Sylvia Day - A Touch of Crimson

The rush of anxiety startled her. Not because she was feeling it, but because she realized she hadn’t been feeling it until now. All her life, she’d felt rushed and agitated. The sensation was magnified by proximity to nasty creatures, but it was always thrumming inside her regardless. The expectation that she was waiting for something to happen, waiting for the other shoe to drop, had been a part of her existence forever. And now it was gone, leaving behind an unfamiliar but welcome calm. Whatever might happen next, right now-at this moment-she felt grounded and peaceful. To make it even better, she was actually enjoying the serenity.

As she backtracked away from the edge, a large shadow swept across her back and raced along the railing. She glanced up. Sucking in a sharp breath, Lindsay turned completely around.

The sky was filled with angels.

Against the pale pink and gray morning, they dipped and spun in unique, mesmerizing dances. At least a dozen, maybe more, gliding around each other with such grace and skill. Their wingspans were enormous, their bodies so sleek and poised. They were too powerful and athletic… too lethal to inspire piousness, but they stirred reverence nevertheless.

She moved around the corner of the house, discovering that the deck widened extensively at the rear, forming a landing area of sorts. Awestruck and faintly afraid, she remembered to breathe only when her lungs burned. She’d thought she was in over her head with Adrian when he was just a man. Now-

He stood out even among angels. His pearlescent wings glimmered in the rising sun, the crimson tips streaking across the horizon as he picked up speed. He shot upward like a bullet, then plummeted straight down, spinning in a blur of blood red and alabaster.

“I think he’s trying to impress you.”

Lindsay dragged her gaze away. She found Damien standing beside her, his hands on his hips and his attention on the aerial acrobatics taking place above them. He was gorgeous: long and sculpted, with his dark brown hair cut short, and sleek, framing eyes nearly as blue as Adrian’s. But unlike Adrian, there was a stillness about him-like an ocean becalmed. His wings were on display, which she suspected was an intimidation tactic. They were gray with white tips, reminding her of a stormy sky. Framing his smooth ivory skin, they created the effect of a classical marble statue brought to life.

“It’s working,” she confessed. “I am impressed. But don’t tell him I said that.”

A surge of air and the flap of great wings preceded Adrian’s landing in front of her. His feet hit the deck almost silently, something she barely registered because he was bare chested and barefoot.

Holy shit.

Wearing only loose black pants and those glorious wings, his luscious body was on full display. Rich olive skin stretched taut over hard, lean muscle. Her hands ached to stroke his beautifully defined biceps and pectorals; her mouth watered with the desire to lick the fine line of hair bisecting his ridged abdomen. As real as her dream had felt, the reality of him was far more devastating. He’d been crafted by a master hand and honed by battle, and she couldn’t stop her mind from translating all that raw masculinity into hot sexual fantasy. The sheer force of his sex appeal was enough to rock her back on her heels and shorten her breath.

“Good morning,” he greeted her, with that low resonance in his voice that damn near curled her toes. “Did you sleep well?”

She dismissed the déjà vu she was feeling as a lack of coffee combined with the remnants of her very erotic dreams. “I was very comfortable. Thank you.”

“I thought you might sleep for another few hours yet.”

“It’s nine o’clock back home. For me, that is sleeping in.”

“Are you hungry?”

Knowing he didn’t eat food himself made his thoughtfulness even more meaningful. “I’d like some coffee, if you have it. And a few moments of your time.”

“Of course.” He shot a speaking glance at a man standing guard, one of the brawny ones. The guy gave a curt nod before entering the house. “Would you like to go inside?” Adrian asked.

“And miss the air show? No way.”

That earned her a slight smile. She was determined to coax a different sort of smile from him-an intimate one like he’d given her in her dream.

As he gestured toward a teakwood table set nearby, his wings dissipated like mist. “Damien.”

The other angel followed, his wings vanishing just as Adrian’s had. Adrian pulled a chair out for her, then rounded the table and sat next to Damien.

Lindsay was situated so that she faced the east, which set the two impossibly gorgeous angels against the backdrop of sunrise. She took a deep breath, knowing she was at a crossroads. “I’ve taken a serious and sudden detour here. I relocated to California for a job. I had plans, including a hotel reservation last night that I didn’t cancel and will have to pay for. I-”

“I’ll take care of that.”

“I don’t want you to take care of it. Just listen.” Her fingertips drummed on the armrests of her chair. “I appreciate the offer you’ve made to train me, and I want to take you up on it. I’d be stupid not to, since I’m self-taught and apparently blind. I can feel what’s not human, but I can’t narrow that down to what I should-and want-to be hunting. That said, I need to be self-sufficient. I need to have my own place, pay my own way, and come and go as I please.”

“I can’t allow you to put yourself in danger.”

“Can’t allow ?” Lindsay would’ve laughed, but this was a deadly serious turning point in their association. She was well aware that he was a being not of this world, a man of immense wealth in his mortal guise and even greater power as an angel. But she would not be subservient to anyone. Especially him. If she didn’t set the ground rules now, it would be too late.

The guard returned with a tray bearing a carafe, one mug, cream, and sugar. He set them down in front of Lindsay, then resumed his position nearby. Lindsay wondered why angels would need protection, especially protection provided by individuals who radiated less power. From what she’d gathered from the conversation over dinner, lycans were guarding the angels. There was apparently some kind of organizational structure to this supernatural underground she’d been brutally introduced to as a child. She realized she knew little about the things she’d been hunting, which had made the killing so much easier. She was going to have to put them into context now, possibly humanizing them in the process, while still slaying them.

Not for the first time, Lindsay wished she could go back in time. If she hadn’t begged her mother to take her on that damn picnic, Regina Gibson might still be alive now.

“I’m sitting down with you,” she went on, “in an attempt to discuss this situation reasonably so we can brainstorm ideas to meet the challenges while still giving me some independence. But if you’re going to take a my-way-or-the-highway stance, I’ve got nothing more to say to you aside from good-bye. I don’t want to be a sitting duck out there, but, frankly, I’d rather take my chances under my own free will than to lose my autonomy.”

Damien shot a sidelong glance at Adrian, but Adrian never took his eyes off her. There was a faint lifting to one side of his mouth, as if he was tempted to smile. “Point taken.”

“All right then. Any suggestions?”

He leaned back in his chair, sliding his long legs forward to assume a graceful sprawl. Her attraction to him presented yet another hurdle. She’d been looking forward to exploring their chemistry before she knew what he was. Now…? Well, it was going to be very complicated. She didn’t have long-term relationships-she barely had time for herself-and she’d never had a fling with a man she worked with, to avoid the postbreakup awkwardness. She knew if she was still living with Adrian after their affair was over, she would have to watch him date other women. She’d never lived with a lover before, let alone with a former lover who had a new girlfriend. Just thinking about Adrian looking at another woman the way he looked at her incited a possessiveness that startled her with its intensity, especially considering how short a time she’d known him.