Julian pressed his body up against her own. She could smell the subtle scent of wood and spice mixed in with a musk that was uniquely Julian. She had to tip her head back to look up at him. She adored how his height and build towered over her own petite, five foot three self. When he stood close like this she felt safe, protected.
He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. Her lips parted allowing his exquisite tongue to slide against hers. She was acutely aware of his hardening erection pressed up against her. Raelyn didn’t know how long they kissed, but eventually her neck started to ache. As if sensing her discomfort, he pulled back, his pupils dilated.
A thrill passed through her because she’d done that to him.
He trailed a finger along her cheek.
“You look like you’re feeling better today” he said, his voice husky with desire. She stared at him, feeling an intensity radiating off of him.
“Much better,” she breathed, her body aching to be skin on skin with him.
“I’m glad,” he pressed his forehead against her own, his hands sliding down to grip her hips tightly. For a moment, she stood confused by his hesitance. He was holding himself back.
The clearing of a throat nearby made her jump.
Hineker.
She’d completely forgotten about Julian’s assistant.
“Um,” she stepped back, her mind scrambling for what to say next.
“You should get out of here.”
Her eyes widened at her loose lips.
“I mean, I’ve got things to do.” She quickly tried to correct herself. “You’ve got things to do too.”
No, that wasn’t any better.
“Before I go back to work tomorrow. I need to do stuff. You’ve been stuck here with me. But I’m feeling better now. You’ve probably got somewhere else to be.”
Her fingers flew to her lips. It felt like the more she talked the deeper the hole she was digging for herself.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Julian chuckled, he shushed her ramblings with a finger to her lips.
“The only place I’ve got to be today is with you.”
Damn, why did he have to go and say something like that? Now she felt twice as bad for accidentally insulting him.
He removed the finger from her lips.
“What do you have to do today?”
She quickly rattled off the first chore she could think of.
“Food shopping.”
“Hineker can do that for you. Give him a list.”
“No,” she shook her head. She couldn’t keep accepting things from him, it wasn’t right. She didn’t want Julian getting the wrong impression. She wasn’t one of those women who expected a man to take care of her. She was used to taking care of herself. “You’ve both done more than enough already,” she said.
“This is your first day feeling better.” Concern touched Julian’s tone. “I don’t think you should be running around by yourself.”
“The market’s not that far. I’ll be fine.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed and Raelyn sensed his frustration before he spoke. “I don’t want you pushing yourself.”
This conversation was not going in the right direction. She’d have to change tactics. “I’ve been cooped up inside all week. I need to get out for a little while.”
“I’m coming with you.”
It wasn’t a request, it was a statement.
She felt something stir in her chest as she gazed at him. A kind of belonging that made her heart twinge. She enjoyed Julian’s presence, and he’d be leaving soon anyway.
Her independence streak faded.
Would it really be that bad if she made the most of her time with him while he was still here?
Chapter 22 - Raelyn
Hineker pulled the SUV up to the front entrance of Bailey & Roy’s Market and stopped. Raelyn watched the personal assistant exit the vehicle and come around to open the door on the passenger side. She followed Julian, stepping out of the SUV.
She’d seen Hineker serve as a chef, a baker, and a chauffeur. Julian’s personal assistant certainly had a lot of duties.
“Wait here,” Julian ordered. “We shouldn’t take too long.”
“As you wish, Master Julian.”
Raelyn raised an eyebrow at the exchange. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard Hineker use the historical title. She had not figured out why.
It was yet another mystery to add to her growing list about these two men.
She grabbed one of the shopping carts by the entrance. At this time of the day, the store was mostly empty, for which she was thankful. While it felt nice to get out of her apartment, she’d prefer if she didn’t have to deal with a large number of auras so soon after her recovery.
Raelyn steered the cart towards the produce section. Julian remained close to her side. Very close.
“Do you have a lot to get?” he asked. His eyes searched the store as if looking for someone or something.
“Not really.” She pulled the shopping list out of her purse. “We should be done in under an hour.”
Raelyn moved through the aisle and gathered the items on her list. She selected bananas, carrots, and spinach first. Her choices weren’t very exciting, but then again, neither was shopping for food.
Julian remained close as she moved, a silent shadow. While she normally enjoyed when he was near, his hovering was starting to make her feel uneasy. Raelyn stared at the list in her hand. If she split up the items between the two of them then they should finish up twice as fast. It would also give Julian something to do.
“Would you grab me six oranges please?”
Julian hesitated for a moment. If she didn’t know better she would’ve guessed that he didn’t want to leave her side.
It was kind of sweet.
It was also mildly suffocating.
As if suddenly realizing the same thing, Julian relaxed and smiled, moving towards the oranges. He grabbed a plastic bag on his way and began tossing the oranges inside one after the other. Without checking them.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Raelyn moved to stand beside him. “What’re you doing?”
“Getting the oranges?” His voice rose at the end, turning the statement into a question.
