Medium Rare: (Intermix) (27 page)

Just like Skag used to do—without the eyes, of course. The eyes sort of reminded her of Helen. Rose closed her own eyes tight. “He’s gone.”

“He’s not the only thing that’s gone.”

She opened her eyes, staring around the room. The room that was no longer there.

They stood on the front porch, between the two graceful columns. She could see lights on the hillside below them, houses, streets. The reflected glow of San Antonio glimmered on the horizon. She stepped back, staring over her shoulder, then turning slowly. Evan’s car still sat in the driveway.

“What the hell?”

Evan shook his head. “The whole place was an illusion. That was one powerful demon.”

“Was any of it real?”

“Hard to say.” He flexed his fingers. “If either of us had turned around when the ghost called our names, the death would have been very real for both of us. Like Brenda. And Alana.”

She shuddered. “It was real enough for Bradford. But the demon’
s gone now, right?”

“I don’t know. Let’s go back to town and see what we can find out.”

He started back toward his car, pulling her along behind him. A dull buzzing noise was coming from inside.

Evan paused, frowning. “What’s that?”

Rose blew out a breath. “It’s okay. It’s my phone. We probably need to answer it.”

She pulled the phone from her purse as soon as Evan unlocked the car doors. “Dad?”

“She’s awake.” Her father was almost shouting. “She’s okay, Rosie. Come back here quick.”

Rosie closed her eyes for a moment, then tossed her phone back in her purse. “Mission accomplished. And I need to get to the hospital.”

“Okay, let’s do it.”

As he started to open his door, she leaned forward to brush her lips across his cheek. “Thank you, Evan. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

He paused, turning to look at her. Then he pulled her into his arms, his lips soft against hers, the hard ridges of his body fitting against her softness. “Likewise, ma’am,” he whispered. “Absolutely, likewise.”

Chapter 29

Evan sat in his car, staring at Rose’s front porch. He knew she was inside. He could see light through the front curtains.

He’d dropped her at the hospital yesterday without going in himself. He figured the last thing the Ramos family needed was a stranger in the middle of their celebrations. Since then he’d texted her a couple of times and gotten brief, happy replies. Apparently, her mother was fine.

He blew out a breath. He knew Rose was all right. Of course, she was all right. They’d both come through. He shuddered slightly, remembering. She was perfectly all right, just like he was.

Except, of course, for the nightmares. The spider. His father. Sometimes both of them together. Logically, they belonged together since they were both the demon. But dreams didn’t work on logic. His sleep hadn’t been restful.

And he’d missed Rose.

He looked at the front door again.

She’d said she loved him.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes tight. They’d both been under duress. She was trying to save his miserable life. There was every chance she’d regret having said it now that the threat was gone.

It sounded real at the time.

He blew out a breath. Nothing made sense the way it used to. He hated it when his worldview underwent a three-sixty. It made life more complicated.

He needed to get back to work. He hadn’t written anything during the time he’d been chasing demons with Rose. He needed a new project. Maybe he could still figure out some way to write about Bradford.

Go up to the door and knock.
He closed his eyes. He really should do that. Really.

Someone rapped on his window. “Mr. Delwin?”

Evan’s eyes flew open, and he jerked in surprise. A woman stood next to the car, a very familiar– looking woman. He rolled down his window. “Mrs. Ramos?”

“Oh, call me Deirdre. I understand you saved my life. That puts us on a first-name basis.”

Evan reached over and opened the passenger door, then watched her slide into the front seat beside him.

“Are you on a stakeout?” Her lips quirked up slightly at the ends. She was, Evan realized, as much of a knockout as Rose.

He blew out a sigh. “No ma’am, I just . . . well, I wondered . . . Are you okay?”

Mrs. Ramos—Deirdre—shrugged. “I’m fine. They wanted to keep me at the hospital and run all kinds of tests, but I insisted on leaving. My husband’s not pleased.”

Evan could see how he wouldn’t be. On the other hand, he could understand why she wanted to go. “Well, I’m glad to hear that. So I guess I’ll just be on my way.” He reached for the ignition key.

Deirdre shook her head slowly. “Evan, you disappoint me. I thought you were made of sterner stuff.”

He dropped his hand. “I don’t want to bother her,” he lied. “She probably needs her rest.”

“Oh guts up, Evan.” Deirdre grinned. “Rose told me some of what happened in that house. Not much, but some. At least the two of us are talking about the woo-woo stuff now instead of pretending it doesn’t exist like I did before.”

Evan blinked at her. Deirdre rested her hand on his arm. “You’re a hero, Evan. You saved my life, and Rose’s, too. Now you need to do what heroes do.”

“And that would be?”

Deirdre’s smile broadened. “Oh come on, Evan! You can’t be that dim. Go get the heroine, of course.”

