Silvia Day (13 page)

“Well…” She cleared her throat nervously and caught up her purse. “I’ve got to get to work. Chad, did you need something?”

His gaze narrowed on her face. “I was in the neighbor
hood and wanted to see if you’re free for lunch.”

She nodded violently. “Yes. One o’clock, okay? I’ll need to catch up before I can leave.”

“Yeah.” Chad looked at Aidan again. “I’ll see you at one.” Then he dipped his knees and kissed her. Full on the mouth. With a soft swipe of his tongue across her lips for good measure.

Lyssa couldn’t look at Aidan as Chad walked back to his Jeep. Like a coward, she slammed her door shut, hit the alarm, and nearly ran to where Stacey waited with wide eyes.

“Holy shit!” Stacey hissed, as she passed her. “You are so fucked.”

“Noticed that, did ya?”

Unable to help it, Lyssa looked over her shoulder and saw Aidan coming after her, his long-legged stride even and rhythmic, almost a stalk.
Hunter after prey
. When she saw the flaring nostrils and smoldering eyes, she knew if she waited for him to get to her, she was going to be in big trouble.

“Which room is Mrs. Yamamoto in?” she asked quickly.

“Exam Two.” Stacey whistled, her gaze riveted and filled with a wholly feminine appreciation that made Lyssa’s teeth grind. “Would you look at the abs on that guy? Talk about sin on a stick. He’s delish.”

“Damn it. Get a lab coat for him. And bring me one, too.”

She went straight to Exam Two, purse and keys in hand, and got to work. Sometimes avoidance had its usefulness.

It took until a quarter to one to get caught up on her patients. The first few times she’d been forced to run past
her office, Aidan had been waiting with wide-legged stance, crossed arms, and intimidating scowl. She had tried to look cool and collected, but she couldn’t forget that he was commando under those sweats. It did strange things to her nervous system just to think of it. Later he’d been seated at her desk, studiously poring over his books. And now that she needed to clean up for lunch with Chad, the door was closed.

All morning long she’d debated what to do about her predicament and had finally come to have some confidence in her decision. Regardless of what happened with Aidan, Chad wasn’t the guy for her. She’d always known it. She just hadn’t wanted to admit it. Breaking it off was the obvious answer, but guilt weighed on her heavily. In a perfect world, she would have ended things with Chad before hooking up with Aidan. But life wasn’t perfect, and she’d have to make amends as best she could. She hoped, in the end, they could remain friends.

But she hadn’t yet decided what to do with Aidan. All she knew was that every time she had caught sight of him today, her pulse rate picked up. Even with that grumpy, scowling face of his, he still drove her nuts in the best possible way.

So she would take care of Chad, wrap up the workday, and then listen to whatever Aidan had to say. She hoped like hell it would fill in the gaps of her memory and remove all the doubts she had.

Resolved, Lyssa caught the handle of her office door, and velocity took her to the center of the room before she realized it was empty.

Oh god, had he left
?

Her heart racing, she turned to yell for Stacey……and found Aidan leaning casually against the closed door. The lab coat was hung on the rack beside him, leaving him once again bare from the waist up. Her gaze lifted to meet his, and she found a gleam in his eyes that told her he knew what the sight of his bare chest would do to her.

“Jesus!” she cried, her hand lifting to her chest. “You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing hiding behind the door?”

“I wasn’t hiding,” he said dryly. “I was about to hunt you down when you barged in. I barely got out of the way in time.”

“Oh.” She moved the short distance to her antique reproduction desk and leaned her butt against it. “Chad’s going to be here in a few minutes.”

“I know.” He crossed the room with a sultry stride that made her mouth water. It wasn’t blatant, like a swagger. It was simply predatory and sexually charged. Setting his hands on either side of her hips, Aidan caged her to the desk and nuzzled his lips against her neck. “I’m going to miss you.”

Beneath her palms she felt warm, silken skin stretched over hard, flexing muscle, and she melted inside. She groaned inwardly when his teeth nipped her earlobe.

“Tell me I have no reason to feel jealous,” he ordered gruffly.

Leaning back, Lyssa met his gaze. It was impassive except for the muscle in his jaw that ticced. “There’s no reason,” she assured him softly, appreciating him more for his
honesty about his feelings.

