Angels of Darkness

side while she patrolled her territory, and she’d do the same here with him. Partners, of a sort . . . and she’d love to hunt with him.
    â€œHow did you like it?”
    â€œIt was the worst trip I’ve taken,” he said, squeezing her heart almost to nothing. “There I was, hot, odors all around me—from the food, the flowers, the people—and color everywhere. I spent three days walking through the jungle, the cities, flying across the plains. I couldn’t appreciate a damn bit of it. Because I’d done a good job of putting you out of my head, but there . . . I only wondered whether you’d walked the same roads before. I wondered what you thought when you saw something, how your perception would be different from mine. I wondered what you’d say. And so I spent the whole trip wishing you were with me.”
    Her heart filled again, too fast. She blinked away the stinging in her eyes. “When you come again, I’ll tell you what I see.”
    â€œGood. Now ask if I’ll do much more than kiss you tonight.”
    He’d better. “Will you?”
    â€œNo,” he said, but disappointment couldn’t touch her, not when his eyes glowed so intensely green. He wanted to. That mattered more. “Because as it stands now, that list of mine begins and ends with you. I don’t mind keeping it that way.”
    Only her. Astonishment roiled into fierce possession. Only hers.
    And it was stupid, so stupid—but she was glad of it. She’d been the only one to mean something to him. She wished he’d been happier in his life, that he hadn’t been lonely, but if this was how they’d ended up . . . Radha wasn’t sorry that it had been her.
    â€œSo I’ll kiss you, but I don’t want to rush to the bed. I want you to be sure of me first. Absolutely sure,” he emphasized when she opened her mouth. “That takes more than a few hours, and I’d prefer to wait than to see you hurt, if you realize you made a mistake. And on my end . . . I want to savor you. I want to find out what you like a little bit at a time, learn every inch of you. Even if that means a year passes before I’m inside you again.”
    A year of waiting? Oh, no. She wouldn’t survive the frustration. “I’ll die. You’ll kill me.”
    His grin killed her. “It’ll be fun.”
    Yes, it would be. Because she’d tease the hell out of him in return, and she loved doing that. She loved the way he took it.
    â€œNow ask me if I’ll see that you’re satisfied tonight, and every night while we’re building up to it,” he said. “Unless I’m misreading you—and after you leave, you don’t plan to come back, and you don’t want me to visit you there.”
    Satisfied. Her anticipation mounted. “You’re not misreading me.”
    â€œGood.” Despite the relief in his reply, his tension increased. “Now I’ve got a question. What are you here for? Are you hiding? Tell me how to help you.”
    He still thought she was in trouble? And he wanted to fix it for her. God, that was so hot. Confidence, strength, and protection, in one sexy package.
    â€œI’m not hiding. I saw you in Caelum last week, and I was worried about you.”
    â€œYou were?” Clearly taken aback, he shook his head. “Why?”
    â€œBecause you looked like you thought the world was ending.”
    His surprise rolled into a laugh. “Ah. It feels like that sometimes.”
    â€œBut you don’t really think it will?”
    â€œNot as long as I’m standing.”
    Not arrogance, just an intention to fight to the end and come out on top. God, that was sexy, too. And it was exactly what she planned to do.
    He studied her face, as if gauging her through this new perspective. “You know I’m all right.”
    â€œYes.”
    And getting better. A lot better, as soon as he kissed her. If he didn’t soon, she’d take matters into her own hands.
    â€œSo you’re done here. You could leave,” he said.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œBut you haven’t.” His fingers clenched on the counter’s edge again, hard enough to crack the tile. “Radha, when I kiss you—I’m assuming you want me to. I’ll assume that’s true until you tell me it’s not. You understand that? I can’t hold back with you. I’m only doing it now because