His lips were soft, yet firm, hot and inviting. She wanted them on her mouth.
“Yeah,” she agreed, turning her head to his. “Yeah.” Then his mouth fluttered closer and closer.
His eyes met hers. “I won’t hurt you.”
“Shut up.”
His lips settled on hers with a passion she had glimpsed in him, in his work, in his art, in the very air around him. Perfectly checked usually, it simmered just under the surface. Energy hummed along her skin, wrapped around her as his lips pressed against hers.
To hell with it. Turning more in her chair, she cupped his face and kissed him back.
It was as if months of self-doubt washed away to clear a brilliant path.
And that path led to Max.
The man could kiss.
Lake closed her eyes, lost herself in the pleasant, welcoming charge of being wanted. Bright lights shimmered just at the edge of her vision behind her eyelids, but she held them at bay.
Suspense.
His tongue traced her lips and she shuddered, opening her mouth to him.
Max’s hands cupped her jaw, his fingers trailing into her hair as those feelings simmered stronger.
She could…she could…
feel him.
Not his physical want of her, but his desire, that elusive feeling. She could sense it, read it, so much so, she could all but taste the heady scent in the back of her mouth.
His tongue danced and dueled with hers.
Suspense, caution.
She slowly pulled back, even as his fingers momentarily gripped her head as if he didn’t want her to go. Then he relaxed his hold on her and she sat back, staring into those slate gray eyes, tumultuous just now.
“We shouldn’t rush it.”
Those eyes stared into hers, reached into her very soul as if trying to see what was completely inside her.
Finally he said softly, “No, we shouldn’t rush it. That would be a damn shame.”
Then he straightened and gathered up the used containers before dumping them into the trash. He moved like a cat. Not a slick alley cat. No, he was more like a tamed…jaguar, she decided. Smooth and graceful, but just there under the edge lurked a danger.
And that was what she needed to understand first.
“I better be going,” she said, standing up. “Thanks for dinner.”
His smile reached his eyes. Desire still thrummed off him and battered against her, but she let it go. For now.
“You’re welcome. I haven’t enjoyed an evening this much in a long time.”
“Me either,” she agreed. Then realized how true that was. “Me either.”
His head tilted to the side and the lights shot silver off the gray at his temples, and his eyes studied her again in that intense way of his.
Life father like daughter, she thought.
“I have a feeling you’re being honest about that.” Then he shifted, his muscles rippling under the dark purple shirt, slick and looking damn good on him. “Which sounds odd, I’m sure.”
She laughed. “Odd is as odd does, and no, it doesn’t. It sounds honest. Honesty is always, always preferred.”
“Same goes,” he added with a slight tilt of his head.
For a moment, they stared at each other. “Well, I better be going.”
Motioning to the door, he said, “I’ll walk you home.”
“A desirable man and he’s a gentleman too. Wow, will wonders never cease,” she quipped.
He halted and grabbed his jacket. “He really did a number on you, didn’t he?”
She met his gaze before looking down at the scuffed wooden floor. Then she plastered a smile on her face. Desire was one thing, indulging her darkest memories was not. “Suspense, remember?” She waved a hand at him. “Don’t worry about walking me home. I can make it across the street.”
He took a deep breath as if he was about to argue. “Fine, but I’ll walk you out.”
They made their way out through the hall entryway, out onto the landing and down the outside steps.
“Again, thanks for dinner. I had a great time,” she said when they reached the gate.
“Me too. Do it again?”
“Definitely.”
“When?”
“Whenever.”
“Tomorrow morning. Breakfast.”
She did laugh then, a full-throated belly laugh. “I do
not
get up at the crack of dawn like some people. I like my beauty sleep, not sweating at daybreak. I’ll walk. Upon occasion, I’ll ride a bike. Yoga is good. I’m not into the whole mile-or-more runs, bike rides or triathlons.”
He leaned against the gate. “You get up between seven and eight. Unless you haven’t slept well, then it’s earlier. Then you shower and get ready before heading downstairs to have a coffee, and every two or three days a muffin with said coffee on the veranda. Unless of course, it’s raining, then you like the table at the front window.” He tilted his head closer to her. “I’m an artist. I notice things.”
“When do the Overtons get up?” she asked, surprised he knew so much of her habits.
“The who?”
