Luckily, Kara seems to grasp my message, vague half poetry and all. “First of all, I’ll tell you that I’ve never had a night quite like this. And as for being ‘me’… Well, I don’t even know what that is yet.” As she confesses that part, she looks away. Teethes her lip more fully. “But I do know that more of me feels right when you’re near and touching me like this.”
And just like that, my heart is too big for my chest. The globe’s whole atmosphere isn’t enough to contain my feelings. “Only like this?”
She lifts her head back up. Our gazes entwine, full of too many meanings. I need hours to unravel her. A lifetime. Even then, it might not be enough. She’s like Dante’s layered inferno, only inverted. Every new circle I reveal of her is another step toward heaven.
I like that thought. A lot. While I know she can’t decipher it word for word with her abilities, she seems to pick up enough of it to like it too. But we’re torn from basking in it for too long. The waiter is back, bearing our dessert in to-go boxes. He pops them open long enough to show off the decadent tarts, each drizzled with sauces that promise perfect taste explosions.
“Oh, wow,” Kara exclaims. “Those look amazing.”
“And wait until you see where we’re going to enjoy them.” Her ogling of the desserts gives me space to scheme in the form of a fast text to Regina. She’s not surprised to hear from me. This date is already a social media conversation, one she and Sarah have been following with rapt interest since the moment Kara and I got here.
It’s an odd revelation, but their excitement is a welcome shift from Veronica’s intensity. Somehow I can feel her presence here, even though she’s nowhere in sight.
While I relax in the reprieve, I also respect its brevity. In the course of today alone, the woman has earned equal parts of my appreciation, irritation, admiration, and ire. Veronica absolutely lives up to her force-of-nature reputation. But with Kara looking so much better than dessert, I’m more eager to defy the queen mother—at least for another hour or two.
It’s time to get my sweet little demon alone.
“Hmm,” Kara coos in response to my playful smirk. “Somebody’s concocting a plan.”
“Yes, but I want it to be a surprise.”
She answers with an adorable smirk. “You know how to keep a girl in suspense.”
Fifteen minutes later, as I tug at Kara with one hand while balancing the dessert boxes with the other, we walk to the back of the restaurant, through the kitchen, and past the copse of thick trees that protect the place’s back entrance. I’m thankful not to spot any more photographers, because under those trees, Reg has parked her vintage burgundy Mustang.
With perfect timing, Sarah climbs out from the passenger seat just as Kara and I emerge from inside. The dyed streak in Sarah’s hair this week matches the car’s color, and she’s also dolled up in matching eyeshadow and lipstick.
“All right then, lovers,” she calls out. “In you go now, before the rabble out front gets wise to us.”
As she motions to Kara with her sweeping arm, Reg rises gracefully from the driver’s side.
“Left it idling for you,” she tells me before lifting her chin toward Kara in a silent but stiff greeting.
She’s either still getting used to seeing a Valari at my side, or Reg actually knows the Valaris’ deepest secret. Hell, it’s a possibility. One I can’t quite wrap my mind or feelings around. The whirlwind of the last twenty-four hours hasn’t opened a second for me to find out, and nothing’s going to change about that right now. In this moment, I have to settle for more surface-level communication, such as circling around the car to give Reg a tight hug.
Once we’re doing that, I murmur, “Thanks for getting here so fast. I appreciate it. Honestly.”
She thumps affectionately at the backs of my shoulders. “You call, I answer. That’s how it’s always worked, remember?”
“Getting a chauffeured car in return isn’t a hardship either,” Sarah adds and pulls Reg away by cinching an arm around her waist. “Now I can get you sloshed and take advantage of you, love.”
“Yes, please.” Reg pecks her wife on the cheek.
During their exchange, Kara’s wide-eyed curiosity settles into a glittering smile. “We’re really sneaking out?”
“Only if you’re okay with it,” I say.
“If they are, I definitely am.” She turns giddily toward Reg and Sarah. “You both realize your date night is about to get hijacked, right? To the tune of about four dozen reporters and photographers?”
Sarah shrugs. “Just a handful more than the mob we’ve been dealing with at the store.”
“It’ll be fun,” Reg adds with the swagger that’s like home to me. “Messing with them is better than a trip to Disneyland.”
Kara gifts them with her musical laugh along with two fervent hugs before climbing into the passenger seat beside me.
“I’ll return this beast tomorrow.” I peek up at Reg, past the rolled-down window.
“Of course you will.”
Kara’s warm charm seems to have relaxed Reg’s stance, though I can’t tell if the change will take for good.
“Just take good care of her,” Reg says. “And I’m not just talking about the car.”
“Always,” I vow as Kara and I buckle up.
Just as I turn to take the car back down the hill and then out toward Mulholland, a surge of outcries hits the air. But by the time the reporters get to their cars, there’ll be nothing for them to track but dark back roads and empty pavement.
Another fifteen minutes later, as I veer off the road and stop the car at one of the city’s most perfect scenic pull-outs, it’s evident I wasn’t the only one with this brilliant thought tonight. Cars line the ledge, filled with couples either enjoying each other or the free philharmonic concert from the famous Bowl located in the ravine below.
