by Sadie Sears
No, I’ll be out that way anyway. Are you feeling any odd effects from being bitten?
Just as I set it down again, it dinged. I almost flung it into the yard, even though I did want to know if she was okay.
Okay, but call if you need anything. And no. It’s the most amazing thing I ever could’ve imagined.
Ding.
I’ll be there, or someone will.
Yeah, I’d already met her someone. And no, I’d rather crawl to the school on my hands and knees before I asked or let her ask dragon boy to be at my service. I sipped the cup of tea and basked in the breeze sweeping across the porch. The sound of the trees in the wind was hypnotic.
Finally, I cracked my book open and smiled. I needed this time, this peaceful moment. My smile, however, became strained after I read the first line four times. I almost flung it across the yard, too. Instead, I calmly closed it and set it on the table beside me. All I could think about was Kristin, what she was going through, and what her poor son would go through in years to come. I was in no position to try to focus on anything except not being in a shitty mood.
The trees bent and swayed as the wind picked up again. It wasn’t just the sound that was entrancing; it was the motion as well. The two-toned leaves fluttered, showing their darker and lighter green sides as the wind blew them about inconsistently. Shadows danced between the trees to the wind’s song, and I swayed with them.
There was so much green in the summer. Green leaves, green grass, green eyes—
Whoa. Press pause on that thought right there. Maybe being outside wasn’t the best thing for me right now. Huffing about those stupid green eyes that ruined my day, I grabbed my teacup and went back inside.
I shut the door and leaned against it for a second, taking several deep breaths, then walked down to the studio to meditate for a couple of hours until it was time to meet Sophie. We’d been the best of friends for years, and so were our daughters. It only made sense that her massage therapy and tarot card business would jive well with my yoga and meditation. So, we’d decided to combine our skills and were on our way to opening a joint venture. It didn’t stop my doubts, though.
The building we were looking at was a corner space just across the street from the park. It was a long building with a mostly brick and glass front. According to Sophie, it had plenty of square footage for us to have a yoga studio, a massage therapy bay, and a room for fortune telling, along with a small retail space for candles, mats, a line of self-help and spiritual books I’d found, and some yoga clothes and water bottles with our new logo. More than wanting to see the building, and more than being excited over opening a business outside the house, I wanted to know how Sophie’s spirit guides felt about it.
After my meditation, I headed for town and angled the car into the parallel parking spot in front and narrowed my eyes. Leaning against the building was Leath, a tight white t-shirt stretched over his broad, delicious chest, and jeans that hugged his long, powerful legs. My mouth went dry as I realized I was actually eyeballing the guy, and it irritated me.
I shoved the door open and stomped around to the sidewalk. “Great. I have two stalkers now.”
“How are you?” he asked in a low voice. He looked wary.
I eyed him and nodded. “Fine.” He opened his mouth again, obviously nervous, but I beat him to the punch. “You’re not biting me.”
“I’m here to stop your stalker, sweetheart.” He had the audacity to smile his gorgeous, white smile at me. “Not to bite you. I’d never, ever do that without your consent.”
Sweetheart? I’d shove that sweetheart right up his tight, beautifully sculpted ass. “How the hell did you even know where to find me?”
“Your sister told me where you’d be,” he said.
Of course she did, despite the fact that I’d told her I was fine. Good intentions or not, I didn’t want Gretta or anyone else butting into my life. “Look, Mr. Lane. Though I appreciate your concern, and my sister’s, as you can see, I’m fine. The letter was from a human. You said it yourself.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, tightening the shirt, and I clamped my mouth shut before drool leaked out.
“Humans are dangerous, too.”
I nodded hesitantly. I guess I could give him that one without sacrificing my position. “I suppose all creatures have the capacity to be dangerous, but as you can see, there’s no one following me. Except you.” I actually hadn’t looked, but I figured I would sense it.
Yeah, because that had worked so well for me last night. Ugh.
