Magical Temptations, page 24
I nodded. “Definitely.”
Davies glanced at Rhett and Venni. Rhett shook his head and chuckled while Venni sent me a real smile.
“I’m going home,” Davies grumbled. “Alone apparently.”
I blinked innocently at him. “Did you expect anything else?”
He sent me his puppy dog eyes, and I turned away to keep showering my truck with attention, ignoring him.
Davies chuckled. “Be prepared, I’m only giving you a couple of days to rest before I’m coming for you. I want a date. Just you and me.”
I swallowed at the thought, anticipation warming my stomach. This was reality. I was really going to date at least Rhett, Venni, and Davies. A small part of me had thought it was the assignment and everything going on, but Davies only proved me wrong.
He saw the hesitancy in my expression when I turned to face him, and he stalked over to me, his expression serious.
“I have you now, Laila, and I’m going to fight to keep you.” He pulled me into a hug far gentler than I expected from him. His scent wrapped around me. I closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth of his hard body. “So be ready.”
Davies pulled me away far enough so he could lean down and kiss my cheek, so dangerously close to my lips. I wanted to close the inches needed for our lips to connect. The warmth in my body flared alive, but all too soon he pulled away, leaving me wanting more.
He grinned. “Tomorrow,” he said. “I promise.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You better.”
His grin widened even more, if it were possible, showing off his straight white teeth, his eyes lit with anticipation and excitement, and maybe a little bit of pride too. He walked off with a little bit more in his step, telling the world he was in a good mood now.
“See you soon,” Rhett said, giving me a quick kiss on my forehead, his hand holding my own. I was temporarily blown away by his tenderness before he moved away from me. “Eat some food and get some rest.”
“I will,” I said.
He nodded and then went off.
I glanced at Venni since he was the only one left. He stared at me, contemplating something hard. I remembered they mentioned his pack believed in mates. One mate. He expected to get heat for it, and as I stared at him now, I wondered if he regretted his choice to go into this unconventional dating relationship with me.
“Come here,” he said.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him as I approached him. He hadn’t had a chance to clean up yet, so he looked rugged instead of the well put together Venni I was used to seeing. He had a light dusting of facial hair, dark against his tanned skin. Somehow, his nearly black hair had managed to grow a couple inches, now long enough for me to grip, though just barely.
His eyes were intense, his energy crackling the closer I got to him.
“My family doesn’t matter,” he said when I was a foot away from him. He reached out and tugged on my arm. “I like you. I have for a while. My family can fuck themselves for all I care. I’m in. Don’t look like that again.”
I licked my lips and liked how he focused on that movement. I didn’t notice until now how much power I had over him, how much he watched me. “Like what?” I asked, not even caring that my voice sounded huskier than it should.
He leaned forward so his forehead rested against mine, his energy seeping into my skin. I felt like I was wrapped in a warm blanket. “Like you expect me to back out of this. You don’t know this, but we talked, the guys and me. We talked a lot. We’re in. If you’re in, we’re in. We do what you want to do, go at your pace. All of us, including me, are completely committed. And if you don’t want any of us…” He shrugged. “We’ll deal with it.”
“I…I don’t want you to get in trouble with your family.”
He snorted. “I don’t care. My mom… she lost her mate after my little sister was born. After that, she was alone. She’s always alone and it made me think… I didn’t want to find my mate only to leave her alone. I know the risks with my job. Someday, I might not come back. I wouldn’t want to leave my mate alone.”
I smacked his chest, my eyes burning at the thought. “Don’t think like that.”
“Laila, it’s reality.”
“Don’t remind me,” I grumbled.
He smiled and pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around me. His hug encompassed all of me and my magic rose, mixing with his energy. I gasped as they balanced each other, and for a moment, I could feel his emotions. He was as nervous as I was—a little worried, but I could also feel his commitment. He wanted this. As quickly as I felt the connection, it was gone, there long enough to give me a glimpse into the man before me.
“I believe you,” I whispered.
“Good. Now go home, rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I groaned.
He chuckled. “We have to report in about the assignment, debrief Lombardi.”
“Can’t I write him a nice long email?” I asked.
“No. Be there. Besides, I know you want to check on Elliot.”
“You’re not fair,” I said because he was right. I was itching to check on Elliot. If I thought I could get away with it, I would have gone there now, but even I knew I was tapped out. Exhaustion tugged at me. I had enough juice to get my butt home and hopefully into my bed. My very much needed nice warm bed.
I pulled away. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Venni tilted his head to the side before glancing away. I followed his sight and saw Alijah standing there.
“Bye, Laila,” Venni said, nodded at Alijah, and left.
“You really did come,” I said, turning to face the tiger shifter.
“I really did. I said I would be here.” He held up my keys. “I’ll drive you home.”
“How the hell did you get those?” I asked, moving to grab them. He pulled away, out of my reach. “My truck wouldn’t give them to you.”
Alijah smiled. “No, he’s a stubborn bastard. But so am I.” He nodded toward my truck. “Get in. I’ll drive.”
