by C. L. Parker
Okay, that might be a tad dramatic, but the concept was the same. Kerrigan felt compelled to drop her guard and share her secret with a complete stranger, and as dangerous as that might have been, she felt like her secret was perfectly safe with Andrew Dickens. He just had an aura about him that oozed familiarity, safety... home.
He reminded her of her grandmother. Still, she had to proceed with caution.
Her answering nod was almost nonexistent. “Why would you say something like that, Mr. Dickens?”
Drew leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. “Because, Miss Cruz, I’m a Guardian of the Light, too.”
Drew pulled away from Kerrigan, but not before he inhaled her scent. Just like he had suspected, she smelled of sunshine and warmth.
A smile that he knew had the power to entice women on its own made an appearance and he studied her eyes, their color reminding him of a calm, midday sky. Little specks of the power contained within them sparked minutely, so dimly that only someone who knew what they were looking for would recognize it.
Oh, yes... the power of the Light that surged through her veins was potent. And judging by the look of surprise on her face, she was but a babe in her illustrious gift.
He knew from the moment he caught the glare of her gift in his peripheral vision that he was near a Guardian, but he had to do a double-take to be sure it wasn’t the play of the sun reflecting off the metal of one of the many cars parked in the lot just over the sand dunes behind her. He had met a few Guardians over his nearly thirty years of life, so his confidence that she was among the elite bloodlines wasn’t unusual. Pure and goodhearted by nature, he knew it was safe to reveal their common bond.
But she wasn’t quite as sure.
His degree in psychology with a specialization in human emotions and behavior had prepared him well enough to use facial expressions and body language to decipher a person’s mental state, despite what they might otherwise have others believe with words alone. He could pinpoint any little nuance they might seek to hide. Or make blatantly clear.
Kerrigan shook her head. “I’m sorry, what?” Denial. Her brow furrowed. Confusion. Her muscles bunched, and she shifted as if her body wanted to flee, but common sense forbade it lest she give away the truth she was trying, unsuccessfully he might add, to conceal.
“You’re a Guardian, and so am I.” His voice was sure, his posture steadfast.
She looked him over, her head cocked and eyes narrowed. Drew could practically hear the wheels grinding in her sweet brain, turning over every plausible explanation, every reason to believe and not to believe that he was what he claimed.
Perhaps it was curiosity that demanded she stay.
The gold band that hung from the chain around his neck heated against his chest, reminding him that part of his uncanny ability to decipher fact from fiction lay within the magical alloys of its composition. The Ring of Truth, as his family had come to call it, always burned hot when a person within its vicinity told a lie. The ring was forged way before his time, or that of his father or grandfather. No one knew for sure how his family had come to possess it, but rumor was that it had first been given to his ancestor, his great-great-grandfather’s father, Charles Dickens. The Charles Dickens.
But Drew didn’t need the Ring of Truth to tell him what was about to happen.
Kerrigan licked her lips, an elementary indicator that she was preparing to tell a lie and needed the extra lubrication to force the words past the unwilling gatekeepers. Shifting eyes sought out a response with which her honest conscience could bear to let her tell. And then she turned her gaze away, unable to look him in the eye.
“I... I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lie.
“Girl, what the hell is wrong with you?” Gabe asked in a high-pitched voice. He was excited, unlike his companion. “You know exact—”
The whip of her head in his direction and the cutting glare she shot him stopped him dead in his tracks. Her words were measured, meant to convey a hidden message that was easily deciphered. “You’re looking a little pinkish, Gabe. I think it’s time for us to go home before you get a raging case of sunburn.”
It was an idle threat, one she had no intention of acting on. As a Guardian, she would never use her gift on someone for whom she cared. She leaned toward her friend, the lines of her body soft—as if seeking comfort, proof of the contradiction to her words—it was easy to see she cared very much for Gabe.
A relative, or perhaps a best friend.
Drew rested a hand on her bare shoulder, and she turned to look at it before lifting her eyes to his face. In an attempt to make her feel more comfortable, he removed the clearly unwanted intrusion, but not before he felt the muted hum of vibration that passed between them. Her mouth dropped open, searching for words. She felt it, too.
He made sure to soften his voice, oozing honesty and sincerity. “Kerrigan, Guardians can sense each other. We’re like a beacon even on the brightest of days. Even if your skin didn’t glow, I’d know it by the illumination in your eyes. You don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m one of the good guys. I can help you.”
She scoffed. “How do you know I need help?”
He sighed, his honey-colored eyes exuding warmth. “Everything happens for a reason. I believe I may have been sent here to find you.”
Dominic slouched on the floor of the balcony with his guitar in his lap, a beer in one hand and a lit cigarette nestled between the fingers of the other. He was barefoot and shirtless, a pair of worn jeans his only clothing. Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here played softly in the background, and the back of his head rested on the wall behind him. His eyes closed in quiet contemplation. That was after about an hour or so of his mind screaming every profanity known to man. In English and Spanish. The seven empty bottles that littered the space around him, as well as the ashtray full of cigarette butts, were evidence of the storm that had ripped through him before the calm had taken over. Yeah, he might have been a little stressed, and a whole lot of fucked up.
