Underworld Lover (A Guardian Angel Romance #2) (3 page)

Like a gourmet meal, this was something he wanted to savor for a while. It was exciting to finally get to this point. 
No need to rush.
It had been years since he’d played a real high stakes game of cat and mouse.

He was looking forward to it.

Chapter 3

Melanie opened the gated courtyard entrance to
Ray of Sunshine
, her flower shop. She stepped through the patio to the glass French doors of the shop. The little bell tinkled as she opened the green womb of her space. Propped wide by a barrel cactus in a red pot, the door displayed the green hand lettering she had done herself. She brushed her fingers over the backwards letters, proud of her newfound talent.  The first fresh scent of flowers hitting her nostrils was the best part of her day. She stood at the doorway’s edge and inhaled, letting it wash over her soul, grateful for this at least. Every morning the scent took away some of the dark sadness inside her and she came alive.

She set her backpack down behind the counter and reset the alarm, her thoughts drifting to Felix and the fact that he was gone. Gone forever. Her lower lip quivered as a single teardrop watered a bouquet of mums. She felt responsible. Guilty.

Could I have done something?
It was a question she asked herself every day.

Whenever she started to cry, and she had been doing it a lot during the past few days, she would run into the refrigerator and hang out with the bouquets and boughs of flowers in tall white metal cones. The chill of the air made it impossible for the tears to come. She would stand in the cold and think of Felix’s body: frigid, immobile and in the ground. She’d been the only one who’d grieved, really grieved for him on the day of his funeral.

They had been buddies ever since he defended her from the bullies in their kindergarten class. He made her life tolerable for all those years her parents were so caught up in the society circuit, ignoring their talented and sensitive daughter’s maturation. She endured a string of chaperones and drivers who tried to get into her pants, and female tutors who secretly wanted to replace her mother and live in the big brown mansion on top of the hill. Melanie always considered she was an afterthought, or worse still, that her parents had given her no thought at all.

Felix had been the first person she talked to about her uncaring family. The first person she’d shared a joint with, took a mushroom with, and got drunk with. They’d gone to the same community college. Cut class together. He was always there. Her soul mate. She knew he cared more for her than she did for him. She really didn’t any have romantic feelings for him, but a part of her wished she had given him back something she knew he wanted.  Making it with him.

How bad would that have been? Would it have made the difference? Was that too much to ask?
But now it was too late.

Felix deserved better than he got.

She remembered when Felix’s father married a new woman who was half his mother’s age. Though his stepmother tried to be his friend, Felix went downhill fast. This beautiful woman insisted he call her Mom, even though she was only seven years older than her moody stepson. Melanie shuddered, recalling that Felix’s mother hadn’t even been dead two months before his father had remarried.

Melanie’s parents weren’t entirely clueless as to her depressed condition after the death of her friend. She’d heard them whispering in the kitchen at night when they thought she was asleep.

All she’d ever wanted was to be a part of something. In an odd bit of luck, her parents chose to help her through the tragedy by giving her an apartment and buying her a flower shop one of her dad’s clients was losing. Ray of Sunshine had been the perfect gift. Not only was she free to be on her own, which she desperately needed, but she got to take care of plants and flowers, and perhaps focus on growing something: a business.

Rest well, Felix. Take care, my love.
As she said it, a little tingle went down her spine, as if there was still a connection there, though they never had been lovers. She believed he still lived somehow, that he would come back to her eventually and that he would never completely abandon her.

She felt closer to him as she stood in the refrigerated compartment with the flowers that would live only a few precious days. She had an imaginary rendezvous with him daily, and would talk to him about her business, how she was feeling, what zany things her customers did or said, as if he followed along. She liked telling him these things, even without getting an answer back. She knew he would wait for her, and some day, as she lay cold in her grave, he would come to her and show her death’s way. Then she would be able to thank him properly for all the years of his selfless friendship.

