Underworld Lover (A Guardian Angel Romance #2) (4 page)

Josh bent down and carefully picked up the long stems, placing the headless ones to the side. The lush red petals and several stems that had survived intact he held in one hand. Pieces of glass he deposited in a wastebasket behind the counter. The broken stems and handfuls of petals he put on top of the counter.

“I’ve…I’ve been all thumbs lately. Almost cut myself yesterday.”

Joshua gazed down at her seated form as he stepped in front of her but did not touch her body.

“You must never consider cutting yourself.” He made it a soft command, as soft as he could stand. He wanted to pick her up and shake her.

“No, it wasn’t on purpose. Just an accident.” The pause was deafening. “I recently lost someone. Someone who…who…took his own life. I guess in a way I am still grieving. Thank goodness for hard work, right?” She looked up at him with that fresh face, those wide blue eyes full of trust,  and his heart melted.

“That wasn’t your fault, you know.” He said it as the fact it was.

Melanie frowned. “I still feel responsible.”

Josh knew that in Melanie’s carefully crafted words there was the suggestion she should have tried to spare Felix. But Felix had been by that time already beyond hope. Probably nothing she could have done, even if she was willing.

“Don’t blame yourself. It isn’t healthy.” How he wanted to hold her, comfort her. Tenderness had made a nest in his heart, something new to him. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, but it was odd.

“Well, back to reality,” she said. Josh thought it was a nice way to put it. She had the reality of a common human, oblivious to all the evil and grace surrounding her. She brought out a shadow in him he had never seen before. A budding good side?
Impossible
!

“Looks like three or four dozen to me,” he said calmly, with effort. His seductive tone was husky. “What do I owe you, then?”

“No. No, this was my fault. You don’t owe me anything.”

“Yes I do.” Josh was nodding, exploring the face of a true angel, her blue eyes, pink cheeks and lips, then dipped his gaze down and took in the way her blue T-shirt was stained with water and rose juices. How he would love to bury his head between her breasts. He took a calculated risk and spoke boldly, “I have done worse things with red roses.” He smiled to see what effect his statement had on her. She blushed. Josh was thrilled that she was so keen to his suggestion. Made it easier. Made it more fun. But then he stepped back, remembering himself.

“How much?” Was he asking her what her price was in a subtle way?

“Well, I hate to charge you for roses that…” She paused and restarted. “How about fifty dollars?” She squinted her eyes; her wrinkled brow was a pleasurable distraction to him.

Josh reached into his hip pocket, produced a wallet, and handed her a one hundred dollar bill. “I insist you keep all of it,” he said.

She took it.

“Do you still want the flowers?” She looked at him with the clear blue eyes that danced all over his face, ending on his lips.

Have I willed this?Or is this of her own volition?

“Just the petals. I’ll keep the petals.”

“You mean cut them short?”

“Cut them at the base of the bloom and add all the loose petals. The beauty of these flowers is the smell, in the petals. I have no use for the stems.”

“All right.” She smiled, and added a warm, soft chuckle. “I’ll put them in a box, okay?”

“Perfect.” Josh didn’t watch the snipping and fast movements of her delicate fingers. He was transfixed in a fantasy just looking at her face. He could tell she noticed his attention, perhaps liked it. Several times she smiled back, without looking up at him. He made sure he was breathing deeply so he could keep touching her with his power.

“There you go.” She handed him a white box tied with a purple bow. Her lashes swept up and she looked at him fully, letting out a soft gasp. Her pulse increased.
Is she afraid, or does she like seeing me?
Josh wasn’t sure it mattered. He had affected her.

He took the box, being careful to let his forefinger graze the top of hers. He felt an electric pull to her skin and wondered if she felt it too. He knew she didn’t possess any of the powers he did, yet she affected him the same way. And she was doing it unintentionally. This was too good to be true.

Holding her breath, Melanie watched the tall gentleman with the short black ponytail walk out of her shop. She fanned herself with a file folder as she watched him walk, his stride lengthened by his tall black boots. His long legs were encased in black jeans that were partially covered by a black overcoat slit up the back. She watched the parts of his coat flap back and forth as he walked across the street, dodging cars, his head moving from side to side, as if he were searching for someone. She remembered his dark eyes looking at her, her blood pumping warm and thick. She felt a lightness rush through her.