He grinned down at me. “But I was here first.”
My fists curled at my sides and I exhaled slowly. “Whatever. I’m not going to argue the fact that you asked my sister where to find me and then showed up. Have a nice day.”
I turned to walk away, but the effect was ruined when I bumped into Sophie. She quickly steadied me with a hand on my arm. “Hey, where are you going?”
My only thought had been away. “Nowhere.”
Sophie cocked an eyebrow and glanced over my shoulder. “Who’s the beefcake?”
Boy, she called that one. I sighed. I hadn’t had the opportunity to fill her in yet. She’d dropped Zoe off in too much of a hurry last night. “Sophie, this is Leath, the bodyguard that Gretta called. Leath, this is Sophie, my business partner. She does massage therapy and tarot readings, so if there really was a stalker, Sophie would pick up on it.”
The inspired thought had come to me in a flash, which made the conviction in my voice all the stronger. She opened her mouth to tell me I wasn’t quite explaining the way it worked, but I smiled at her. “Right, Sophie?”
Leath snorted and shook his head. “Tarot reading? You’re going to trust your personal safety to a bunch of psychic mumbo jumbo?”
Sophie had dealt with skeptics for years, and she was adept at putting them in their place. “Please don’t tell me you’re one of those closed-minded buffoons.”
Get him. I rooted her on silently. She could handle him and would cut him off at the knees if he crossed the line. I waited because of course he would.
He smirked. “Not closed-minded. I prefer grounded in realism.”
The sooner I got away from him, the sooner my heart could go back to its normal business, but standing next to him, looking up at him, watching him smile, had my pulse in high gear. “Shall we go in and look around?”
She had the keys since she’d been the one dealing with the real estate agent. While Leath wandered around and checked all the nooks and crannies, I leaned in to whisper to Sophie.
“We have a lot to catch up on. Can you maybe do a reading for me later?”
But she wasn’t looking at me, even as she nodded. I could’ve asked her to marry me and she probably would’ve agreed because she was busy ogling Leath. I couldn’t really blame her. There was a lot to ogle. Until he opened his mouth.
She pushed her crazy blonde curls behind her ears and smiled at me. “I’m seeing a lot of potential. You should…” She motioned toward him with her head.
Um. No thanks. I wasn’t signing up for crazy town.
Leath walked around staring at the ceiling. “I don’t see any water spots, which is good. No leaks. Air conditioner is cold.” He held his hand up to the vent high up on the wall. A sliver of skin peeked out on his stomach when his shirt rode up. I averted my eyes before I got caught staring.
“Does the real estate agency have you on commission?” My tone was definitely snarky. Not flirty at all. I was not flirting with him.
“I have a job already,” he replied. The grin that accompanied it nearly turned my knees to jelly.
I turned back to Sophie for a distraction. “So, what do you think?”
She pursed her lips. “I think he’s—it’s perfect with a couple of minor modifications. We’ll need a partition up here.” She went through her list, claiming space, waving her arms as she laid out the design in her mind. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and I closed my eyes, seeing the place as she
described it. When she finished, she put her hands on my shoulders and we pressed our foreheads together.
“This is gonna happen, Lila. We’re going to do it.”
We made a plan to discuss things later because this wasn’t a decision we could make based on our enthusiasm. It was too big of a risk, and we would have to at least sleep on it.
Leath and I walked out while Sophie locked up, and my intention to ignore him had been working fine until he climbed into my passenger seat.
I sighed, rubbing between my eyes. “What are you doing?”
“Going with you. I’m all about your safety.” He grinned and clicked the seatbelt in place.
I didn’t have the time or patience to argue, so I started the engine and headed toward the school. The store was only a block over from the school, which was close enough for Zoe to walk if she ever needed to. There would, hopefully, be no more need for Gretta to drop everything to pick her up if I couldn’t.
“Do you really believe Sophie can read your future?”