“The other renters. So it’s just me you’re spying on?”
“Just you. And I’m not spying. I’m observing.”
She patted his arm, smiled and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “Tomorrow morning.”
“Eight o’clock?”
“Eight o’clock. Sounds good.”
“Until then.”
She walked through the gate, stopped at the curb to let the traffic go by. Damned tourists.
“Be careful,” she heard him say.
She didn’t look back until she had walked across the street. He still stood there, at the gate, a half grin on his face that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Maybe the man had his own thinking to do.
Then he gave her a little salute and closed the gate. She looked through the window of the coffee shop and thought about going in, but decided to head on up to her room instead. A customer shifted and she saw two of the sons behind the bar washing and drying coffee mugs. Alyssa sat laughing at the counter.
Alyssa.
From here, the girl’s aura shimmered brighter than it had in a long time. Really shimmered, so many layers, the colors all mixed into a kaleidoscope of rainbows. Which wasn’t unusual. Most people had different colors or shades of colors in their auras, even as one was dominant. It all depended on the person and their experiences.
But Alyssa’s was literally all the colors, layered and interwoven.
Chills slithered down Lake’s spine and she rubbed her arms.
“That girl needs guidance, or protection.” What had made hers shimmer from dull muted colors to this bright?
Then Lake looked closer.
The aura was undoubtedly brighter, more pronounced, but, she saw something else.
Ice skittered over her skin. Terror fluttered in her heart.
Jagged scars ripped along the edges of Alyssa’s aura. New scars. These were clear, colorless breaks in the aura.
Lake stepped closer, focusing.
Only one thing caused that.
Draining. Being around something or someone that drained a person’s energy.
The scars were scattered, rough gouges that the surrounding colors seemed to slowly fill. Slowly healing themselves.
Lake had never seen anything like it.
She blinked and shook her head, trying to focus. How long had she been zoning? Alyssa now sat alone at the counter, the boys gone.
How long had she been standing here staring?
She knew she could lose time reading, trying to understand. She’d done it before. And this powerful girl—someone bumped into her.
“Excuse me,” the voice said.
And she knew.
Don’t turn around.
Don’t turn around.
Darkness floated around her, enveloped her, reaching past her towards…
Lake stared into the coffee shop and just like that, Alyssa’s head jerked up and her face paled. Then she shoved off the chair and strode towards the door.
No. No! Stay inside. She had to stay inside.
Lake all but stumbled into the door and caught Alyssa, who didn’t even seem to see her.
“Hi, Alyssa,” Lake said, her hand firm on the girl’s arm.
Alyssa tried to jerk away.
“No,” Lake said softly to her. “He’s strong, whoever the bastard is. Let him go. He’s…he’s…”
“Dark,” the young woman finished, then relaxed as a shudder danced through her small frame. Her eyes still stared out into the night. “Dark and…and…”
“Evil.”
Alyssa finally turned to Lake, her eyes glazed and haunted. “He is. Very evil. I sensed him before.”
Then she blinked, looked around and jerked her arm free. “I want to go home. I just want to go home.”
“I’ll walk you.”
“I can walk myself,” the young woman said, with the slight belligerence youth seemed to have stamped on itself.
“You can, yes, I’m sure, but I wanted to ask you something.” Lake again took Alyssa’s arm as they walked back across the street. Both of them looked up the street into the night-cloaked shadows.
Where was he
?
“Can we get together sometime?” Lake asked, following pure instinct for the first time since the nightmare months ago.
“Why?” Alyssa asked. Something on the young woman tinkled, some piece of bling.
“Because, it’s important.”
They stood outside the gate. Lake knew what to look for and wasn’t surprised to see Alyssa’s pupils dilate ever so slightly as the young woman studied her. Then she shook her head as if shaking off the remnants of their experience. “Yeah, it’s probably the smart thing to do. When?”
“Tomorrow? I’m having breakfast with your dad at eight, why don’t you join us? Or me? Afterwards? Whatever.”
Alyssa tilted her head, just like her father, and then grinned. “You’re definitely different. Dad might have other plans for breakfast.”
True, he might. “This is important. Either at breakfast or I’ll meet you later.”
“You don’t think I’m weird? Strange?”
Lake only laughed. “Get inside so I know you’re safe. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She watched the girl walk up the stairs, watched her go into the door. Finally, Lake turned and hurried across the street.