“Don’t you know how to pick them?”
“Uh,” his eyebrows rose, confused.
Clearly he didn’t.
But, that’s okay, she could teach him.
“Okay, to pick an orange, first look for one that has firm, smooth skin, and no spots.” She selected one from the display. “Once you’ve found one that looks good, you have to judge its weight. The riper the orange, the heavier it is.” She placed the orange in his open palm. “Feel. This one’s too light, it’s not ripe.” She rummaged through the display until she found one that she liked. “Feel this one,” she placed the second orange in his other hand. “This one is heavy for its size, which means it’s ripe.”
Julian eyed the two oranges then moved his hands up and down, comparing the weight.
“While you pick these I’m going to get the avocados and potatoes.”
“Okay,” Julian said, returning his attention back to the display of oranges.
Following her directions he selected the oranges slowly, carefully assessing their size and weight.
The look of concentration on his face made her giggle.
Focus, Raelyn.
She approached the display of avocados at the opposite end of the produce section. As she reached for the fruit, a shadow moved out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head expecting to see someone next to her.
No one was there.
A feeling of unease rolled across her skin. She looked up and down the aisle again.
Still no one.
Raelyn turned back to the display and collected the fruit. She moved towards the potatoes. Goosebumps broke out over her skin. Someone was watching her. She looked over her shoulder. Nothing.
Shaking her head,
she turned back to the potatoes. Maybe she just had to get out of the produce section.
“What else?” Julian asked, pushing the cart closer.
“Meats are next.” She reached for the cart. He moved it out of her range. “I’ve got this. Lead the way.” Walking out of the produce aisle, he stopped and picked up a package of strawberries. He placed them in the cart.
“What’re those for?”
He shrugged. “I like strawberries.”
“Do you like blueberries too?”
“Yeah, I like all types of berries.”
Raelyn smiled. Julian rarely talked about himself. Even this small admission of what he liked felt like a mini victory.
“Well then we’ll need these too,” she moved to the berry display and selected packages of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. She added all of them to the cart.
“What’s all that for?”
“Berry salad.”
Julian’s grin lit up his face. All those straight white teeth played hell with her concentration. His smile was undeniably sexy. Just like everything else about him.
◆◆◆
Raelyn’s good mood sank like a rock tossed into a pond. The doctor had failed to warn her that hallucinations were a side effect of a concussion. It was the only explanation she could come up with for what was happening to her.
While she continued to shop, the feeling of being watched had morphed into the feeling of being stalked. Danger radiated from everywhere she went. In the cereal aisle she snatched a box of cereal from the shadowy section of the bottom shelf before something could reach out from the darkness and grab her. From the rack of toothpaste she settled on the first brand of toothpaste that she saw, rather than look through for the one she really wanted. She was afraid if she took too long something hiding underneath could jump up and bite her. With every shift and twist of the shadows, she jumped and jerked, her imagination running wild. She was convinced that something was going to attack her at any given moment. She couldn’t help but let out a small sigh of relief whenever she regrouped with Julian. When he was near it felt like the air shifted and the danger moved away, taking her unease along with it.
Standing alone in the tea aisle, Raelyn shook her head. She was acting ridiculously. Panicking over something that wasn’t even there. Maybe she shouldn’t have tried to go out so soon after her recovery after all.
She gathered up three different boxes of tea and was pleased to find Julian standing one aisle over, waiting.
“Black, green, or herbal?” she held up the boxes.
“Black,” Julian replied.
“Me too.” She tossed the black tea into the cart and returned the others, pleased to discover one more thing they had in common.
To distract herself from her overactive imagination, Raelyn had started selecting random items throughout the store. She would ask Julian about his preferences, sharing her own along the way.
His taste in meat ran to the classics, beef and chicken. He enjoyed fish too, especially white fish, and also salmon. He didn’t care much for pork or lamb, and ate them only rarely. His sweet tooth was as bad as her own, which certainly explained the daily breakfasts that Hineker prepared. Julian also enjoyed freshly baked breads and homemade pastas.
They walked into the aisle for household goods and Raelyn frowned. Asking Julian about his preferences in cleaning supplies, laundry detergents, or batteries wasn’t very appealing. It was a shame. She’d been having fun learning more about him.
“Can you get the paper towels and kitchen trash bags? They should be over in one of the next two aisles.”
“Sure.”
She watched Julian walk away. She’d just learned more about him in the past hour than she had in the past two weeks. Maybe she should go shopping with him more often.
Raelyn’s grin faded as reality set in. Who was she kidding? Her chances of going shopping with him again, for food or anything else for that matter, were slim at best.
After all, Julian was going to be leaving town sooner or later.
Raelyn walked towards the toilet paper, the last item on her list. Each step grew heavier than the last. She enjoyed her time with Julian. The thought of him leaving filled her with dread. She was anxious to ask him if he was interested in a long-distance relationship but she worried about what he would say. Her emotions were stuck inside a pinball machine, bouncing from one extreme to the next. The doctor really should have warned her that mood swings as well as hallucinations were side effects of a concussion. The constant shift was making it hard for her to think and process everything.
