Liam closed his eyes. “Shit. How many of these death curses am I going to live through? Rather—how many are you going to save me from? Also, how did you save me this time, and why…why are we in a tree?”
She briefly considered redirecting his attention to her nakedness to avoid having to answer such questions, and if they hadn’t been precariously perched in a tree, she might have considered it. Instead, Hannah sighed. “That’s a really hard question for me to answer. If I told you the answer, I’d be revealing too much.”
He opened his eyes and looked down at her, giving her a weak smile. “What, that you’re secretly a flying bird?”
Hannah swallowed hard. “Uh.”
Realization swept over Liam’s face, and his eyes widened. “Wait, what? I was joking.”
“I’m not a bird,” Hannah said, untangling her body from his and scooting away, hugging her knees to her chest to keep herself covered. “Of course, I’m not a bird.”
“But you can fly,” Liam said, sitting up himself, though far more gingerly, and glancing down at the ground. “Shit, we’re high. We’re high because you can fly. Holy shit.”
Hannah covered her face in her hands. “Shit is right. That’s what all of this is …a whole lot of shit, actually.” She picked her head back up and stared at him. “I had to save you, Liam. You were going to drown, and I knew that I wasn’t fast enough or maybe strong enough to get to you on my own—at least not in time. So, I did something that I do sometimes when I need to.”
“That gives me no information.”
“It’s not meant to,” Hannah said. “My life has a lot of secrets to it, Liam. And I have to keep those secrets or I risk endangering people I care about. Especially right now. Right now, my boss and my dear, dear friend is facing a lot of heat, in part because our secrets have been exposed of late. There are other things, too—other problems that he has to deal with. But I won’t add to his stress by irresponsibly revealing a secret that I’ve kept all my life.”
Liam looked at her, listening carefully. He nodded when she finished, then looked towards the ground. “Okay, then how are we getting down from here?”
Hannah looked down as well, realizing that in the dark there was no way that they could both safely climb down the tree, and even if they did, they’d be somewhere in the depths of the bayou. Liam was injured, and he couldn’t climb and walk or run on his own. If she carried him down the tree and through the bayou, she might as well just tell him everything right there and then.
Twisted up with worry, and confusion, and guilt, Hannah squeezed her eyes shut. She cursed under her breath, then opened her eyes and looked directly at Liam. “I want to hire you.”
“What?”
“Will you be my lawyer?”
Liam stared at her, perhaps still stunned from the water, but more likely just confused about what she could possibly be talking about. “Hannah …”
“I’m serious,” Hannah said. “I know I need to give you a fee of some kind. It’ll be nominal. If I give you five dollars, will you be my lawyer, and protect my interests, and grant me attorney-client privilege?”
Understanding dawned on him once more, and he nodded slowly. “Yes. Of course. I would always protect your interests, Hannah. No matter what. But especially, yes, if you’re a client.”
“Okay,” Hannah said, nodding. She knew that it wasn’t a real distinction, and that attorney-client privilege wouldn’t protect her from the damage he could do with the information that she was about to reveal to him. But it made it better in her mind. “I’ll tell you, then. Or would you rather I show you?”
Liam’s heated gaze swept over her body again, and it was almost comforting that even on occasions like this, he was still so very much himself. “Does showing me involve you standing up and giving me a good look at what I’ve been fantasizing about?”
“Not exactly,” Hannah said, although she did inch out on the branch and carefully stretch out her legs, until she was standing up, perched precariously on the narrow branch. “Are you secure?”
Liam wasn’t paying attention to her words, his eyes roaming her figure, hungrily. “Huh?”
“Don’t fall,” Hannah said.
Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped. Mid-jump, she shifted again, her black wings unfurling and catching the air, as it pushed her upward. Her tail stretched out behind her, and her head arched upward, her yellow eyes darting towards Liam, as she turned her body towards his and looked down into his stunned face.
He was gripping the branch as hard as he could, staring up at her with his mouth open. He shook his head numerous times, staring at her again between each shake as though he couldn’t believe that he was really seeing a dragon hovering in front of him.
Hannah flew slowly and smoothly around the tree, letting him see her wings, as they stroked through the air and feel the wind that came off her tail, as it cut through the night. She settled briefly on the edge of the branch, feeling it begin to bow beneath her weight, and then she shifted back into her human form, easily grabbing the branch and hauling herself up onto it.
She kept her distance from Liam, giving him space to process and herself some protection from the rejection that he might be about to hand down to her. Never before had Hannah revealed herself so completely to someone. There had been other clients over the last year who had known, inevitably, that Hannah had some special skills. But never before had Hannah shifted in front of a non-shifter, and she found that her heart was pounding, and her palms were sweaty as she sat there, several feet away from him, waiting for his reaction.
Chapter 18
Liam
For a moment, Liam wondered if he was under some other sort of curse—one that was making him see things that couldn’t possibly be real. But as he stared at Hannah, looking at her sitting there on the edge of the branch, so incredibly beautiful and vulnerable in that moment, he knew that he wasn’t under the influence of anything other than how amazing she was.
