Celestial Beginnings (Nephilim Series) (16 page)

She smiled when she thought of how he adamantly defended pineapple on a pizza.

They laughed together, were serious together, and even walked in comfortable silence on occasion. She couldn’t remember the last time that she had this much fun, especially with a man.

Malachi kept
a hold of her hand as he walked, and she didn’t hate the feeling. She acknowledged that it was easier with him to maneuver through the occasional crowd of people. They all backed away so fast; one even tripped over his own two feet.

They were both laughing at a joke he had said when his phone rang.
Looking down at it, his face transformed to the cold Malachi from the hospital and gone was the care-free Malachi.

He was talking in a language she didn’t understand.
He looked at his watch, and his frowned deepened. A few more words of gibberish, and he hung up his phone. When he looked back down at her, she knew their date had just come to an end.

“I have to go.
I am so sorry. It’s a work emergency.”

Trying hard not to let the disappointment show, she put on the best smile she could muster.
“It’s fine. I completely understand.” She did understand, but it still sucked.

They started walking back toward the restaurant where their cars were parked.
The silence was stretching on with each block. A thought suddenly occurred to her. “This isn’t one of those date escape techniques is it? Someone calls you after so long, and you decide if you want to stay or not…”

He chuckled at her comment.
“Why, what an imagination you have.”

They were nearing the cars.
For some reason, she had to know before they went their separate ways. She didn’t want to be the one sitting home pining, while he had no intension of seeing her again. “That wasn’t an answer.”

When they got to her car, he spun her around to face him.
Before she knew what was happening, his hands were on her hips and his mouth was on hers.

Wow!
This took her by surprise, but the feeling was completely familiar. She knew this mouth, these lips.

It didn’t last long enough to her liking.
Malachi pulled back and pressed his mouth to her ear. He was breathing heavily at her neck when he whispered his answer to her. “No. If it were my choice, I would stay with you till you told me to get lost. I want to stay, and it is killing me to walk away right now.”

Trinity’s head was spinning.
She heard what he was saying, but couldn’t put a coherent thought together to answer him. She did know that she wanted more…

She turned her head…searching.
When her lips touched the corner of his mouth, he froze, but that didn’t stop her. Now that she had found his mouth, she pressed her lips firmly against his.

Malachi stayed unmoving for a few seconds.
Finally, his body sagged at the same time he pushed her against her car.

The impact flipped a switch inside of her.
The moment she hit the car, she wrapped her arms around him and molded her body to his.

Hands were gripping, tongues were dueling.
They were kissing like they had just been re-connected after having lost one another and their hands were holding on for dear life.

Trinity lifted a leg and wrapped it around one of his.
In doing so, her core got pressed firmly against his swollen manhood. A familiar feeling started to build inside her, and she couldn’t stop from moaning into his mouth.

All of the sudden, there was distance between them.
They both stood there as Malachi held her at arm’s length. Her body was pressing toward him, wanting to go back to what they were doing, but his grip held firm.

When he spoke, the words came out more of a growl than in his normal sexy voice.
“Slow. Remember? We agreed on slow.”

Shutting her eyes, she was trying to gain her composure.
Her mind acknowledged his point, but her body was not responding as quickly. Trinity nodded her head in acknowledgement. Opening her eyes, she was finally able to speak. “You’re right. I don’t know what came over me.”

When neither of them moved, but kept staring at each other, Trinity decided to be the first.
She prayed when she opened her mouth, she wouldn’t say what she really wanted and ask him to come home with her. “I think I should go now.”

Slowly, almost reluctantly, he let go of her arms and all she wanted was to rush at him again.
What was wrong with her, she thought.

He looked directly at her.
“I’d like to go out again. Can I call you?”

She nodded at him, and then swallowed the lump in her throat before whispering.
“I’d like that.”

He then turned around and walked away.
The sight was breathtaking. He was such a beautiful man, inside and out.

You are an amazing man,
Malachi.

He looked in her direction and smiled but kept walking.
It was as if he heard her. Shaking her head at the insane thought, she got into her car.

When she started up her car, a grin spread across her face when she thought of the great night she had.
She can only hope there were more to come.

Chapter
10

Three weeks had gone by since the bridge collapsed, and they still made it a point to see each other as much as they could.
Every time they met was at some place different, but no less entertaining. As Trinity walked to her first hour, she thought about how all their dates always ended the same way. She knew it was her idea to go slow, but saying goodbye always left her aching for more.

She really enjoyed the phone conversations as well.
He always made it a point to call and see how her day had gone and would always end the call by saying he missed her. She thought about him so much, she was surprised that anything got done. She felt like she was in high school again and had her first crush. This was more than that though.

She loved him.
It scared her half to death, but she finally admitted it to herself. She knew three weeks was quick, but they did start off their relationship with an added advantage by already being emotionally connected from the dreams. They still never figured out why they had them, but she didn’t care anymore. It was fate, for all she knew.