The man held the little white box she had prepared for him out in front as he walked, each of his steps pounding the pavement in unison with her heartbeat. The purple bow bobbed in the sunlight.

She tore her eyes from his image as he made it across the street. There was work to do, and a little cleanup needed of the floor. As she got out her broom and dustpan, memories swept over her— his chest against hers as their bodies collided, the roses crushing against her, the flower scent she loved completely encompassing her body. Through the petals, there had been no mistaking the hardness and the strength of the muscles there, or how her breasts had burned where they had been pressed into him.

She had swooned, something she hadn’t done since she was a child. How embarrassing. But as she bent to sweep up the few remaining petals and the remainder of water spilled on the green concrete floor, she remembered the feel of his hands on her waist and the little tug he gave her that had brought her close. Their bodies had for an instant been connected, even though they were fully clothed. Some door had been opened inside her, and she’d been drawn in. Left cracked open and wanting.

Maybe she was lonely she thought as she picked up the dustpan and tossed the remaining bits of glass and petals into the wastebasket. Her heart ached for Felix and his friendship, his patient ear and gentle personality. If he were here, she would have told him about the dark man. She wondered what he would say. Would he worry for her safety even when for some strange reason, she didn’t?

Chapter 5

Felix grabbed the white box from Joshua’s hand and tucked it under his arm like a warm puppy. “Did you have to touch her?” he asked, his voice brittle.

Josh saw the distrust forming in the young man’s eyes. Karl seemed uncomfortable too, squinting at Felix. Josh knew he’d had a time restraining the dark angel.

“Do you understand how incredibly stupid it would’ve been if you had burst into that shop and talked to her?” Josh asked.

“Better than seeing your boss with his hands all over her.”

“Now wait just a minute, Felix. We bumped into each other. If I could have avoided it, I would have.” Josh shook his head. “Damn it, Felix, you’ve got to remember who and where you are. You want to jeopardize what you did for her? You gave her the life she wanted by going away and leaving her here.”

Felix glared. Apparently, this wasn’t sitting well with him.

“Just keep your hands off,” Felix mumbled, fingering the purple ribbon. He held it up to his nose and tears started coming down his cheeks.

He can smell her
. Another thought struck Josh.
So can I. I smell her all over me.
His groin began to wake up again. He stepped to the side, widening the juncture of his legs for relief.

Karl jumped in. “So what’s the plan, Boss?”

“From what Felix has told me, Peter has set his sights on her. We’ve got to somehow let her know she should stay away from him. From the look of it, she’s a very trusting person,” Josh answered truthfully. “Come. Let’s get out of here. We need to talk.”

They walked to the large Victorian Josh owned in town, bought by the money he’d made acting as an art collector, as well as a collector of rare books. He spent most of his time with the wild and partying lead guitarist Beau Bradley, from the Spacetravelers, a band that had been popular back when bellbottoms and dropping acid had been in fashion. Beau had opened up a happening art studio and had become a well-known artist. People would part with thousands of dollars for an original painting by the guitarist. He even signed toilet seats and made a cool grand for each signature. A couple of his friends thought he should even change the band logo from the flying saucer to a toilet seat, a suggestion Beau laughed at in public but didn’t like one bit.

Josh’s living room was chock full of Bradley originals, mostly nudes. Some paintings were just serious smashes of color, paint splatters with something dragged across it. Josh didn’t tell anybody that a woman’s body part was what had made the unusual rippling designs across the large canvases.

In one corner, he had a jungle scene the size of a doorway, with brightly colored cats in persimmon, pink, and yellow, along with bright oversized exotic flowers. It was by a much more talented painter, Daniel DePalma, a man he had tried to turn for nearly three years now. A Guardian had intervened and saved Daniel.

In a curious twist of fate, the Guardian had been made human by Father, and so now Daniel was experiencing domestic bliss without danger of being turned by Josh. Humans had to kill themselves to go dark. Now that the angel was human, the same rules applied to her as well. But neither of them could be convinced to take their own lives.

