My dreams were vivid memories. I remembered my back being on Caleb’s floor while he was settled between my legs. His hands held on to my thighs with possessiveness as he moved inside of me. I ran my hands over his arms and back which explained the scratches he’d have there later.
I remembered being on top of him, dragging my teeth down his chest to where I bit him low below his pants line, how I stared into his eyes before kissing him across the mouth sweetly, far too sweet for the animalistic lust claming us.
Everything we had done together and we hadn’t spoken a single word, it was like talking would break the spell brewing between us.
I forced myself to wake up because I didn’t want to know everything we had did together. If I knew I’d never be able to forget. I was sitting up on the couch when Bess made her way back home.
She was smiling. “Get any rest?”
“Yes.” I had already admitted too much to her about Caleb and the rest of my troubles, I decided to stop doing that and hopefully that would help me forget. “You look happy.”
“It’s nice when things go your way that’s for sure. I spoke to my boss and cleared up that Coven mess for you.”
I couldn’t hide the shock and skepticism from my face. “Just like that?”
Bess walked over to a reclining chair and sat. “I believe in being honest especially after what happened between me and Zoe.” She blew out a sigh. “The man I work for is a seraph and your Coven would have to think long and hard before crossing him.”
Well that shut me up. I couldn’t do anything but stare at her like a fish out of water. “And what are you?” that was a smart question. No human was working under a seraph while knowing the truth about them or any of the other supernatural races. A seraph was high on the food chain, very high.
“I’m a half breed.” She wasn’t kidding about being honest. “Matthew is fierce and overly dedicated to his oath to keep peace within the supernatural realms. Helping you helps him keep that balance in more ways than one with you working for the SCF.”
I didn’t know what to say here and that was throwing me for a big loop. Being on my own for so long I usually knew how to play the word game. “I’d like, if possible, for none of the Coven to be hurt.”
“Odd request for people trying to kill you.”
I nodded in agreement. “They’re still my family deep down. My parents are still there and I have a sister trying to claw her way out.”
Bess’ expression went slack with remorse as she no doubt thought of Zoe and their not so clean cut past. “Is there anything you can do?”
“I’m working on it. I should get home and try to figure out my mess.” I stood from the couch.
“Do you want a ride?”
“No, walking sounds like it might help. Thank you for everything.” I never would’ve imagined the tremendous help Bess would be when she cornered me in La Amour.
“Don’t worry about it. When you have some free time swing by here later. There are a few things we need to get squared away before you can start with the SCF.”
I agreed to stop by before work. Until I had a set date for the SCF task force I’d stay on helping Dominic and Michael with the restaurant. I walked away from her cottage dreading every step back home. It was inevitable I’d run into Caleb and he’d of course want answers about his offer.
The thought of seeing him after everything we had done and everything I had remembered left me terrified. How did he feel about it? Did he regret it? Well why wouldn’t he. We barely got along on a good day; it’d be stupid for Caleb Nikolas to want some sort of relationship with a mess like me. The bigger question was did I regret it? I was mortified the whole exchange took place and I was trying to forget every second but I couldn’t answer if I regretted it or not. I did however regret breaking the trust we were building when it came to helping each other.
Mind blowing sex, that’s what it had been; mind blowing sex I wasn’t sure I regretted experiencing. Every woman should have mind blowing sex at least once and with Caleb we had taken each other several times to mind blowing and beyond.
Alone in the middle of the street I cursed loudly and cursed my bad luck. Not only had I had a very pissed off powerful Coven of witches after me I added to the problem by having raw animalistic sex with Caleb on his living room floor. It never would’ve happened if I hadn’t been so pissed off and high on magic. My usual self never let my guard down that much. Michael had been the only man I slept with up until yesterday. Prude timid me never would’ve had raw sex with Caleb without a very big push. A push I’d never have again with the Coven finally off my back.
I knew they wouldn’t be reckless enough to cross a seraph with a bloodline to a ruler of heaven. No one was that stupid.
It was another fifteen minutes of walking and thinking before I turned on to my street. I had tried to make myself feel better by convincing myself I could prolong seeing Caleb again, maybe run into him weeks from now by some shred of luck but alas no go. He was standing on my porch waiting.
He noticed me quickly on the street. I figured he knew my scent pretty well by now and probably noticed me before I noticed him. My stomach knotted up with nerves as I got closer to face the big bad wolf head on. Make it quick, I told myself.
