Celestial Beginnings (Nephilim Series) (15 page)

Gemariah eyed him longer than Malachi was comfortable with.
As if making a decision, he finally spoke up when he stood to leave. “Alright then, just making sure.”

Yep, that meeting went as well as expected, he thought.
Now he was parked and staring at the front doors to the restaurant hoping this next one went better.

When Malachi finally entered, he looked all around but couldn’t find her.
Glancing at his watch, he noted that it was a little more than a quarter after and not yet time for them to meet. He couldn’t help but to glance around in wonder. The place was no more than a hole in the wall. Of course, some of the best food he had eaten was from places like this, but he had never met a woman that preferred this over fine dining.

He had also forgotten how crowded the good ones got on occasion, which was the case now.
He did not do crowds well. Dammit! Why did he let her choose? If he had chosen, he would have been prepared, knowing what to expect.

Nephilims protected the human race, but did not mingle well with large masses of them.
They were taught from day one to keep a low profile, thus be killed. No one liked what they didn’t understand. In crowds, they usually stuck out because of their size, the males did anyway.

He inconspicuously made it to a table and started reading over the menu, but still felt closed in.
Pulling at the neck of his shirt, he cleared his throat. The deep noise caused many people to look over at him which made him even more uncomfortable. Checking his watch again, he realized it was thirty two after. She was late. Maybe she wasn’t going to show?

Just as the thought entered his head, there was a commotion close to the door.
A group of people had entered behind him and were waiting for a table to open up, but there was something else going on. Finally, he realized that there was a person maneuvering, not so graciously, through the crowd.

He immediately went on alert, expecting an attack to take place.
His enemies had no qualms about charging him in a heavily populated area. Every muscle in his body tightened. That was until he heard a familiar voice.

“Excuse me”… “Pardon me”… “So sorry, I hope that wasn’t expensive”… “Excuse me”… “Can I get past you?”

Malachi was already smirking as the female broke through the crowd. When she saw him, she smiled and started walking over. He had little time before she made it over to him, but he spent the time admiring her. She was just as beautiful as the first time he saw her. Malachi shook the sentimental thought out of his head and reminded himself that this was strictly business.

Out of breath, she finally reached their table and sat down.
“I’m not late.”

This of course made him smile.
He cocked an eyebrow and looked at his watch.

“Hmm, my watch says its 5:33.”

She then grabbed his wrist and brought his watch over for her to look at. “Oh, I’m so sorry. It looks like a nice watch. It’s too bad it’s broken.”

When she smiled back up at him, he couldn’t help but laugh.
His nervousness and anxiety about being in the midst of so many people vanished. It was just the two of them at the moment, in their own little world.

“Did you see something that looked good?”

He almost embarrassed himself by looking at her up and down, until he realized she was talking about the menu.
“I don’t know. What’s good here?”

“Everything.”
She grinned at him. “This is my favorite place to eat when I get into the city. I’ve been coming here for years.”

Malachi thought to file that away for later.
“Ok, what are
you
having?”

“It’s definitely a cheeseburger day.
Plus, the loaded baked potato, of course.”

“Of course.” He repeated in a sarcastic tone.

She tried to look scolding, but failed miserably. “Are you mocking me?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

They were both smiling, enjoying the easy banter.
He watched as she looked down at her menu, and marveled at the slightly pink cheeks she had.

“What are you having?”
Her question brought his attention back to his menu.

After a quick glance, he shut it and looked back up to her.
“I’ll have the same.”

“That won’t fill you up.”
He looked at her quizzically and she stumbled over her words again.  “Well, it’s not that much food. That’s all I meant. I don’t know how much you can eat or can’t for that matter. You just look like you need more than that.” She held up a hand as if to stop him and looked utterly shocked. “Not that you’re fat; far from it.” She eventually stopped talking and put a hand over her eyes. “Oh brother!”

Malachi couldn’t help but laugh at her rambling, which he now knew to be a nervous habit.
“It’s alright, and I was planning to make it a double anyway.” He closely examined every detail of her face and spoke to her softly. “You are so cute when you do that.”

“Do what?”
She reached over and took a sip of her water.

“When you go on and on like that.
Your cheeks turn an exquisite pink that transforms your whole face when you get nervous.” At his words, it started happening again, and he couldn’t help but smile. “Like now.”

She let out a small chuckle and took another sip of her water.

He noticed a small amount of discomfort in her and immediately felt contrite.
“Sorry if I embarrassed you. My co-worker, Terah, says I have what’s called “Foot in Mouth Syndrome”.” The laugh she treated him too was more relaxed and open this time. “So, how did you find this place?” She looked grateful for his change in topic.

“I was brought here as a kid.
This place has been around forever. The atmosphere is so great, and the smell is even better.”

“The smell?”
Malachi inhaled and didn’t find anything too special. It just smelled like grease to him.

“Oh yeah!
Don’t you smell it?” She shut her eyes and inhaled deeply, only to open them with a wide grin on her face. He must have shown his disbelief, because she quickly sat up straighter in her chair. “Shut your eyes.”

When he didn’t immediately comply, she reached over and rested her hand on his arm.
“Come on, don’t you trust me?”