Trinity’s mind started to wander to the dreams she was having now, and let go of a small shiver.
She hated going to bed every night, and stayed up as long as she could to postpone the inevitable. Ever since the river, she had the worst nightmares. Some were memories of her parents dying; she was trapped and tortured in others. Every night brought on a new frightening experience, worse than the night before.

She assumed it was more than likely post-traumatic stress but didn’t want to think of seeing a psychiatrist.
Already being to her fair share of them, it was not something she was ready to go back to. Plus, she figured if she kept having good days, eventually they would seep into her dreams. So far, she had been proven wrong.

Her nights were starting to wear her down.
Every morning, she would wake and feel as if she hardly had gotten any rest. She was either strung out on all the caffeine she was ingesting or lagging from being so tired. Right now, it was the latter, she thought, as she let out a large yawn when she reached for the handle to open her classroom door.

The students all took their seats when she walked in.
Man, she loved teaching. Her students and she had grown close over the month. Some came to her with problems, others joked around with her, but everyone was nice and respectful toward each other.

There were a certain few that stood out from the rest, but that was only because she had a personal connection with each of them.
Stephanie & Jennifer came to see her almost every day at her free period. Unfortunately, Katie chose to drop her class, because the memories for her were too strong when she saw Trinity.

Then there was Hugh.
Always the protector, he still came in early every day to toss out the rose waiting for her. He tried to keep the fact that they were still coming a secret from her, which she thought was sweet. It had worked until he ran late one day. It made her smile thinking of the day she came in to catch him out of breath and watched as he chucked it in the garbage by her desk. Seth probably would get a kick out of knowing she got a small amount of enjoyment from his threats.

Once the bell rang, she waited a few minutes for the stragglers to make their way in before she began.
“Okay everyone. Your projects are due tomorrow, so I am giving you the whole time today to work on them.” As everyone started to move around, she spoke above the noise. “Remember, I want three different prints; all of the same subject but with different shutter speeds. I will be coming around to check on your progress.”

Trinity moved from table to table, talking with her students, and answering questions they had for her.
She was in the middle of talking with a girl about how her photo was overdeveloped and how to fix it when there was a knock at the door.

She absently hollered for the person to come in, not wanting to break the girl’s attention.
Not giving the visitor another thought, she continued her explanation. That was until there was a collective gasp from the students.

Looking up, she realized all of them were staring at the door.
When she turned to see what they were looking at, she felt her heart rate increase and heat began to creep up her cheeks. He always made her feel this way; a mixture of excitement and shyness. Malachi was standing in her doorway.

She didn’t know if he could ever not look beautiful.
This morning, he was in plain jeans and a black t-shirt, but he could be in Armani for all she cared; he looked just as gorgeous. He always seemed to wear something black. She once asked him if he had a thing against color, and his answer was “Can you picture me in yellow?” All she could do was laugh.

Smiling, she cleared her throat and addressed her students.
“Okay. Okay. Get back to work.”

For the most part, they did, and she made her way to the front of the class.
When she got up to Malachi, her smile grew bigger. “What are you doing here?”

“I hope this isn’t too bad of a time…”

“No, it’s fine.”

He held out a divine smelling white Styrofoam container. “I ran into Nicole at the coffee shop. When I asked how you were, she told me that she saw you running from your house this morning. Running late?”

“I overslept.”
She then leaned in closer to him and whispered so her students couldn’t hear. “Someone kept me out late last night. Then I found it hard to sleep after being dropped off.”

The redness was back to her cheeks as she recalled their goodbye kiss last night.
They had been getting more heated every time and last night was no exception. Ten minutes later, they were still saying goodbye. Lips were meshed, tongues intertwined, and bodies pressed together as close as they could get, and all on her front porch. They always kept their hands around each other and never moved. They knew, once that happened, they would be goners. Thank goodness her lights were out. The last thing she needed was a neighbor witnessing their farewell.

Now, he just stared down at her.
His heated gaze was his way of telling her how much he remembered as well. It had such an impact on her, it made her shiver.

He bent close to her ear.
“It looks like I wasn’t alone then.” When she swallowed, he stood back up and went on. “Anyway, I figured you didn’t have time to eat breakfast, so I brought you some.”

Trinity took the container and peeked inside.
“Biscuits and Gravy? Ahh, you shouldn’t have.”

“I can always take it to work if you don’t want it.”
He reached for the container with a knowing smile on his face.

She held it away before he could touch it and he continued.

“I could, Gemariah loves what’s in the back of the box.”

She looked at him confused, and then looked inside the box again.
HASHBROWNS!!

“Yeah, I’ll just do that.”
When he reached for the box again she snapped.

“Back off!”
When he laughed, she smiled up at him. “What I meant was… This is wonderful. Thank you.” Opening the box all the way, she observed the succulent breakfast. “One thing would make this perfect…”

Before she could finish, he held up three ketchup packets.

