Nightfall (7 page)

“I’ll see you then,” he said, when the silence had grown utterly painful.

“Yes,” she said, and then rushed to disconnect the call before she could sound any more foolish. And then she sagged against the back of the couch, her phone clutched to her chest like a teenager, grinning like a total fool. And she knew it, and she didn’t care at all.

* * *

Julian relaxed in his chair, watching his phone, his face tight with concentration. He couldn’t put his finger on what in the world was drawing him to the Howell woman. All pretext aside, he needed to meet with her to understand why he couldn’t forget her. She was human; he’d smelled nothing else on her. No were, no witch, no fae. Just woman. Beautiful, gorgeous woman, but it was a rare woman even among his own kind who was willing to put up with his style of loving; the odds of a human woman, one as delicately pretty as this, agreeing to it seemed beyond the pale.

There was a story—a legend, almost. But no. It wasn’t even worth thinking about. No such thing had happened in a lifetime, and he had compatriots who’d measured their lives in centuries.

But even thinking about the woman left him tense and aching, no matter how many times he told his body that this wasn’t the time, that his goal now needed to be saving his pack from extinction.

He stood and stretched. He’d healed far more quickly than he’d expected, given that the wounds had been inflicted by other weres. He wasn’t even sure they would leave scars in the end. Perhaps because they’d been inflicted by betas? It was hard to tell. Certainly, no one had studied the intricacies.

Even feeling closer to his peak strength, there was much that would need to be done before he could leave this town. He needed to regroup, but more importantly, he needed to determine who had attacked him. And why.

It would do him good to make friends with a human woman again. He’d been out of the world for far too long.

He had much to do if he was going to remain here. Through his family, his pack, they owned a wide variety of property over Texas and the south. He couldn’t have landed somewhere better than Sweetwater, really—but he also couldn’t take the risk of changing in these woods, if he was still here come the full moon. Which meant there were some preparations he’d need to see to in the basement.

Roxanne turned sideways in the mirror, studying what the jeans did to the shape of her ass.

“I really don’t know about this, Roxita,” Izzy said from where she lounged on Roxanne’s bed. “You barely met him.”

“Which is why I agreed to meet him at Betsy’s diner. I’ve known everyone there since I was a baby. If anything gets weird, there’ll be plenty of people to hide behind. I think Joe might take a frying pan to his head just out of spite, if I say so.” She shrugged, fully aware that she was convincing herself as much as she was trying to convince Izzy. “I’ve never met anyone that makes me feel hot. You know?” She gave her friend a direct look in the mirror. “I’ve never danced with someone who made me want to run into a quiet room with them. Sex has always been… I swear, ‘boring’ would be an upgrade for me. He makes me prickle with heat all over.”

“So now you’re in a nest of fire ants. That’s very sexy.”

Roxanne turned around, picking up a blue silk blouse she’d discarded half an hour earlier and shrugging it on again. “How’s your leg feeling? Your cheeks are flushed.”

Izzy waved her off. “I’m fine. I took some more ibuprofen. It’s no problem.” Instead of going back to her own apartment, she’d gone to Roxanne’s house, agreeing with Roxie’s suggestion to stay where someone could keep an eye on her for a few days, just until it was clear whether the bite wound was healing or festering. She’d sworn to go to the doctor if it wasn’t improving in a day. “Tell me again what you’re going to do.”

“Just going out to the diner for coffee. Ordering dinner if we don’t hate each other.”

“Do you have a condom in your purse?”

Roxanne laughed. “It’s just dinner.”

“He makes you feel like you’re surrounded by fire ants, which you seem to think is a good feeling. Bring a condom, just in case.”

“Fine, condom goes into purse.”

“If you leave the diner with him, you text me. Let me know where you’re going, and when to expect you home.”

“Of course,
Mamà
.” Roxanne stuck her tongue out, and Izzy replied in kind.

“I just want you to come home safe,” Izzy said.

“This is Sweetwater, Texas, not New York City. I’ll be fine.”

“When they find girls all cut to bits stuffed into someone’s freezer, it’s always in some little town where everyone thinks, ‘Oh, it’ll be fine, why are you worrying so much?’”

