I wouldn’t expect you to know something like that.”
Her cheeks turned rosy, making her look young and sweet, even if she was almost thirty.
Daniel discarded his kinky sex concerns. He might be lusting after Allie, but he wasn’t envisioning her in a rubber corset and bondage ties. He would rather see her in a luxurious nightgown, something long and lacy.
He wanted to reach across the table and touch her, but he resumed their conversation, returning to Glynis. “What does her fascination with death entail?”
“When she was younger, she used to pen pal with killers on death row. After she met her husband, she learned to respect death the way he did, not wallow in the morbid side of it. Or that’s what she claimed.”
“Do you know how I got hooked up with her?”
“Her husband supported the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act. He helped the Warrior Society recover stolen remains and funerary objects to their rightful owners.”
“So I knew him?”
“Yes, and after he died, you helped Glynis get through her grief.”
By sleeping with her? Daniel frowned. “That doesn’t make me sound very honorable.”
“You were honorable to me.” Her gaze locked onto his, and a blast of emotion erupted between them. “You saved my life. You…” Her voice broke, making the connection between them even more sensitive.
“I don’t remember the shooting.”
Her voice rattled some more. “I remember for both of us.”
“Remembering for me doesn’t count.” He wanted his own memories.
She didn’t say anything, and when things got too uncomfortable, he cleared the table. She’d eaten all of her food, lousy as it was.
He turned to look at her. “I think you should take some time off. Maybe call in sick, then arrange for a vacation or whatever.” He would be taking time away from his job, as well. “Tomorrow we can meet with Rex and get started on the investigation. We can pay Glynis a visit, too.”
“She won’t like us dropping by.”
“Too bad for her.” He wasn’t leaving any stone unturned, regardless of where it led or what it revealed about his past.
He was going to protect Allie. Every shaky step of the way.
Chapter 2
Later that night Allie got ready for bed. She rummaged through her nightgowns and pajamas, contemplating what to wear. Not that it mattered. Daniel wasn’t going to see her. He’d already retired to his room.
Still, having him so close, so heart-flutteringly near, she couldn’t resist the urge to look pretty, to feel pretty, to don something soft and feminine. She went for a classic silk nightgown with a hint of ribbon and lace. The champagne-colored fabric hugged her curves and flowed at the hemline.
She washed her face and removed her makeup, then brushed her hair until it shined. The ends skimmed her tailbone.
Okay. There. She looked good. She felt good.
Allie scooted into bed and got restless. Being pretty for herself wasn’t enough.
She wanted to see Daniel, and she wanted him to see her. So do it, her mind coaxed. Find an excuse to knock on his door.
What excuse? That there were monsters under her bed?
The thought made her smile. At one time, she had endured monsters. Real ones. Allie’s diabolical ancestors had conjured witchcraft creatures, and she and Daniel had battled them. He’d helped her through the most difficult time of her life.
Was it any wonder that she loved him?
She got out of bed and checked her appearance in the mirror, giving her hair one final fluff and her nightgown one last body-clinging smooth. From there, she ventured into the hallway. Daniel lived in a modest North Hollywood residence, but he’d fixed it up nicely. He’d made all sorts of improvements, including new carpets, new floors and landscaping the front and back yards. In return, the landlord had discounted his rent.
Allie paused outside his room. A small strip of light shimmered beneath his door, a telltale sign that he remained awake. She still hadn’t come up with an excuse to be visiting him at this hour. But she knocked anyway. She was good at thinking on her feet.
He called out from behind the wooden barrier, “Come in.”
Suddenly she was nervous. She wanted to turn tail and run, but it was too late for that.
Allie opened the door and entered his room. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, with a paperback on the nightstand. His chest was bare, making the scar from his surgery visible, and he wore drawstring pajama bottoms slung low on his hips. She glanced at his navel and his gloriously rippled abs. Before she looked too hard and too deep, she shifted her attention to his face.
He was checking her out, too. His dark gaze slid up and down her nightgown-clad body and rested momentarily on her breasts. She prayed that her nipples didn’t get hard. Self-consciousness was setting in. But so was a major revelation.
Although Daniel treated her like a friend, he was sexually attracted to her. Some of what he’d felt for her prior to the coma was still there, sluicing through his blood. If Allie wasn’t such a Chicken Little, she could seduce him.
Climb right in his lap and make him moan.
“What’s going on?” he finally asked.
“Nothing. I just wanted to say goodnight.” So much for thinking on her feet. They’d already bid each other goodnight earlier.
He stood up, and his height dwarfed the military-tidy room. “Are you having trouble sleeping?”
“A little.”
“So am I. But I’m a bit of an insomniac anyway.” He adjusted the waistband of his pajama bottoms, lifting them a smidgen. They’d fallen even lower on his hips. “Was I always?”
God, he looked gorgeous. Rough and ready. “Were you always what?”
“An insomniac?”
She tried not to stammer. He was moving closer. “I don’t know. We never slept near each other.”
“But we fought paranormal creatures, searched for a magic talisman and helped your cursed lover get back to his dead wife?”
“It sounds unbelievable, but that’s what we did.” Her cursed lover had been a time-traveling warrior who’d shape-shifted into a raven.
“Was it hard to let him go?”
The question threw her. Daniel had never questioned her in detail about Raven. “I wanted him to be happy, to find peace.” Before Raven went away, he’d asked Daniel to look after her. But since Daniel didn’t remember, she wasn’t about to tell him.