His body had returned to its solid state after about ten minutes of flickering as if it just couldn’t decide which it preferred, ghost or human. He knew which he preferred, and it scared the shit out of him that he had no control over it during a time that he should have. What the hell did it mean? He had been racking his brain ever since in an attempt to come up with a theory that sounded at least halfway plausible, but no matter which angle he took, it just didn’t make any sense.
Not that turning into a ghost every night at midnight made much sense in the first place, but at least he had come to terms with that. Somewhat. It had at least been consistent. Vaporizing in the middle of the day? Not so much.
The only conclusion he could draw was it had to have something to do with the dream and the light that blasted out of him like some sort of high-budget sci-fi movie. He had to admit it was pretty handy, though. It sure got rid of Drake quick, fast, and in a hurry. Beat the shit out of him as to how he did it, but he wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Okay, maybe he would. He just couldn’t let something like that go without questioning it.
The mechanics of the possibility of that happening wasn’t exactly forefront in his mind. The most pressing issue was why his ghost form had won the battle with his human form, even if only for a moment.
A surge of energy?
Rationally speaking, the Light was what had saved him both times that he’d had his soul restored to its rightful place. And essentially, that’s what the Light was—energy. Pure, unadulterated energy. Whenever Kerrigan or Availia had used their Light in the past, they had always been weakened and had to replenish their supply of power from natural light sources or, when desperate times called for desperate measures, the coral seas passion flower paste.
But he wasn’t Availia or Kerrigan, and he most certainly wasn’t a Guardian of the Light, so it just didn’t add up.
The purr of the Hemi engine he knew all too well reached his ears and pulled him o
ut of his thoughts. Kerrigan was home. Maybe she could help him figure out what was going on. Things always seemed to make more sense when she was around, even though she was just as new to all the incomprehensible things that happened in their world as he was. It was like the blind leading the blind, but at least he’d be able to think more clearly knowing that she was there with him, safe and sound.
Holding onto the banister for leverage, he managed to haul himself up to a standing position. He swayed on his feet and opted to take a minute to wait for his surroundings to stop spinning before he attempted to climb back through his window, which was no easy feat in his buzzed state.
Entering his room relatively unscathed, he tackled the stairs that led to his door. Millie was already there, tail wagging and anxious to be set free to run to his favorite person, his adopted mom. He knew the feeling. He was anxious to see her, too, but for entirely different reasons.
Finally having made it to the top of the stairs, Dominic stopped and seemed to breathe a little easier just seeing her. Millie was already at her feet, jumping up and down and giving her little yips and yaps that weren’t quite barks. He sort of reminded Dominic of a child telling its mother all about how they spent their day while she was away.
The thought made him think about the baby from the dream, their baby, and he smiled. It wasn’t hard to imagine the kind of mother Kerrigan would be. She would be kind, doting and unwavering in her devotion to their child. So unlike his own mother.
Kerrigan bent, giving the pup the attention he sought while he bathed her in wet tongue kisses. When she stood, Millie’s hyperactive antics turned to Gabe.
“Hey, Mills! Did you miss me?” Gabe scooped him up. “I’m going to run up and get a quick shower, girl. I’ve got sand in places that are not very ladylike. If I squeeze the cheeks of my beautimus gluteus maximus together hard enough, I’m pretty sure I can produce some diamonds. And even though diamonds are a girl’s best friend, chafing is not.” He stopped on the stairs when he saw Dominic and put his hand on his hip. “House rule number one, Dom...” Kerrigan turned to look at him when she heard his name. “No half nakedness in common areas. Not that I think you would ever admit it, but I swear I think you do it on purpose. Tease.”
“Bite me.” Dominic smirked.
“I’ve tried, yet somehow you keep wiggling out of my hold, afraid I’m going to pass my gayness off on you like rabies from a dog.” He swept past him in dramatic fashion. “Where’s Colton?”
“He said he had some work to do on some sort of research and took his laptop to his room.”
“I’ll check on him in a minute. He’s been really tired lately. Y’all go do whatever it is that y’all do, and don’t think I don’t know exactly what that is.”
As Gabe headed off in the direction of his bedroom, Dominic turned his attention to Kerrigan, who was still staring up at him with a sexy little number of a smile that twitched at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes gave his body an intimate sweep, and the muscles in his upper torso flexed under her gaze while the front of his button-fly jeans tightened. An involuntary reaction to her closeness. He loved that she found him so attractive.
“I missed you, Querida.”
The color of her eyes flashed bright for just a second and then she took the steps two at a time to get to him. He caught her in his arms as she crashed into him, nearly knocking them both to the ground. Propelled by the force she exuded and his imbalance—thanks to his inebriated state—his back collided with the wall.
She kissed him passionately, and he reveled in the shiver that vibrated through her when he parted his lips to accept her offering. Icy breath was a side effect of his unnatural composition, but she loved it. Apparently she didn’t think the beer tasted too bad either.