What the hell had she landed herself in?
Chapter Five
Sunlight, dull and gray, filtered the morning light. The snow so many had felt and smelled on the air had settled on the tip of Taos Mountain, which would undoubtedly make the skiers happy.
Max rolled his shoulders, realizing he hadn’t slept well. Not that he’d dreamed, at least not that he remembered. He’d thought of Lake. He’d thought of Alyssa, and somewhere in his mind the two had entangled and had left him worried and anxious.
He could still see the way Lake had looked at the gate last night after Alyssa had walked through it, warning him to watch out for her.
Irritation slithered through him as he finished shaving. Cold outside air blew fresh through the cracked window. He hated stuffy air and, though it was cold, it wasn’t that cold. Max breathed deep and tried again to figure out what worried him about…about…what?
Was it that Alyssa was more at peace lately than she had been in a long time? That she was no longer worried—or quite so worried—that she was weird and different? Actually, she’d probably always be weird and different by some people’s standards, but she was a tad more mainstream than she had been. Taos was eclectic enough she’d always fit in here.
They rarely talked about her gift, and he blamed himself and her mother for that. He hadn’t been there when he needed to be protecting her. But that was all in the past. He was here now and he’d help her any way he could.
So why did it bother him so much that a woman he rather liked, or was attracted to and interested in, didn’t bat an eyelash at his daughter? Had even complimented her on her gifts and had mentioned how very gifted she was?
It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in his daughter or Lake’s acceptance, wasn’t that he did, either. He was open enough to know that not everything could be crammed into a neat textbook that psychiatrists and other docs or people could study. Some things simply
were
. He sometimes had an idea, a gut instinct of what to do or not do, and it rarely steered him wrong. His mother and grandmother had both simply
known
things. No one questioned them on it. His family believed in the power of dreams, how sometimes messages weren’t left on answering machines or written to be plainly read, but left in that strange realm between awake and asleep.
He didn’t doubt Alyssa, not really. But sometimes she liked to shock just for shock’s sake, and he had no idea if she was using her gift or just being obnoxious. Sometimes he could tell the difference. Sometimes not.
Like last night. She’d come in, pale, her eyes wide with phantoms dancing in their depths. She’d awakened like that sometimes as a child, after a dream about something that inevitably happened or came true—like knowing where the little missing boy from their neighborhood had been. After the accident she’d awakened the first few months with that look of fear on her face, her eyes darker than normal.
The dreams, the knowing, all had been too much for his ex. She’d frowned upon anything outside of what she considered normal. Like Alyssa’s sensitivities, his ex had often seen him as abnormal. He remembered the fights and he remembered the day he left, moving here to Taos, believing his children were in better hands with their mother.
Stupid. So foolishly stupid.
The razor nicked his chin.
“Shit.”
And that was what thinking about his ex always got him, bloodshed—and the woman was dead, for the love of God.
One should never think ill of the dead, but the truth was, he never should have left his kids with her, and he was only just coming to accept the truth of that.
A soft knock on his bedroom door pulled his attention back to the here and now.
“Dad?” Alyssa’s voice wafted out from his room.
“Just a sec!” He quickly dressed, wiped his bleeding chin with the back of his hand and sighed. Several moments later, he opened the door. She was dressed in normal clothes, jeans and a tie-died pullover—thank whatever drove teenagers to pick their attire. Her eyes widened and she rubbed her arms.
“I’m going with you.”
He blinked. “I’m sorry?”
“To breakfast.” She checked her black braided leather watch, the face square, with skulls as the minute and hour hands. “We’re going to be late if you don’t hurry. For crying out loud, Dad, it’s just breakfast.” She frowned, leaned up and wiped his chin. “You weren’t paying attention.”
“You’re going? To breakfast? With me?”
Her brows rose. “Yes. Yes. Yes. And Lake. She invited me last night. She wants to talk over something with me.”
“What?” he asked. It was his turn to frown. “Talk over what?” Liking a woman was one thing, but if she thought she could use his daughter to get close to him, or use Alyssa for anything,
anything
else, she was sorely mistaken. “When?” He snapped, walking to his dresser to grab a pair of socks.
“Last night after I left the coffee shop.”