She leaned across the seat and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for saving me. Now get in there and do your stuff.” She reached over and opened the door, stepping out gracefully.

He blew out a long breath. Time to do what heroes do. Assuming, of course, that the heroine felt like cooperating.

***

Rose gazed around her empty house. No Helen, no Lenore. As long as her mother had been there, she’d been able to forget how really empty the house felt. But as soon as she’d left, the house had seemed hollow.

She wondered if she’d failed to do something she was supposed to do as part of the whole demon-stopping process. Because Skag was still gone, too.

She wasn’t sure how she knew exactly, but she couldn’t feel his presence anymore, as if some humming white noise had ceased to function in the background. She’d never really noticed before how big Grandma Caroline’s house was. And how vacant.

Rose grimaced. Once upon a time,
empty
had been a nice idea. After all, she’d moved into the house in the first place to be on her own.

Maybe she’d buy a dog. Large and black with lots of teeth to remind her of Helen.

She sighed again. No, she wouldn’t. There was only one Helen, and she’d gone back to wherever it was she’d come from in the first place. After saving Evan’s life.

From the depths of the house she heard a faint buzzing. She really should get that doorbell fixed. Of course now that she’d lost Skag, thus putting Locators, Ltd. out of business, she wasn’t sure she could afford to have anybody fix anything.

She walked to the front door and peeked through the glass. Evan stood on her front porch. The corners of her mouth edged up. Evan struck her a first-rate cure for loneliness.

When she opened the door, he had the grace to look mildly embarrassed. “Hi. I meant to get here before this, honest. I just . . . so how’s your mom?”

“She’s fine. She left the hospital today—even though they wanted her to stay.”

“Can I come in?”

“Sure.” She stepped back. A puff of warm air slid by her face as he walked by—almost like wings. “Lenore?” she whispered, but nothing materialized.

He stood in the middle of the living room, glancing around. “Something’s different.”

She shrugged. “I took the shutters down. I figured the birds weren’t coming back.” Or maybe she was hoping they would come back if the shutters were gone. One bird, anyway.

He shook his head. “No. It’s something else.” He gazed around the room, his frown deepening. “It’s empty.”

A small pain started to throb somewhere around her right temple.
Of course Evan would feel it, too.
After a moment, she nodded. “I came home and suddenly everything was
normal
. And not in a good way.”

He frowned. “What about Skag?”

“He’s not here. I haven’t seen him since I came back. And I don’t
feel
him anymore. I’m not sure why.”

“Do you think he’ll come back?”

“I don’t know. Maybe not.” She rubbed her temples again.
Ridiculous
! She couldn’t be missing Skag, for pity’s sake. He was a first-class pain in the ass.

Evan watched her for a moment, forehead furrowing. “So what does that mean for you? Do you go back to being a librarian again?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. I’ll have to find a job somewhere.”

Deep in the house she heard a vague clicking sound. Like claws on wood.

“Did you hear that?” she whispered.

His brow furrowed again. “Hear what?”

She shook her head. “Nothing, I guess.”

“Is this where I’m supposed to say I love you whether you have magical powers or not?”

Rose whirled to stare at him. His expression didn’t look teasing at all. In fact, he looked absolutely serious.

“Because I do,” he said softly. “Love you, that is.”

All the breath left her body in a single whoosh. At the same time, her heart rate accelerated alarmingly. She wondered if love was supposed to feel like a coronary. “You do?”

He nodded, frowning ferociously, as if he were in pain. Apparently, love hurt a lot.

She sat down abruptly on Grandma Caroline’s overstuffed couch, feeling the plush against the back of her knees. “Well, okay then. What happens now?”

The couch dipped slightly as he slid in beside her. “I’m not sure. I’ve never done this before. Could you give me a hint?”

“Well, kissing would be good.” She turned toward him.

“Glad to, Rosie,” he murmured.

Warm hands grasped her waist, pulling her closer, then warm lips captured hers.

Oh, this was very, very nice. Not exactly a solution to her problems, but nice all the same.

He tasted of coffee and something sweet. Maybe essence of Evan. She opened her mouth, her tongue sliding along his, her hands reaching up to touch the planes of his chest.

Then his hands cupped her breasts and she forgot how to breathe for a moment.

He rested his forehead against hers. “I want to make love to you, Rosie.”

“Here?” Her lips curved up again. “Now?”

He nodded. “Right here. Right now.”

His body pressed hers, and she let him ease her down flat against the couch cushions. At least Grandma’s furniture was roomy, even if it hadn’t exactly been designed for this purpose. She slipped her hands beneath the edge of his shirt, feeling the warmth of his skin against her palms as she touched him.

