“What book is that? I haven’t read that one.” Aimee craned her neck to look at the cover, and he slid it across the desk to her.
“So what if it’s porn, I like it.” Ginger gave him a wicked grin, and Noah sucked his bottom lip into his mouth.
“Haley, did you read this one?” Aimee studied the back cover.
“Mmhmm.” She stared at her screen, trying not to blush at the lewd conversation.
“Was it good?”
“I liked it.” She gave a little nod, returning to her spreadsheet with a focused gaze.
“Jackson sounds sexy.” Aimee skimmed through a few pages.
“Oh.” Ginger threw her hand over her chest. “He is so fuckin’ hot. Right, Hales?”
“Yeah, he’s dreamy.” She nodded with a little smile at the book’s sensuous hero.
“What does he look like?” Aimee slipped the book into her purse while Ginger twirled what was left of her Thai noodles on a plastic fork.
“Um…” Haley felt a rosy blush rising to her cheeks. “Muscular…short dark hair…” Catching sight of Damian in her peripheral vision, her tone lowered slightly. “Green eyes.” Knowing she was describing his exact features, she quickly continued. “It’s more about his personality.”
“Yeah, there’s—” Ginger began.
“What’s his personality like?” Damian looked directly at Haley, and she caught his gaze, stunned for a moment. The room seemed to fall silent as he waited for her response.
“It’s sort of… Um, hard to describe, I guess.”
“Jackson’s really attentive.” Ginger contributed with a knowing smile, and Haley nervously broke her gaze from Damian while her cousin continued. “He’s kind of like the classic good guy.”
“I think every girl ultimately wants the good guy.” Aimee’s eyes flashed accusingly to Damian. “We all know the bad boy only brings trouble in the end.”
“I downloaded the sequel onto your Kindle.” Ginger pointed her fork at Haley. “It’s even hotter than the first one. You gotta read it.” A smile stretched across her face. “Maybe it will trigger you to finally give Bradley a fighting chance.”
“Oh… Bradley.” Aimee purred. “He is sexy as fuck.”
“His friend, Lance, is interested in you.” Haley deflected the subject. “Says he met you in the stairwell.”
“Stairwell guy? His name is Lance?” Aimee gave a charmed smile. “He was hot.”
“Invite him out for drinks tonight.” Ginger nudged her arm. “We should all go out, Lance, Bradley…”
“I’m down.” Noah glanced up briefly.
“Ready for another wild night of partying?” Ginger beamed at Haley, who shook her head in reply, amazed by her cousin’s tenacity.
“I can’t. I’m going to work late tonight.”
Ginger pouted. “At least come out for dinner.”
“We’ll have a ton of security with us.” Aimee nodded reassuringly. Ever since Haley had been kidnapped on a cloudy night in Seattle, walking home from a midnight snack run, she couldn’t bring herself to be out on the streets after dark.
“All right.” Haley conceded, worriedly biting the inside of her cheek.
“Yay.” Ginger clasped her hands together. “Eight o’clock sound good?”
“Yeah, I can probably finish this report by then.” Haley adjusted her ponytail, eyeing the monitor.
“Are you going to change for dinner?”
“No, I was just going to wear this, why?”
Ginger shrugged. “It’s just a little bit…Mary Poppins, that’s all. You should wear your blue dress. The one where the straps tie into little bows at your shoulders, the color brings out your eyes.”
“Maybe I was going for a Mary Poppins look.”
“She’s classy and beautiful, yes,” Aimee used her sweetest voice, “but she is not sexy.”
Damian almost laughed out loud. He had no idea who Mary Poppins was, but he’d barely been able to keep his dick in his pants since he’d first laid eyes on Haley that morning. His reaction to the pretty blond boy’s interest in her had thrown him. He’d never been territorial over a woman, certainly not one that wasn’t even his, and the only fantasies he’d ever had about a witch had involved murder.
“Well, I’m certainly not trying for sexy, so I think I’m right on track.” Haley grinned.