I’d really hoped he would stay silent for the trip over. His voice was like molasses, smooth and deep and dark. If not for the edge of mockery, I wouldn’t have minded listening to it all day.
“I do. I believe she can see or sense things that other people can’t. I don’t have quite her ability, but I do have a really strong intuition as well. And I predict we’re going to get a great parking spot right at the gate of the school.”
Leath scoffed. “Okay. Whatever you say.”
Holding back my temper, I asked, “What about it do you find so hard to believe?”
He grunted and shrugged, a weak response at best.
“Leath.” I liked saying his name and didn’t like that I liked it. “You’re a dragon, right? Shouldn’t you be more open to things like intuition?”
“Ether dragons are.”
“And you’re not?”
He smiled, green eyes glowing in the sunlight. “I’m an earth dragon.”
Well, it was good to know other classifications. I knew Sam was a fire dragon, but that was about the extent of my knowledge.
“So, what do you do then? Throw rocks at people?” I pulled the car right up to the gate and smiled smugly.
He growled in reply, which was fine since Zoe was already at the sidewalk. She glanced at Leath in her usual seat, then climbed into the back and stared at the back of his head as she buckled.
“Zoe, this is Leath. He’s a friend of Gretta’s. Leath, my daughter, Zoe.”
He half-turned and flashed her a show-stopper smile. “How’s it going, Zoe? Been a while.”
“Hey, Leath.” She gave him a small smile, then sat back and stuck her earphones in.
I glanced between them, confused and maybe a little edgy. “How have you met my daughter, exactly?”
“Gretta brought her and her blonde friend to a cookout at Ben’s a few weeks ago.”
My hackles went back down, and I nodded. I vaguely remembered her mentioning that, but I’d had a group that day and couldn’t make it. “So, I have to go grocery shopping. I can drop you off somewhere?”
“That’s perfect. I need to pick up a couple of things, too, so I’ll just tag along.”
I would’ve bet next month’s income he didn’t need anything, but I didn’t want to argue in front of Zoe. She didn’t know about my issue with the notes and texts, and as a mother, I didn’t want to worry her. It was my job to worry, and apparently Leath’s job to handle the stalker.
Inside the store, Leath made it his mission to be distracting and funny. He juggled oranges in the produce section—surprisingly well, I might add—and took one of Zoe’s earphones and plugged it into his ear, then did a moonwalk that would’ve made Michael Jackson jealous. Then he hugged the guy stocking the meat section and thanked him for doing such a great job. He was like a child, but he made Zoe laugh, so I didn’t chastise him. I did, however, ignore him. Or I tried to. He was making such a ruckus; it was difficult not to notice.
I paid for my breakfast bars, fresh vegetables, organic meats, and the bag of vinegar and dill potato chips that Zoe snuck into the cart when I wasn’t looking, but I wouldn’t deny her since she was such a good sport about my quirky diet. Leath was making small talk with the cashier, asking about her family and generally socializing. When the groceries were bagged, Leath pushed the cart out to my car while Zoe stood outside the door talking to a friend from school.
“So, how do you know Marsha?” I asked casually.
He chuckled. “I come in here a lot, and I happen to be a very friendly guy.”
The closer I got to my car, the more I felt something was off. Way off. There were papers attached to my window. So many papers, all of them flapping and curling in the light breeze. “What the hell?”
They were pictures of me at the doctor’s office, the pharmacy, standing outside the school waiting for Zoe, on my knees in the front yard of my house pulling weeds. At least two weeks of my every move documented and plastered over my windshield.
My chest tightened and my stomach clenched. And then I saw it.
Watching you.
My knees buckled, and I would’ve gone down hard had Leath not pulled me against him, cradling me, protecting me. Shockingly, within the circle of his strong arms, my tension ebbed for the first time since yesterday morning.
“We have to get rid of these before Zoe sees.” My voice was small, and he kept his arm around me while we pulled them off the car and shoved them into one of the bags.
