Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (51 page)

Her
lips thinned. Behind her, Indy said with stubborn impatience, “Kenzie, stop
flirting with that bastard. We need to talk about this
now
.”

Kenzie
whirled on him. “No. Not
now
. Not with a stranger! Now Indy,
please
just go back to the bar so I can take his order.”

“I’ll
throw him out first.”

“I’d
rather have his money!”

Indy
narrowed his eyes on her, then switched his glare to Joshua. After a long
moment, he stalked back to the bar. When Kenzie turned to Joshua again, he
observed mildly, “If this is how you treat your customers, I’m surprised this
place makes any money at all.”

There
was the faintest flicker of gold in her gaze, but that was all he saw to reveal
her annoyance.

“Have
you decided on your order yet?” she asked with forced pleasantry.

“I’d
rather have answers.”

“We
don’t serve answers. We serve
pizza
. You can order, or I can let my
brother kick you out.”

“Then
I’ll take that damned house special of yours.” Joshua watched her scribble on
her notepad. “With chicken. And barbeque. Who the fuck is Jeremiah?”

“Chicken?
Normal people don’t
want
chicken on their pizza.” Disbelief in her tone.
“They want extra cheese. Or meat. Like
normal
meat. And, Mister Nosy,
Jeremiah is my brother.”

“Thought
the bartender was.”

“Not
that it’s any of your business, but I happen to have more than one brother.”

Good.
Got that question out of the way.
Joshua relaxed. “Chicken’s
about as normal as meat can get,” he said. “How about this: if you answer my
questions about the Boston Gens, I’ll save you the trouble of bothering with a
pizza. I saw a fast food joint around the corner. They can put a bucket of
chicken together in under a minute. Probably cheaper, too. Will that work for
you, kitten?”

Her
lips went flat, her eyes hard; Joshua resisted the urge to laugh.

“I
don’t trust you,” Kenzie told him angrily, marking his order on the pad with a
fierce hand, “and I’m not going to tell an outsider anything.” She turned to
leave. Joshua curled his hand into a fist to keep from reaching out, cupping a
hand over that firm, round ass.

Like he
said, if he was going to live forever, he wanted
all
his limbs attached.

Though
she would be worth the risk.

He
grinned.

Outside
in the rainy night, there came the revving of an engine, the sound of a vehicle
going far too fast. Joshua cocked his head, listening to that approaching sound
– an odd feeling settled into his gut as he turned toward the large front
windows, squinting out into the rain-slick night...

Through
the glass there was a flash of headlights, the squeal of tires, the sound of a
car stopping to idle. Then the shooting started.

The
first thing to go was the large plate-glass window over Joshua’s head. As glass
rained down, bullets riddled through the walls of the restaurant with the
staccato of illegal machine guns, and Joshua whipped around in time to catch
the pretty waitress’s pale, frozen expression.

“Damn
it woman, take cover!” He tackled her and took them both to the ground.

Fire
scored along his ribs beneath his leather coat, and Joshua snarled, knowing
that if Kenzie had been standing a moment longer, she would have been shot.
Bullets continued to spit into the back wall, spraying through the glass and
wood, throwing large splinters into the air. Joshua tucked his face down over
hers and inhaled the warm scent of her lithe body. Her heart raced, terrified,
and he found himself stroking her arm, murmuring reassurances into her little
ear.

His
mind wasn’t really on what he was saying.

He had
been right the first time: she smelled like apples and whiskey. She smelled
delicious, delectable…
right
. And hell, maybe bullets were flying over
their heads, but his body was busy reacting to the softness beneath him.

Gunfire
wasn’t usually so effective.

Hell,
for the past 400 years,
nothing
had been so effective. For him, sex was
about the physical release. It was rare when he
truly
desired, and when
he did…

Joshua
dipped his nose to the soft crook of Kenzie’s neck and pulled her scent deep
into his lungs. He analyzed his reaction: his body relaxed, his cock tightened
further. Unfamiliar
need
pushed at him. He didn’t even know this woman,
but he felt –
odd
inside – like his heart was ready to bleed
out of his chest and onto the floor to puddle at her feet. That could have been
the bullet wound talking, but…hell.
Either she’s packing a major ability and
hit me with it or she’s something else.

“You
just use your ability on me, kitten?” he rasped. “Truth this time.”

“What?
No…” she sounded dazed, weak, no lie in her voice.

So she
was something else.
His
something else.

Never
thought I’d see the day.

Joshua
laughed softly, hugging her close. Her body reacted beneath his; he smelled the
faintest hint of surprised arousal as he pressed a kiss to the back of her
head, smoothing down a wave of rich black hair.

This
had to be
Her
.

His
her.

Conviction
was sharper than knives.

The
gunfire stopped.

Silence
echoed in the tiny restaurant. Kenzie’s body tensed beneath his and Joshua
enjoyed the sensation, his gloved hand covering her head protectively. They
both lay there, panting in the darkness as they listened to the tires
screeching off into the night. Then his little waitress went utterly limp
beneath him, the strain finally leaving her body as she collapsed against the
floor. She heaved a long sight and rubbed her cheek fondly against the dirty
wood grain as if simply glad to be alive.

Joshua
thought he could do the same, though it wasn’t the floor he would be rubbing
his cheek against. He levered himself up on his forearms and gazed down at her.
He needed to see her. Study her –
know
her.

My
amati
.

It hit
him like a punch to the gut.

She was
beautiful. She had skin the color of rich, creamed coffee – he smiled,
seeing the faintest shadowing of freckles across the bridge of that pert little
nose. Her ponytail had spread out across the floor, and Joshua ran his good
hand over it, luxuriating in the heavy, silken texture. Her voice was honey,
her smile kind. And, he glanced back up at the intact table, she was a hell of
a cook.

Maybe
there was a god.

“You
could have been shot,” he told her roughly, struggling with that knowledge.
“The one thing I’ve been looking for, forever, and you could have been shot.
Killed. That’s something I can never risk.”

“If
you’re talking about me, I wasn’t,” Kenzie whispered, still limp and stroking
the floor like a lover. “I’m fine. And you’re saying crazy things.”

“I’m
not.”

“Mmm.
Crazy isn’t good at judging itself.”

He
snorted. Like hell he was going to risk letting her get away from him. Khael
had made that mistake with his amati, and Brand had almost repeated it with
Eva; Joshua wasn’t into rehashing anybody’s pasts, not even his own.

He eyed
the creamy column of her neck, and smoothed a thumb over the soft skin there.
His waitress’s eyes flashed open, a startled whiskey color, irises thin gold
bands around her dilated pupils. “What are you…but no. Thank you for—”

“Saving
you? Any time, darling,” Joshua murmured, not giving her a chance to finish.
Then he leaned down and sank his teeth into the back of her delicate little
neck…