Sins of the Soul

“What?” He looked back at her over his shoulder. She still stood directly beside the door, an odd, pained look on her face as her gaze dipped to his feet, then back to his eyes.

The look she settled on him left him feeling like he’d been judged and come up lacking, and blimey, but he had no clue what it was that had got her hackles up.

“What?” he asked again.

“She barfed. And she was sitting on the ground in the alley. Who knows what seeped into her clothes. Do not put her on my white couch. Wait.” She closed and locked the door, then leaned down to remove her boots. She worked swiftly, taking off one, then the other, and lining them neatly side by side on a mat by the door. She slipped her feet into a pair of plain black slippers, then she straightened and sent him another one of those pained looks, her gaze sliding from the woman he held down his legs to his feet. She stared at his Berlutis a second too long, and for some reason he was left feeling like a barbarian.

Then off she went, up the second set of stairs, and he saw her pull that little bottle of hand sanitizer from her pocket once more. She returned with a flannel sheet, unfolded it, laid it over the couch and said, “Okay, fine. You can put her down now.”

“Your wish, my command.”

“Really?” The look she gave him spoke volumes. “Then I wish you could disappear and take puke girl with you.”

“You’re the one who decided to bring her along.”

“What was I supposed to do? Leave her there?”

“Why not? They were after you. She would have been perfectly fine.”

She stared at him, brow furrowed, then she dipped her head toward the sheet-covered couch and again said, “You can put her down.”

“Right.” He’d almost forgotten he was holding her, he’d been so focused on Naphré. Leaning in, he dropped his shoulder, letting the girl slide off.

“Is that really what you thought?” Naphré asked. “That they were after me?”

Her tone made him wary, made him feel like he’d missed some key part of this picture. “Of course. Why do you think I stepped in? For some strange woman I care nothing about?”

“I’m a strange woman you care nothing about.”

There was absolutely nothing in this world or the next that would tempt him to answer that.

She stared at him, then said slowly, “You stepped in because you thought you were protecting me. What the hell do you think you are? My big brother?”

Definitely not. In no way did he ever want to think of himself as her brother.

Liquid, dark eyes stared back at him. Shell-pink lips parted. A faint flush tinged her cheeks. So pretty. She was so damned pretty.

Her gaze dropped to his mouth and enough seconds ticked past that he felt that look like an arrow to his groin.

Bloody hell. She got him hard with just one look.

He’d kissed her in the alley, a hard, quick press of his lips on hers. He wanted to kiss her again, slow, take his time. Put his tongue inside her and taste her. Peel her clothes off. Touch her smooth, golden skin.

Put his fingers inside her. And then his cock.

Locking down his control, he asked, “Are you saying they weren’t after you?” The words came out a little rough.

She shook her head. “I told you…they were after her. It was looking like a date rape. Or worse. They drugged her.”

“Did they? I thought she was drunk and in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He paused, shrugged. “And I didn’t give a damn. Playing the knight for human females is not a priority.”

“Yet you played the knight for me.” The softly voiced assertion hung between them. “What were you doing in that alley, anyway?” she demanded.

“I saw you get turned away by the security guard.” He’d figured she would give up then. But, no. Not Naphré. “When you took off around the back of the building, I thought you’d gone to reconnoiter. You didn’t reappear out front—” he shrugged “—so I followed.” And by then, she’d already grabbed the girl and stirred up a mess of trouble.

“You—” She closed her mouth and frowned. “What were you doing at the Temple?”

“I followed you.”

“You followed me? From here?” She sounded affronted. Appalled. “How did I not see you?”

“Soul reapers are seen only if they wish to be seen, pet.”

“What, you’re like the invisible man?”

“I can shift the bonds between molecules so I refract light.”

She blinked.