“I can drive myself.”
“I know.”
He went around the truck and got into the driver’s side and left me standing there speechless. I had no choice but to crawl into the passenger seat.
“You’re exhausted, Laila. I can tell. And rumors are already spreading about what happened. Let me drive you home safely.”
“How are rumors already spreading?” I asked.
“Shanton called Lombardi with his report earlier this morning.”
I cocked an eyebrow as Alijah turned on my truck and it purred to life.
“It was a good report, Lombardi is proud. Plus there’s been a few more cases that came our way because of your trip. That says enough. Clients like to talk too.”
“I swear, for a security company, information spreads around an awful lot.”
Alijah chuckled. “Not much can stay a secret. While everyone in the company knows, none of it leaves the building without Lombardi’s permission.”
“Uh huh,” I mumbled and stared at the passing scenery.
“You’re exhausted, go to sleep. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice as my body shut down and I fell asleep.
It only felt like minutes before Alijah was waking me up.
“What?” I asked, rubbing my eyes. I could barely function like this. I needed more sleep.
“We’re here,” Alijah said. I blinked a few times, trying to get past the blurriness. We were in the garage.
“How did you get inside?” The way security was set up, he wouldn’t have been able to. Only residents were able to drive through. I unbuckled my seatbelt.
“I helped set up the security here,” he said.
“Oh.” I guessed he’d have to come back here every so often for upgrades.
“I’ll walk you up,” he said and jumped out of the truck before I could say anything else.
A moment later, my door was popped open. Unfortunately, I was leaning against it and fell out. Alijah’s arms wrapped around me and pulled me out before I could hurt myself. My face felt hot with embarrassment, and he chuckled.
“You can’t even stay on your feet right now,” he said.
“I think I finally reached my limit,” I mumbled.
His expression softened as he set me down. “Come on, Doctor, let’s get you home where you can safely pass out.”
He walked me into the elevator and we had no issue getting it to bring me to my floor.
“Why did you bring me home?” I mumbled.
“Because I didn’t want you getting hurt.”
I snorted. “I would have been fine.”
“Maybe, but I needed to see you for myself. I needed to see that you were still breathing and talking. Having you gone like that, without me there to back you up, was hard. I should have gone. I wanted to go.”
“But work first.”
He nodded. “And Lombardi picked who I would have picked to go with you.”
“Why are you all so protective?”
I unlocked my wards and opened the door.
“Comes with the job. Every bastard in that company is protective to some degree. We’re all built that way. We wouldn’t be in the profession if we didn’t care. For shifters, it’s worse. It’s ingrained in us to protect what’s ours.” His expression sharpened as he stared at me. “We always protect what’s ours. Even with our dying breath.”
My breath hitched at the intensity of his orange eyes, the red flecks shimmering as the light refracted. He cupped my chin and tilted my head.
“Go to sleep, Laila. Get some rest. We’ll talk later.” He leaned over and kissed my lips. Well, it was more like a brush, an innocent touch. A promise. I shivered against the touch of his lips against mine and reached over to grab his waist.
Alijah pulled away all too soon, leaving me breathless and needing more. I was awake now. He smiled and left me standing at my door, staring dumbly after him as he got on the elevator and the doors closed. He never looked away from me until he was out of sight.
I stood there a moment longer, trying to collect all my thoughts.
What the hell was I getting myself into with these guys? Was dating them all a good idea? And was it even fair for them? I meant… I got at least four guys out of the deal while they only got me. And Alijah didn’t outright say he wanted to date me, but that kiss said enough. He was interested in me too.
Shaking my head, I went into the apartment, closing the door and activating my wards. Dating four men at least. That wouldn’t be easy. I couldn’t even imagine how that would work.
I thought about what Venni said about his mother. My heart ached at the idea of loving someone, for them to be someone so important to me, and then having them ripped away. My imagination alone had me wanting to sob, and I’d never had this happen to me before, so I doubted I came close to the pain his mother felt. It also helped me understand better why he was open to this type of relationship. If something happened to him, others would be there to help ease the pain of his loss.
I hoped we never got to that point because I couldn’t imagine Venni not there, silently protecting and guiding me. Always anticipating my moods and acting accordingly.
Once I made sure my security was firmly in place, my legs turned into jelly and I nearly fell to the ground. I moaned and shuffled to my room, lasting long enough to strip my clothes before I face planted onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
I was dead asleep when something woke me up. It wasn’t a sudden noise, or a phone ringing, or anyone pounding on my door. It was a shift in magic. Something had brushed up against my barrier at the front door and my heart went into overdrive at the invasion while I was at my weakest.
I popped up, already focused on my bedroom door. I drew on the little bit of magic I managed to pull into my reserves and got to my feet, padding silently over to the door. I pulled on the robe that hung on the back of the door and slipped it on before sending out tendrils of magic to determine what was going on. No one should be here.