Last night when Alyssa came in looking lost and alone and too quiet for his peace of mind. Of course she hadn’t said anything, and had turned the conversation neatly around so quickly he’d only realized it later.
“Why did she talk to you last night?” he asked, watching her carefully, anger simmering in him. He’d actually liked the woman, but his daughter was not the way to win him over, damn it. He thought they had covered this last night. He’d been down this road before.
Dating was a pain in the ass.
She tapped the door frame and only said, “Hurry up. I don’t want to be late and I’m in
dire
need of caffeine, Father dear.” She batted her long-lashed eyes at him and darted down the hallway.
“Dammit.” He quickly jerked on his shoes and pulled a lightweight jacket out of the closet. As he strode down the hall to the living room, he asked again, “Why, Alyssa?”
Her eyes went blank. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
His defenses slammed up. “I think perhaps Miss Lake and I should have a chat.”
She rolled her eyes and the anger simmered more. “Dad, come on. I’m not a child.”
He strode to her. “You are
my
child. I don’t care how damned old you are. I watched you lying in a hospital bed so close to death I couldn’t…I couldn’t… Your brother was…” He took a deep breath. “You may be nineteen-going-on-forty and I know in the past, I wasn’t there like I should have been, but you are still
mine
to protect. And if she thinks…”
“She helped me,” Alyssa said softly, her fingers fidgeting.
He fisted his hands on his hips. “With?”
Her drawn-out sigh was full of teenage angst. “Stuff. Can we eat now? I promise you can rip into her if I can watch.” She turned and her eyes flashed. “Because I can tell you, Lake will rip right back. She’s nice, she…she…”
“What?” he asked, shutting the door behind them before following her down the outer hallway to the outside door. “She’s what, Alyssa? We’re not going until you answer me.”
Alyssa whirled, hurt, anger and something else flashing in her eyes. “She understands, Dad! She understands what it’s…what it’s… She understands what’s
in
me. She understands!”
“Alyssa,” he tried calmly, “we just met this woman.”
She turned, jerked the outside door open and flew down the steps. Nineteen. Had he been this torn up inside at nineteen? Probably not.
God, Dad was
so
difficult. The man knew nothing. Not a damned thing! Alyssa didn’t wait for him. Instead she hurried across the street, narrowly missing a cyclist who’d decided to use the sidewalk as his private path.
“Watch it!” she yelled. “There’s a road!” She slammed into the coffee shop.
She looked around and then quickly made her way to the back, but she saw no Lake sitting at any of the tables. What the hell was with adults? Especially laid-back adults like her father and apparently Lake?
“You look happy this morning,” Mark said beside her.
She hadn’t even noticed him. There was a first time for everything, she supposed. “Lake?”
Mark raised one blond brow. “Haven’t seen her. Oh wait, yeah. Out on the front patio.” He jerked his head to the front of the store. “You went right past her.”
She turned and saw her dad standing there talking to Lake, who sported shades, a jacket and a bright purple scarf and sat at a table beneath a green umbrella.
“That woman likes purple,” Mark muttered.
Her father fisted his hands on his hips. Great. She knew that look on his face, that set, carved look. The “don’t-push-it” face.
“What’s steamed him?” Mark asked.
Alyssa took a deep breath and smelled Mark’s cologne, the mixture of sweetness and spice that somehow fit him. “Oh, someone might have upset me or something. He’s just so—so—so… Arg! I’m not a little kid.” She looked at Mark out of the corner of her eye. His hair was longer on top, so that he was always raking it back off his forehead. Those bright blue eyes of his studied her.
“What?” she asked.
“You look…”
She cocked a brow and planted her own fist on her hip.
“Nice. You look really nice.”
She’d rolled out of bed and pulled on the jeans she wore yesterday and a tie-died blue-green tee shirt with a jacket. She frowned. “Thank you.”
He smiled. “Why do compliments always throw you, make you pause?”
She thought about it for a minute then shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I’ll have to keep at them then.” They both watched the little scene unfold outside, Lake now not so blasé as her fingers—complete with purple nails—tapped the tabletop.
Mark cleared his throat. “Where’d you go last night? I came back in and you were gone. I was just gone a minute to tell Thad bye. I thought we were going to talk about computer graphics and the web design program at the college?”
