lip and her moaning breathily. In his imagining, they were possibly in her shower or maybe her bed, warming each other up in the most fun ways possible.
Ana banged the armoire’s drawer shut, knocking that thought right out of his head – and just in time for him to fully appreciate the view as Ana rose, dropped one of the folded plaid bundles on her bed, and walked away.
Grissom’s shirt nearly engulfed her, its hem nearly as long on her as her black skirt. It hid the shape of her frame, but it didn’t hide her shapely legs… or the mud that had dried all along the length of them. Grissom wasn’t even an earth dragon, but he found the sight of it… intriguing.
If they hadn’t just met – if they had already known each other a little better – he would have offered to wash her legs for her. He’d have happily washed all of Ana’s other bits for her too, and doctored on her poor blistered feet for her besides.
I still might ask to see to her poor feet, thought Grissom, as Ana quietly shut the bathroom door behind her. He would feel better if he knew that they were cleaned, taken care of, and medicated.
Grissom was still musing on that as he unbuttoned his pants.
Well, that and whether or not Ana might like pizza.
Chapter 05 – Ana
Alone in the bathroom, Ana stared at the closed bathroom door. By habit, she had locked it behind her, and now she was worried that she had insulted her guest. And after he had gone out of his way to help her too!
She was too cold to worry about that for long though.
Ana turned on the shower, cranking the knob around to where she liked it, and then quickly stripped naked. Her wet skin prickled with her awareness of the handsome man in the next room.
And he was really handsome, even more so in good light than he had been under the weak dome light in his car, and he had been pretty hot then too. Now though, Ana could fully admire his thick brown hair and the exact shade of his eyes – which were rich and warm and nearly as brown as his hair – and the brightness of his smile.
Grissom had been so kind too – stopping to help her and carrying her across the parking lot and chasing her into the shower when he had to have been as cold and wet as she was.
And he might even be as naked as I am right now, thought Ana, her mind flashing to what that might look like. Feeling flustered, Ana pressed her thighs together. Embarrassment soon followed, as if her guest could somehow feel her imagining him naked while she was in the privacy of her own bathroom, and Ana quickly stepped beneath the shower spray to distract herself from her unruly thoughts.
At the feel of warm water against her chilled flesh, Ana sighed with pleasure. The stray thought crossed her mind that it might have been nice to share this with someone – say, the handsome someone currently changing into pajama pants in her living room.
She had nearly invited him to join her – Ana still couldn’t believe that she had nearly asked him that, it wasn’t like her at all – but she had lost her nerve at the least second and bitten her lip instead. And the way that he had looked at her when she had done that!
Flushing with heat at the memory, Ana turned her face up into the spray of warm water.
The first part of the night – the part in which she had been walking down a dark road and praying that she was neither murdered nor mauled by a wild animal – seemed very far away just then.
Ana hurried through her shower, scrubbing herself clean with a yellow loofah and washing her hair again with her favorite apple scented shampoo and conditioner. She thanked her lucky stars that she had already done all of her personal grooming in preparation for the date-that-wasn’t.
In no time at all, or so it seemed to Ana, she was clean, warm, and dressed in her pajamas… and a bra. Her breasts were simply too big to try to go without one of those, and for reasons that she chose not to examine to closely, Ana wanted her breasts to look their best for her handsome guest.
When she emerged from the shower on a cloud of fruity scented bath products, Ana walked right into a wall of mouthwatering scents.
Grissom had laid two places at the short stretch of counter space that separated the kitchen area from the rest of Ana’s apartment. He had found the tall stools that Ana kept in a cupboard beneath the counter, and he had ordered takeout. A small mountain of boxes stood at the end of the counter as well as a couple of liters of soda.
All of that Ana took in at a glance before her eyes found Grissom himself. At the sight of him, her mouth went dry.
Seated on top of the sea chest, Grissom was bare-chested and bare foot. His elbows were resting on his strong thighs, which in turn were spread wide apart. Grissom was grinning up at her, looking mischievous and pleased and just a little bit naughty.
For a fraction of a second, Ana imagined what it might be like to go to him and slip into that tantal
izing v of negative space between his legs. The outside of her legs would brush against the inside of his, the fabric of her pajama bottoms pulling at the fabric of his. She would lean down to kiss him, his large hands in her hair and his mouth soft against hers. And she would laugh when he pulled her into his lap, his strong arms going around her waist. They would kiss again, and then they might –
Her face suddenly feeling very hot, Ana cleared her throat enough to say, “The, uh, shower. It’s yours if you want it.”
Grissom’s smile widened. He grinned like he knew what she was thinking.
“I’m warm enough now,” said Grissom, pushing himself to his feet. He stretched, giving Ana an excellent view of his strong arms, chiseled chest, and rippling abs. Grissom had an eight pack and those little lines on his hips that Ana had always wanted to lick on the art college’s male models.
“Hungry?” he asked, as he dropped his arms to his sides again.
“Famished,” said Ana, and then realized that it was true. Hiking across country had definitely built up her appetite.
“Great!” enthused Grissom. He suddenly looked sheepish. “I didn’t know what you liked, so I ordered a little bit of everything.”
And he certainly had!
As Grissom opened the boxes for her inspection, Ana discovered that he had ordered salads, cannoli, garlic knots, lasagna, and chicken with noodles in some sort of white sauce. There were two calzones and a pair of pizzas, one cheese and the other with pepperoni.
Inside of the small cardboard cartons, Ana discovered white rice, sweet and sour pork, lemon chicken, chow mein, fried rice, and beef and broccoli. There were egg rolls, boneless red ribs, and wooden skewers with beef on them in little waxy bags, and squat plastic tubs filled with wonton soup, eggdrop soup, and hot and sour soup.
He had even sent for a trio of sub sandwiches from a deli down the street, complete with little individual bags of chips, fresh cookies, and three kinds of soda.
It was way too much! There was no way on Earth that they were going to be able to eat their way through all of this, but there was also no way that Ana could express her astonishment – or her concern for the state of his credit card – without coming off as ungrateful.
Her Detective Dragon_A Paranormal Mystery Romance Page 3