Embrace the Heat (4 page)

“She was a tiny little blonde with a pretty
nasty temper,” Danny continued. “I was thinking about calling you
Tinker Bell from now on.”

Simon started laughing. “That’s great! I
might actually watch that movie now.”

“There are other movies just about Tinker
Bell. Raven showed me how to find them,” Danny said.

“I did not show him how to find them,” Raven
protested. “You know I love those old children’s movies. I was
looking for more with Tinker Bell in them while Danny was still in
the house.”

“Should we call you Tinker Bell?” Simon
asked.

“Do not even think about calling me Tinker
Bell or I will hurt you,” Layla said irritably.

Simon put his hands up. “Fine, we won’t call
you Tinker Bell.”

“I’m exhausted and moody,” Layla said around
a yawn. “I’m going home to get some rest. Muriel’s baby is more
work than a twelve hour patrol on a hot day.”

Layla expected Danny to follow her home to
tease her about babysitting and the new nick name he’d come up
with, so when she felt a tug at her hair she just groaned. “I am in
no mood to be teased by you right now. If you don’t want me to
embarrass you by knocking you on your ass, I suggest you go
home.”

“You really gonna to try to knock me on my
ass, Pixie?” Simon drawled.

“What?” she asked and turned around with her
hands on her hips. “You don’t think I could do it?”

He laughed. “I’ve seen you spar with
vampires. You’re ruthless, and you fight dirty. Still, I’m a lot
faster and stronger than you are. I’m also much bigger than a
little pixie like you.”

This was the way she liked things with Simon.
Now they were just friends. It was like what she had with Danny.
This easy camaraderie was safe and fun. There was no jealousy over
that bitch Narissa. Okay, there might be a little jealousy, but
mostly she was just enjoying their friendship.

“I’ve got time,” she said. “Let’s go over to
the training center so I can knock you on your ass in private.
Wouldn’t want to embarrass the big bad vampire in front of
everyone.”

“Raven would have my balls if I fought back,”
Simon said.

Layla gave him a sweet smile. “Coward.”

He laughed again and then snatched her hand.
“Come on, Pixie, I’ll walk you home so you don’t get into any
trouble.”

“Stop calling me that. Besides, I’m not the
one in trouble today. I’m not the one showing up late for meetings
because I’m in bed with a wood nymph,” Layla hated hearing the bite
in her own words. She didn’t want to sound jealous, but she was.
Simon was always clear about what they had. They were friends and
nothing more. That was the most he could give a human, even if he
did have stronger feelings, which she knew he didn’t. “I know it’s
none of my business, but Narissa is a real bitch. I don’t know how
you put up with her.”

Simon looked annoyed. “Like I said at the
meeting, I didn’t invite her over.”

Layla just shrugged. Whether he’d invited her
or not, he hadn’t been sending her away when she showed up. “I know
you keep hoping you’ll find someone like Raven. Maybe she’s just
the wrong nymph.”

Simon sighed. “Narissa is definitely nothing
like Raven,” he admitted. “Besides, I’m over my obsession with
Raven. We all felt it at first. She’s special and different.”

Funny that she wasn’t jealous about Simon
having feelings for Raven. Of course, he’d never have Raven because
Raven was totally in love with Connor. Still, it was more than
that. Raven had practically raised Layla and was the woman Layla
wanted most to be like. It made sense for Simon to be enamored with
her. Raven was strong, caring, intelligent, and beautiful.

Layla yawned.

“Long day?” Simon asked.

“Vampire babies are a lot of work. Makes me
glad I’m never going to have one,” she said.

“Not even if you find the right vampire?” he
asked.

Layla shook her head. It’s not that other
vampires hadn’t shown interest, because they had. The problem was
that the only vampire she had any interest in was never going to
return her feelings. She wasn’t one of those women who doubted her
own attractiveness. While she’d never be a great beauty, she knew
men found her attractive. Her long blonde hair was thick and
healthy. She had a youthful look and a body that was the result of
hours of training. Other than the fact that she was so short, she
had no real complaints about her appearance, but she was human and
that meant Simon would never be with her. “I don’t see that
happening,” she said.

