“Why?” she asked between sobs.
“Because I can kill vampires and demons, but I have no clue what to do with a woman when she’s crying.”
He sounded so serious that she had to laugh at his comment. “It’s your fault. I asked you to go away, but you chose to be stubborn.”
“I chose to find out what was wrong with you. You make me feel like I’ve done something wrong, but I didn’t do anything I’m ashamed of.”
She looked up, gathering all her bravery to meet his gaze. “What do you see when you look at me now?” she asked, bracing herself for his answer.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Right now?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“A crazy woman.”
Nyla stared at him for a moment, then burst into laughter, despite her distress. “Dammit, Jake. I’m serious. I know you must think I’m an awful woman.”
“What?” Jake’s expression was incredulous. “Why would I think you’re awful? Is this about the damned UV blanket?”
“No. It’s about me attacking you like a possessed slut.”
Jake stared at Nyla’s tear-stained face, unable to comprehend what he was hearing. “Nyla, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he finally said, giving up on the idea of figuring out what was going through her mind. He’d decided a long time ago that a woman’s mind wasn’t really meant for understanding anyway. “We’re both adults and we had great sex, sex that I’m pretty confident was consensual. I don’t know what happened to make you suddenly feel so ashamed, but I enjoyed it. Hell, I’ve wanted you since day one, and I think you felt that way too. But you kept sidestepping what was apparently destined to happen.” He wiped a tear away from her puffy, red face, deciding she was still beautiful despite her crying jag. “We all have needs. Only a hypocrite acts like they don’t.”
“Yes, but now you don’t respect me.”
“I don’t respect you?” Jake nearly choked on disbelief. “Are you insane? You are the only woman I know who can kick my ass, you beheaded a vampire in midair, and when you want something, you get it. How in the world could I not respect you?”
She sniffed and ran her hands across her tear streaked cheeks. “Did you just admit that I can kick your ass?”
Jake laughed. “How did I know you’d focus on that part of what I said?” Leaning toward her, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “I respect you more than I respect most people, even if you are acting like a girly-girl right now.”
She let a small chuckle escape, playfully pushing him away. “Don’t you dare call me dirty names like girly-girl, Porter. Remember, I can kick your ass.”
“Oh, I knew I shouldn’t have let that slip,” he said, grabbing her hands and pulling her to her feet. Once he had her up, he held on to her, inhaling her scent, knowing he was feeling way too much for this woman. If any other woman had acted like this after having sex with him, he’d have told them to grow up, but he couldn’t do that to Nyla. He didn’t want to watch her cry, and he sure as hell didn’t want to ever be the cause of her tears. “Are we cool now, partner?”
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“You sure?” he asked, tipping her chin up with his index finger.
“Yes.”
“Feel like hunting down some bad guys and kicking ass?”
“Sure.”
“Alrighty then,” he said, stepping away from her before he gave in to the urge to kiss her senseless. He could still feel her body clamped tightly around his, and he ached to be inside her again, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. “Well, we have about a minute until my dork-cousin comes back with a shotgun, and I have to break him in two. Let’s save him some pain and start moving.”
She groaned and looked at him with a heartbreaking, pleading expression. “Oh, Jake, I can’t do it. All those people saw me!”
He saw the shame in her eyes, and it undid him. He’d give anything to take it away. “They saw us, Nyla, and ‘all those people’ are probably more like two or three people. Two or three toothless, shoeless hillbillies. It’s no big deal.”
She shook her head, obviously not relieved by his statement.
“Look, if anyone says anything to you they’ll have to deal with me, and trust me, they will regret it.” He held out his hand, willing her to take it, to allow him to lead her back to the car. To trust him to take care of her.
Slowly, she reached out and placed her hand in his. He knew he was in trouble when he realized he could feel her gentle touch all the way down to his soul.
NYLA SHIFTED UNEASILY in her seat as she sat outside the motel where she and Jake would stay the night, waiting for him to come out of the office. He’d let her remain in the car while he got them a room.
Although the motel had peeling, peach paint and more than a few broken shutters, it wasn’t its decrepitude that caused her to fidget. It was the three portly men who’d gathered on the sidewalk before her, leering at her with that horny-toad-gleam in their eyes that men generally directed at women while they danced around a pole. She didn’t have to ask why they were looking at her that way, not when one of them had a pair of binoculars hanging around his fat neck.
Jake exited the office, a room key dangling from his hand. His brow furrowed in concern as he caught her gaze, and then he noticed the men. The biggest one, decked out in bib overalls and a white undershirt, approached him, laughing.
“Shoo-wee, y’all put on a good show,” she heard the man bellow as he stopped before Jake. “She as good as she looked?”
Nyla tried to shrink down into the seat, mortified as the men all laughed at her expense. Jake smiled, and the men continued to laugh and congratulate him. Then, without a word, Jake punched the loudmouth in the face, grabbed him by the straps of his overalls, and rammed him headfirst into the hood of a nearby pickup truck.
“You guys have any more questions?” he asked as the man slid down the front of the truck, his face covered in blood.
