Authors: Melissa Jolley
“Oh, sorry to hear that, Colin. I hope the little one’s all right. It’s fine, I’m waiting for a lift. You get yourself home to the missus.”
He smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Mel, if you’re sure. Kids aye, who’d have ‘em?”
Me.
They walked out together and she watched Colin dash down the street. As he rounded the corner, a large figure stepped out of the shadows just ahead of her.
“Alec,” she said, smiling and taking a step toward him, but she stopped in her tracks and sucked in a sharp breath.
That’s not Alec. Fuck!
She was no good against a demon; her heart tapped out a beat to make the tattoo drummers proud. As her words failed her, her mind thanked God Rosie wasn’t there and prayed for Alec’s arrival.
“I knew you weren’t a lesbian.” The voice was rough, and had a nasty air to it.
She exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and concentrated on her breathing to slow her heart rate. It calmed her enough to think realistically. Drunk human male she could handle, at least she hoped she could.
“I never said I was a lesbian, I just let you assume I was.” She put her hand in her bag, hunting for her deodorant spray.
Shit
, she’d left it in her flat after spraying Alec!
“Hey, I’m sorry if I pissed you off.” She searched for a way out. He was backing her into a corner and that wasn’t good. “But you were scaring my friend. Not the best way to get a girl interested.”
“She looked like she’d like a bit of the rough stuff.” His voice was suspiciously calm and he didn’t sound drunk at all.
“Yes, well
looks
can be deceiving.”
You don’t look like a crazy stalker, yet here we are.
“I’m actually waiting for my boyfriend, I think you should leave.” She tried to keep any panic out of her voice, and decided her success was marginal.
“But we’re just getting to know each other.”
He was only about a meter away now. Melody kept her hands at her side but balled them into fists.
As he took another step forward, a large, dark SUV came hurtling around the corner. The slimy bastard turned, and Melody darted around him, running toward the edge of the road.
The SUV stopped with precision, the passenger door right in front of Melody. The window lowered and she smiled in relief.
“I told you to wait inside.” Alec’s mild telling-off was lessened by his warm smile.
Melody breathed out a huge sigh. As she opened the door, she turned to find the creep had disappeared. She allowed herself a long shiver.
“What’s wrong, Melody?” Alec was suddenly on alert.
“Nothing. Some guy was hassling Rosie tonight, and when I walked outside he came up to me.”
“He what? Are you okay? Damn it, Melody, why didn’t you wait inside!” Alec hit the steering wheel with his open palms.
Startled by the outburst, Melody sucked in a sharp breath, and then focused on his hands, now gripping the wheel to control his temper or sanity—she wasn’t sure which. She watched as tiny sparks continued to break free from his hold and then extinguished quickly.
“I-I-I’m sorry, I-I couldn’t. My boss had to leave.” She stammered and felt the tears prickle, before her own anger rose like a cobra. Her voice trembled slightly as the volume increased and the snake struck. “Where the hell were you anyway? I really don’t need this shit, I didn’t ask to be some fucking demon magnet.” She wished she had a steering wheel to hammer at and hold onto, though she knew it would be far less impressive if she did it, not least because there wouldn’t be an electrical storm under her hands. Melody slumped back in her seat, folding her arms tightly, exhausted by the past twenty-four hours.
There was a pause, and she could see the sparks were becoming fewer and farther between.
“I had some errands to run.” His voice was softer and calmer, and his sparks were gone. “I’m sorry, you’re right, I should have been here. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, really. If I’m willing to stand up to demons I think I can handle an ordinary human male.” Her breathing seemed to return to normal at the same rate as his sparks.
“Are you sure he was ordinary?” It sounded like a genuine question, and not an admonishment of her stupidity, but she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
“Well, I assume so. Look, I’m tired and need a good night’s sleep. Can I go home now?”
Alec didn’t say a word; he just began driving.
The emotion surging through Melody was unbearable. She had been looking forward to seeing Alec since he’d dropped her off at work; even if he couldn’t love her, she could at least enjoy his company. They were two consenting adults enjoying a sexual relationship. But if that was so, then why did she wish that he wasn’t still in love with his dead wife?
They reached an intersection and he turned toward Princes Street.
“Where are you going? My place is the other way.”
“You’re not going to your flat. You’re coming back to my place. You’ve got tomorrow off, right?”
She nodded, incapable of forming coherent sentences.
“Well, it will be a damn sight easier for me to protect you at mine. I’m...I...I don’t expect anything from you, Melody. You’ll have your own room.” He kept his eyes on the road, seemingly unable to look at her.
She couldn’t help finding the way he fumbled over the words anything except sweet. It was as if they hadn’t just had three incredible sexual encounters earlier that evening. “Are you trying to protect my virtue or yours?”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m trying to protect your life. Your virtue is screwed!”
“I’m beginning to understand why you’ve been single for sixty years.” She returned his sly grin. “Grace must have had the patience of a saint.”
Alec’s face softened at the mention of Grace. “She did.”
Melody could have kicked herself for bringing up Grace; he’d only just gotten in a good mood again. A melancholy always accompanied him with the mention of his wife’s name.
They drove the rest of the short trip to his house in silence.
It was four in the morning and Alec lay in bed wide awake, his mind consumed with Melody. He remembered the look on her face when he’d told her off for not waiting for him inside. Upsetting her had disturbed him more than he could have imagined. She’d never admit it, but she needed him.
That damn spirit of hers is willful
. Unfortunately for him, he was starting to get a feeling that he needed her more than he wanted to admit as well.
