“You two just can’t stay out of trouble, can you?” Raphael sighed as he inspected the nasty bruise on my forehead.
I shrugged. “No good deed goes unpunished.”
“Obviously. You’ve gotten in more trouble in one week than I’ve been in for a hundred years,” Gabriel mused as he dabbed a cotton ball doused with rubbing alcohol on Michael’s cuts. He didn’t seem to find it painful, but maybe he was just being manly about it. Figures.
“Just lucky, I guess.”
“Better lucky than smart,” Gabriel said. I stuck my tongue out at him and he chuckled.
“I suppose we should thank you for at least getting rid of Mulciber for a while. There’s no sign of Belial, either.”
I froze. “Does that mean Michael has to leave?”
Silence fell. Michael’s face was blank, but I noticed that his shoulders tensed just a bit.
Gabriel spared me a faint smile. “Normally, yes. However, considering you’ve angered Mulciber I think it’s safe to say you’ll still be needing his protection.”
“Oh. Right.” I felt a flush of heat across my cheeks. If Raphael or Gabriel noticed, neither of them said anything. Fabulous.
“That’s two demons in one city. Maybe you need to move, Jordan,” Michael said, his eyes sparkling as they met mine.
“Please. I’m not going to let two measly archdemons run me out of town. There’d have to be at least…four.”
Raphael finished cleaning and treating my wounds, patting my shoulder. “With your luck, it’ll probably happen.”
He grinned as I glared at him. “Thanks for the confidence boost, Raph.”
“My pleasure. Almost finished, brother?”
“Yes. He’s got a hard head, after all,” Gabriel replied.
Michael rolled his eyes. “If you have something to say, just say it already.”
Gabriel finished wrapping the gauze around his chest and put it back in the First Aid kit before standing. “Be careful. That’s all.”
“I’m pretty sure we won’t get in anymore fights any time soon,” Michael told him, rubbing his bruised cheek with a rueful expression.
Gabriel’s blue eyes twinkled. “I wasn’t talking about fighting.”
We both stared at him with wide eyes, but he merely nodded to both of us and followed Raphael out of my bedroom without saying another word.
The awkward silence started to grow so I sighed and flopped down on the bed with a groan. My eyes fell across Michael’s neck—now noticeably empty.
“I’m sorry Belial took the necklace. I know it was important to you.”
The angel shook his head. “It…couldn’t be helped.”
“Can you sense where he put it?”
“Not really. It’s out of range. He must have thrown it away. Don’t worry about it.”
I paused. “But doesn’t that mean you don’t have anything to protect your heart any more?”
He met my eyes, a slow smile touching his lips. “Guess I’ll have to risk it.”
The eye contact felt far too intimate. I had to glance away. “Well, we’re certainly not going anywhere for a while. Want to do some reading?”
“I had something else in mind,” Michael said, sitting next to me. I swallowed, trying very hard to keep my mind out of the gutter.
“And that is…?”
He held up a DVD case. A Walk in the Clouds. Oh, thank Heaven. “Your less-than-subtle best friend Lauren insisted we should watch it.”
I shrugged. “Eh. Put it on.”
Michael got up and turned the TV and DVD player on while I stared at everything in the room except his rather muscular bare back. No sense in being immature. So we’d kissed. Big whup. Didn’t mean I was going to act like a fifth grader about it.
I nearly yelped as Michael turned the lights off and crawled next to me.
“Just so you know,” I said in a mild tone. “That kiss was a one time thing.”
“Really? That’s too bad, ‘cause I have something for you.”
Surprised, I couldn’t help but glance over at him. He leaned across me, his face drifting dangerously close to mine. Instead of kissing me, he reached for something on the nightstand and brought it up to my face. It was a caramel apple.
“You’re welcome,” he murmured with a secretive smirk. Slowly, I took the apple and unwrapped it, bringing the delicious treat to my lips.