The two men held their hands up in surrender, backing away from Jake. “No, man” and “No, sir” were repeated in unison as they allowed Jake to pass. Once he cleared them, they hurried to pick up their unconscious friend.
Jake walked over to the car, opening Nyla’s door. “Come on, I got us a room.”
She didn’t want to stay in the hick-town where she’d apparently become the local porno star, but she could tell by Jake’s tone that he was going to make her stay whether she wanted to or not. And apparently, he was going to beat the hell out of anyone who gave her any grief.
Reluctantly, she got out of the car and followed him to the room, allowing him to carry her bag. Actually, she hadn’t been able to wrestle it out of his hands.
“When was the last time you’ve actually seen a real motel key?” he asked her as he fitted the key into the lock. “You know, I feel like we’re in a Hee-Haw episode of The Twilight Zone.” He glanced around. “Or maybe this is Deliverance.”
“Well, given the dental situation of most of the residents here, maybe we’ll get lucky and only meet up with fangless vampires.”
Jake chuckled as he opened the door and stepped back, allowing her to precede him. Nyla entered the room, her smile vanishing as her gaze zeroed in on the one queen-sized bed resting in the middle of the room. She looked around, spotting a dresser with a TV set on top, a couple of nightstands, and a small table with chairs.
“Is the other bed in there?” she asked, pointing to the bathroom door.
“All they have are one-bed rooms,” Jake said, and she could hear the disappointment in his voice. He closed the door and pocketed the key. “I’ll take the floor.”
“The floor?”
“You obviously don’t want to share the bed with me,” he said, a small glint of anger shining in his eyes. “Th
ere’s just the bed and the floor. You can have the bed.”
“You shouldn’t have to sleep on the floor.”
“I’ve slept in worse places,” he said, walking over to the dresser. He placed their bags on top and started rummaging through his, pulling out a fresh, black T-shirt. “I hope Alley’s all right,” he added, unfolding the shirt. “I wish she’d been with us when we left Louisville.”
“She was,” Nyla said, wanting to erase the worry she heard in his voice.
“What?”
“She was curled up on the floorboard behind your seat,” she said, lowering herself onto the bed. “I thought you knew she was there.”
Jake looked at her suspiciously. “You’re telling me that my jealous, insane cat rode with us all the way from Louisville to here and that she was in the car with us when we . . . Oh, hell. Tell me I didn’t roll my seat back on her!”
Nyla laughed, although she knew he was seriously worried. “I’m sure she would have definitely let you know she was there if you had. Besides, she got out while we were talking on the hill. She’s fine.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” he said, shaking his head. “She’d never ride quietly all that distance with you in the car. She hates women.”
“Not this woman,” Nyla said smugly. “Back in Louisville, I fed her some tuna and played with her outside the motel before I came in and fell asleep. I would have told you, but I was so tired. Then you were trying to kill me with a UV blanket so it slipped my mind again.”
Jake cut her a glare, touched with a bit of weariness, clearly relaying he’d heard enough about that particular incident, and peeled off his T-shirt, wincing as the fabric pulled away from his skin as if stuck to a wound.
Nyla gasped as she saw what she’d done to him. His back was covered in deep scratches. She hadn’t noticed before because the black T-shirt didn’t show the blood.
“Yeah, you tore me up,” Jake said with a cocky grin, when she drew in a sharp intake of air. He turned to admire her work in the mirror over the dresser.
“I’m so sorry, Jake. I . . .”
“I’m not,” he said, cutting her off before she could apologize further. He leaned closer to the mirror, seeming to peer at the skin around his neck. “That’s weird.”
“What’s weird?” Nyla asked, unease stirring in her stomach.
“I could have sworn you bit me,” he said, searching his skin. “It sure felt hard enough to leave teeth marks.”
“You wimp,” Nyla said, forcing out a light chuckle she didn’t feel. “I might have given you a few little nips, but I didn’t try to eat you alive.”
She closed her eyes, fear gnawing away at her gut. If he figured out that her saliva had healing properties, he would know she was a vampire.
“Damn, I shouldn’t have said anything.”
She opened her eyes to find him regarding her, his eyes holding a concern no one had ever shown her before. “You’re not going to weird out on me again, are you? We didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No, I’m not going to weird out,” she answered. “I’m fine.”
“Good.” He let his gaze rove over the bed, and she could clearly see the longing in his eyes. “I’m going to go clean up before we head over to Peewee’s office. Don’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t,” she promised, watching him walk into the bathroom. “I guess I should thank you for what you did outside,” she called to him as she heard the water start running in the sink. “You probably broke that guy’s nose.”
“Oh, I definitely broke his nose,” Jake said matter-of-factly. “Hopefully, I gave him a concussion.”
“You didn’t have to defend me.”
“That’s true,” he said, turning off the water. He appeared in the doorway, wearing the clean shirt. “Nobody had to defend you, because you didn’t do anything wrong, but nobody is going to make you feel ashamed around me.” He reached behind him and removed his gun from his waistband. He opened the chamber and checked the ammunition inside. “We need to get a move on. It’ll be dark soon, and somewhere out there, a woman is about to die.”