Just as one door had been closed, another had opened. Perhaps Felix’s greatest gift was in showing her what not to do.
He saved me from the death he took.
And she was forever grateful to him for helping her choose life. Melanie had to admit, without the daily reminder of his tormented soul, she found herself feeling happier, like some influence over her had been broken. For while Felix lived in the cold refrigerator, Melanie lived in the shop filled with flowers, celebrating life with her customers in the warm light of day.

Across the parking lot, the band of three dark angels gathered close, watching Melanie open the shop. Josh had been focusing on Felix’s face. Tears were streaming down his pink cheeks, a lost puppy dog look in his eyes. Josh knew if he ever needed a huge favor from Felix—something so risky it could mean elimination from the universe—as long as he offered up this little shop girl, Felix would brave whatever Peter and his Underworld allies could dish up. That was something extremely important to know. Josh knew everyone had a price, and it wasn’t usually about money.

Josh knew there were some things anyone would willingly die for. Unlike some of his more ruthless angel friends, he did not see it as a flaw in the DNA, a secret code Father had sewn into everything he created to ensure life would go on or that hope was never entirely eliminated. Hope was something humans felt. Dark angels focused on reality. It was simply the underlying rule. It was smart to know all the rules, big and small, in order to operate as unfettered as possible. He didn’t have to agree with them all. But he damn well needed to know them. The mistake wasn’t in breaking the rules; it was not knowing you were breaking them and what the consequences were.

There’s no right or wrong, just consequences. Always consequences to consider.

Melanie had ducked inside, not giving Josh the chance to see her face, but he saw her blond hair, pulled in a long French braid that cascaded down her back. She wore jeans and a blue, long sleeved T-shirt.

“You can’t talk to her,” Josh said to Felix, who was fixated on the front door. The younger dark angel’s breathing was strong and ragged. His hands were fluttering at the sides of his pants. “I’ll go,” Josh continued.

“Will you tell her I’m okay, that I still love her?” Felix finally looked at his mentor head on.

“But you’re not okay, Felix. You’re dead. Remember? They buried you.”

“No they didn’t, boss.” Karl inserted.  “He came to us before that. They buried a box with a couple of bags of sand.” Karl was, as usual, trying to be helpful, but he pissed Josh off anyway.

“Karl, how many days since you’ve witnessed a vaporization?”

“Please, no. I’m so sorry, sir.”

“You’ll be sorrier as you and your black soul melt in the fires of the Underworld. Shut the fuck up.”

Josh turned back to Felix. “As much as I would like to, I can’t tell her about you. Not unless you want to jeopardize her soul. Do you want me to set it up so you negotiate that with her? I can train you to do it, man.”

“No.”

“I can fix it, make it so you sit down and reason with her just like Karl demonstrated earlier.”

“
No!”

“Don’t you want just a taste?”

“No.”

“Try it. You might like it.”

“Fuck no. I want her to
live!”

A woman stopped at the traffic light turned and scowled.

Josh continued, “You want her little body? I know you do, Felix.”

“Yeah, but not in that way. I want her alive, not dead.”

“Sorry, man, it doesn’t work that way. But, if you claim her, she can live with you forever.”

“Yeah? Well, I think she’d hate me forever.”

Cars traveled in front of them, bifurcating the distance to the shop.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Well then, you could introduce her to Peter. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“Shut up. I don’t want her to have anything to do with that guy.”

“Those are good instincts, man,” Josh said. “So, I’m being generous when I tell you I will give her a little warning, something to arm her in case Peter comes calling.” Josh waited to see if Felix would react. “You sure you don’t want to sponsor her, make her yours?”

 “Absolutely not.” Felix shook his head.

Josh was pleased. He knew where Felix’s line was and he finally knew how far he could push him. It made him wonder, for just a second, where his own line was. Over the three centuries he’d lived as a dark angel he had been able to find out everyone else’s, but never his own. Part of him thought maybe he didn’t have one after all.

Is there anything I wouldn’t do for a price?
He turned his attention back to Karl.

