“We heard you screaming, baby,” my mom said, out of breath. “We’re coming!”
Oh my God. I bolted upright.
Chapter Ten
It sounded like an army tromping down the path. Lights cut through the fog. They were coming. Fast.
Dimitri and I rocketed to our feet. “Where are my clothes?” I hissed. Everything was dark and foggy and so not the way I’d planned this.
He tossed my dress at me, and it hit me square in the chest. It was like my arms weren’t working anymore. I couldn’t think. Except that this was becoming very mortifying very fast.
Pirate, barking like a fiend, headed straight for us.
“Lizzie!” He broke through the fog, misjudged the distance and slammed right into my shin. He bounced off, spun around and danced a circle. “Lizzie, you’re alive!”
“Yes. Of course.
My dog looked up at me, earnest. “You yelled, and then Dimitri started hollering. You sounded like you were being eaten alive.”
In a manner of speaking.
“Don’t worry. I called in the troops,” my dog said, gleefully.
I glanced to Dimitri, who was barely in his pants. Hades, he had a nice ass. “What did you do with your shirt?” I asked him.
“Didn’t bother putting it on,” he said, as we both realized that I’d torn his top pants button right off.
He laughed, which made me snort. He knew I was a goner then. He reached for me, kissing me silly.
In fact, I was about to forget what was wrong in the first place—when my mom let out a huge gasp.
“Lizzie Brown! I thought you’d been murdered!”
At least Frieda, standing behind her, had the courtesy to cringe. “Noise travels in the fog.”
Now they tell me.
“Hells bells.” I touched my forehead against Dimitri’s chest and wished that they would all go away.
He wrapped a protective hand around my waist. “She was guiding me in,” he said, as if he wasn’t standing there half naked with his top button torn and as if I hadn’t—Lord help me—put my dress on inside out.
And were those my panties lying on the path at our feet? Yep. I was pretty sure they were.
I ventured a glance. The biker witches grinned.
My mom did not. “You were
Pirate circled around my feet. “You know what, come to think of it, she doesn’t yell a lot when she fights. Let’s see, there were the demons from Las Vegas, the demons from hell, the demons from—”
“Pirate,” I snapped. “Stop trying to make this better.”
At least Hillary couldn’t understand him.
Still, let’s face it, everybody knew what was up and I didn’t like how they were all standing around staring at us. There was no way to exit this gracefully—not that I should have to—Dimitri was my fiance for heaven’s sake.
If anything, they should be apologizing to me.
Not that I was going to hold my breath.
“Let’s go,” Dimitri said, leading me away from the scene of the crime, effectively giving up on his shirt, my shoes, my underwear, his… You know what? I didn’t want to go looking for it in the fog.
Hillary was going to think I was some kind of wild child when all I’d wanted was a half-hour alone with my fiance.
Why did I even care what she thought?
Because she was my mother.
Frieda and Creely made a break in the line for us and we headed for the house.
Dimitri, smart man that he was, had rescued my light. He flipped it on to guide our way. He wrapped his other arm around my waist. “You okay?”
“For now.” I couldn’t guarantee anything once my mom got a hold of me.
The fog hadn’t let up a bit. Still, we definitely knew the direction the search party had taken from the house. “I notice none of your relatives barged out after us,” I said. The Greeks must be lovers, not fighters.
He glanced down at me. “They’re here? Good.” He let out a huff. “I asked my sisters for help with some clan business.”
“Well, they certainly brought the clan.”
His flashlight beam jerked. “What do you mean?” he asked.
He’d find out soon enough.
“When are we ever going to be alone?” I asked him under my breath, very aware of the parade behind us.
He gave me a slight squeeze. “Think of the honeymoon.”
Yes, the surprise honeymoon. Dimitri had refused to tell me where we were going, only that it would blow my mind.
Frankly, that could mean anywhere, as long as Dimitri was with me. But right now, I needed some good news, or at least a goal to get me through to the wedding. “Tell me where.”
He turned to me in surprise. “You really want to know?”
Yes. No. “Maybe.” I could cling to the fact that going somewhere magical with this man. “Give me a hint,” I said as he led me around the sage plants and up the back porch steps.
He drew a hand down my arm, leaving goose bumps in his wake. “Far, far away,” he said, glancing back at the witches breaking through the fog.
He nuzzled my cheek. “Soft beds. Ocean views. Me naked.”
“With a rose between your teeth?”
“That can be arranged.”
I gave him a soft kiss on the shoulder.
Hillary cleared her throat. That’s when I noticed she’d bypassed our little tete-a-tete and was holding the back door open for us. Dang. I could use her as a super spy demon scout—if she knew I was a slayer.
“Remember you are rooming separately until the wedding,” she said to Dimitri. Probably to me as well.
He stiffened, and for a moment, I thought I was about to have another battle on my hands. I squeezed his shoulder and leaned up to whisper in his ear. “Let it go.”
His gaze was hard, his jaw granite. Hell, he was probably grinding his teeth. But he held back. For me.
“Thank you,” I wound my fingers with his as we entered the kitchen.
“You’re welcome,” Hillary replied behind us.
It was just as well.
He escorted me up to our rooms. I needed another shower. And to snuggle with him.
He ducked his head and gave me a long, slow kiss, then pulled back with a mock stern expression on his face. “Think honeymoon,” he said, before he turned away, the muscles in his broad back flexing as he headed across the hall.
***
I retreated to the bathroom for a long, hot shower. Afterward, I rubbed on some jasmine scented lotion and slipped into a sexy silk nightgown.
When I closed the bathroom door behind me, Pirate was curled up on the bed. He stood when he saw me. “Oh, no. You’re going to kick me out, and I’m going to have to sleep on the sofa again. Or the floor. I hate the floor.”
“Relax,” I said, running my fingers through my freshly washed and combed hair. “It’s only us tonight.”
“For real?” He asked, leaping over the comforter he’d bunched up on the bed. “Because as your dog, I have to tell you I expect equal attention. Remember how we used to lay in bed all night, reading books and eating