Roxanne took a deep breath and stopped fidgeting with the lower hem of the blouse. “Do you think I should cancel? Or just not go?”

Izzy sighed and rubbed at her head as if it hurt. “I don’t know. It’s not any weirder than internet dating, I guess. Maybe I’m just used to being the one who takes risks, not you.”

She leaned over and kissed her friend on the forehead. “I promise I’ll be careful. You know me, I always know who’s going to flip out on us on the floor. Even in high school, I did. I get one whiff that this guy isn’t who he says he is, and I’m out of there. I promise you.”

“I just don’t want you to mistake ‘dangerous’ for ‘exciting,’” Izzy said. “I’ve had both. Believe me when I say that dangerous is less fun than it looks.”

Roxanne glanced at the time, then surveyed herself in the mirror one more time. “I’m not doing make-up. This doesn’t feel like a make-up occasion.”

“Sure?”

She nodded. She always felt like someone else with make-up on. Sometimes that was a benefit; sometimes it wasn’t what she wanted. Tonight, she wanted to be just herself.

“Then you look like a gorgeous
mamacita
. Go break his heart. And make sure he knows there are people who know when your curfew is.”

Izzy was still laughing when the door closed behind Roxanne.

* * *

Julian was already seated when she arrived. Betsy’s was pretty casual, but Roxanne still saw a couple of eyebrows rise when she crossed the tile to go and sit across from the handsome stranger in town.

He really was quite handsome, especially now that he wasn’t lying unconscious in a bed with industrial white sheets. His color had come back, and his skin was tanned, setting off his sandy hair and his bright green eyes. If his hair had been brighter blond, he would have brought to mind the image of a California surfer. He certainly had the build for it; his shoulders were broad, and his physique had been impressive, even when he’d been stretched out on the gurney. Now that she saw him upright and clearly feeling better, it struck her how he looked like a man who’d gained his muscle through long, hard work, not just through heavy lifting at some gym. It was in the ease of his posture, she thought, and the relaxed way his hands rested together.

“You’re looking well,” she said as she slid into the booth, setting her purse down next to her. “Honestly, I was surprised that you were able to walk out of the hospital this morning. The injuries you took, down to the muscle level? Most people would be laid up for at least a couple of days.”

“I heal quickly,” he said. “And I was motivated.”

“Yes. Your note said you thought someone was following you.”

He smiled, a broad and easy smile that made her heart flutter. “Let’s not talk about that now. I invited you out so I could get to know you. I don’t think I’m the only one who felt that pull when we first met?”

That pleasant frisson ran up her spine again, thinking of it. Up her spine, then down again, and lower. “No,” she said. Her voice was low, sexy. His smile widened at the sound, and that just made her burn a little hotter.

“So tell me about yourself,” he said. “Have you always lived in Sweetwater?”

“Just about,” she said. “I left for nursing school, came back as soon as I was done. This is my home, always has been, always will be. You?”

“I’ve never been settled anywhere,” he replied. “Not in— Well, years, anyway.”

“How’d you end up outside Sweetwater like you did?”

His hands tightened on each other, just a little, then relaxed. “Told you. Rock climbing.”

“Naked.”

“That’s right.”

“And then you fell, tore yourself all to hell, but managed to walk from the nearest real rock climbing face, a couple of miles away, to the edge of the woods? And then promptly collapsed once civilization was near.”

“You sound like you don’t believe me.”

She sighed and rubbed at her temples. “I’m sorry. I’m accusing you, and that’s unkind. I’m just surprised. Confused. I don’t know why you’re not telling me the truth.” He was silent, his knuckles close to white on each other. “Does it relate to the thing you don’t want to talk about?”

He was silent and still for a long time, and then he nodded.

“Well,” she sighed, as Betsy brought over their coffee. “At least you’re not a vampire.”

“True enough.” He lifted his cup in a toast, and she matched it.

“So what can I ask you?”