“If this kid gets any ideas, you have my permission to haul him off and summon someone to help you bring him back home, where I’ll give him a lesson of the permanent kind. But Karl, don’t test me, you understand?”

“Crystal clear, sir.” Karl was standing to attention like he’d been entrusted with the keys to the universe, with the heart of a warrior, not an ex-garbage man.

Josh then walked briskly across the street, dodging traffic, toward the gated opening. Music was playing in the background, laced with birdcalls. Colorful birdhouses of various shapes were affixed to poles grounded in large earth-filled pots
.

 Homes and castles for the fine-feathered things I hate
. Josh saw them as nuisances and impediments to his late morning sleep. He didn’t think it was natural anything could be that happy all the time.

Pots of large showy pink and purple hydrangeas along with lemon bushes overloaded with deep yellow fruit and fragrant white blossoms formed the next line in front of the birdhouses. On the floor, tucked away randomly, were shallow pots filled with blooming spring flowers in all the colors possible. Josh’s nose itched. He hadn’t seen so much blooming color since his last trip to the Farmer’s Market to visit his friend Simon, the electric cellist who liked to play his sad music and pick up girls.

She’d probably like one of Simon’s CDs.
He made a point to get one to her right away. Embedded in the music was a very subtle NLP message a human could not hear except subconsciously; praying for sex, praying for death.

Josh walked through the entrance and was assaulted with a big bouquet of red roses that was moving so fast he was unable to stop before impact. Immediately he felt the crush of the delicious red petals. They emitted their syrupy sweetness through  petals that fell on the shoulders and blond head of a beautiful young woman with light pink skin. She looked up at his face, hers registering shock. Her eyes were wide and deep blue as the sky. He was drowning—his heart stopped for a second. The scent of thyme herbal hand cream, fresh lemon soap, and lip-gloss infused with a cherry flavor filled his nostrils. He knew that if he willed her, he could make her stand in front of him, raise her chin, part her lips for him, and beg he claim her.

And, as gratifying as it would be, he didn’t want to make her do it. At last, he shared something in common with Felix.

He wanted to keep her from being captured.

Chapter 4

Josh let Melanie step back first. He had to work to resist grabbing the girl and press her and the roses into his chest again. He knew what it would feel like to have the petals flutter down her body as he kissed her, plucking the layers of her clothing to reveal her white skin underneath. He knew what it would smell like in that hollow at the base of her neck, between her breasts, down further. He knew what it would taste like to insert his tongue in her belly button, making her beg him to lower himself farther to taste what she protected behind lace panties. Girls like this always wore pink or white panties. Never thongs. Never black.

The tops of their shoes were covered in the red fragrant petals. Melanie recovered and blushed.
Had she viewed this as an intimate act? A mating without sex?
Josh cocked his head as he apologized. “I am truly sorry, miss. Please allow me to pay for these beautiful roses I’ve ruined.” The payment would be a wise investment, worth the wonderful seconds of erotic obsession he’d indulged in at her expense. Then he recalled Felix. A few choice swear words came at him all the way across the rain-drenched street. No human would hear them, but Josh did, and the cursing made him smile now. He hoped Karl was up to his job as gendarme.

“Oh, it’s my fault entirely,” Melanie said. Her breath smelled like mint toothpaste as it wafted over the cherry lip-gloss. Josh couldn’t resist the urge to inhale the intoxication of her and then exhale, covering her face and shoulders with the elixir of his breath—one of the perks of being a dark angel—as it gently brushed back the wisps of her silky blond hair. He could see the erotic tinge made her dizzy. Of course he had to hold onto her. He put his hands on her waist as she dropped the roses. The glass vase shattered, but he kept her lower torso firmly pressed against his.

“Careful, careful. Let me take care of this. Please, have a seat and collect yourself.” It was a true and fair warning. He gently led her to a metal bench, making sure his palm was in contact with her lower back. Josh knew he shouldn’t be trusted in her company.

Melanie sat down, surrounded by potted houseplants, then pushed her hair from her forehead and sighed. Her cheeks were flushed to a bright peach color.