“You do realize I work for the San Francisco Fire Department, right?”
I nodded my head hard and rolled my eyes. “I mean out of guardianship work. And what’s with that, anyway? Do I need to remind you who drove a stake through the last fallen angel? Shouldn’t that have been”—I poked Will in the center of his rock-hard chest—“your job?”
Will looked unfazed. “Do I need to remind you who climbed out her flat’s bathroom window to fall into dubious battle with the fallen undead?”
“And whose fault was that?” Somewhere in my sober subconscious I was fairly aware that it was me, but I could see the alarm growing in Will’s four eyes, so I left it alone.
“You might want to calm down, love.”
“I’m calm.” I pointed at him with a half-eaten chicken wing. “I’m just trying, once again, to give you a little heads-up to the things that go bump in the night.” I smiled, gritting my teeth against a hiccup.
Will stopped trying to fight his grin and it pushed up to his earlobes. “All right, then. I’m listening.”
The setting sun was glistening off the line of empty pint glasses on the sticky little coffee table as I polished off the last potato skin, licking sour cream off my fingers.
“I might be wrong,” I started, then hiccupped, “and I hope I am, but I am not being overdramatic. It just kind of adds up a little bit. I mean, their whole organization. . . Hey, isn’t it weird that in England they spell ‘organization’ with an s, not a z?” I grinned, and Will’s eyes were intent on mine. I knew I was in the zone. I knew I was onto something. I knew if I didn’t stop sucking down Guinness and chicken wings, I would be seeing both again later tonight. “Their whole organization is dedicated to the restoration and empowerment of vampires. They’re all, ‘Vampires good—arghh, arghh, arghh!’” I feigned bashing with my chicken wing. “It’s right there on their website.”
“VERM has a website?”
“Everyone has a website.”
Will nodded, picking bits of chicken from the front of his shirt. I finished off my chicken leg, gave myself a makeshift bath with a Wet Nap, then blinked.
“Do you think everything is going to be okay, Will?”
Will’s grin was easy and slow as he tangled his fingers in my hair. His fingertips brushed my naked neck, making me shiver. I closed my eyes and let the warmth from the fire—and from the beers—wash over me.
Will nodded. “Nothing is going to happen, love—not if I have anything to say about it.”
“You have pretty, pretty teeth. Do Guardians get good dental?” I hiccupped again.
“I think you’ve had enough.”
“Now I think I’ve had enough.”
Will slung his arm around me and carried—er, led—me out the door. A slow drizzle had started in the ink black night and I pulled my jacket up over my head, feeling the flaming red curls that I had so carefully relaxed frizz and bounce around my head. I could smell the yeasty scent of beer on my own breath; but when Will turned to me, his breath was minty fresh. Before I knew it, my arms were around his neck, and my chest was pressed up against his. I leaned forward, focusing on the stern set of his chin. I brushed my fingertips over the sprinkle of stubble there, and Will grabbed my hand and kissed it.
“Thought we were workmates,” he said in a throaty voice. His index finger gently tapped my chest. “Guardian and guard-ee.”
“We are friends, too,” I murmured. My eyelids felt heavy. “And friends can do all sort of things.”
Will whirled me around so we were standing under an awning, slightly shielded from the rain.
“No!” I said. “I like the rain!”
My hand trailed down his arm; my fingers interlacing with his. I pulled him into the cool rain and rolled up onto my tiptoes, mashing a rough kiss against his lips. My knees went weak and my whole body exploded in titillating warmth. I pressed my tongue through Will’s slightly parted teeth and found his tongue. Will’s arms tightened around my waist and he pulled me closer. I let out a little groan and slumped against him, enjoying his firm chest and the secure way his hands fit at the small of my back.
“You’re drunk,” he whispered down to me.
“You’re pretty,” I said to his chest.
“Come on, Sophie.”
“Don’t you want to kiss me some more?” I was trying to smile in the sexy way I had seen Nina do so many times, but my cheeks felt like bubble gum and fishing weights. I shrugged. “Hey, where does it say in my supernatural job description that I can’t occasionally imbibe? Besides, I was just going to get a Coke.” I poked his firm chest. “You were the one who bought me the beer. What kind of angel is that?”
I may have been a little out of sorts, but not enough to miss the look of disappointment that flitted across Will’s face.
“I am your Guardian. Alex is the angel.”