He caught her close so that his big, hard body was literally wrapped around hers, his large hands holding her so sweetly. She knew how strong he was, yet he held her with such tenderness.

“Aidan,” she whispered, her nostrils filling with his scent. There was no other scent in the world like his. It was spicy and exotic. Foreign. She loved it, craved it. “I won’t be gone long.”

“A minute is too long.” His voice was dark as sin, his accent thick and delicious, a vocal caress.

Then Aidan kissed her with tightly restrained passion, his tongue gliding along hers expertly, reminding her of how good it was with him. The best. A rough, edgy growl rumbled in his chest as she melted into him. Just from a kiss.

She hugged him back with all the strength she had in her. There was so much she wanted to say, to ask, to know. But there wasn’t time, and she hated that. Over his shoulder, she could see the clock. It was five minutes to one.

“I need to go.” She pressed her face into his shoulder, feeling guilty as sin.

Aidan couldn’t figure out what to do with his desire to snatch Lyssa up and take her far away.

A knock came to the door just as Lyssa slid to her feet.

“Yeah?” she called out, her voice husky.

“Chad’s here.” Stacey’s voice through the door was more serious than any Aidan had heard from her today.

Lyssa breathed in sharply. “How do I explain to him,” she asked plaintively, “when I don’t know what’s going on myself?”

He caught her chin and urged her gaze to meet his. His chest ached at the sight of her. She was pale, her dark eyes tormented, her lower lip worried between her teeth. “Tell him the truth. An old flame showed up and you have to reevaluate.”

She nodded, but looked shamed enough to set him on edge.

Her hand came to rest on his bare shoulder, and his eyes closed a moment in pleasure at her touch. She moved then, her fingers sifting through his hair.

“Are you okay?” Lyssa asked, her voice filled with concern.

Aidan nodded. Inside him, something vibrated anxiously, making his stomach clench tight. “I hate this. I don’t want you to go.”

“You’re awfully possessive for a guy who walked out of my life at some point,” she said dryly.

He stilled, conveying the truth of his words with a steely stare. “I’ve looked for you my whole life.”

All these years he couldn’t figure out what he was missing. He’d searched for answers in an attempt to calm his restlessness, and he still wanted them. But what he’d needed was Lyssa and the connection he found with her.

She shook her head, her lush lips drawn tight. “You say the corniest shit, but it never sounds corny coming from you. You could give lessons on how to make the worst pickup lines in history work.”

Reaching for her purse, Lyssa set her keys and some money on the desktop. “Get some clothes. I don’t carry much cash—I’m a debit card girl—but there should be enough here for some jeans, shirt, and boxers. Talk to Sta
cey, she’ll tell you where to go.”

Aidan caught her wrist before she turned away. She lifted her gaze to meet his. They stared at each other, questions and confusion filling the air.

“I have to go,” she said finally.

He caught her then, his hands fisting in her hair, tugging her head back, his mouth taking hers.
Taking
it, completely, his tongue gliding deep and thrusting. Drinking in the taste of her, leaving his flavor in return. Her hands clutched at his back, her knees weakened, her body sagged with the weight of her desire. Only when she was whimpering into his mouth did he release her.

His nostrils flared. “Make it quick, or I’ll hunt you down. You won’t like what happens if I do.”

She swallowed hard and nodded, backing away slowly. Dazed.

As the door closed with a click of finality behind her, Lyssa released her pent-up breath. There was no denying it. She was head over heels.

But she still had to deal with Chad.

“Shit.”

The last time she had felt this torn was when she’d made Jenna Lee cry in college because of a thoughtless comment. Chad deserved someone who was really crazy about him. That bit of knowledge was the only thing that kept her from hating herself completely.

Lyssa lifted her chin and moved down the hallway to the rear clinic door. She could do this. She could.

Then she stepped outside, saw the handsome man leaning against his Jeep, and began to cry.

It wasn’t that she regretted what she had done with Aid
an last night; she didn’t. But she should have handled this entire situation better. Add in the events of the last twenty or so hours and her overwhelming feelings for Aidan, and she was reduced to an emotional wreck.

“Hey,” Chad said softly, coming up to her and holding her close. “It’s not the end of the world. I’m a big boy. I can handle it.”

