Her heart was throwing itself against her ribs. “In my bathroom? How the hell did you even get in here?”
“I wanted to be here, so I’m here.” His gaze dropped to her hands—and the skin she couldn’t cover. She flushed. “It’s really quite easy.”
“How is it that easy?” Her jaw hurt from how tightly she clenched her teeth.
His lips twitched. “You want to see?”
Not really. “Yes.”
There was a certain playful quality to how he leaned back, catching her wide-eyed gaze and holding it. He winked, and then he was simply gone.
Her mouth dropped open as she twisted around frantically. He was nowhere in her bathroom. Unless he was hiding in her cabinet, and that seemed unlikely. This perhaps explained how quickly he moved, because he wasn’t really moving. He was disappearing.
“Julian?” she whispered.
The air shimmered by the tub, so faintly she almost didn’t notice it, and then he was sitting on the edge once more. “Yes.”
She jerked back, knocking her shoulder against the tub. “Well, that…that comes in handy. Can all of you do that?”
“We can only go to a place we know. I can’t pop in just anywhere.”
She gaped. “How do you know where I live?”
That was a very good question, because she was always careful when she went to her apartment, taking different routes each time and glancing over her shoulder in paranoia. Then again, this morning she’d been too drained to pay attention. But she would’ve sensed a minion or a Fallen if one had been nearby.
“I’ve always known where you live.” He reached out, brushing a wet strand of hair off her shoulder.
She flinched. “Don’t.”
His eyes narrowed on hers.
“How many more know where I live?” Tears sprang to her eyes. If the Fallen knew where she was and could pop in anytime, she’d have to give up the only place that was truly hers.
The hard line of his jaw softened. “They don’t know about this place. You have nothing to fear.”
A little bit of relief coursed through her. She believed him. So far, as odd as it was, he hadn’t ever lied to her. But she was still naked, and Julian was staring at her hands so intently she wondered if he had X-ray vision. Her nipples hardened against her hands. She looked away.
Julian sighed. “I’ll wait for you to finish.”
And then he was gone…again. Lily slipped back under the water and squeezed her eyes shut, mind racing. What was he doing here? And how long had he been watching her? Instead of disgust, her body went in the opposite direction, getting warm at the idea.
She broke the surface. “Crap.”
This wasn’t good.
Climbing out of the tub, she quickly dried off and grabbed the silk robe hanging on the back of the door. She could still sense that he was here. She snatched the bracelets off the vanity and slapped them on before she opened the door. Her gaze went to the bed, and she breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn’t there.
Julian stood in front of the reinforced glass doors that led out to the balcony, his back to her. He wore a plain white T-shirt stretched over broad shoulders and a pair of dark slacks that hung low on his narrow hips.
He turned, his intense eyes drifting from her face to the tips of her toes. “That was quick.”
“You kind of killed the idea of relaxing.”
“I’m sorry.”
She knew she needed to tell him to leave, then go crawl into her bed and pretend he’d never popped into her bathroom and gotten a look at her goods. But that was what she should do, not what she wanted. Curiosity was getting the best of her, which was dangerous and stupid. “What are you doing here, Julian?”
He stared at her as if she should know. Well, she didn’t, and so she waited for his explanation. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
That wasn’t the response she expected. She stepped back, her fingers tightening around her robe until her knuckles turned white. “Of course I’m okay.”
“Baal hurt you again,” he stated, his voice hard.
She pulled her eyes from him, staring over his shoulder. The scuff mark left behind from her earlier temper tantrum became a sole point of interest to her. “Thank you…for coming when you did.”
He was silent for a moment. “I remember the first time you thanked me. It had been months later. You waited for me, didn’t you? You knew I’d come.”
She lowered her gaze to her carpet. She had waited for him on the damn clock building after Baal’s attack.
“You thanked me and then ran off as if the very devil was on your heels.”
“You saved my life.” She lifted her eyes, meeting his. “I had to thank you. But it wasn’t like I could hang around. Everyone was keeping an eye on me after…what happened.” And they would probably do the same now. Great.
“I know,” he said. “But I didn’t come here for you to thank me.”
Biting her lower lip, she decided she wasn’t going to touch that statement with a ten-foot pole.
Julian tipped his head to the side, inhaling deeply. “You’re wondering why I saved you.” The way his eyes drifted shut and his lips curved into a small smile made her quiver in all the wrong—right—places. “If anyone is to kill you, it will be me.”
She arched a brow. That wasn’t the first time he’d said that. “That makes no sense. You’ve had plenty of opportunities to kill me. Why haven’t you?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. The small smile played across his face until two deep dimples appeared. “Do you want me to?”
That didn’t deserve a response. Instead her eyes dropped to his lips, and she flushed. She remembered picturing Julian when she’d been with Gabe. This was getting outright stupid.
“How is your arm?”
She blinked. “Um, it will be okay, and it doesn’t even hurt now.” That was a lie, but he didn’t need to know that.
Silence stretched between them, and she couldn’t help but notice how he seemed to take up all the oxygen in the room.
“Why do you do this?” he asked finally.
She frowned as he jumped topics. “Do what?”
“This life?” he clarified. “Doesn’t it grow tiresome? Always hunting with no real end in sight? Knowing the Fallen will always be one step ahead simply because they outnumber the Nephilim?”
“Well, when you put it that way,” she drawled slowly. “I don’t really have a choice. I was born to this.”
He stared at her curiously. “You always have a choice.”
Strange, but Michael had said the same thing. “I may have had a choice, but I don’t any longer. I signed the Contract. Can’t get out of it now.”
Turning serious, he nodded. “Now you have forever, and it’s just you and your duty.”
“Oh the joy.” She stepped around him, checking the locks on the door. They were thrown. Wow! He seriously did just blink into her apartment. When she turned around, the air hitched in her throat. The level of intensity in which he observed her made her nervous, really nervous—and hot. “You should leave.”
“It must be a lonely existence for you,” he said as if he hadn’t heard.
Her fingers curled around the edge of her robe. Of course her life was freaking lonely. The closest intimate contact she had recently took place in a bar’s laundry room. And she wouldn’t be surprised if Julian knew that.
“What about you?” she threw the question back at him as she walked toward the kitchen. “I’m sure you have lots of people to occupy your time.”
“Not anymore,” he whispered.
She stiffened. She felt him behind her and, immediately, her body came alive. Answering some sort of call