Remembering why they were here, Nyla rose from the bed, ready to go to work. She wouldn’t waste any more time bellyaching over her problems when a woman’s life was on the line. “Let’s go.”
Jake led her out, allowing her to exit the room first before he locked the door behind them.
“You know,” he said, rubbing his neck with his hand. “If not for the daylight thing, I’d swear you were a vamp. Even if you didn’t leave a mark, you bit me hard enough for my neck to still be tender.”
Nyla gulped as she watched Jake rub his neck, his brow creased. He was a smart man, and a slayer on top of that. It was only by some miracle that he hadn’t yet discovered what she was, but she knew she didn’t have much longer until he did. Then one of them would die, because a true fight between a pantherian and a slayer would be to the death.
Chapter Fifteen
THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE sat dead center in the town, right across from the small medical center. Nyla didn’t even want to think about what credentials were acceptable to practice medicine in this town.
Jake parked the car next to a row of pickup trucks, all of them featuring police decals on their doors. “Time for a little family reunion,” he announced as they exited the car.
Nyla didn’t look forward to the meeting. Jake and Peewee had never gotten along, and from what she could remember of the few times she’d seen Peewee, he’d been a real ass. Too small to do any physical damage to Jake, and jealous of the bigger cousin’s strength and good looks, he tormented Jake by pointing out how the whole family thought he was crazy. Unable to deny the fact he was the black sheep of the family, Peewee’s words had hurt Jake, but he’d got his revenge often. Nyla had gotten hers too, scratching Peewee to pieces a couple of times. The memory put a smile on her face.
They entered the building, greeted by curious stares from the staff. A woman in her mid-twenties with blond hair tied up into a chignon and a white button-down blouse sat at the front desk, smiling appreciatively at Jake as they approached. Nyla balled her hands into fists, fighting back her jealousy and wishing the normal-looking woman was as toothless as the rest of the townspeople she’d seen.
The other three staff members—men in khaki shirts and blue jeans—seemed normal as well.
“They must have a good dental plan,” Jake whispered, as if picking up on her thoughts. Then he centered his attention on the young woman at the front desk. “Hey there, miss,” he drawled, oozing out his signature charm as he approached her. “Would my cousin, Peewee, happen to be in?”
“You’re Peewee’s cousin?” Blondie asked in surprise, her voice full of that lilt women got when they were flirting. “Wow. I never would have imagined Peewee had such a tall, strapping man for a cousin.”
“Yeah, well, I snatched up all the good genes.”
Between Jake’s overabundance of charm and Blondie’s exaggerated southern belle accent, Nyla didn’t know which one to start hitting . . . or maybe she’d just vomit from all the saccharine sweetness.
“Sheriff Peewee,” Blondie practically cooed into the intercom, “your delicious cousin is here to see you.”
“Send him in, Luanne,” Peewee’s voice barked out of the speaker. Clearly, he wasn’t as pleased at the prospect of seeing the tall strapping man as Luanne was.
“He’ll see you now,” the blonde purred, rising from her seat. “I’d be glad to show you to his office.”
“We can find it just fine, I’m sure,” Nyla said, cutting the woman off before she did something stupid like place one of her pink-nailed hands on Jake.
“Who are you?” Luanne asked, narrowing her eyes on Nyla, acting as if she’d just noticed her.
“I’m the woman the whole town saw doing this tall,
strapping man on the hilltop,” she replied, unable to keep the promise of violence out of her tone.
The three men stopped what they were doing and stared at the two women with the hope of a catfight in their eyes. Their hopes were dashed when an unhappy looking Luanne returned to her seat.
“Come on, Jake.” Nyla gave Jake a nudge, starting them off in the direction of his cousin’s office and past the men who were now giving him “way to go, man” looks.
“Well, thanks for making me the big, bad stud,” Jake said softly, after he’d had a good chuckle, “but I thought you didn’t want to be reminded that people could see us.”
“Shut up, Porter.”
“Not a chance,” he replied. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were jeal—” He stopped speaking, his attention caught by pictures hanging on the bulletin board mounted on the wall they had to pass to get to Peewee’s office.
Nyla followed his gaze, gasping as she saw what he’d noticed. Pictures of various men and women were tacked to the board, beneath the word Missing. She focused on a man with dark blond hair, about thirty-five years old.
“Isn’t that the guy I beheaded last night?” she whispered, leaning in close to Jake so the audience behind them couldn’t hear.
“Yeah,” Jake whispered back. “I think it’s safe to say he’s not coming home—nor are these guys.” One by one, he pointed out every vampire they’d killed the night before, including the woman who’d landed on the roof of the car. “Son of a bitch.”
“Y’all comin’ on in here or not?” Peewee called out as he emerged from the doorway to his office.
Jake stepped away from the bulletin board and started toward the office again. Nyla watched how his forehead creased and was pretty sure she knew what he was thinking. How could all of those freshly-turned vamps have been fliers?
“What are you doing in my town?” Peewee asked without preamble as he closed the office door behind them when they entered.
“Ah, Peewee, you always were such a warm, inviting guy,” Jake said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he lowered himself into Peewee’s chair. Nyla leaned against the file cabinets, watching with amusement as Peewee’s face turned red.
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