Sighing heavily, he shut his eyes.
Everything immediately became heightened; sounds, smells, even the reaction his body had to her touch. Being a nephilim, his senses were already way above human levels, but this had taken them up a notch.

He could hear all the people around him, picking up pieces of different conversations.
It was almost deafening and very distracting, until one voice cut through them all…hers. “Now breathe in deeply through your nose and smell all the different scents you can.”

He did as she said and was bombarded with all of them.

“Now single out all the smells that smell really good to you. What do you smell?”

What did he smell?
“Hmm…your perfume smells nice.”

“I’m not wearing any.”

“Maybe it’s just your natural scent that smells good to me then.” He kept his eyes shut so he couldn’t see her, but the small caress of her thumb on his arm told him that she liked that comment.

“What else do you smell?
Think…food.”

“Okay…”
He dragged out the word as he thought about it. “Mmm, coffee.”

She let out a small giggle to that.
“Jeeze, you’re as bad as Nicci. What else?”

When he tried again, the initial grease smell transformed into different scents.
“Burgers, hot dogs, onions, and… Is that chili?”

“Some of the best.”
Feeling a slight tap on his arm, he opened his eyes.

They momentarily paused to give their order to a man that looked as though he might cook as well.
The interruption reminded him of his original thinking of why here and not someplace nicer. He soon asked her that exact question.

Trinity shrugged and thought for a second.
“I feel comfortable here; a lot of good memories have happened here.” She looked as though she was remembering something before quickly snapping her attention back to him. “It doesn’t hurt that the food is wonderful either. Greasier than hell and horrible for a person, but good none the less. I probably shouldn’t eat here as much as I do; then I might be able to lose those extra couple pounds.” She laughed at what she considered a joke, but Malachi was baffled.

“Why would you ever want to change the way you look.
Every inch of your body is exquisite. It fit my hands perfectly.” The husky remark came out of his mouth before he could stop it.

“Have you seen the size of your hands?”
Her comment brought forth an instant laugh from him. Witty too, he thought. The remarkable color was back on her cheeks again, but at least she was smiling at him this time.

She quickly sobered and looked back up to him.
“Listen, this time is as good as any for this conversation… The woman you were with, in your dreams…well, she wasn’t me.”

He didn’t know what to make of that.
She must have seen the confusion in his look, because she went on. “Well yes, it was me, but in the real world, I never act like that. That woman had no care in the world, and at times, I feel like I carry the world on my shoulders. I can’t afford to just let go like she did.”

He opened his mouth to tell her it was okay, but she went on before he could.

“Basically, what I’m trying to say is that here, in the real world, I would like to take it slow. There was nothing slow about us before, but now, I would like to be.”

Malachi leaned forward to cup the back of her neck with his hand and place his thumb over her lips, successfully stopping her rambling.
“Trinity…it’s okay. I understand.”

He could visibly see the tension leave her body.
She was so beautiful, and he couldn’t help but caress her lips with the thumb that was still there. He remembered what they felt like kissing him and wondered if they would feel the same now.

“You sure?”
She sounded breathless, and he wondered if she was thinking the same thing. A small kiss wouldn’t hurt would it? His grip tightened on her neck and he slowly started pulling her toward him.

“Here ya go.”
The sound of plates hitting the table made them jump apart. They both gave each other one last glance before digging in to their food.

After a few minutes of eating in silence except for the small appreciative sounds after taking a good bite, Trinity started up another conversation.
“You mentioned the name Terah earlier… Is she the same one that found the two girls and me in the river?”

The question took him by surprise.
He didn’t know Terah had given her name. Swallowing the bite in his mouth, Malachi answered. “Yeah. She’s the one.”

“She’s very nice; was great with the girls.
You said co-worker? What line of business are you in?”

Dammit!

“We work for a protection agency.”
He was trying to work his way around the truth. He didn’t want to lie to her, but it wasn’t just himself that he had to think of.

“A protection agency?
What were you doing at the river then?”

Man, she’s perceptive, he thought.
“We were by the bridge when it went down and decided to help.” He needed to change the subject, needed to find out more of her history instead of divulging his life. “Besides your friend, there was an older woman that visited you. Is that your mother?”

She smiled when she answered him, but there was sadness in her voice.
“That would have been Renée, she was my foster mom. My mother died when I was young.”

“Do you not have any other family?”
He was hoping she said yes, that would make his search so much easier.

“No” She looked down at her food.
“Could we please discuss something else? I don’t want to get into that tonight.”

He pasted a smile on his face for her benefit.
“That’s fine.” So talking about family is a sore subject for her, he would just have to get the information another way.

Malachi needed to get her back in her light mood.
He didn’t understand it, but seeing her as anything but happy bothered him. Inwardly smiling, he had an idea. “So what’s your favorite late night television show?”

Her head popped back up to look at him.
Confusion entered her look right before she gave him a smile that could light the room. Obviously she was remembering their night of rapid fire questions from before.

She gave her answer, as did he.
Then it was her turn to ask. They did this back and forth for the remainder of the time it took them to eat.

******

The night went on for much longer than Trinity anticipated. They were in the restaurant for a couple hours until they were informed their table was needed. Once outside, they walked for another hour. They had asked each other so many questions, she was sure he knew every like and dislike of hers.