“Really? That’d be great.”
“Go ask your mom for permission.”
Sierra seized at the opportunity to make a new friend. She’d only met Beth Tanaka today. “Tell her that I’ll hang out andwait with her.”
Flynn went flat on his back, then rolled his knees up to his belly, planted his feet and magically rose to his feet withoutusing his hands at all. Sierra had seen the move in about a zillion vampire shows, but always assumed the actors were helpedwith wires. Omigod, it was sexy. “Give me ten minutes to scoot my class out the door, and I’ll meet you outside.”
“Thanks, Mr. Maguire.” He only made it one step over the threshold before Sierra stopped him.
“Hey, Matthew.” Before he finished turning around, she drilled her fingers into his ribs, dissolving him into giggles. “Youhave to learn the same lesson as everyone else did today. Be prepared for that surprise attack.”
Once he raced off, Sierra slid her arm around Flynn’s waist. “I can’t believe he got the drop on you.”
“Me, neither. For a good cause, though.” He swiped his hand from his forehead down to his neck, and then back over. “I wasexactly his age when my mom died.”
Oh, no. She hadn’t realized their mother had been gone for so long. Sierra’s heart broke all over again for him. For all theMaguires. She circled her other arm around his stomach and leaned in to squeeze him tightly. “That’s so young for such a loss.”
“Yeah. I remember how I spent weeks wondering what I could’ve done to protect her.”
“How did she die?” At that age, it was probably either cancer or a drunk driver. Both equally horrible.
The door opened and closed twice, women walking out with a wave and thanks, before Flynn answered. “She died from a gunshotwound.”
There simply was no response to that. So Sierra just pressed her face against his chest and listened to the overly fast, hardthump of his heart. Was it wrong that she felt lucky for not having memories of her parents? For not having that pain of someoneso integral being ripped from your life? Obviously the wound had scarred over by now for him. But it was fresh for Sierra,and she ached to comfort him, to figure out a way to make it better.
He stroked her arm, back and forth. “They said it was an accident. Wrong place, wrong time. But that’s too hard for a kidto process, you know? Too random. So I worked through a million scenarios where I could’ve protected her. Including a bunchof superhero stuff, because . . . nine.”
The age right before you went from believing in magic to scoffing at it. Sierra would bet he’d stopped believing faster thanwas fair, or right. “Of course.”
“But when I got a little older, I wondered if something I did could’ve changed everything. The butterfly effect, they callit. If I hadn’t whined about taking the trash out, her whole day would’ve been two minutes ahead, and maybe it wouldn’t havehappened.”
Sierra angled her head up to look at him. His thick hair was uncharacteristically mussed. His eyes looked almost as dark blueas Rafe’s, deepened with pain and ghosts. “Please tell me that now that you’re even older, you know that’s not true. Thatthere’s absolutely nothing you could’ve done.”
His back teeth audibly clicked together. “Yeah. That’s been made abundantly clear to me. The only people responsible are theasshole who pulled the trigger, and the fucking violent dirtbag who gave the order.”
What? “You mean it wasn’t an accident?”
His whole body jerked. “No. Just . . . you know, gang rules, right? Somebody orders a hit, for retaliation or initiation intothe gang, and suddenly there’s a whole bunch of people caught in the cross fire. Accidents happen. I’m glad Matthew’s lookingout for his mom, is all.”
Sierra didn’t think that was all.
Not one bit.
But she’d take the gift of vulnerability and pain that Flynn had shared, and not push for more. One step at a time. They’dbeen friends for a month. More than friends for a week while they figured out where to go next. And now they’d been loversfor one whole, glorious week.
They’d get there. Men weren’t great about opening up about their feelings. She knew his feelings on chip flavors, grunge music,women who wore cowboy boots nowhere near horses, and even politics after a spirited 2:00 a.m. discussion about how different countries handled medical insurance.
The rest would come. Especially since Flynn couldn’t possibly have a deep, dark secret like Sierra’s.
What were the odds?
Chapter Fifteen
Sierra watched as Flynn tucked his change into the tip jar at Coffee & 3 Leaves. Then he opened his wallet again to add afew more bills.
He snagged her gaze, then flashed an almost guilty smile. Like he’d been stealing cookies instead of rewarding hard workers.“Should’ve probably tossed in another twenty for the hell of it. The people here deal with caffeine-deprived monsters allmorning. They deserve every cent in my wallet.”
“Thank you, but you don’t have to buy my coffee.” Sierra went up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.
“It’s been three weeks since the first time I tasted your lips. What makes you think it’s okay to just give me a peck?”
A hand at her waist prevented her heels from touching the ground again as he took her lips in a long, slow kiss. No tongue,not with all the people around them in the coffeeshop. Didn’t make it any less thorough, though. Not to mention arousing.
Visibly, on his part. Sierra could tell as she slid back down his body. Giggling, she pointed at the arousal tenting his cargoshorts. “Sorry about that.”
“Do not ever, ever apologize for turning me on. But do feel free to say the feeling is mutual.”
“Let’s just say I should’ve ordered an iced coffee to cool me down. Thank you again for treating me.”
Flynn widened his stance and pulled Sierra in between his legs to hide what she did