She didn’t take her eyes off the two adults. Adults? They were acting like two kids in high school. One of them pissed, the other not having a clue, but pissed now as well. All because of her. Well, to hell with that. Dad needed to get a freaking clue. Yes, she’d almost died, yes she was complicated and had…issues, but that didn’t mean he could treat her like a twelve-year-old. Maybe she’d move out.
“Um, I had to go. I saw Lake and needed to tell her something and then figured I’d just go on home. Sorry. We’ll have to get together another time.”
He laid his hand on her shoulder and turned her around to him. “Fine, then tell me what the hell scared the crap out of you last night. I’ve never seen you like that before, Lys.”
Last night…
The fog, the red, the feeling of pure unadulterated evil…
She shivered and shook her head. “N-nothing.”
“Bullshit.”
“Nothing.” She couldn’t talk about this. “Really. I need to go.”
His hand on her arm was warm, but he didn’t let her go. “You really need to tell me, I don’t like thinking something is scaring you that badly.” He waited until she met his gaze. “Or someone. Who scared you, Alyssa? And if you don’t tell me,” he said, pointing to the window, “I’m going to mention it to him. He loves you and wants to know you’re safe and okay.”
Okay? What the hell did that mean? She jerked her arm away. “Just what is it with men?”
She whirled and saw that Lake had likewise jerked her hand from under Max’s and stood talking, just as pissed off as her dad had been earlier.
Alyssa had no idea what they were saying, but she knew whom they were speaking of. Lake gave him one parting shot and then slammed into the coffee shop, making her way to the back. She paused, her heels no longer beating a staccato on the floor.
“Lake?” Alyssa asked, wondering if the woman would still talk to her.
“You want to meet with me?”
“Lake,” her father warned from just behind them.
“Yes,” Alyssa answered without glancing at him.
“Meet me upstairs in ten minutes. I need to cool off.” Lake turned and pointed a finger at Alyssa’s father. “You should have more faith in her and want her to get as much help as she can. She’s going to need it.”
Lake slid between Alyssa and Mark and slammed out the back door located beside the stairs that led up to her apartment.
“Way to go, Dad,” Alyssa muttered. Then she poked her own finger at Mark. “And don’t give me ultimatums. I don’t like them. You want to tell him you saw me freak out on the sidewalk. Be my guest. I don’t care.”
She followed Lake’s lead and slammed the back door to sit on the bottom steps that led to the apartment upstairs. The small back courtyard was quiet this morning and empty, thank God. Ten minutes until she could ask Lake how she knew all this stuff.
She glanced into the shop to see her father and Mark talking to each other.
Idiots.
What was with men anyway? Maybe that would be the first question she’d ask Lake. Men could be such jerks! Her dad, Thad! Even Mark. Did they really just think women were there for their convenience, to listen to them give orders? Puh-leeze.
Max raked a hand through his hair. “What the hell did my daughter just mean by that?”
Mark looked at the door as if trying to decide the best route of escape.
Fat chance.
“Um. Well.”
“Answer me. You and my daughter are friends but she’s been through enough this last year. I won’t allow anyone to hurt her.”
At that, the young man leveled those clear blue eyes on him. “I won’t either.”
They glared at each other for a minute until Max again raked a hand through his hair, felt the muscle tick in his cheek.
“Women can be such a pain in the ass.” He took three steps towards the front door, then turned back. “Can I get a coffee to freaking go?”
Mark bit his lip as if trying not to smile. “Yep. How about a large cup of African roast sure to zing you straight into a caffeine high?”
“Fine, but tell me, what did she mean?” Max, a bit calmer, leaned on the counter.
The kid—and he was a kid as far as Max was concerned—took a deep breath. “She was supposed to come over here last night. I saw her leave the house, watched her walk across the street then she turned and went down south. I waited a bit and then wondered where she went. But she didn’t show and I started to get worried so I begged Nina to wait another ten minutes before ending her shift and went to look for Alyssa. She must have walked back up past the shop at some point. I finally saw her huffing and panting outside the coffee shop after she’d run from the opposite direction.” Mark paused and frowned. “Something scared her, scared her bad.” His bright blue eyes locked onto Max’s. “Really bad, Max. I’ve never seen her that shook up. I brought her in here and sat her down, gave her some coffee.” He rubbed his chin. “Then my brother showed up.”