My magic didn’t pick up on anything, and I cracked open the door, peeking into the rest of apartment, seeing nothing out of order. Whoever had been at the door didn’t get in. Light on my feet, I went to hit the screen next to the door so I could see the other side. No one was there, the elevator was in the basement garage.
My magic still didn’t picked up anything.
I opened the door, glancing to the little bit of shadows the lighting created in the corners, but no one was around—at least no one I could sense. For all I knew, someone could have been standing right in front of me. I stepped out and my bare foot landed on something other than the rug. I glanced down and frowned at the envelope. Someone had definitely been there.
I grabbed it, slammed my door shut, locked it, deadbolt it, and threw on the chain for good measure, even though I knew that wouldn’t really stop anyone wanting to get in. I sent in my magic to boost my barriers, hating that someone had come by without my permission.
I glanced at the envelope, flipping it over to see my name in beautiful cursive on the front.
My magic surrounded the envelope, searching, and came up empty. This wasn’t a magical bomb or some kind of trap. I tore it open and pulled out a heavy stock paper with handwriting just as beautiful as the front of the envelope.
I blinked, trying to read, thinking my mind was too tired and was making shit up to fill in the blanks.
“Invitation?” I muttered.
I held an invitation to a dinner party with the elementalists.
Hell no.
I still wanted nothing to do with them. I tossed it on a side table, checked the apartment, and then went back to my room and to bed, pushing the invitation out of my mind. Elaria knew I wanted nothing to do with them.
Chapter 24
I chugged the rest of my coffee as I walked into Biomystic Security then tossed it in a nearby garbage bin before heading to Lombardi’s floor. We were going to meet in his private conference room to go over everything that had happened over the last five days.
I still couldn’t believe it when I realized the date. Five days had passed. That meant we’d spent nearly two of them in those tunnels. With everything that had happened, I felt like it should have been years.
Lombardi’s secretary smiled when I came in.
“Hello, Ellana,” I greeted her.
“Dr. Porter, would you like something to drink?” she asked as she showed me to the conference room. I was the only one there right now.
“More coffee, please,” I said.
“Of course. Lombardi and the others will be with you shortly.”
I nodded and sat at the end of the table, facing the door. She came in a couple minutes later with a steaming mug of fresh coffee, the smell helping to wake me.
“Morning, Babe,” Davies said, breezing into the room and quickly taking the chair to my right. He sent me a wink, looking completely refreshed.
“Someone slept well,” I said.
“Of course, my bed is a beast. Though I was lonely last night without you.”
I rolled my eyes as Venni and Rhett came in with Lombardi right behind them. They settled down and we spent the next hour going over all the itty bitty details of the assignment and what happened. We went over who went with us into the caves, the traps, the pesta, the room I found, the illusions, and finally the artifact. We talked about the elementalists and my strong dislike for them.
“Just say you hate them,” Davies said, laughing.
“Fine,” I said. “I hate them. I absolutely hate the elementalists. They need to get that stick pulled out of their asses and shoved off their make believe throne. Maybe for good measure, burn it too.”
Lombardi fought a smile. “You might be more similar to them than you think.”
I sent him my best scathing glare. “I will never be like them.”
I dug out the invitation and tossed it toward Lombardi. It slid across the smooth table and landed near the edge, almost falling into his lap.
“They’re pompous and think the world is theirs to do with what they want. They were cocky enough to go up against Nature.”
“What is this?” Lombardi asked.
“They want me to go to a dinner party, no doubt to show me off and try to get me in their clutches.”
Lombardi’s expression didn’t give anything away. “Do you want to go?”
“No.”
He nodded. “Then don’t.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Nothing about how they would be a great connection to have?”
“No. You know that isn’t how I run my company. Would they be a good connection? Yes. Of course. But I’m not sacrificing my employees to be in their good graces. I can’t force you to do anything you don’t want to.”
I sighed, the tension leaving my body. I guess I figured the businessman side of him would have come out to play, but I should have known better. He always put his employees first.
“Now, to wrap this up, Shanton sent me his report. He gave us a bonus; your shares are in your bank accounts already. He gave you guys glowing reviews and has already sent us some more assignments.” He held up his hand to stop us before we could say anything. “The assignments will be given to others. You guys can take a couple of days off to recuperate and then I expect to see you first thing next week.”
With that, the meeting adjourned.
The guys went ahead of me. When I reached the door, Lombardi called out.
“Laila.”
“Yeah?”
“Soon, I’m taking you out on that date I promised.”
I stared at him dumbly, before my face heated and I slipped out of the room. I took a moment to process what he’d said. Lombardi wasn’t kidding. He really wanted to date me.
I shook my head and headed to the medical floor and directly to Elliot’s room. When I peeked through the door, I grinned. He was standing by the window, looking out into the city, and he looked so much better. The fact that he was even up was a strong testament that he was doing well.
“I’m alive,” I said, opening the door wider. He turned to me, his gray eyes taking me in.
“Barely from what I heard,” he said. He moved over to the small table in the room and sat down, his shoulders slumping a little.