Ginger rolled her eyes to the ceiling with a groan, and Aimee tapped her forearm. “It’s OK, we’ll get her liquored up at dinner, play some drinking games with Bradley… Make him whip out the six-pack abs.”
With an enchanted smile, Haley turned back to her work, and Damian moved to her side. She tilted her face up toward him.
“Sorry to bother you.” He cleared his throat, realizing her luscious mouth was only inches away from his zipper and lowered down to a crouch, kneeling next to her. “Do you know if you have any other books like the one we copied? Those spells required mortem rats, but we’re looking for darker magic. Immortality spells.”
Haley stared briefly into his eyes before dropping her gaze with a nod. “There’s a spell collection in the file room. Ethereal Sorcery something…” She got up from her chair. “I’ll take you up there.”
Damian wanted to shy away from another outing with the intoxicating witch. “Are you sure?” He stood up to full height. “Actually, I think—”
“It’s no trouble.” She gave an innocent shrug and slipped off her glasses, setting them on the desk before moving past him.
It was a seemingly mundane move, but there was something subtly erotic in the action, and Damian wondered for a half-second if she might have done it on purpose.
Haley stood next to him in the elevator with her arms absently folded, fidgeting slightly in her stiletto heels, and he let his gaze wander to the floor where her slender ankles were casually crossed, revealing a red sole of the sexiest pair of shoes he’d ever seen. He remembered thinking about them while he came in the shower that morning, imagining her bent over in front of him wearing nothing but those heels.
Shoving the image far from his thoughts, he kept his vision trained ahead. Jacking off had only temporarily relieved his unusually powerful lust for her, and he was beginning to feel a little tortured by the fact that she was unattainable. Maybe she wasn’t the type to exact revenge on anyone, but she was a bundle of nerves around him, clearly disturbed by his presence.
At the entrance to the file room, Haley touched her thumb to the panel, and the thick steel door opened automatically. The room held several rows of black filing cabinets, along with a few bookshelves. Throughout the generations, having each been inclined with mystical abilities, the Hawthorne family had compiled research regarding all things paranormal, storing the scattered collection in various properties they owned.
She skimmed the book titles and settled on a spine labeled, Ethereal Sorcery: Ensoul & Annihilate Transience. Plucking it from the shelf, she handed it to him. “These are all mortality spells, and a lot of them require human sacrifice.”
Damian flipped through the pages, astonished she’d found it so quickly when he’d been looking all day. “You’re a smart girl. This is exactly what we need. Thank you.”
Haley’s face glowed red at the compliment, and she stared at the floor.
“Haley, dear.” Eli Hawthorne walked into the room dressed in a sharp gray suit with a lavender tie, his copper hair kept neatly combed in a youthful cut, and Damian recalled that Ginger’s dad was in his late forties. He greeted his niece with a hearty hug before looking to Damian. “I thought there were soldiers in the building.”
“Yes, Adam is in town, researching for something. This is Damian.” Haley turned to gesture at him with bright eyes, clearly pleased to see her uncle.
Damian politely extended his hand toward him, and Eli grasped it with a firm shake.
“I’d heard you joined the Order a while ago, Damian. It’s nice to finally make your acquaintance.”
“It’s good to meet you too.” The sinister dark
ness behind his energetic blue eyes prompted Damian to look into Eli’s thoughts. He found them muddled and murky, a bubbling river of dark blood.
“You’re always in your office. What are you doing down here?” Haley looked pleasantly surprised.
The crimson blood abruptly disappeared as Eli turned to her. “I have to leave my perch sometime. I’m in the clouds up there.” He put an affectionate hand on her arm and brought his attention back to Damian. “Is Victor Harris still running things for Adversus? He can be a real prick sometimes.”
Damian nodded in agreement. “Yes, he is.”
“Well, tell him I said hello if you get the chance.” Eli leaned forward to give Haley a loving kiss on the cheek. “You look beautiful, young lady. Splendid to meet you, Damian.” He grasped a few books from the shelves and turned for the exit.