Lyssa leaned into him, grateful that he was letting her off the hook. After years of hoping for a great guy to come along, she somehow ended up with two at the same time.

She was letting go of one. She prayed like hell she didn’t lose the other.

“Who the hell are you?”

Aidan glanced at Stacey, who stood in the doorway of Lyssa’s office, and raised his brows. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. What do you want with Lyssa?”

He settled back against the desk and crossed his arms. He knew Lyssa cared a lot about her friend Stacey, and it appeared Stacey felt the same in return. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

“Sure it is.” Her gaze narrowed. “Chad’s a nice guy. He’s good to her.”

“I’m a nice guy. I’m good to her.”

“I don’t call what you’re doing good for her. You left her before, and you don’t look like you’re planning on sticking around this time, either.”

There was nothing he could say to that. He didn’t know what his next move would be. In the last forty-eight hours, he hadn’t had much time to think about it. Even when Lyssa had been busy with her patients, his thoughts had
been more on the rift between them than it had been about the days ahead. He needed to focus. “My work keeps me away.”

“What is it you do? Lyssa said you’re Special Forces or something.”

Clever. “Or something.”

Her foot tapped. “Don’t you think it’s a little selfish to just drop in when you feel like it, especially when she’s got someone steady?”

“I tried to stay away, Stacey,” he said softly. “I really did.”

She studied him for a long moment, then said, “I’m withholding judgment for now.”

“Thank you.” And he meant it. If Stacey took sides against him, it would make an already uphill battle worse.

“In the meantime, we need to get you some clothes.”

“That would nice,” he agreed. Looking “normal” was one way to soothe Lyssa’s nerves.

Taking a second to put the precious books away in the top desk drawer, Aidan snatched up the keys and cash, and gestured for Stacey to precede him out to the parking lot. He was having a hard time feeling so helpless. It was a state of being he’d never experienced before, and it definitely didn’t suit him. He needed to get Lyssa settled, then he could concentrate on the ancient texts in earnest. The day was half over. The evening would be upon them soon. Then sleep, when Lyssa would be most vulnerable.

Time, something he was used to having in endless quantities, was running out.

“For a man who was just promoted to Captain of the Elite, you’re awfully quiet.”

Connor shot a sidelong glance at the curvaceous Guardian sprawled across his bed. Flushed from their recent fucking, Morgan was lovely, tempting him to abandon the polishing of his glaive to take her again. “Cross is captain.”

“He’s gone.” Morgan pouted.

“He’ll find a way back. I’ll make sure of it.” Aidan was a warrior to the core. He couldn’t live without a sword in his hand. “Can you see him driving a mini-van?”

“No.” She laughed and rolled over, baring her body in a sinuous stretch. “But then I can’t see him so attached to one woman, either.”

Snorting, Connor returned his attention to his task. “Temporary insanity. The Elders screwed with him. First they sent him to the Dreamer twice. Then they sent him to the Gateway.”

“Is it as horrible as they say?”

“Worse. He’s not thinking with the right head, trust me. He’ll find the Dreamer and they’ll fuck like rabbits. Then he’ll get over her and do his job.”

“Do you think she’s the Key?”

He paused. “I don’t know. But you’re going to try and find out.”

“What?” Morgan sat straight up in bed.

“I checked the roster. Philip Wager is set to lead the team tonight.” The team that would make a second attempt to enter the mind of Aidan’s Dreamer. He was kicking himself now for switching places with his friend that one night. Now he wished he’d both kept Aidan away from her and checked her out himself. He simply couldn’t pic
ture a woman alluring enough to swear off bachelorhood.

“Philip’s mad at me. He’s not going to tell me anything.” She tossed her dark hair over her shoulder. “And I don’t particularly want to talk to him anyway.”

Connor’s mouth curved. “Yes, you do. You’re curious about the Dreamer. You had a thing for Cross for a long time.”

“I had a thing for you, too.”

His grin widened. “You still do.” He set aside his glaive with barely enough time to catch the tasseled pillow Morgan threw at him. Standing, he moved to the bed, noting the way her dark eyes dipped to his rapidly swelling cock before lifting to meet his gaze.