He stowed the groceries in my trunk while I gave every car in the parking lot and every person who walked in or out of the store a long look. No one was watching me. No one cared. But in my head, every gaze burned into my skin. It was just like last night. I could feel something, but I couldn’t find it, only last night didn’t feel threatening like today. Last night, I felt watched over. Today, I felt watched.
Leath helped me into the passenger seat just as Zoe returned, oblivious, then he drove us to a little craftsman on Cottonwood.
He glanced in the back, then at me. His green eyes were hesitant. “This is my place. You’ll be safe here.”
Zoe was still rocking out to Bieber in the backseat, and I couldn’t do more than nod. I didn’t want to leave his side at the moment, not after that. I was aware that I kept trying to brush the situation off as nothing, but there was nothing about those pictures that I could just brush off. It was almost as if the stalker needed to show me proof that he was watching. That he thought I wasn’t taking it seriously enough.
That was terrifying.
I needed to tell Leath that I wanted his help, but my voice was gone. I could barely help him bring the groceries into the house. Zoe, bless her, after her initial confusion about why we were there, grabbed some of the bags from me, took them inside, then flung herself onto Leath’s couch like she owned the place. To have her ability to just roll with any situation…
As I stowed the groceries in his fridge, my hands trembled, and my legs ached. This wasn’t the time for a relapse. I had too much going on. I closed my eyes and released a slow breath, but Leath was the balm for my soul. He put a hand on my shoulder and gave it a little squeeze, silently asking me if I was all right. I nodded.
“Leath. I think I need your help, after all.” I couldn’t deny it now, and I wasn’t too proud to say the words. Well, not anymore.
“I’m here for whatever you need.” He smiled down at me and brushed his thumb under my jaw to my chin. “For as long as you need me.”
5
Leath
Lila.
Lila.
In my house.
She nodded at the newly painted walls and ran her fingers along the back of my sofa then came to stand beside me in my kitchen. The place was clean and airy, still smelled like lumber and fresh paint from the remodel Cam had arranged before I moved in.
Zoe jumped up off the couch and followed us to the kitchen, sitting on one of the barstools on the opposite side of the granite br
eakfast bar. The kitchen was done in early industrial with wide metal beams, shelving held up by pipes instead of cabinets, and steel and brick accents. Cameron had the place remodeled in hopes of flipping the place when I moved out. If I ever moved out.
Zoe hummed along with whatever music played through her earphones. She was a girl who was going to break a lot of hearts like her mother. Lila wasn’t just beautiful, though; she smelled like flowers and sunshine and something else that made my guts clench and my pants tighter.
“You should, uh, put your cold stuff, um, in the fridge,” I said.
If I was a chick, I would’ve been twirling my hair around my finger and biting my lower lip while I batted my eyelashes at her. And right then, I didn’t know what I was, but it certainly didn’t feel like I was very much a man. I cleared my throat. There had to be a way to save this moment.
“I mean, it isn’t safe for you to go home tonight until I check out the place. I want to make sure it’s secure, and I can’t do that until I can scope out the area around it. And it’s better to do it in the morning. So, you can stay here and go home tomorrow.”
I made a sweeping gesture with my hand, trying to indicate the house, but felt about as stupid as I had yesterday morning when I mimed knocking on her door. She made my brain short out when she was near, apparently.
She looked at her daughter, then back to me. “I don’t know what to tell her.” Worry lines etched her face.
The extent of my experience with teenagers was limited to having been one almost a century and a half ago in a totally different era without technology or television or advancements that made her life vastly different from the one I’d lived. So, if Lila expected help figuring what or how to tell her daughter the things parents in my day didn’t tell their children, she was going to be disappointed. I also didn’t want to be the guy who shrugged and left her to handle it herself.
“Maybe you could just tell her something happened to the house today, and that you’re getting it fixed? A pipe busted, maybe?” Lame. Surely, I could come up with something better than that.