CHAPTER FIVE
After parking her Porsche in the restaurant parking lot, Haley stepped out as Adam, Aimee, and Lance filed out of the backseat. Bradley stuck close by her side on the way to the entrance, and she cringed when he started playing with the silk bow at her neck. Damian leaned against his Chevelle with a sullen expression while Noah and Ginger exchanged heartfelt words nearby.
Suddenly aware of a hissing sound behind her, Haley searched the parking lot, finding it strangely deserted as the noise drew closer. A pool of dark shadow abruptly closed in on them from all sides.
“Djinn.” Noah grasped hold of Ginger. “Get in the car!”
Bradley’s fingers dug into Haley’s arm, and he dragged her to the ground as a ticking pile of rapidly moving spider legs spread over his body, devouring him completely. She tried to clamber to her feet, but the biting insects jerked her ankles out from under her, and she lurched forward, bloodying her palms on the rough asphalt. An iron grip on her shoulder spun her onto her back, and an ominous creature leered at her with monstrously sharp features. Turning her face, she glimpsed the inhuman hand that held her, its giant black claws pressing into her pale skin. She remembered her powers, summoning them in a moment of panic. Golden light shone from her bloodied palms to penetrate the shadowy, reptilian body bearing down on her, though it didn’t seem to faze the creature.
The sneering face jerked abruptly to the side as Damian twisted its head, almost severing it completely, and Haley’s palms seared into the strained muscles in Damian’s chest. She drew them back with a tiny gasp, staring up at him, hunched protectively over her, fiercely growling at the advancing creatures, his teeth seeming to grow and sharpen as a beastly instinct surfaced. Hordes of them attacked at once, and his blood dripped onto her as they stabbed into him with their spiked claws, biting at his muscles with barbed teeth, but he kept her firmly cloaked beneath him.
The sound of screeching tires pierced through the flurry of dark shadows as Adam drove the Porsche directly through them, and the creatures retreated, fading into nothing as quickly as they’d come.
Damian grabbed onto Haley, guiding her into the backseat of the SUV, and got in after her. Aimee turned around in the passenger seat, wiping tears from her eyes. “Haley, did they hurt you? Jesus, Damian, your arm is bleeding really bad.”
He abruptly started unbuttoning his shirt.
“I’m OK…” Haley tried unsuccessfully to keep from staring at him.
Damian stretched his arms next to her as he pulled off his shirt, revealing deep gashes along his bicep. “I’m bleeding all over your car, I’m sorry.” He wrapped the shirt around his wounded arm. Haley’s gaze traveled over his naked, muscular shoulders, glistening with blood and sweat in the dark interior of the car. A tattoo of a large black serpent spread across his shoulders.
“Noah and Ginger made it out in the other car.” Aimee’s eyes filled with fresh tears. “But Lance and Bradley… Those disgusting things swallowed them up.”
“Are you sure you’re OK?” Damian searched her face, and she struggled to break her gaze from his athletic body, covered in minor wounds from the attack. “I think you might be in shock.”
“Yes. I’m just…” She recalled the savage gleam she’d seen in his eyes. He’d been a vicious champion. Her champion. “Well…shocked.” Her gaze fell to his chest, remembering how she’d accidentally burned him, and she gave him a miserably apologetic look. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Oh.” He pressed his hand to the reddened skin where her palms had been, smiling at her. “It’ll heal quickly.”
“What if the monsters are waiting for us at the mansion?” Aimee turned to Adam with hyperventilating breaths.
He glanced at Damian in the rearview mirror. “You think this has something to do with the case, or a random attack?”
“Random. Djinn are already immortal, they can’t be our target.” Damian got his phone out. “I’ll e-mail the boss to let him know of the attack.”
Aimee sniffled quietly in the passenger seat.
“Sorry, Aims.” Adam gave her knee a squeeze. “The mansion’s surrounded by an enchanted boundary. It’s one of the safest places we could go.”
* * *
With a shaking hand, Haley reached behind her neck to unfasten the tie of her dress, and the blood-spattered material fell to her waist. She could suddenly see Damian in her mind’s eye, wearing fresh clothes and a bandage on his arm, walking past her bedroom toward the stairs.
