sanguineangels (8 page)

His palm cradled her chin, drawing her to her feet. The long braid of her hair swept along her back, and the urge to dig his fingers through it, to feel its weight in his hands, was staggering. She was a temptation of unbelievable proportions.

“Holy hell!”

“That would be Justin,” Titania mused, a wry lift to her lips, her chin tilting toward the door. “I won’t be long.”

“I will be with you even if you do not see me,
cara
.”

“I know.” Acceptance blazed in her blue diamond depths.

He released her before he dragged her into his arms. He watched the sway of her hips as she sauntered to the door, greeting the stunned faces of her two band members. She gaped for a brief moment at the door, hiding her reaction with a waved hand in dismissal. “I’ll explain it one time, when I tell Houston,” she told them briskly, warning neither to prod.

“Wow, it’s got to be a story.”

He saw her flick a single worried glance into the room, knowing she saw nothing. She slipped her bottom lip in between her teeth, rolling it. He could feel her fear resurfacing, not from his growing hungers for her touch, but from the evidence of how determined Brakka could be. The door was charred and shredded. It had been solid oak, prided by the hotel. They had been done individually for the suites.

“Do not worry. He is gone, and I am with you.”

Her mouth popped open, but she caught herself in time. She spoke to David. “Come on. This is going to really upset Houston.”

“Who’d you piss off?” Justin asked, taking up one side while David walked on the other. Her mouth clamped shut. When she said she was not going to talk, she meant it. Diego trailed them silently. He realized all the members of her group must know of Titania’s gifts and protected her accordingly. It did not appease his worries in the least. Any number of them would not stop Brakka.

They went down the hall to another door, and Houston opened at their knock. He stood staring at her for several seconds before letting the group in.

“Your bruises!” Laney cried, her tone incredulous.

Titania rolled a shoulder. “I’m fine.”

Houston stiffened. “Leather,” he said, a snarled warning, his gaze hunting around the room.

“What are you cursing about now?” Laney asked, taking a chair while the guys sat on the bed and Titania took the second chair in the suite.

“Nothing.” But his expression remained wary. “What happened now?”

Titania didn’t evade. “I have another problem. The fight I broke up the other night, the loser wants to kill me.”

Houston exploded, just as Diego had expected he would. He spun, his gaze furious, finding Titania and nailing her down to the chair. “What did you say?”

She crossed her arms and glared at him. “Don’t. I had to stop it. If you yell at me now, I will walk out and not talk to you for a week.”

“You sure have become a beacon for trouble,” David teased. Justin poked him in the ribs with an elbow. “Well, it’s true. You gotta see the door. Man, Houston, it looks like someone tried to peel it.”

“He was at your room!” Houston thundered. Titania shot David a quelling look for his offered opinion of the condition of her room door. Houston barged out into the hall, marching to her room. Diego caught it when Titania rolled her eyes in exasperation at his anger. David held up his hands when Titania shoved him out of her way.

“You better stay here, David,” Laney advised with a knowing stare at the pair when he rose for the door. Diego noticed Justin watching them leave, not attempting to follow. “You know you don’t want to be between them when they start.”

David grudgingly sank back to the bed, and Diego followed after a trotting Titania.

“Hell,” Houston breathed. Diego winced, seeing the charred and raked door up close. “They better not try to make us pay for this,” he muttered. Diego slid past them under the door, entering the room first when Houston waved for her to go in.

Titania opened the door with her pass key, Houston only a pace behind her. Houston planted his palm on her stomach, slamming her back to the wall behind him, a startled squawk gasping out of her at the impact. Houston’s lips lifted in a silent snarl. “Someone’s been in here.” His gaze raked the room for the intruder.

Diego reacted, protective rage obscuring reason. In less than a second, he was visible, lethal. He launched at Houston, pinning him to the wall, his arm shoved against Houston’s throat. “Touch her like that again, and I will not just stop you,” Diego threatened, his voice low, vibrating with suppressed fury. “I will kill you.”

Houston snarled angrily even as Diego jammed his arm harder against his captive’s windpipe. Brown eyes narrowed heatedly while Houston’s fingers dug unnoticed into the arm that pinned him.

Titania watched in horror, her knuckles shoved between her teeth to stop the scream fighting to get free. Her heart pounded, her throat burned in fearful surprise, but it all quickly changed to anger when Diego continued to hold Houston immobile to the wall.

“Diego! Stop it. Let him go.” She was shocked to find her voice steady.

Diego released Houston though it wasn’t done with any sense of expediency, sending one last warning glare as he did so. Houston ran a hand over his throat, swallowing once.

“Who the hell is he?” Houston snapped. “And how the hell did he get into your room?”