“Wow,” Liam said, immediately wondering why he couldn’t come up with anything more eloquent or original than that. “Um. Huh.” He dragged a hand over his hair. “Wow.”
Hannah’s expression didn’t change. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” Liam said, shaking his head. “I want to be able to say something eloquent or meaningful. Or at least charming. And I’ve got nothing.”
“Are you afraid?”
He shook his head. “Of you? No. No—not at all. I’m amazed. A few weeks ago, I didn’t even believe in things like curses, and now I’ve got curses and witches, and …you—a dragon.”
“A dragon shifter,” Hannah said, twisting a strand of hair around her fingers. “I spend most of my time walking around in my human form, of course. But there are times …plenty of them, I guess …when I take my dragon form. To save you, like I just did. Or sometimes just to fly with my friends at night, when we can’t be seen.”
Liam’s eyes widened. “All of you then? At your agency.”
She nodded.
“Wow,” he said again, clearing his throat. “Ah—just …hmm.”
Hannah was watching him, warily. “You seem upset.”
“I’m not,” he said, quickly. “No. I’m not upset. I’m shocked. Stunned, really. Speechless. I think I’m speechless. I’ve never been speechless before.”
Hannah cleared her throat and shifted on the branch. “Uh, I think that we should get down from here. It’s not safe, sitting up here in this tree, and I need to see about your injuries. We need to find Agnew as well. We both ran out, abandoning him. There’s no telling what he thinks happened.”
“Oh,” Liam said, uncertain why Hannah was suddenly in such a rush, while he was still trying to figure out what to say to her to express how incredible he found what she had shared with him. “You want to go?”
“We probably should.”
Things between them were suddenly stilted in a way they hadn’t been before. Liam had always ma
rveled at how easy it was to just be around Hannah, and how drawn he was to her—how he couldn’t seem to stop talking to her or touching her. But now she wasn’t looking him directly in the eye, and the air between them was tense. She appeared uncomfortable, and he felt uncomfortable, and neither of them seemed to know how to address the fact that she had just shown him her deepest, most intimate secret.
It was like ending a night with a woman after sex, with neither knowing how to say that they wanted to see each other again. Both hoping that the other would make the first move and just say—I like you, and I want to see you again.
But Liam couldn’t seem to find the equivalent words for that sentiment in this situation. He wanted to tell her how beautiful and incredible she was, and how honored he was to be trusted with her secret. He wanted to promise her that he would never expose her or do anything that could ever harm her. But he couldn’t seem to say any of that, and the moment was spinning out of his control.
Hannah turned her head. “So …I’m going to shift again. Into a dragon. When I do, I’ll lift you onto my back with one of my wings. It won’t hurt. I’ll be gentle. Is that okay?”
The thought of flying on her back was more than okay. He was eager to see her in flight and to feel the wind rushing around him. He wanted to see the world down below and know that it was only the two of them, far removed from reality and the rest of the world. But all he could do was nod. “Sure.”
Hannah cleared her throat again. “Okay. Here we go.”
Right in front of his eyes, she stood again, jumping off the branch and shifting into her magnificent dragon form. She glided through the air, doing a slow circle back to him, and when she reached the tree where he sat perched, she stretched one wing out, and he gripped onto her as she curled it around him and lifted him gently from the branch. She swept him back through the air, depositing him on her back, and he fell on all fours there, feeling the rigid scales beneath his hand and under his knees. When he picked his head up, he could see her yellow eyes looking back at him, her long, elegant neck curled around so that she could check to see he was okay.
“Hannah …” Liam said, sitting up and staring back at her.
But before he could finish his thought, she swept her wings through the air, and they were flying through the pitch-black night, circling their way back towards New Orleans. He looked up, seeing the sky above him with the stars that were more visible now that they were above the cloud cover. He looked to his left, and he could see the ocean spreading out into infinity, and he shivered at the thought that, without Hannah’s help, he might have been beneath those waves, drowning. He looked to his right, and he could see the lights of the city, and he knew, although he couldn’t see it, that there were still people partying on Bourbon Street. Topless women and men with too many beers in them and lights, and music, and dancing. It was the kind of scene he was familiar with, and one that he usually would have enjoyed.
He wouldn’t have traded this, right here, for any of it. It was magical, flying through the air on the back of a dragon, feeling the wind rushing around him and feeling the power of her body beneath him. It was a gift that Hannah had given him.
And he knew that he hadn’t said the right thing to her. He hadn’t known what to say. He knew that he’d hurt her, and that she’d taken a risk, letting him in this way. He had to find a way to make it up to her—and he would. He would find some way to tell her how incredible she really was, and how completely swept away he was.
They glided back down towards the bridge across from Jackson Square, where Liam vaguely remembered jumping from. One instant they landed, and the next instant, Hannah had shifted again. She crouched and hurriedly pulled on clothes that she had left there. He stood in front of her, blocking her from view, until he heard her stand up and clear her throat.
Then he turned towards her, staring down into her eyes, as she looked up at his. “Hannah—.”