“Oh no,” she murmured dryly. “I recognize that look. You want something. Unfortunately for you, I’m feeling pretty good from the orgasms I’ve had already, so I’m not likely to agree.”

“I can make you feel even better,” he rumbled, setting one knee on the edge of the bed before crawling over her.

Her smile faded. “Seriously, Connor, you’re asking too much. The Elders would punish me for going around them like that.”

“I’ll protect you.”

“No one can be protected from the Elders.”

“Try me.”

When her jaw set stubbornly, he cursed inwardly and changed tactics. “I just want you to talk to Wager,” he cajoled. “Find out what their orders are. What methods he’s using. What resistance he’s facing.”

“What excuse would I have for wanting to know all that?”

He kissed her breathless, his mouth slanting across hers in a blatant promise of reward, one he hoped hid his desperation. “I’ll make it worth your while, Morgan love.”

“That would take a lot.” She inhaled sharply as his chest touched hers. She paused a moment, then her arms came around him.

“I’ve got a lot to give.” Adjusting his hips, he thrust smoothly into her tight, slick cunt. Then he withdrew completely. “If you want it, that is.”

She growled softly, a sound that made his heart beat faster with a combination of arousal and anxiety. “You’re cheating,” she complained.

Yes, he was, but he would do whatever was necessary to help Aidan. He would not leave his commanding officer and best friend out there alone.

Stonehenge.

As memories flooded Aidan’s mind, his fingertips drifted over the recently deciphered text in the jeweled book. He had been to Stonehenge once. A Dreamer had a fantasy there—passionate sex under the stars in the center of the stones. The formation had been whole then, complete, not decimated by time as he now knew it to be.

That woman and the acts he’d committed with her were so distant and foggy as to be rendered meaningless. From the moment he first slid inside Lyssa’s mind, every woman in his past had faded to insignificance. He hadn’t thought such a loss of memory was possible, had even considered the possibility that the journey from the Twilight had altered his brain in some way. But he remembered every other thing in his immortal life. It was only when it came
to his sexual past that things got fuzzy. Only Lyssa shone with golden vibrancy in his thoughts, warming his blood, making his heart beat faster.

Lyssa
.

His hand closed into a fist and a growl rumbled up from deep in his chest. He was in bad shape. She had been gone nearly two hours now, and he was slowly going insane. Concentrating on the ancient text helped a tiny bit, but not a whole hell of a lot. Even when he managed to decipher a section, it didn’t lead to comprehension. Stonehenge, petroglyphs, and astronomy would be fascinating if Lyssa were beside him, believing in him. Safe. But that wasn’t the case. He feared he was losing her. He, a man who had never feared anything.

He forced his thoughts back to the book. He needed more information. Since a trip to England would leave Lyssa vulnerable, it was immediately ruled out. Somehow he needed to learn what was necessary from thousands of miles away.

The unmistakable sound of the heavy rear door opening brought his head up. He stood, his mouth dry, and waited for her to appear. When she did, he held the edge of the desk with damp palms and searched her features for some hint of her thoughts.

“Hi,” she said wearily.

He came around the desk, but didn’t go to her, afraid that if he kept pushing, he would push her completely away. “Hi.”

“Everything go okay while I was gone?”

“I missed you.”
The
understatement of his entire life. She made him feel alive, her proximity bringing a tangible
wave of awareness across the space that separated them. How different this was, their physical bodies existing and touching on the same plane. Sex with her had been amazing in the Twilight. In real time it was phenomenal. Altering.

She heaved out her breath, dropped her purse to the floor, and walked into his embrace. His arms went around her; his eyes squeezed shut against the painful ache in his chest. He buried his nose in her hair and breathed her in. Her tiny hands stroked up and down his back, soothing him, once again offering him the comfort he hadn’t known he needed until he met her.

“I missed you, too.” She rubbed her face into his new white cotton T-shirt and clung to him. “You look great in jeans.”

Recognizing an olive branch when it was presented to him, he managed a smile and kissed her forehead. “I’m glad you approve.”

“Stacey wasn’t too hard on you, was she?”

“Nah, she’s all right. It’s you I’m worried about. How are you holding up?” There was such sadness in her eyes, and she carried herself as if burdened by a great weight. The distance between them was painful, crushing.