Determined to find us privacy, I crank the wheel farther right and guide the car down a smaller side road. It leads to a wider spot where we’ll have the ledge to ourselves.
The moment I turn off the engine, live classical music flows in, creating a peaceful soundtrack to the night. I rest my head back, relieved and oddly satisfied. Maybe this is how my students feel after exams, about to embark on a summer of freedom.
My students…
I’ve only missed a day of work, but it already feels like a year. I admit to a sense of daunting worry, though it’s more about the administrative politics I’m likely returning to than functional makeup work.
“Hey. You okay?” Kara’s soft voice carries over the lush instrumental playing down below.
I look over, as in awe of her as ever. Here in this time and place, next to this breathtaking woman, my emotions are an impossibly huge universe. A starscape of such fire and light, every inch of my physical form is tiny in comparison.
“Never been better,” I say, a hundred percent sincere.
She lifts a smile to me before gazing out across the view, her eyes alive with wonder. I try to think of a proper comparison but can only think of those summers at the Observatory with Jesse, when we spent our snack money on the planetarium show instead. Feeling small had never felt so good.
“Maximus… This… It’s so incredible.”
“You like it?” I’m worried again, but this time for a better reason. Maybe she’s just being polite to salvage my ego.
“Like it?” she rebuts. “No. I love it. I mean that. I love it.” She presses her hand to the base of her throat. “I’ve never seen the city like this.”
“From up here?” I pause. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
She sends back a look matching the perplexity of mine. “And you’re surprised. Why?”
For a second, my mouth works on nothing but air. “I just thought that…” I rest an elbow on the wheel. “You grew up here, Kara, same as I did. And you’re completely irresistible. I’m having trouble believing any guy in his right mind didn’t at least try for an end-of-date detour up here with
you.”
Through every word of that, I stare straight out the front window. It’s been a long damn time since I was the most experienced person about this sort of subject. The recognition has me weirdly discomfited. But at least I’m not alone. A quick glance over reveals Kara’s newly furrowed frown.
“You sure you’re not confusing me with someone else, Professor? Like someone who’s been on normal dates instead of synchronized productions?”
“Are you confusing me with someone who’s going to believe that?”
“Demon’s truth.” She restacks the dessert boxes in her lap, then places a hand on top of one. “I solemnly swear, on both apple tarts.”
I chuckle. “All right, all right. I believed you before.”
“I know. But tarts make everything better.”
“No.” I lean over. Kara’s face lights up, her eyes bright with invitation, her mouth a lushly bitten rose of welcome. “You make everything better,” I rumble before lowering all the way in to fully claim her.
It’s so damn good.
So tender and soft and delicious.
So much of what I’ve craved the whole night.
The balm for my reeling mind. The completion for my careening soul. But now, best of all, the fire that feeds the force of my desire. As she lets my hungry tongue in all the way into her mouth, those surreal flames in my veins start to jump. Their heat ignites torches through my bloodstream like flares along a river. But I’m not afraid of those fires anymore.
Even with Kara so sultry-eyed and limp-limbed in my hold, the thought beats through my brain. I have to pull back to fully acknowledge it.
Kara’s eyelashes flutter. She wobbles her head as if I’ve snapped her out of a hypnotic trance. “What is it?”
I force myself back by another couple of inches. But it’s impossible not to keep touching her, at least a little. With one hand, I brush back stray strands of lush mahogany from her cheeks. I trace the bold angles of her expressive eyebrows. I spread my fingers along the proud angle of her jaw.
“You’re breathtaking. My perfect little demon.”
She lifts a dreamy smile, so I continue my exploration of her face. I don’t slide south of her chin, even though everything inside me wants to devour every inch of her. Her cinnamon scent fills my next breath. The scent is even better when mixed with the spicy apple delights resting in her lap.
I force myself back, leaving her craning her body toward me for more. I suppress a groan because all I want to give her is more. And I want to take too… I tamp down the ravenous beast in me when I remember this is possibly the first real date she’s ever been on, and I’m not about to be the guy who ruins that for her.
“Come on.” I take the two dessert boxes before getting out of the Mustang. I slide them onto the hood while sprinting to her side of the car. On the way, I shed my jacket and spread it onto the hood. Maybe the damn thing will serve a practical purpose after all.
She pouts as I help her out of the Mustang with both hands. Yet I don’t hear her complaining as she uses the hold to her advantage, leveraging my grip to mold her sweet little curves flush against my frame. Before I can utter a gentlemanly protest, she wraps her gorgeous legs around my waist.
Then her lips are crushed against me. Her tongue tangles with mine again. And damn, it’s nice. Really nice. I’m already wondering if the rest of her is so delicious when mixed with night wind and canyon sage and apple tart.
I groan, barely recognizing the dark and primal sound as me. The same inner caveman dictates my moves and has me cupping her ass to keep her from toppling back across the car’s hood. But maybe that wouldn’t be a horrible thing. She’d have broken apple dessert all over her, and then I’d have no choice but to try to clean it all off…
I moan again, deep and guttural, but this repetition has been force-fed to my lips. “You know that if this were the film reel of my fantasies, you’d be naked under me in this dirt, right?”