Lips, so sensual yet demanding, pulled him into a deep kiss that she controlled like a pro. Usually, he was the one in control, but he relished the few times when she was so desperate for his touch that she took it from him. Kerrigan melted against him, and his strong arms held her as if he could physically mold them into one person.
Slender fingers pushed through his hair, her nails scraping his scalp as she tugged at his mane and hooked her leg over his hip to roll against his hardness. He could feel the warmth of her arousal through the thin material of the bikini bottom that barely covered the cheeks of her ass under her sundress. He squeezed the succulent flesh of her bottom and pulled her against him, wanting to give her the friction she desired and so much more.
Kerrigan moved her leg even higher up his thigh, giving an open invitation for his touch. A moan of pleasure spilled from her lips when he moved her clothing to the side and palmed her intimately, working his hand in time with the rocking motion of her hips.
Dominic flipped them around, pinning her to the wall as he continued to work her. Her hands trailed over the muscles of his chest and abdomen until her fingers were deftly working the buttons of his jeans to take him in hand.
“I want you inside me,” she whispered against his lips.
The feeling was mutual.
“Let’s go to our room,” he said as he began to pull away.
“No. Right here. Right now.” The intensity of her eyes bore into him, unyielding in their demand.
“But... Colton, Gabe—” He was cut off by the strong tugging of her fingers on the waist of his jeans that forced him against her once again.
“Let them see,” she whispered in unspoken proclamation that she would not be denied.
“Dios mio,” he growled, and then kissed her in hunger.
Her leg was over his hip again, and she had a hold on his cock, guiding him. Unable to refuse her what she so desperately wanted, Dominic pulled her bikini bottom to the side and buried himself deep inside her.
She inhaled sharply, stealing his breath as their foreheads met. Eyes locked, mouths agape, they moved together to achieve their pleasure. With each surge of his hips, he drove her up the wall and back down again. With one hand in the hair at the nape of his neck, and the other tucked down the back of his jeans to grip his ass, Kerrigan pushed and pulled at him, aiding in his effort to bring them both to climax before Gabe or Colton could make an appearance and catch them in the act.
Admittedly, Dominic almost wished they would.
His thrusts came faster and harder, in time with the rapid thump of his heart against its cage as he grunted. Using one hand against the wall for leverage and the other to hold her ass at just the right angle for his unrelenting strokes, he manipulated that perfect spot deep inside of her. When she began to moan louder, he smothered the sound with his mouth, the movement of his tongue against hers mimicking the ferocious intensity of his hips. She tasted divine, like the sweetest fruit, and he couldn’t get enough.
Her body went rigid, her orgasm lighting the wick to his own until he was quickly exploding inside of her, and they were both free-falling into the sultry abyss of their lovemaking. Sex with Kerrigan was like nothing he had ever experienced, and only in her arms would he ever experience it that way again. God as his witness, he would do everything within his power to make sure nothing ever stood in the way of that.
“Oh. My. God!” Gabe’s stunned voice broke them from their postcoital bliss.
With a jerk, Kerrigan severed their tie, forcing Dominic to wince in discomfort. Then, using herself as a shield, she blocked Gabe’s view of her lover’s nakedness.
With a slight sway to his movements, Dominic tucked himself back in his pants, noting the impossible way Gabe’s jaw hung, practically unhinged.
Gabe composed himself and crossed his arms over his chest in a defiant stance before giving them a cold stare. “We are so rewriting the house rules before Drew gets here. Although I’m not one to complain about the triple-X show, I’m not so sure it’s polite in front of company.”
What was he talking about?
Kerrigan adjusted her clothes and looked back at Dominic, guilt written all over her face. “Um, Gabe, I haven’t—”
Dom
inic cut her off. “Who’s Drew?” he asked, turning around to face them.
“He’s, um...”
“You mean she hasn’t told you yet?” Gabe threw his hands in the air and walked toward them, pinning Kerrigan with a hard stare. “Well, you’d know if y’all hadn’t been all way too inappropriate PDA all up in the hallway... where other people have to walk, by the way. Ew. Gross.”
“What’s he talking about, Querida?”
She turned to face him with a sheepish smile, and then looked down at the floor as if she was embarrassed by her confession. “We sort of met somebody at the beach today. A man named Andrew Dickens.”
“Drew,” Gabe interjected.
“He says...” Kerrigan paused, considering her next words. Figuring getting it all out quickly would be easier, she looked him in the face and let it fly. “He says he’s a Guardian of the Light.”
Dominic looked at her, stunned. “And you believed him?”
“He was pretty convincing,” Gabe offered. “And just plain pretty, too.”
“His skin... it glowed.” Kerrigan stared off into space as if still trying to figure that part out. She shook her head and looked back at Dominic. “His eyes had that same light in them like Grammy’s, like mine.”
He sighed and leaned his bare shoulder against the wall, crossing his legs at the ankle. “It could just be smoke and mirrors.”
Sinclair was a master at black magic. She had convinced Dominic that he was in love with her, had manipulated a human emotion, so altering the color of someone’s eyes or making them a little sparkly-sparkly would be child’s play for her.