With one hand, she held up the loose ribbons to cover herself and rushed to her bedroom door, pulling it open just as he passed by. “Damian.”
He turned at her voice and watched her rapidly tie the silky ribbons at her neck.
“I wanted to say thank you…” She briskly adjusted her dress. “I think I was a little too stunned before to say it.”
“Oh, you’re welcome.” Damian cringed at the blood spotted along her cleavage, streaked across her shoulder. “I ruined your dress.”
She broke into a smile. “I don’t really care about my dress.”
He eyed his blood with disdain. “Why haven’t you cleaned up yet?”
“I was gonna take a shower.” Haley slid her arms around her waist. “I’ve been consoling Aimee. She’s pretty upset.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry we put you in danger.”
“Well…you saved my life. I’m really grateful for that.”
“It doesn’t make up for it.” Damian met her soft gaze with a shame-filled darkness in his typically radiant eyes.
“For what?” She swallowed, surprised by his intensity.
He lowered his voice. “What I did to you…in my uncle’s chambers.”
Haley took a shaky breath, suddenly flooded with embarrassment and a sick dread in her stomach. He remembered her, bent naked across the table in front of him while Raden whipped her with his belt.
“I’d been hoping you didn’t recognize me.” Too humiliated for words, she dropped her gaze to the floor. “You didn’t do anything.” She tried desperately to sound casual.
“Exactly. I just sat there.”
“And…” She held her waist a little tighter. “You wanted to make up for that by protecting me from the djinn.”
“It’s a start, I guess, but I know it doesn’t fix what I did.”
“I’ve really put all that behind me.” Haley shrugged lightly. “Just a…bad coincidence. It’s in the past.”
Damian looked at her in shock. “I should have helped you.”
“That was a long time ago, you don’t owe me anything.” She gestured to the white gauze around his arm. “You’re one of the good guys now.”
He studied her closely as she avoided his stare. “You think I’m one of the good guys?”
She nodded, somehow hurt he’d only protected her out of guilt.
“I’ll let you get back to your shower.”
“OK.” Without looking at him, Haley turned to her bedroom. “Thanks again.” She closed the door with a soft click.
CHAPTER SIX
Haley lounged by the pool the following morning while Ginger swam laps along the length of the water. She soaked the
sun’s bright and vibrant rays into her body, stretching out on a reclining chair. Aimee lay next to her on her stomach, topless and sunning her back, turning the pages of a glossy fashion magazine. They’d been quiet all morning, still solemn over the deadly djinn encounter.
The door to the house slid open, and Haley lifted her head to see Adam and Damian headed toward them. Aimee swiveled, sitting up in her chair as they approached.
“Well.” Adam smiled at Aimee as she sat back against the recliner. “That’s…uh…”
She folded her arms underneath her exposed breasts, her dark nipples perking up under his heated stare. “What do you need, Adam?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
Smiling at Adam’s fumbling attempts to speak, Haley glanced over at Damian from behind her dark sunglasses to find his stare fixed on her. She tugged insecurely at the hem of her tight black halter top to cover the sliver of bare skin above her bikini bottom, and he darted his glance away.
“We came out here to tell you something, and I completely forgot what it was.” Adam chuckled with a shrug.
Damian moved closer to Haley, pulling up a seat at the side of her chair. He gave her a serious look, and she sat up, sliding off her sunglasses. He looked deeply tanned in a white T-shirt and jeans.
“The djinn are at war with Adversus.” He folded his hands between his knees. “They’ve attacked soldiers’ families before, and we don’t want to leave you unprotected. You’ll need to stay at the compound in Arizona, just until we find their nest.”
“All of you.” Adam tore his gaze away from Aimee’s topless figure. “Hales, you’ll need to drive, there isn’t enough room in Damian’s car.”
* * *
They loaded the Porsche quickly and were on the road within an hour. Adam sat with Aimee in the back while Ginger lounged in the passenger seat, texting Noah. Haley hadn’t left the city in almost five years, and the new adventure struck her with a sense of freedom.
Paramour for the Devil Page 3