“Funny coincidence. The film room in my mind is playing the same feature.”
Kara gives back as good as she gets, and then some, with a laugh that blends perfectly into the next song that flows out from the iconic theater shell below. I don’t recognize the melody, which sounds more contemporary, but everything’s more perfect because of that. It’s so much like the woman sitting here beneath the stars with me. Soft but strong. Pure but passionate. Honest but layered.
So many incredible layers…
God help me, she’s worth so much more than what my fantasy reel has to offer at the moment. At any moment.
I stumble back a step, gaining a necessary gap from the primal surge of our connection. I might as well be walking with a sword through my groin, though.
“Kara…”
I stab both hands through my hair, struggling for the right words. We stay that way, in sobered silence, for an agonizing moment. I close my eyes, then open them again. She’s no less breathtaking, even in the outer frame of my vision. No less willpower-shattering perched on the hood of the car and looking like a wet dream.
I blow out a breath, determined to do this. To get the syllables out.
“I may be half god, but I’m still a man, and that means I can’t help the places my thoughts go when we’re this close. Call me crazy, but I want to do this right. You need to let me, okay? This is your real first date, after all.”
She looks thoughtful for a moment. Then tilts her head to the side. “If you insist.”
My willpower is so threadbare at this point, she could do nearly anything to change my mind. But I do my best to hold my ground. “Yeah, I do.”
She twists her lips into a coy smile. “Does that mean I have to keep my hands to myself, then?”
I laugh because it keeps me from doing other things, like kissing the tease—and the breath—right out of her. Or risking a bigger scene than the one in front of the restaurant if anyone were to notice our little hideaway here. That’s the most sobering thought of all. The reality is that cameras are damn near everywhere, whether I realize it or not.
I clear my throat and shove my hands into my jean pockets.
“How about we keep our hands and mouths occupied with those delicious tarts, and you tell me about your day?”
Instead of tempting my resolve further—for which I nearly thank her out loud—she turns and pops open the two containers.
“Actually, I was hoping to ask you about yours.” She breaks off a piece of the treat and brings it to her rosy lips. “What did Z have to say? Anything promising?”
I force myself to concentrate on her questions, not the way she broke them up by sucking the extra sugar off her fingertips. There’s nothing flirty about her actions or a shred of boredom about her inquiry. I can clearly sense her genuine hopefulness. She’s not alone in the nagging uncertainty about whether my father can really ensure her mortal safety.
I hop up beside her on the hood and welcome the distraction of digging into the dessert too. Savoring the apples and sugar affords a much-needed moment to think back over the day. I’ve hardly had a moment to process all of it. I’m certain we’ll have many more days like these, though. Fast and overwhelming. Not all bad. Not all good. But they’ll all be with her, so that’ll be okay.
“He told me a little about how he met my mother. It helped a little, I think…having some of those blank spaces finally filled in, you know?”
Her lips quirk. Her gaze is soft. “I hope it was a little romantic.”
I return her smile. “Actually, it was a lot romantic. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t still holding a torch for her, to be honest.”
Her lips drop into a perfect O. She blinks up at me. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Do you think he really wants to see her?”
“I get the strong feeling that he does. As weirdly intriguing as that is, I’m not sure he needs the distraction. Today, he got the father-and-son time I promised him. Maybe he’ll want more, but I don’t know. I sure cou
ld use some more answers, but not before he sorts things out with his brothers.”
As she nods, her brows draw together pensively. I yearn to kiss away those troubled furrows but know my words will be more helpful right now.
“He said he’d be back in a few days. We’ll know more soon,” I add, hoping to offer her more reassurance.
I feel a billion feet tall as soon as her smile returns. She comes in a little closer, pressing her cheek to my bicep. “What else did you talk about? I want to hear everything.”
“Well, if what he says is true, there’s a pretty good reason why I can’t remember much of my childhood.” I swallow down some more tart, working up the courage to even say the next words. To believe them. “According to Z, I spent the first eight years of my life in Olympus. He thinks something happened to my memories after my mother and I left.”
She yanks back, eyes wide. “Something like what?”
“Something like…they were somehow tampered with.”
“Wow. Really?”
I shrug. I’m still having a hard time owning any of it.
“That’s… That’s fascinating,” she goes on, the awe in every syllable giving away her intense curiosity.
I wish I could share in it more. All of this feels like a strange dream that I can’t reconcile with reality. A harsh, confusing reality I’ve lived for so long. I keep thinking that at any moment, a popular reality star will pop out of the bushes with a camera crew and announce that the joke’s on me.
“Anyway…” I turn my attention to the horizon of glowing lights. “Fill me in, little demon. What else does Veronica have on our agenda this week?”
Suddenly Kara looks as wary about the future as I do about my past. “A few things.”
“I’m afraid to ask.” Truly, I am.
She sighs. “First, she wants us to hit up the farmer’s market near your place Wednesday.”
“That’s easy enough. Maybe we could stay at my place for a little while. Jesse said the camera crews have thinned out considerably.”
Heart of Fire Page 6