going on in her head.
Ariana turned and locked eyes with Abe, and for a split second the world stopped turning. They gazed at each other for what seemed like an eternity.
Ariana smiled at him and said, “Thank you.”
Aw, her voice was like an angel’s. Abe took a mental picture of her smile so he could gawk at it later.
“Come on,” Becky said and pulled Ariana through the door. “Rainey said we could come in and she didn’t sound happy.”
Abe followed without another word, his eyes roving all over Ariana. Her hair was blond and he could tell it would fall past the middle of her back if she didn’t have it tied up. Her neck was slender, as was her waist. When his gazed followed the sinuous line of her hip he noticed a change in his own body; something was growing and it was unlikely it would go unnoticed. Bad timing. Damn pajama bottoms.
The girls entered Rainey’s lair. Abe stopped at the door. “You go first. I can wait. I’ll speak with Rainey later.”
“Oh, no. You’ll speak with Rainey right now. Get your ass in here, you big idiot!” Rainey yelled. “You, girls, get a coke and have a seat. I need to speak with Abe, alone.”
Abe followed Rainey into her bed chamber. Her comforter was on the floor, as if she’d had a restless night, too. Vampires could go for days without sleep, but they would need sleep eventually. Abe had already been awake since Tuesday, before he saw the love of his life in a crystal ball. It was starting to wear on him. If sleep wouldn’t come until he had Ariana in his arms, he was going to have to get her quick, before he collapsed.
He shut the door behind him and watched as Rainey paced back and forth in front of her bed, no doubt working out the best way to chew him out. He took one step towards her and raised his chin; he would take it like a man.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into her. I was on my way down here to see you and they got on the elevator from the first floor. Nothing I could do.” Well, he could have told the girls to wait for the next one instead of inviting them in, but Rainey didn’t have to know that.
“Putting some clothes on would have been a good start.” Rainey’s voice was a little too loud, but the walls were soundproof, so she could let rip a little. “What the hell, Abe? Pajama bottoms? You have no idea how you look – or don’t you care? And you just happen to run into the girl we decided was best for you to stay away from right now? Did you hit your head or something? You swore you would stay away from her. Was it not you in here just last night telling me you did not want to screw this up? The last vision tells us something bad will happen if someone makes a certain choice. Until we figure out who that someone is and what that choice is, Ariana is off limits to you, you got me?”
“Uh… I –”
“No. Just shut the hell up; I’m not finished. After you left last night I did the test on Ariana, to see if she has any witch blood in her, and guess what? She’s more witch than I am. And a mind reader on top of that. So I really hope, for your sake, that you had flowers and birds on your mind during that elevator ride.”
“Shit!” Abe said. “That’s what she meant when she said she had a bunch of nonsense going through her head. Do you think she heard everything I was thinking?”
“Every little thing, Romeo.”
“Christ!”
“Exactly. Listen to me, Abe. I want you to walk out of here while you think of anything but her. I really think the two of you look cute together, but we have to do it right or the shit’s gonna hit the fan! Not only will you scare her off, but there’s so much more at stake here. A hot guy visited my dreams last night and he says something bad is going to happen on the island. I will try and make sense of it all, but right now I’ve got to think of Ariana. She’s been here two days already and still lives in borrowed clothes. It’s time to make her comfortable. So I’m using
C. J. Cherryh
Learning to Kill: Stories
John O'Riley
Brenda Sinclair
Christopher George
Stephen Lloyd Jones
Karl Iagnemma
Celya Bowers
Jill Gregory
Aria Cunningham