A Touch of Crimson

semblance of one.”

“Is that so wrong?” she asked. She wanted a steady man in her life, the chance to fall in love, hang out with friends, and clock in at a job where she didn’t get coated with ashes. But she also felt guilty for wanting ignorance. What kind of person would rather not know about other people’s suffering just so they could be happy themselves?

“It’s not wrong. Far from it. You’ve never felt comfortable in the mortal world, have you? You’re too beautiful and confident to be a loner, but you never really felt like you fit in.” He looked at her with those knowing eyes, seeing right through her. “There’s no shame in wanting to feel acknowledged for who you are and at ease in your surroundings.”

“I certainly don’t fit in here.” But she couldn’t deny that, deep down, she felt as if she did. And that Adrian was a large part of the reason why. He knew what she did and he accepted her without hesitation. That gave her a sense of fulfillment she’d never had before.

“Don’t you?”

“Not yet.” But she thought she might.

God… What would it be like to work alongside others who fought the same fight she did, to not feel so utterly alone in this vicious, lethal world she’d been initiated into with her mother’s death?

Reaching up, Lindsay rubbed the back of her neck. “This decision should really be much harder to make- for both of us. I’m going to slow you down and be a liability.”

“Agreed,” Damien said.

Adrian lifted one shoulder in an artlessly elegant shrug. “There’s a use for every talent.”

“I need income,” she pointed out. “Regardless of choosing one life over the other, I won’t accept a free ride.”

“Mortals,” Damien drawled, “are so obsessed with material wealth.”

Adrian’s mouth curved in a ghost of a smile. “Every day, I’m sending teams all over the world. The duty of making those flight and hotel reservations falls to whoever is unfortunate enough to be near me in the morning; I can’t assign it to my office staff at Mitchell Aeronautics without rousing suspicions. Today, that individual will be you. Barring complete ineptitude or profound dislike, we’ll keep you busy with that task indefinitely. We can negotiate your salary and rent. I provide cell phones, expense accounts, and transportation to all of the Sentinels. You can choose to maintain your own cellular service, but you’ll be carrying two phones.”

“Sentinels?”

“All the angels you see around us.”

Lindsay’s gaze swept over the wide deck. “How many of you are there?”

“One hundred and sixty-two, as of yesterday.”

“Total?”

He nodded.

A short laugh escaped her. “No wonder you’re willing to put up with me. You need all the help you can get.”

“We have the lycans,” Damien rumbled.

She looked at the guards dotting the perimeter of the deck. The disparity in their physical build compared to the angels helped to distinguish them. The angels were lithe and lean, which probably helped them aerodynamically, while the lycans were thicker and more muscular.

Adrian glanced at Damien. “I want to search the area around where Phineas was attacked, and I think it’s time for me to visit the Navajo Lake pack again.”

Damien nodded and stood. “I’ll send a reconnaissance team ahead to secure the base.”

“No. That would allude to fear and distrust, which isn’t a message I want to send.”

“Send a different message then,” Lindsay suggested. “A real one, letting them know you’re coming.”

Both angels looked at her.

She waved one hand in a careless gesture. “I don’t know what’s going on, so maybe I’m off base, but it sounds like you’re going someplace that poses a risk and you don’t want the people you’re visiting to know you consider it risky. So… let ’em see you coming. Announce it. That shows fearlessness-you’re handing them the opportunity to do whatever it is you’re worried about. But first, run with Damien’s reconnaissance idea, but on the down low. Canvass the area without them knowing. Put some people around to scope the place out before you send the message that you’re coming. Then watch what they do when they get it.”

Damien’s gaze narrowed. “Lycans have a strong sense of smell. They would know they were being watched.”

“So send some lycans you trust to do the job.” When she was met with heavy silence, her brows rose. “You don’t have any lycans you trust? Then why are they your bodyguards? Keeping your enemies close?”

Adrian gestured for Damien to leave with a jerk of his chin.

Lindsay watched the angel depart. “Alrighty then. Teaches me to speak out of turn.”

Unfolding from his chair, Adrian stood. “It’s a sound, intelligent plan. I look forward to utilizing your input today and in the future.”

“Flatterer.” She wondered where he was going and what she was expected to do in his absence. She needed to call her father, then take some time to figure out what she was going to do about her job.

He came around the table. “Would you come with me for a few moments?”

“Yes.”

He pulled the chair out for her, then set his hand at her lower back. The heat of his palm soaked through her thin tank top, perversely sending goose bumps spreading across her skin. He led her to the railing, away from the others. She was highly aware of his shoulder pressing against the back of hers, and of his scent, which was absolutely delicious. If she could, she’d press her nose into the crook of his neck and inhale deep into her lungs. The fragrance of his skin was addictive, intoxicating… Familiar.

“Do you trust me?” he asked softly, his breath gusting softly over the shell of her ear.

“I don’t know you,” she whispered back, racked by a shiver of delight.

They stopped at the end of the deck.

“Okay then.” There was amusement in his low tone. “Will you give me the benefit of the doubt?”

Lindsay faced him. He stepped closer, into her personal space. Close enough that only an inch separated them, and she had to tilt her head back to look into his face. His wings materialized, shielding them from prying eyes. Her gaze slid over him, drinking in the leanly muscled expanse of his torso. The tight lacing of his abs stirred a deep, raw hunger to see them tighten in pleasure as he thrust into her. Sexual awareness sizzled across her skin, tightening her body. She licked dry lips and his eyes followed the movement. She nodded.

“Good.” He caught her close, one arm banding around her shoulder blades, the other hitching beneath the curve of her ass.

Every hard inch of him was pressed up tight against her. She felt his cock stir against her lower belly, inciting an answering ache between her thighs.

Her arms went around his neck. “Adrian-”

“Hold that thought,” he murmured. “And hold on to me.”

He leaped over the railing.

CHAPTER 8

Lindsay screamed as they plummeted. She scrambled to wrap herself around Adrian’s lean frame, her legs flailing. His lips pressed to her temple and she fell silent, the terror draining out of her, rushing from her body at the point where he kissed her. His wings spread and they caught air, soaring.

“Aerodynamically,” he said calmly, “I need you not to wiggle.”

Ticked off that he’d given her no warning, she nipped at his neck with her teeth. “You scared the shit out of me!”

“Why?”

“I’m afraid of heights!” Her legs pretzeled around his.