“Ask me why I’m in Sweetwater, and I’ll tell you that I’m staying here while I recover and regroup from the situation that allowed us to be introduced. Ask me where I’m staying, and I’ll tell you there’s an old house up on East Street that you probably never noticed. It’s been vacant for years.”

“The old Tyrell place,” she said.

“Yes. It’s mine through my mother’s family. I’m staying there.”

“How long will you be here?” she asked.

“Until my business is concluded. It could be days, it could be weeks. I’m not sure at this point.”

“Do you find me attractive?” She was surprised to hear the question come out of her mouth, and even more surprised to see his nostrils flare and his eyes sparkle with light.

“Very much,” he said. “There’s something about you, something that I just can’t put my finger on.”

She stole a smile from her memories of Izzy, one where her mouth was all cocked to one side and her eyes were twinkling. “Do you want to put your fingers on me?”

His eyebrows went up. “Are you offering yourself to me already?”

She hoped her smile was the right kind of flirtatious. “Well, you did offer me dinner. And I think talking is good, getting to know each other is good. But no. In answer to your first question? No, you aren’t the only one who feels that pull.”

She felt his flare of interest in the tension on the air, the intensity of his eyes on her collarbones, and the sense that he was watching her even when his eyes were closed. “We’ll talk more about that later,” he said, and she felt the heat drop down through her stomach like a ball of lead, landing in her clit, soaking her panties, leaving her struggle to keep from wriggling on the seat like a little kid who needed to pee. She crossed her legs, letting the tension in her thighs ease the ache, just a touch.

The conversation lightened from there. They talked about typical date things. Movies and music—he was horribly out of date with both. Books—she lacked here, though less than she’d anticipated she would have. Favorite foods, desserts, drinks, colors. They ordered dinner, and then dessert, and she found herself easily laughing at his dry sense of humor. At one point she tapped her hand with her fingers to tease him back for something he’d said, and she found her hand enveloped in his. It was large, strong, warm, and it sent a flurry of butterflies through her. She watched their hands together for a moment, and then she looked up at him and smiled.

“This is the point,” he said quietly, “When normally I would invite you back to my place. But this is far from a normal situation.”

“Is it?”

“You’ve only just met me. You don’t know me or my preferences.”

She shrugged, feeling the wetness in her panties and the excitement in her belly. It was worth talking about, if nothing else. “So tell me about them.”

A faint smile brushed his lips, and then his thumb traced over the back of her hand, making her sigh. “I like control. Giving it, losing it. Having it, having it taken away. I like tying people up, and being tied up, and teasing. I love teasing. I’m not a killer, and I don’t want to beat a stranger up. But I don’t… find much satisfaction in what most people call ‘vanilla’ sex.”

She stared at him for a long moment, watching all the pieces in her mind tumble into place, and feeling shocked that she’d never thought about this before. “So—I’ve never done any of that? But from the way you talk about it, it’s something that—” She stumbled over the words for a moment, focused, and continued. “That I’d like to try. It sounds… intriguing.”

There was something in the curl of his lip that was almost mocking. “Intriguing? Well, that’s fair. But before we leap to conclusions—perhaps we could go for a walk. See if that chemistry we both experienced survives closer contact?”

“Okay,” Roxanne said. “I have to do one thing first.” She pulled out her phone and sent Izzy a quick message, saying that they were going for a walk and might end up back at his place. She glanced at the time, and said she’d be in touch by midnight. She didn’t thank Izzy for making the condom suggestion. Although she thought about it.

He was watching her, his chin propped on his hand. “Letting someone know where you’re going, and when you’ll be in touch?”

She nodded. “I hope you don’t find that offensive?”

He grinned. “Not in the least. I like a woman who’s smart enough to make sure she’s safe. And I’m not going to hurt you—unless you ask me to—but I understand how, from where you sit, there’s no way to tell that yet.”

“I’ve never known anyone like you,” she said.

“No,” he agreed. “I’m quite sure you haven’t.” He stood and held his hand out to her. “Shall we?”

Betsy gave her a grin that was quite wild for a woman who was over sixty and went to church as often as she did. Roxanne gave her a smile back, and felt Julian squeeze her hand as they walked. He’d noticed the attention too, apparently.