Simon gave her hand a squeeze. “Let’s get you
home. I already know you’re on rotation tomorrow so you’ll need a
good night’s sleep.”

“What is phone sex?” she asked, remembering
his promise to explain it.

“That’s when two people talk dirty to each
other on the phone while they get themselves off,” he
explained.

“And that works?” she asked.

“For some people.”

“You have a lot of phone sex, Si?” she
teased.

“No,” he said. “I guess my imagination isn’t
very good. Either that or I’ve never talked to the right woman on
the phone.”

“I still don’t see how it would work,” she
said.

“You don’t like having a man talk dirty to
you?” he asked.

“I’m not sure one ever has,” she
admitted.

“So you might like it,” he said. “You should
leave your phone on in case someone decides to call and talk dirty
to you.”

“Now you’re making me want to leave it turned
off.”

“Yeah, I might get upset if a bunch of horny
men started calling you at all hours of the night anyway. You’re
like a little sister to me, and I’d probably have to rip their
throats out.”

That was not what she wanted to hear, but she
refused to let it get to her. “Maybe I
should
leave my phone
on. I could really use a little male attention. How will I know if
he’s calling for phone sex?”

“If one starts off by asking what you’re
wearing, hang up on him right away.”

“Even if you’re the one asking?”

“Nah,” he said as they walked up to her front
porch. “If I’m asking it’s probably just to make sure you didn’t
forget to put on your Kevlar vest again.”

She snorted. ‘Forget’ might not be the right
word. Wearing one seemed stupid when so few people had guns.
Admittedly, they’d improved on the design so it was relatively good
protection against stakes and arrows, but knives still sliced right
through the vest. It also slowed Layla down, and the stupid vest
was much too hot.

They were at her house, and it was time to
send Simon on his way.

It felt nice having Simon’s large hand
wrapped around hers. Layla tried hard not to notice how good he
smelled. Some days she really wished Simon went for humans. She was
pretty sure that if she just slept with him once or twice, she’d
get this stupid crush out of her system. Then she realized what a
ridiculous thought that was. She loved Simon, and there was nothing
she could do about it.

Simon gave her hand one last squeeze. “Get
some rest, Pixie,” he said and then walked away.

With one last sigh, she stopped ogling his
ass and went into the house.

After a long hot shower, Layla felt much
better. She was still too tired to do much about dinner. Luckily,
she’d baked bread the day before. Wearing nothing but a towel, she
went downstairs to grab bread and cheese. There wasn’t any meat in
the house. Actually, Layla needed to replenish her food supplies
soon, so she made a mental note to do that after her next patrol.
As the only member of her human team who liked to cook, she
normally fed the entire team a few nights a week, which meant she
ran out of supplies faster than most.

Layla took the plate up to her room to eat.
Normally, she avoided bringing dishes upstairs, but she was too
tired to sit downstairs.

After dinner, she stripped off the towel and
hung it near her shower. Then she laid down on top of the sheets.
It was an unseasonably hot April evening and even with the breeze
blowing through the window, Layla felt too hot to slide under the
covers. The house had temperature controls, but she rarely used
them. The technology was all new, and she hadn’t gotten over her
worries about using too much energy yet. At the human settlement
they’d been very limited on the amount of time they could even have
appliances running. Keeping their homes cooled during hot days had
not been an option.

Her phone buzzed, and she looked over to see
three messages. The first was from Simon and had been sent about
forty five minutes earlier. Obviously, it had come while she
was in the shower. After six months, she still wasn’t used to
worrying about phone messages.

Tinker Bell movie is about u.

“I am going to kill Danny for bringing this
up in front of Simon,” Layla muttered. She was impressed with how
much Simon had put in the message. Since he hated using the pen to
write or the voice recognition program on the phone, his messages
tended to be pretty brief.

The next one must have come while she was
downstairs.

She’s hot.

Finally, she read the third one.

Y u ignoring me, Pixie?