He imagined her laying in the bed directly above his, fast asleep, and his thoughts turned decidedly erotic. The feel of her warm, wet skin against his, the taste of her lips hinting at the wine she’d drunk. His mouth started to salivate at the thought of kissing down that long beautiful body while his dick hardened at the image he conjured of her naked body.
“Fuck this, I need a drink!” He sat bolt upright and jumped out of bed. As quietly as he could, not wanting to wake Melody, he made his way to the lounge. She needed her rest; it had been a rough twenty-four hours, to say the least.
Alec only wore boxers to bed and hadn’t bothered putting his robe on. He entered a door off the hallway and walked the length of the room straight to the drinks cabinet. Turning on the lamp was made unnecessary by a bright stream of moonlight filtering through the large windows. It was easy enough to find the bottle he was after. Single Malt Vintage Reserve 1973. He took a small glass from the shelf and poured himself a dram.
“Make that two.” The voice in the doorway had a sexy huskiness that almost gave him a hard-on on the spot.
Without a word, he grabbed another glass and did as he was asked.
Melody came and stood beside him, and he felt the brush of her bare skin across his arm.
Alec examined her thoroughly as he handed over her drink. Her body was almost as exposed as his. A fitted T-shirt showed a sliver of midriff above her barely-there underwear.
She noticed his stare. “I don’t have any pajamas here, what’s your excuse?”
“I don’t wear pajamas.”
They smiled and each took a sip of their scotch, though Melody flinched slightly.
Alec retreated slightly into the shadows and sat on large sofa placed in the center of the room, its twin sitting across from it, and a long coffee table between the two. Melody sat opposite him, taking the throw from the back of the sofa and wrapping it around herself.
“Would you tell me about her? Why did you fall for her?” Melody waited patiently for his answer.
“She was beautiful; you saw her picture. However, it was so much more than that. She was so kind and loving. When people are in crisis, we come to them, usually in their dreams and try to help them find the path that will lead them in the direction of good. Obviously, the demons do likewise but in the direction of evil.”
“Makes sense, but what about Grace?”
“I came to her in a dream, and it was as if she saw me, actually saw me and then she spoke to me. She told me she’d made her decision, and that no one and nothing would change her mind.” He smiled at the recollection; he’d been so impressed with her persistence.
“What did she have to decide?”
“Whether to marry a man. His name was Walsh and he was very wealthy. He owned a factory near Carlisle. He was also exceedingly cruel and ruthless, and when he decided he wanted something he generally got it.”
“I’m guessing she said no.”
“Yeah, she said no, but he didn’t like it. First of all, he made things difficult for her family. They had a butcher’s shop. He greased a few palms and made all kinds of trouble for them. He even sent two men after her one night when she was walking home. That’s when I decided I couldn’t watch anymore—I fell, then and there. I landed in the Prince’s Street Gardens, right in front of them. Needless to say, they ran away rather swiftly, but Grace just stood there looking at me.” Alec laughed lightly. “Did I mention I was naked? She covered me with her coat and took me home. She never asked me any questions, she just trusted that I wouldn’t hurt her, some mad, naked bloke who had appeared out of nowhere and she protected me.”
“What about the man she turned down? Did he try anything else?”
“No. I went to him, told him to forget about her.”
“And?” Melody was literally on the edge of her seat.
“The scornful bastard told me she was just a purchase and he was never outbid.”
“Scum! And then what?”
“And then he didn’t say anything, to anyone, ever again.”
Alec watched a shiver roll over Melody’s body.
“He was never going to give up, Melody. I wasn’t prepared for Grace to spend her life in fear. Just as I’m not prepared for you to do that either.”
She stared at his face. He wasn’t sure she’d see much in the shadow, but it took a long moment for her to drop her gaze.
“I’m different though, aren’t I? You were protecting Grace from one human man. You’re trying to protect me from possible demon hordes. I think that would make a difference. You were also in love with Grace.” Her voice dropped to almost a whisper on the last sentence, but he heard her clearly.
Alec stood, walked around the table, and knelt in front of her.
He found her hands among the blanket folds and took them both in his. “Yes, I love Grace, body and soul. However, I care very much about what happens to you, Melody. I swear I’ll do everything I can to protect you.”
She nodded weakly and leaned back into the sofa.
“Come on, you must be exhausted.”
“I just want to stay here a moment. I’ll go up in a second.” She tried to hide the yawn that escaped her, but failed miserably.
“No, you’ll go up now. You’re only avoiding having to walk up those two flights of stairs.”
“It’s a long way up. Can’t I just curl up here?”
He smiled before saying, “No.”
With that, he scooped both Melody and the blanket up in his arms and began carrying her back to her room.
“I’m not a child.” Even if her petulant pout said otherwise.
“You could have fooled me.”
He glimpsed a scowl, right before she snuggled in under his chin. Her hair was soft and silky on his neck and chest. He was enjoying this way too much, and he had a feeling she was too.
When he reached her bed, he placed her down as gently as possible, thinking she’d gone to sleep, but as he started to back away, she reached out and grabbed his hand.
“Please, Alec, don’t leave me alone. I know you think I’m as tough as nails, but I’m soft as a marshmallow really.”
“You need your sleep. I don’t want—”
“Please.”
The appeal in her voice was agonizing to him.
He started to climb in next to her as she made her way under the heavy duvet. She turned her back to him, and he placed his arm over her body, which she quickly grabbed and held to her chest.
“Good night, Alec.” She barely got the last word out through her yawn.
“Good night, Melody.”
She was asleep within seconds. He felt her heart beating under his hand, could hear the deep, slow, and even breaths and all he could think was,
I don’t ever want to let her go.