Hotbloods (Hotbloods #1)

“And this would be Navan?” Jean managed, and I nodded, suppressing a smile.

“The dashing boyfriend that swept Riley away,” Navan replied, and he gave a warm smile, the hard lines of his face softening. “That would be me. I apologize if I caused you any distress. It’s an honor to meet you.” His smooth, polite tone was at odds with his rugged appearance, and I could see from my parents’ faces that they were pleasantly surprised. He also spoke with a neutral American accent, like we had discussed—so as to avoid questions about which country he was from, as his regular accent was clearly not American. It wasn’t the best impersonation, but it was passable.

“Come in, come in,” Jean said, stepping back with a smile to allow us in. Navan had to duck his head under the doorway to avoid bashing it as he entered, and we left our shoes by the door.

“Again, I’m so sorry for scaring you guys,” I said as we moved through the house, dodging Sally, who rushed up to Navan and started sniffing him.

“Well, the main thing is you’re safe and happy,” Jean replied, though there was still a note of uncertainty in her voice.

We entered the dining room, which looked out onto our small garden. Navan and I sat next to each other on one side of the table, while Jean positioned two chairs on the other. There was an awkward silence as my two adoptive parents gazed at us. Then Jean announced, “I’ll bring in the brunch!”

“So,” Roger said, fixing Navan with a half-friendly, half-wary look. “Where are you from, Navan?”

“Born and bred in Austin,” he replied genially.

“Navan works in renovation,” I explained. “He’s been doing some work on the plot of land next to the Churnleys’.”

Jean reentered with a tray of tea, coffee, and snacks, and I helped myself to an herbal, decaffeinated tea bag instinctively, the silver root incident still fresh in my mind. Navan went for a coffee, and I was genuinely curious to watch his reaction to the warm drink. I wasn’t sure if he’d tasted it before.

“How did you and Riley meet?” Jean asked.

“Well,” Navan began in a confident, almost theatrical tone, “it was a blisteringly hot day and for unknown reasons, I thought that might be a good time to chop some wood. I must’ve been complaining a bit loudly about it, because the next thing I knew, Riley’s there, wanting to know if everything’s all right. Apparently, she and her friends had been out doing some work in the Churnleys’ garden, and she could hear me all the way across the field.”

Jean beamed at me. “That’s our girl,” she said. “Riley has a good heart, as I’m sure you know. She’s always concerned about the well-being of others.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Navan replied, and he made a big show of reaching over and squeezing my hand. “She sure is something.”

I looked at him, feeling suddenly very awkward with all eyes on me, and he winked.

“She’s also the bravest woman I’ve ever met,” he added, and this time, the frivolity was gone from his voice, and his expression had become serious as he looked over at me.

I blushed as Jean and Roger smiled fondly. “That she is,” Roger said, and I wished I could do a disappearing act under the table.

His response was well chosen, though, as it held real meaning to my adoptive parents. I could see that it instantly warmed them toward him. They were obviously thinking I’d told him a bit about my past, and what I’d been through, though I had personally never thought to describe myself as brave. I’d simply survived.

“Well!” Roger said, clapping his hands together. “We can certainly tell you’ve got charisma, Navan.”

Jean smiled, and was it my imagination or was that smile bordering on coy? “I understand now why you might have wanted to go out and have a little summer fling.”

I pasted a smile onto my face in an attempt to hide my mortification.

“What about you, Riley?” Roger asked. “Navan says you’re the bravest woman he’s ever met—and I don’t think I’d dispute him there—but what do you like so much about him?”

“Um . . .” Was this really happening right now? Had it been a huge mistake to come here? I knew Roger and Jean would be scrutinizing Navan, but I didn’t think they’d be asking questions like this. Navan leaned back in his chair, barely able to contain the smile on his face. They were all looking at me, waiting.

“I’m not really sure what to say,” I said slowly, “other than he just . . . swept me off my feet.”

Navan could barely contain his chuckle, while Roger nodded approvingly, and Jean sighed.

“Young love,” she said. “Such a wonderful thing.”

We spent the rest of the conversation on mostly small talk, and I could see from my parents’ perspective that was intentional. They really just wanted to observe this new guy I’d suddenly developed the hots for, so they could feel comfortable about me spending time with him. By the end of our brunch, Navan had certainly accomplished that—in fact, he’d pulled this whole thing off more beautifully than I’d thought possible. It was hard to fake genuine friendliness and respect, and I knew Jean and Roger well enough to tell when they were putting on a front.

It was difficult to imagine this was the same man who, barely a day ago, had decapitated someone with his bare hands.

Never trust a first impression, I thought wryly.

As the hour drew to a close, I set my cup down. “I’m sorry we can’t stay longer; we’ve got to meet Navan’s brother after this. He lives in New York and has room in his apartment for us, so we were planning to spend a little time there before returning to Texas.”

“Back to Texas?” Jean asked, finishing her own cup of tea. “How will you get back there?”

“Uh, we’re not sure yet. I’ll let you know once we’ve thought about it.” I was about to say, you can always call my phone, too, when I remembered I didn’t even have it with me. So far, my parents hadn’t commented on the fact that I’d entered without a handbag, nor pulled out my phone once, so hopefully I’d be able to slip out without having to touch on that particular detail. “We should probably get going,” I added, brushing off invisible crumbs from my knees as I stood up.

I moved over to Jean and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then did the same with Roger. When they moved to shake hands with Navan, I winced slightly, thinking about his warmth. Thanks to the formula he was on, his touch wouldn’t be nauseatingly hot, but he was still warmer than the average human. Luckily, they didn’t notice—or if they did, they didn’t comment and chalked it up to him just being… a hot guy.

I led the way out of the living room and back down the hallway toward the front door, bending down to say goodbye to Sally as I went. But before I could reach the door, the bell rang.

I opened it and then jerked back, practically choking on my tongue as I stared at the two people standing in the doorway.