“Ahh… I could kiss you!”

When all he did was raise an eyebrow, she stood on her tip-toes.
He took the cue and leaned down and she gave him a slight peck on the cheek. “Thank you.”

“Ms. Bradshaw?”
Hugh caused her to jump when he came up from behind and startled her.

“Hugh!”
Laughing at her reaction, she decided to introduce the two. “Malachi, this is Hugh. Hugh…Malachi”

Surprising them both, Hugh stood tall and held out his hand.

Malachi didn’t hesitate to shake the boy’s hand.
“Nice to meet you.”

Hugh didn’t show any sign of being intimidated by Malachi’s size.
On the contrary, he looked as if he was judging him. Trinity figured she would never understand the male species. Eventually, coming to a conclusion, Hugh responded. “Likewise”

“What can I help you with, Hugh?”

“Oh.”
Remembering that he did come over there for a reason, he let go of Malachi’s hand and turned back to her. “There’s an issue in the darkroom.”

Trinity didn’t want to hear that.
There was too much expensive stuff in there. “What sort of problem?”

“We believe one of the enlargers is broken.”

This took Trinity by surprise. Immediately she started walking toward the room, following Hugh that had already gone through the revolving door. She suddenly turned to Malachi. “I don’t know how long this will take… You can stick around and…”

He already started to answer before she finished talking.
“No, that’s okay. I have to get to work anyway. I just wanted to drop that off.”

“Okay, thanks again.
Call me.” Smiling, she turned but was stopped when her arm was lightly grabbed.

“Have lunch with me.”

It was voiced as a command, but a question none the less.

“I’d love to.
Here or are we going somewhere in particular?” She didn’t care either way, as long as they were together.

“Why don’t we meet at the Mexican food place on Sinclair?”

“Meet you?” Trinity gave him a mischievous grin. “Still not ready to give me a ride on your motorcycle?”

Laughing outright, he grabbed the back of her neck, brought her head in, and kissed her on the forehead.
“Go check on your equipment. I’ll see you at lunch.”

With that, he turned and walked away, but kept the smile on his face.
Through the past weeks, he had returned to the Malachi she had met in her dreams. Sure he had his brooding moments, but overall, he smiled so much more.

“One day Mr. Starkman…one day!”
She hollered the parting remark.

The only response she got was for him to wave as he still walked away.

With that, she turned to get back to the business at hand…High School Photography.

******

Trinity knew the moment he walked into the restaurant.
It was as if her body had been in search of his and instantly felt more alive when he was around. This wasn’t the first time it had happened, she thought, as she watched him walk through the doors. 

Malachi walked into the restaurant like he did everywhere else.
He silently commanded everyone’s attention, like they knew he was a man in charge or of great importance; which was funny because he always seemed uncomfortable when he was the center of attention.

He got to the table and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek before sitting across from her.
“How was your morning?”

“Ugh” Trinity just remembered fighting with the enlarger, the numerous calls with the insurance company and discussions with Principal Bill.
“Only got more frustrating from when you left.”

“The darkroom equipment?”
His tone made her understand that he was truly interested.

“An enlarger, and yes.
But I have talked about that too much today.” She waved her hand in the air to stop all discussion on the matter before gesturing to him. “Tell me about your day.”

He just shrugged.
“There’s been no active calls; just a lot of research for ongoing clients.”

The waitress came by and they gave their orders.
This was not the first time they had met here for lunch, so ordering didn’t take long at all.

They were talking about their mornings more when the waitress brought over their drinks.
Trinity had a vague idea of what he did for a living, but he never seemed to want to talk about it too much. He told her it was for confidentiality purposes.

Work was one thing, but she was starting to realize that there was so much more she didn’t know about him.
He was always reluctant about giving too much personal information. Of course, she hadn’t divulged too much about her past either. He knew that she had foster parents, but he didn’t know why, and he sure as hell didn’t know what she went through after her parents’ death.

Trinity decided this morning, that it was time for this to change; rip off the Band-Aid, so to speak.
“Hey Malachi. I have an idea.” She told herself to sound nonchalant about the whole thing. “Why don’t we do something with other people? Friends and family, you know…” Trailing off her sentence, she reminded herself that this was a great way to get to know each other.

He just looked back at her.
His expression reminded her of a student that was just told to stand up and read a text from a friend that was received in class. Terrified!

After a noticeable swallow, he spoke.
“Um…why? Who were you thinking of inviting?”

“I dunno.”
She shrugged and tried not to show the disappointment she felt in his obvious aversion to the idea. “I guess I’m being a little nosy. I wanted to meet other people you are close to.” When he still didn’t say anything, she started to worry a little. Was she alone in how she felt? “I would definitely invite Nicci; I’ve kinda been neglecting her lately. Maybe Renée and Joe…”