Evan opened the zipper of her jeans and then began to pull them down her legs, a man with a plan. She helped, kicking them somewhere toward the middle of the room. His fingers fumbled with the buttons on her shirt, and she helped again.

He ran his tongue along the side of her throat, in a thin line that made her pulse hammer. She wondered if he could feel the beats.

The weight of his erection pressed against her, his jeans rasping against her bare thighs as he pulled down the zipper. She helped him push them off, then his shirt. His lips pressed against her collarbone, her breast, her heart. Surely, he could feel it pounding.

“Ah, Rosie,” he whispered. “My Rose.”

Rose closed her eyes, trying to will her pulse rate to slow down. “I’d sort of like to slow down, but I’m not doing real well with the waiting part.”

She heard his chuckle, and then he reached for his jeans on the floor, pulling out a condom. “We can take it at whatever speed you want, ma’am. I’m totally at your command here.”

“Great,” she muttered.

She stared up at him, then took the condom from his hand, unrolling it slowly over his shaft, then running her hand up his length, watching his amber eyes darken.

“Um, Rosie,” he gasped. “That may not be the best idea.”

“My wish, your command, remember?” She ran her hands up his body, the line of his hips, the ridges of his abdomen. All Evan. All hers.

He dropped his hands to her thighs, running his fingers across her sex, then spreading her further before he slid slowly into her body.

Her brain promptly ceased to function altogether.

The pressure of pleasure built as he drove deep inside her, slowly, slowly, one heavy stroke after another. And then he stopped, holding himself hard within her, staring down, his burning amber gaze holding hers. “This is it, Rosie,” he rasped. “You and me. No backing out. No pretending. No lies. The two of us. We’re a team. Got it?”

“Got it.” She brought her heels to his buttocks and pushed. “Now move, damn it!”

Evan laughed, throwing his head back so that she could see the line of his throat. Then he looked down at her again. “Love you, Rose,” he murmured, thrusting deep inside once again as her body arched in response.

She wanted to answer him, to tell him yes, she loved him, too. But all of a sudden the pressure inside her rose to shove everything else aside—she couldn’t get the words out. And then the first wave ripped through her, driving her up to meet another and another after that. Even then she tried to form her mouth into something that resembled a word, but all she could do was gasp, and then whimper.

She hoped he knew what that meant. Right then, it was the best she could do.

Not that Evan himself seemed too articulate just then. “Rose,” he groaned, “ah, Rosie.”

He surged deep again and she rose to meet him. Her female Riordan ancestors might be whirling in their respective tombs, but Rose didn’t care. A man had finally invaded the Riordan house.
Her
man had finally invaded the Riordan house. And all was right with the world.

She dug her nails into his shoulders, riding him to the crest again, up and up into an explosion of pleasure. “Evan,” she cried. “Great God almighty!”

Evan groaned something that wasn’t exactly a word, then slumped down finally to cradle her against his chest as he closed his eyes.

“God, Rosie,” he murmured. “I missed you.”

She snuggled closer. “It’s only been a couple of days.”

“A couple of days is too long, believe me.”

Her lips curved again as she gazed up at him. “Show me.”

They spent a very enjoyable couple of hours on the living room couch. Rose wasn’t sure exactly how long, having lost most of what passed for rational thought somewhere around her fourth orgasm. The warmth of his body pressed against hers as the warm cage of his biceps clamped around her.
Safe, safe, safe.
The words danced through her mind.

Claws clicked across the kitchen floor.

She started, feeling Evan’s arms tighten.

“What the hell was that?” he muttered.

She craned her neck to see around the edge of the couch. Something whimpered on the far side of the room where the shadows stretched in the corner.

“Helen?”

More whimpers, but still nothing visible. The shadows seemed to tremble and then grow larger.

“Oh, terrific.” She sighed, turning back to him. “Now we get the ghosts of your spirit animals to keep us company.”

***

Evan blinked at her. “
My
spirit animals? Hey, you’re the one they came to first.”

“But you’re the one they followed at Bradford’s.” She pushed herself up on one elbow to look at him. “Somehow you must have called them back, and they came. They’re yours.”

Evan pursed his lips, regarding her through narrowed eyes, then blew out a breath. “Damn. I hate it when that happens.”

“What happens?”

“When you’re both woo-woo and right.” He turned toward the darkened corner. “Where is she? I can’t see her.”

“She’s not here yet. But I think she wants to come back. Maybe you can call her.”

Evan raised an eyebrow, but what the hell? Weirder things had happened, some within the last couple of days. “Okay, Helen, if you’re there, come on out. It’s okay. You can come back to us.”

He peered into the corner. The darkness seemed to coalesce slowly, swirling into a dark lump as he watched. Two glowing orange globes appeared in the midst of it.