Layla hated the voice recognition program
too, so she used the little pen to write out her message. Raven had
explained more about the Tinker Bell character, so Layla knew it
was a cartoon made for children.

I was in the shower. You are a pervert. Do
you really think a character on a kids’ show is sexy?

The response came back quickly.

did u wash ur wings? she got a nice body.

Layla just laughed. Simon was always more
playful with her when they messaged, and she liked this side of
him. Still, she wasn’t going to encourage the Pixie nickname. As a
small woman, the last thing she needed was that nickname catching
on.

Shut up, pervert.

The message was so quick she figured he’d
anticipated her response and had a reply ready to go.

If I was a pervrt, I’d ask what u r
wearng.

This was a game they played often. Well, as
often as she remembered to leave her phone on anyway. He wanted to
see if he could get her to back down. Usually he teased her about
her height or her inability to keep her phone charged. Today it was
obviously going to be about that stupid movie.

I’m lying in bed naked.

There was a delay before his next reply, and
he’d obviously switched to the pen.

Your clean wings spread out on the bed?

He was not giving up on the wings.

Fine, you win. I’m too tired to continue.

His reply came back.

Ha ha. Sweet dreams, Pixie.

Sweet dreams her ass.

Bite me.

Layla woke up hot and irritable. Of course,
the irritability might be the result of her buzzing phone. She’d
been doing a pretty good job of keeping it on the last few days,
and she’d only forgotten to charge it once. Simon was being a pain
in the ass and checking to make sure it was on at all times.

Grabbing the annoying phone, she was not at
all surprised to see Simon had sent her a message.

Phone on?

She was too bitchy for this today.

No

Then she decided to add.

When is Con coming back?

Simon’s reply was a quick.

Haha get ur ass up Pixie.

Instead of getting up, she stretched like a
cat and enjoyed the way the sheets rubbed against her bare skin.
Yes, she needed to get up. Today, she was on patrol and had to be
at a meeting first.

Still, she’d been having the best sex dream
she’d had in ages. It was even better because she couldn’t see the
face of her mysterious dream lover. When she had sex dreams about
Simon, they just made her uncomfortable.

Conjuring the images from her dream, the
warmth spread to her lower body, and she slid her hand between her
legs. That’s when the stupid phone buzzed again. Without even
reading the message, she sent back a reply.

What do you want now?

Yes, she was really irritable.

U out of bed? We meet in 15 min.

That sent panic shooting through her body.
Crap! She’d overslept. How had that happened? She never slept late.
Jumping out of bed, she caught sight of the clock and realized that
she wasn’t late. Then she went back and checked her missed
messages. Sure enough, Simon had sent one last night, probably
while she was in the shower. It was a group message and he’d
obviously used the pen to write it.

There are some changes to the patrols for
tomorrow. We are meeting at 7 instead of 8.

Damn! She’d completely forgotten to check her
phone. She hurried to get ready and grabbed a muffin on the way out
the door. She was going to regret her lack of breakfast by noon,
but there was nothing she could do about it unless she wanted to be
late.

Naturally she was the last one to arrive, but
according to the clock, she was on time.

The phone buzzed in her pocket, and she
opened the message from Simon.

ur welcome.

Layla gave him a quick smile and sat down
next to Danny. She was so on edge that she had trouble sitting
through the meeting. When they finally broke off into teams, Danny
caught her arm.

“What’s wrong with you today?” Danny
asked.

She shrugged. “I’m just tired and edgy. Maybe
I’m coming down with something.”

“You’re sick, Pixie?” Simon asked as he
approached.

“Would you please stop calling me Pixie? It’s
bad enough that everyone is taller than me without giving me a
nickname that reminds everyone of that fact.”

“Tinker Bell is pretty damn sexy,” Danny
said.

Mark joined them. “I just watched those
movies with Danny, and I agree. I’d totally do her.”

“You are all idiots,” Layla said. “She’s a
cartoon character. Am I the only one who is creeped out by the fact
that you are all lusting after a cartoon character who you say
looks like me?”