“I flew,” Diego replied in a flippant tone.

Houston’s eyes narrowed. “I bet you did.”

“Would you two quit it!” Titania glowered at the both of them. “Houston, I told you, he saved me from Thomas.”

“I’m hiring you that damn bodyguard. This is freakin’ ridiculous,” Houston said. Titania saw when Houston spotted Diego’s long jacket. “Leather. You!” Diego stood motionless at the accusation. Houston tensed, fists forming, and Titania threw herself between them.

“Stop it! Right now.” She saw Houston’s gaze grow heated, only able to guess at what was circling through Diego’s head.

“You know perfectly well. I will not let anyone harm you. Friend or foe.”

“Well, just quit it,”
she snapped back with force, unaware she had done so. “Diego, you know Houston wouldn’t hurt me.” She shoved at him, though his solid frame didn’t move. He looked relaxed. As relaxed as a cougar with a sore paw.

When neither man relented, she purposely put a hand on each chest. “If you two don’t quit this posturing, so help me…”

“
Cara
, I do not posture,” Diego said in a purr. He lifted a hand to cover hers on his chest, and she felt a wave of comfort surround her. Titania felt a simultaneous vibration of disapproval under the fingers pressed into Houston’s chest.

“What’s going on in here?” Laney asked, rounding the corner. “I could hear you down the hall.” Houston took two immediate steps back and braced an arm around Laney, pinning her to his side, shielding her. His eyes never left Diego’s.

To Titania, it looked like battle lines had been drawn.

“How did he get in here just now? The room was empty,” Houston asked, a sharp demand in the words.

She sought Diego’s gaze, and he nodded once. She turned to say, “He’s gifted. Like us.”

“Not like us,” Houston told her coldly. “You’ve really done it this time, Tani.” She saw some of the heat leave Houston’s expression when he shook his blond head. “Christ, Tani,” he growled, shoving his free hand through his hair.

“Well, you think I need a bodyguard. He did help me once already,” she said, tossing out something to uphold her end of the argument. Houston’s fierce refusal was apparent in the tight hold of his shoulders, the grim slash of his mouth.

“Him? Are you kidding?” Houston stared at her, then narrowed his eyes back at Diego.

“I am capable,” he drawled in answer to Houston’s dark looks. “And no one would ever touch her again.” It was a promise, a threat of retribution should Houston ever dare to hurt her either. No one else would get the chance.

Houston chose to ignore the other man. “Tani, come on. You don’t know this guy, anything about him. Let me get you a professional.”

“Don’t bother,” she replied, ignoring his cajoling tone. “You want me to have a guard dog. I found one. Don’t get all pissy because you don’t like him.” She crossed her arms, lifting her chin in defiance. It didn’t help that she had to look so far up to cross glares.

Houston raked a hand down his face. “Fine,” he relented after several tense seconds. “But the first time he screws up, he’s gone.”

Houston focused behind her, a deadly challenge in his brown eyes, and Titania just barely caught a toothy snarl from Diego.
Great,
she thought. Too much testosterone was not a good thing. Real soon, she was going to have to find out how two men could take such an instant dislike to each other.

Two nights later, Titania was ready to pull her hair out. Houston and Diego circled each other like junkyard dogs. Houston kept a football field between Diego and Laney, and whenever she tried to talk to Diego, Houston yanked her away on some emergency. And since Houston was suspicious, so were David and Justin. If anything, David had grown even more protective. In short, she was ready to scream in frustration.

Tani stared at the passing highway stripes through the tinted bus window, thankful to be alone for the moment. The dark night hours were soothing, calming her. She pulled up her legs, wrapping her arms around them. Laney had convinced Houston to take a private drive with just the two of them in Houston’s Ferrari. David and Justin were up front, driving the bus to their next show, which was just fine with her, since everyone was behaving as if she’d lost her mind.

So what if Diego was different? He didn’t have to be with her every single second. She understood that. What could happen to her in a moving bus, anyway? She rolled her eyes in blatant disrespect, remembering Houston’s warnings before Laney managed to drag him away.

Houston didn’t trust Diego at all, especially since he wouldn’t be traveling with them every single minute. But he would be with her when she needed him. Wasn’t that the most important thing?

How could she describe Diego’s abilities? She wasn’t sure it was even possible. His abilities were unfathomable. He had to be the most gifted person she’d ever run across, his strength unbelievable. He was even a little frightening at times. So what if he could just appear? She mentally shrugged. Houston probably just hadn’t seen him at first and couldn’t stomach admitting to it. She knew he hadn’t left the room, but even she hadn’t seen him when she’d checked before leaving with David and Justin. It really didn’t matter. Houston didn’t trust him. Somehow, the fact that he had saved her life didn’t hold any water now either.