Lyssa tilted her head back and stared up at him. “I’m okay. I’m glad there are only a few more hours left before we can leave.”

“Me, too. Anything I can do to help speed things along?”

She gave a wry laugh. “Keep my office door closed. Every time I walk by and see you, I get flustered. Slows me down.”

As warmth suffused his blood, Aidan’s mouth curved. He half sat on the edge of the desk and pulled her between his legs. “Flustered? Or hot and horny?”

“All of the above.” Her hands stroked across the soft cotton that covered his chest, then she caught the chain that peeped out above his neckline and pulled it into view. “What kind of stone is this?”

It looked like an opal but appeared to glow from inside. She turned it over, but found that the mounting was solid silver in the back, leaving no place for light to pass through.

“I have no idea. It was a gift.”

“From a woman?”

He took the space of one breath to relish the jealousy evident in her tone, then shook his head. “No. A favorite teacher.”

“Good.” Lyssa dropped it back beneath his shirt and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pressed her lips to his, making him groan. “Back to work I go. Stay out of trouble.”

His hands cupped her ass and held her to him when she tried to step back. “Not so fast.”

Lyssa arched a brow at him.

“Did you eat?” When she wrinkled her nose, he had his answer. “You didn’t have breakfast, either. You need to take better care of yourself.”

Twisting at the waist, he caught up the bag that rested on the corner of the desk. He tucked his ankles behind her calves to keep her close, and reached inside for the Styrofoam container and spoon. He caught the handle of the plastic utensil between his teeth and used both hands
to pry the lid open. Instantly the delicious scent of potato-cheese soup filled the air between them. He retrieved the spoon and grinned when her tummy growled in response to the mouthwatering smell.

“That’s my favorite soup,” she murmured, licking her lips in a way that goaded him to mimic her, his tongue following the lush lower curve of her mouth.

“I know.” He scooped up a spoonful. “Open wide.”

He alternated between feeding her and kissing her. It was as intimate as sex and just as moving. She laughed, her dark eyes bright with pleasure, and he wanted her. Wanted her this way, open and warm. He couldn’t wait to go home with her, to take her again. And again. And again. Indulging his every desire, every sexual whim, listening to the little whimpers she made when she was desperate for orgasm, wallowing in the lust that grew from the inside and worked its way out, not the other way around. Not for physical release, but for physical closeness, a connection as real as the one he felt inside him.

Then, when she was exhausted, her mind plunging straight through the Twilight into deep unconsciousness, he would be able to study the Stonehenge clue without distractions.

“No more,” she protested, when the contents were two-thirds gone. “I’m going to burst.”

“Just a little more,” he coaxed, encouraged by the healthy pink flush that had replaced her previous paleness. He winked. “You’ll need your strength later.”

She shivered in that delightful way that made his cock twitch, then opened her mouth, finishing every drop.

When she went back to work, she closed the door, and
Aidan returned his attention to the books he’d stolen from the Elders. The jeweled volume read as if it was part of a collection, referencing information he suspected was located elsewhere. The text he’d stolen from the Temple of the Elders was even more difficult, filled with words that no longer existed and were not the roots of the language they used today. But it was all he had, and he would make the best of it.

He pushed back from the desk and stood, rolling his shoulders to alleviate the stiffness brought on by too many hours of unaccustomed inactivity. Then he opened the door and took the hallway to the front desk.

Stacey arched her brows at him, the silent toughness belying the cute image her cartoon tropical fish scrubs portrayed. “What’s up?”

“Where’s the nearest library?”

“Hell if I know.” She opened a drawer, pulled out the phone book, and slapped it onto the counter. “Here ya go. Knock yourself out.”

Shit.
Aidan caught up the book and turned, almost knocking over the elderly woman who had come up behind him.

“Excuse me, young man.” Stooped at the shoulders and wearing hot pink sweats with a matching headband in her gray curls, she gifted him with a bright smile.

He grinned at her use of the appellation “young man,” considering he was easily several centuries older than she was. “Entirely my fault,” he said, steadying her with a hand at her elbow.

“Well, aren’t you a looker?” she murmured with a wink. “Would you help me carry out my Mathilda? She’s been
sick lately and when I move her carrier, I jostle her too much.”