He spoke first. “You look well for someone I feared was being tortured and left in a ditch somewhere dead.” his voice carried the same warmth of icicles hanging over your head ready to fall and impale you.
I felt guilty for leaving him with no answers and tried to smooth it over. “I know I left you hanging and after all you’ve done trying to help me that wasn’t fair. I’m sorry. I don’t have to worry about the Coven trying to extract revenge anymore. It’s been taken care of and you don’t have to worry about me running into your place for help.” In hindsight, a lot of the mess could’ve been avoided had I sought a different hiding place both times the Coven managed to corner me.
“So that’s it?”
I said my whole piece without actually looking at him, I glanced up then to meet blue fire, his voice was cold but his eyes were pure inferno. I mentally stabilized myself and tried to figure the whole thing out. “Why are you upset now? I apologized for not getting back to you sooner with an explanation. I thanked you for your help. It’s over now.”
His jaw set in a tight square, a storm of blue raced across his orbs. “Right. Goodbye.”
Tears stung my eyes as he brushed past me and kept walking without a glance back. I knew I deserved it for saying all the wrong things. It was better like that though. Caleb had a daughter and a whole pack to watch over, he didn’t need me causing trouble and deflecting his attention from who was important to him. My deal with Bess was the best thing for everyone involved.
Caleb was a man who always relied on a cool exterior and I knew by the way he stormed away from me he was pissed off. I pissed him off. That bothered me more than I could’ve imagined as tears kept rolling free. I didn’t want to hurt me.
I took the last few steps to my porch and sat on the top step. “Shit.” I ran my hands over my face and tried to calm the hell down. Crying about a guy wasn’t me. If I could survive getting over Michael, than this was nothing.
Nothing….yeah who the hell was I kidding. It was something and it’d been brewing into something with Caleb for awhile now. I’d been doing a good job at ignoring that, denying it with every breath, and that’s what I had to keep doing. I stood from the step and went inside my house.
My first order of business was showering with my own soap and changing into my own clothing. My next order was business was raiding my kitchen for all the junk food possible.
I used food to help me lock away all my personal revelations to a place I could forget existed. After I finally felt like my usual self, I called Bess and told her I was free ahead of time. She gave me an address to meet her at. I was walked out for the day and got in my car to meet her.
When I finally saw Bess twenty minutes later I had some questio
ns. “I thought we were going to meet at the SCF headquarters?” I asked as I looked around what looked like a big empty space under construction.
“In the next several weeks this will be our offices and I won’t have to camp out in the PD conference room. I brought you here to talk about a new idea I’ve been working on, something I want you to be part of.”
I had been waiting for the other shoe to drop, I knew her deal last night and that morning was too good to be true. I looked around and decided to hear her out before letting my anger do the talking for me, seeing as it was still the best choice I’ve been offered. “This is a lot of space for just a special task force spun from the CPD. What else do you have planned?”
“Something I think you’d like a lot. With this position you wouldn’t have to be in nightly and wouldn’t advertise your new career choice.” She was right I did like the sound of that. “We have plans to expand the SCF more into its own law enforcement department away from the CPD. Like most police departments we’d have different levels of officers to handle all different types of cases. I want you to be part of the tougher cases where your magic can come in handy and save lives.”
I had to hand it to her, Bess really knew how to make a sales pitch. Instead of declining like I intended just a minute ago, I was giving her some serious thought. She got the Coven off my ass and for a debt that big I owed her. I knew when she said tougher cases she meant it’d be dangerous felons who could probably kill me if I wasn’t careful. It seemed like I’d be changing one death wish for another except this time I wasn’t the target and like Bess kept promising I’d have control. “You said I have the option to try it out and walk away if I’m not comfortable.” I reminded her of our conversation from last night.
“Yes and that will always hold true. I’m not in the business of forcing anyone into doing something they don’t want.” Her eyes darkened at a past memory she spoke about in her bouts of raw honesty; the father controlling her life.
I stuck my hand out for her to shake, she blinked and all her past nightmares faded from her eyes. “You have a deal.” After everything that’s happened lately I didn’t know how to be optimistic, right now all I could do was hope everything worked out half as well as she pitched the idea.
“Let’s head back to my temporary office to get your paperwork filled out and then I’ll tell you about your first case.”
Well hello other shoe. “So soon?”
“This is the start of a beautiful partnership Ms. Cortez and no time is wasted. There’ll be long nights and sometimes even longer days.” She sounded like one of those drill commanders from the movies as we walked back to her car.