That really irritated Titania. Ungrateful jerks, she silently cursed.
If I had been in the hospital for a week, then everything would have been fine
. She watched the winking stars in the sea of the night sky.
I appreciate it
.

“I am very glad to know you do.”

“Diego,” she whispered, and her eyes popped open with his sudden vocal reappearance. Her heart leaped at his return. She hadn’t realized until she heard him again that she had missed his unusual contacts. She searched the inner sanctum of the bus, but she was still alone. “Where are you?”

“In San Francisco.”

“Already?” She sat up, stunned.

“I had to ensure your arrival would be secure.”

She couldn’t miss the hesitation in his answer. “What is it?”

“Something does not feel right. It is not Brakka. But something… I will search more. Do not worry over it.”

“I never worry,” she retorted with a defiant tilt of her chin.

“I did not mean to imply that you would, cara.”
His voice warmed her, slid over nerves like hot honey. Her breathing grew ragged. How could he do that to her? And he wasn’t even there!

“I could be,”
he replied, his smooth voice shimmering into her thoughts.

“No. No, that’s okay.” His haunting, masculine laughter reached her, reverberated between her ears. Her entire body hummed. Her forehead fell to her lifted knees. “Go away, Diego.”

“As you wish.”
When he was gone, it left her feeling completely isolated. Bereft.

What was happening to her? How could this man be affecting her so deeply when no one ever had before? It was a good thing he hadn’t kissed her again either. She lost all her senses when he did that. It felt like her entire body was on fire. She shook herself. Hard. “Don’t think about it,” she admonished herself.

It wasn’t fair he had lips like that. It just wasn’t. They had to be a package deal with those eyes. She melted whenever she looked at them, and his gaze could see right through her. She knew he could. Piercing, bright. Bold. Just like the man.

She sighed. Then her eyes shot wide. Just how strong were his abilities? How strong was he, period? He could talk to her so effortlessly, and she had witnessed his physical strength, lifting Houston like a bag of cotton balls. Houston stood six-foot four if he was an inch. Diego was as tall with a muscular, defined strength. He exuded power without being huge. It was subtle. He brought to mind the strength of the Roman and Greek sculptures. His shoulders were the most remarkable thing about him, commanding and broad.

She rubbed her chin on a raised knee. Was she being too lax? Was she taking his help for granted? Did Diego have a motive, a plan? Was Houston right to be distrustful? He’d never acted like this before. Houston liked everyone.

Tani tried to remember how it had felt when he had treated her. Everything about that night was fuzzy, the attack and what had followed just a gray memory. Had he done that? Had he manipulated her thoughts somehow? Could he do that? She swallowed, once, slowly, as she strained to try to remember. It frightened her to realize no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember the details. How many times had he been in the same room with her after all, then? She leaned back, pushing herself further into the cushions of the bench, her arms tightening.

“I am stronger than you will ever know. Quit trying to scare yourself. You are getting upset over nothing. You will never be in danger from me.”

“How do you know what I am thinking about?”
she asked before she could restrain the impulse to know, feeling out the pathway and following it outward.

“I have discovered that when it comes to you, it is best to be prepared,”
he teased.
“
You are becoming very adept. I am impressed.”
There was a hint of pride in his response.

She gasped, burrowing tighter still into the corner of the bench.
“
I’m not speaking! How am I doing this? How am I talking like this?”

The warmth of fingers curled around her throat in delicious torment, making her blood pump through her body with a molten ache.
“
Something I have been considering for several days as well. I must be rubbing off on you,”
he joked warmly, beneath his calm reassurance.
“
You were not even aware the first time it happened. You took me by surprise, and as always, stole the air from my soul.”

Her hand lifted, covering the sensation, unconsciously holding it closer.
“
How can I feel you?”
she whispered cautiously in her mind. There was little doubt it was him.

“That, cara, is all me.”
She had the sense of a male grin, pleased with himself.

“Stop patting yourself on the back.”
 
“Men,” she groaned. Her hand dropped.

“No, honey. Only one man.”

That was when she began to believe she was in deeper than she had ever imagined.

When the bus arrived at the hotel, Diego waited for her, standing tall and forbidding in the drive. With his black leather trench coat, Titania thought he looked like he could be the mob all by himself. There was something very lethal about him. People walking around the hotel skirted him, giving a wide berth. None of it mattered. His complete attention remained focused on the bus and the three occupants.

“Where are Houston and Laney?” Tani asked, hopping down to his side from the last step. David and Justin paired up behind her and Diego.