At first, when Josh couldn’t get Daniel, he’d gone for the angel, and almost had her too. He had shifted into Daniel’s likeness so he could coax her into having sex with him—the only way a Guardian could be turned. But she’d figured it out just in time, and the opportunity was lost forever.

Daniel had been Joshua’s first failure as a dark angel. His unblemished track record was forever broken. It left an annoying hole in his soul, a scar he would wear forever. His eyes flashed red at the mere thought of it. When ribbed, he justified the loss, telling his tormentors if it hadn’t been for the intervention of the big man, Father himself, the angel would have been his conquest. Nobody had experience or could argue with that. Father hadn’t interfered with the human world for centuries. Who could have predicted he’d do it for a poor painter, no matter how gifted he was?

The trio sat in the living room on plush red velvet easy chairs in front of a roaring fireplace so large a man could stand up in it. Felix was lost in thought, clutching the box to his chest, frowning.

Josh began the conversation. “I’m going to get her to trust me, and then make Peter out to be some kind of a pervert or something. Make her afraid of him. Felix, you said she had seen him?” he asked.

Felix nodded, staring at the fire.

“Do you know where?”

Felix shook his head. “She thinks her dad sent him.”

“Well, we can’t use that. Suppose Melanie confronts her dad, but he denies it and she believes him? No, we’ve got to make her not want to have anything to do with the director.”

“Uh, isn’t he going to be pissed if we interfere?” Karl asked and blinked at Josh. This was the big question, after all, the one Josh really didn’t want to bring up.

“Look, guys, Peter is not someone to mess with. I’m doing Felix here a favor. Karl, if you’re not in on this, you can bow out. It could get dicey if he finds out.”

“So, we make sure he never does,” Felix said brightly.

“Exactly my point.” Josh was satisfied. Even Karl nodded.

“I’m in. I can keep a secret,” Karl added.

Yeah, until Peter vaporizes your little finger or shrinks your pecker.
He might not include Karl in future plans so his strategy could remain secret.

A loud rap sounded on the front door. Josh got up and answered it. The ragged gathering of three dark angels on his doorstep surprised him. They were half of the new director’s staff.

“Hey Joshua,” one of them said. “Can we talk to you for a second?”

“Come in, gentlemen.”

They all knew each other, so after the punching and handshaking was over, Josh asked pointed his living room. “Have a seat, gents.” They got serious and didn’t move. Josh cleared his throat and asked the question, “This a social call?” They didn’t smile or take the offered seats but remained standing.

“Joshua, we got orders to bring you back for a meeting with His Greatness.” Abraham, a defrocked priest Josh had turned himself, was the one delivering the grim message.

Josh winced inwardly, but was careful not to show a reaction in front of his boys. Abraham was having difficulty looking him in the eyes. He didn’t like what he was seeing and sensing.

“What’s this about?” Did Peter somehow know about their plans to save Melanie? Dread hibernated in his stomach, getting too comfortable there.

“He wants to speak with you, and he didn’t say what about. But we gotta get you back there, like right away. You need to get some stuff together and leave with us. Now.”

“Wait a minute.” Karl got a sudden burst of bravado. “We’ve got work to do here. We’ve got plans—”

Josh cut him off before he could finish. Josh knew he couldn’t trust Karl one hundred percent, and it pissed him off someone so dumb knew something that could hurt him. Best to keep the two camps apart for now.

“Karl, it’s okay. You stay here with Felix. You guys know what to do.” He planted his stare right into the center of Karl’s eyes, then Felix’s, so his allies knew not to question him. No way in the world did he want the two darks down in the Underworld causing further trouble for him.

Felix picked up the urgency. “Yeah, we’ll stay here, Karl. We got lots to keep us busy.” He looked over at Josh, who cocked his head as if to warn him about Melanie. Felix smiled in response.

“Come on, guys, help me with some stuff upstairs. Gents, you sit by the fire and I’ll be right back.” Josh didn’t want his two assistants alone with the dark angel staffers and their possible probing questions.