“There you are!” Agnew rushed up to them, his eyes darting back and forth between the two. “What happened? You both went running out, and I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I was about to give up and go home—I was worried that my grandmother …”
“It was your grandmother,” Hannah said. “She put another curse on him, this one convincing him to drown himself in the ocean. She obviously knows that he’s alive now, and it will only be a matter of time before she finds out that this attempt didn’t work either. Our window to find your sister’s real killer is narrowing.”
Agnew looked at Liam, shaking his head. “I’m so sorry. God—you’re soaking wet. We need to get you back to the house, and then I’m sure that we can find you some things to wear. I’m not as …” he gestured to Liam’s shoulders, which were broad and muscled. “Well anyway. I’m sure something of mine will fit.”
“Thank you,” Liam said, glancing over at Hannah. She wasn’t looking at him.
Agnew held out Liam’s phone. “You left this. In the bar. Figured you’d want it.”
Liam took the phone, nodding gratefully. If it had been on him when he’d gone into the water, it would have been a devastating loss.
“Are you able to walk back?” Hannah asked, pulling her shoes on and pushing her hair back out of her face. “You seem to be okay.”
He nodded. “I’m sore, but it’s nothing that’s going to keep me from moving around.”
Agnew led the way, as they began to walk through the streets. It was well past two o’clock in the morning now, but the activity around Bourbon Street was still going strong. They walked past it, headed for Agnew’s place, and none of them quite seemed to know what to say. Liam, despite having almost died again tonight, was thinking about only one thing—what Hannah had revealed to him. Hannah appeared lost in her own thoughts, and Agnew didn’t seem to be one for much talk under most circumstances.
They made it back to his house, and Agnew led them into the back room where there was a mattress on the floor. He gestured towards it. “This is the best I can do for a guest room. You’re both welcome to get a few hours of sleep here, and we’ll head out in the morning for Baton Rouge. I would give you my room instead, but it’s no different, and it’s probably less clean.”
“This will be fine,” Liam said, even though he never would have stayed in such a place under normal conditions. He wasn’t about to pass up the chance to spend another night with Hannah, though. “Thank you.”
“Let me get you something dry,” Agnew said, “and I might have something for you as well,” he told Hannah.
Agnew disappeared, leaving Hannah and Liam standing in the doorway of the guest room together. Liam looked down at Hannah, but she wasn’t looking back at him. She’d hardly looked at him at all since they had left the treetop.
“I can sleep in the car,” Hannah murmured. “I’ve done it plenty of times.”
“Don’t even think about that,” Liam said. “We’ll be fine in here together. Hannah …”
She finally did look up at him. “Don’t. I don’t think I want to hear whatever it is you have to say.”
“Why?”
Hannah shook her head. “I just …don’t. I know that you’re in shock. It’s normal. I’m not upset about that. I just don’t want to talk about it. Being …what I am. It’s very personal to me. It’s my identity. My whole world. I’ve never shared it with anyone before. But I can feel that it’s changed things between us. That’s fine. But I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Hannah,” Liam said, searching for the right words to reassure her that nothing had changed—except for the better. That he thought she was even more incredible now than he had to begin with.
“Here,” Agnew said, reappearing with two stacks of clothes, one in each hand. “These should work for you. Bathroom is down the hall. Pillows and blankets are in the closet. Help yourself to anything you need.”
Hannah smiled briefly at Agnew. “Thank you. Do you think we could be on the road by eight o’clock in the morning?”
Agnew nodded,
taking a deep breath. “Yes. Yes, we can.”
Taking his stack of clothes, Liam held back the wince he felt as Hannah turned away and headed towards the bathroom, presumably to clean up and change. He walked into the bedroom and changed his own wet clothes, pulling on gym shorts and a t-shirt, both of which were too small for him. He looked around the small, barren room, and then he went to the closet and pulled out two pillows and one blanket.
Liam walked them over to the bed and set them down, taking a deep breath as he surveyed the mattress. He had spent the night with many women in his life, and he had never been this nervous about the prospect. He had also never felt such an incredible longing to hold someone. He didn’t expect to make love to Hannah over the next few hours, but he did hope to reconnect with her and to have her slide her arms around him again. He would be happy with a soft, sweet kiss goodnight.
And that made him very nervous.
Chapter 19
Hannah
Hannah took her time in the bathroom, getting ready as slowly as possible to delay the inevitable. She put toothpaste on her finger and scrubbed at her teeth, meeting her own eyes in the mirror and knowing that she didn’t want to go back and face Liam after the last hour they’d spent together.
She didn’t know what she had been thinking, sharing her secret with him. At the time, it had seemed like there was little other choice, given that they had to get down from the tree, but she had managed plenty of other situations without having to reveal herself to the person she was with. Part of her had wanted him to know. Now that part of her was deeply regretting that choice, because Liam hadn’t said a word. He had been stunned. Uncertain. Unresponsive.
Yes, it was a shock, and Hannah understood that it would be difficult to find a way to respond to what he had seen. But Liam just hadn’t said anything at all. And he hadn’t looked at her the same way. Or touched her the same way.
Rockwell Agency: Boxset Page 84
