“You know it does.” She put her key in the lock, but didn’t turn it. “What’s so funny about this is that a year ago I’d have taken whatever scraps you were willing to throw my way. If you’d only come over once a week for a quickie and then left without a word, I’d have been grateful. But something happened to me while you were gone. I got stronger. And now I want it all. I won’t settle. Not even for you.”
With that, she went up on her toes, brushed her lips across his, and disappeared into her apartment.
Eighteen
For the first time ever, Serena wasn’t sure she could eat, wasn’t sure why she’d decided to even try. She felt strangely vulnerable here in the dining car, sitting by herself at a table. Everyone stared at her, or so it seemed.
Someone had betrayed her. Someone had been feeding Byzamoth information from the day she arrived in Egypt, and now everything made sense. Byzamoth approaching her in the street, finding her in the catacombs, and at Philae, and at the Regent’s house.
God, she wanted to throw up.
She’d tried to call Val once she calmed down, but he hadn’t answered, so now she was stuck waiting, and she kept obsessively checking for a text message or voice mail while she waited for Josh to finish checking the train for demon activity.
Thank God for him. How many times had he saved her life now? He’d given her so much in just a few short days—friendship, protection, out-of-this-world orgasms.
She just wished he’d hurry. She’d never been nervous, had always been supremely confident, thanks to the charm, but suddenly she felt exposed, and the only safe harbor was in Josh’s arms.
The thought almost made her laugh, it sounded so cheesy. But it was true. Growing up, she’d felt secure with her mother despite the fact that for the first seven years of her life, death nipped at her heels. Her mother had kept her close, always, and even after she’d given up the charm to Serena, her protective, loving nature hadn’t changed. Later, after her mother’s death, Serena had been taken to the convent, where she’d felt as if nothing could touch her. The charm had given her an even more enhanced sense of security.
In a matter of days, a lifetime of security had been shattered.
Where was Josh?
She tucked her phone back into her pack and looked up to see him, finally, enter the dining car. Her heart pounded as he approached. He was so big, his presence so commanding that everyone stopped eating to stare. She knew from watching him for the past few days that if he looked at them, the men would avert their gazes. The women, however, admired him as though trying to decide what color bedsheets he’d look best tangled up in.
Personally, Serena thought he’d looked great in the hotel ones, his tanned skin contrasting beautifully with the crisp, white cotton.
His gaze held hers as he approached, his sapphire eyes targeting her like a sniper’s scope. Her breath left her lungs in a rush, because right now, in this moment, for him there was no other woman in the room.
He wore jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt that fit like a second skin and outlined every ropey muscle. His hair fell in a gorgeously messy curtain against his jaw and face, which seemed a little pale, his tattoo more prominent than before, and she wondered if he was feeling ill again.
“Hey,” he said, halting at the table.
“Hey.” She still couldn’t drag her gaze away from his. The sensation was hypnotic, and she was perfectly happy to be in this blissful trance. “Are you okay?”
“Motion sickness.” As he bent and planted a tender kiss on the top of her head, she inhaled, taking in that scent that was uniquely his, an earthy, burgundy musk that made her body bloom. He sank into the chair across from her. “Train makes me queasy.”
He was lying. He’d been sick too often, and she knew more than she wanted to about serious illness. Still, she didn’t think he’d appreciate her pressing the issue. But maybe later. After dinner. After they arrived in Alexandria. After they arrived back in the United States.
Because by now, she’d decided that she didn’t want to let him go. He made her laugh, made her feel safe and cared for. They both loved adventure, and they worked well together. She didn’t know how a relationship with him could possibly work without actual sex, but for the first time in her life, trying truly felt right.
Assuming he wanted the same thing.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Not really,” she admitted. “The idea that someone could be betraying me like that… and to a demon. God, who could do that? And why? It makes me sick.”
Some odd emotion crossed his face, but then it was gone. “Yeah.” He took a drink of the water the waiter had left. “Did you get a hold of Val?”
“No.”
“Serena… is it possible that he’s the one who—”
“No!” She lowered her voice. “Absolutely not. He’s watched over me for years, and my mom before that. He’s been more than our personal guardian. He’s a family friend. Besides, why would he send me to another country to get attacked? It makes no sense.”
“Evil rarely does.”
“He’s not evil.”