She selected a package of toilet paper from the shelf and a familiar sensation crawled across her skin. She spun around and sucked in a deep breath. Perched on the top shelf was a bodiless hand. It looked exactly like the one she saw at the honky-tonk. The fingers tapped in a rhythmic pattern, the steady beat filled the air with an evil energy.
Raelyn imagined that the hand was waiting for something.
“What’s it waiting for?” she asked out loud.
The fingers stopped tapping. The hand rotated sideways until the thumb was on top. The bottom three fingers and the thumb curled in towards the palm, leaving one finger sticking straight out. Pointing to her.
Raelyn dropped the toilet paper, shocked.
Was this hand the thing that’s been tracking her?
The hand flipped over, now standing on all five fingers. She blinked and it was gone. She yelped at the sudden weight of a hand landing on her shoulder.
“Raelyn, everything alright?” Julian asked, standing next to her with a concerned look. His gaze followed her own to the empty shelf.
“Yeah,” she answered.
Should she tell him? Raelyn hesitated, her past wounds of rejection threatening to tear themselves open. She’d already confessed to seeing the bodiless hand at the bar. Now it was at the market too? A bodiless hand that followed her around town, even she had to admit that sounded crazy. What was the point of a hand without a body, and why would it be stalking her? She didn’t know. Besides, what was she expecting Julian to do about it?
Raelyn shook her head. She’d relied on Julian more than enough already. She couldn’t—she wouldn’t—push the limits of Julian’s tolerance with her eccentricities.
She’d have to figure this one out on her own.
Chapter 23 - Julian
“One, two, three, lift.”
Julian watched Shane and Raelyn prop the corpse up onto a metal chair in front of a poker table. He found the ease with which the two embalmers handled the deadweight impressive.
“I’ve got the head and neck, why don’t you work on the hands.” Shane moved towards the supply cart. He took the pole and began positioning it to keep the head and neck of the corpse in place. Raelyn injected formaldehyde into the hand and began spreading the fingers apart to insert the cards.
The poker table was covered with chips and cards, along with an ashtray and a bottle of beer within arm’s reach of the deceased. More cards were placed on either side of the body, ready for family and friends to join the corpse for one last game.
It was Raelyn’s first day back to work and Shane had offered to help out. Julian leaned against a wall in the back of the room, a silent observer. Raelyn had agreed to let him watch and wait as long as he stayed out of the way while the two embalmers worked.
Extreme embalming, that’s what Raelyn called it. She’d explained that it was an alternative to a traditional memorial service. Instead of being placed in a casket, the loved one was posed doing an activity they enjoyed while they were still alive. This man had been an avid gambler and his favorite game had been poker. The family had requested a poker table and playing cards along with his favorite beer and cigar. His lucky sunglasses covered his eyes, hiding all of his tells for his final game. The two embalmers moved fast and efficiently and it wasn’t long before the viewing room was transformed into a scene straight out of a wax museum.
The demon master
shook his head. It was the strangest set-up for a viewing that he’d ever seen.
“When I die, I want you to bury me playing my guitar,” Shane said, smiling at Raelyn while he worked. “My guitar case too, you can’t forget that. And my demo, you’ll have to include a copy of my demo CD.”
“I’ll agree to the guitar and the case, but not the demo.”
“Why not?”
“Because it should be a copy of your first number one single on the Billboard Country Music Chart.”
Shane chuckled. “Not my first gold certified album?”
“Nah,” Raelyn shook her head. “I’d pick the platinum one.”
“My CMA award?”
“And the ACM award.”
“Don’t forget Entertainer of the Year.”
“And the Grammy.”
The ease with which they bantered back and forth was starting to grate on Julian’s nerves.
“Want to hear it?”
Hear what?
Julian frowned, he’d zoned out, missing part of the conversation.
“Yes,” Raelyn encouraged. She stopped packing up the supplies, giving the tall, blonde, chiseled man her full attention. Her face lit up when Shane began to sing. His smooth baritone caught the demon master off guard. With his flannel shirt, tight blue jeans, and baseball cap, Shane Murphy had the pretty boy looks that belonged to a country music star. Apparently, he had the voice as well.
Shane serenaded Raelyn with a song about tequila, looking good, and windy back roads. Raelyn stared at the singer with a look of wonderment.
Holy hell.
Julian’s lips pressed together. He wanted to kill Shane. The sudden surge of possessiveness caught the demon master by surprise. He’d never been this possessive of a woman before. He slammed the brakes on his thoughts. It felt like jealousy, and that had no place in his life. He was here because he had a job to do, nothing more.
When Shane finished Raelyn clapped wildly. The wanna be country music star rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. Humble.
Demon Aura Page 19
