Читать книгу Imminent Affair - Sheri WhiteFeather, Sheri WhiteFeather - Страница 8

Later that night Allie got ready for bed. She rummaged through her nightgowns and pajamas, contemplating what to wear. Not that it mattered. Daniel wasn’t going to see her. He’d already retired to his room.

Still, having him so close, so heart-flutteringly near, she couldn’t resist the urge to look pretty, to feel pretty, to don something soft and feminine. She went for a classic silk nightgown with a hint of ribbon and lace. The champagne-colored fabric hugged her curves and flowed at the hemline.

She washed her face and removed her makeup, then brushed her hair until it shined. The ends skimmed her tailbone.

Okay. There. She looked good. She felt good.

Allie scooted into bed and got restless. Being pretty for herself wasn’t enough.

She wanted to see Daniel, and she wanted him to see her. So do it, her mind coaxed. Find an excuse to knock on his door.

What excuse? That there were monsters under her bed?

The thought made her smile. At one time, she had endured monsters. Real ones. Allie’s diabolical ancestors had conjured witchcraft creatures, and she and Daniel had battled them. He’d helped her through the most difficult time of her life.

Was it any wonder that she loved him?

She got out of bed and checked her appearance in the mirror, giving her hair one final fluff and her nightgown one last body-clinging smooth. From there, she ventured into the hallway. Daniel lived in a modest North Hollywood residence, but he’d fixed it up nicely. He’d made all sorts of improvements, including new carpets, new floors and landscaping the front and back yards. In return, the landlord had discounted his rent.

Allie paused outside his room. A small strip of light shimmered beneath his door, a telltale sign that he remained awake. She still hadn’t come up with an excuse to be visiting him at this hour. But she knocked anyway. She was good at thinking on her feet.

He called out from behind the wooden barrier, “Come in.”

Suddenly she was nervous. She wanted to turn tail and run, but it was too late for that.

Allie opened the door and entered his room. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, with a paperback on the nightstand. His chest was bare, making the scar from his surgery visible, and he wore drawstring pajama bottoms slung low on his hips. She glanced at his navel and his gloriously rippled abs. Before she looked too hard and too deep, she shifted her attention to his face.

He was checking her out, too. His dark gaze slid up and down her nightgown-clad body and rested momentarily on her breasts. She prayed that her nipples didn’t get hard. Self-consciousness was setting in. But so was a major revelation.

Although Daniel treated her like a friend, he was sexually attracted to her. Some of what he’d felt for her prior to the coma was still there, sluicing through his blood. If Allie wasn’t such a Chicken Little, she could seduce him.

Climb right in his lap and make him moan.

“What’s going on?” he finally asked.

“Nothing. I just wanted to say goodnight.” So much for thinking on her feet. They’d already bid each other goodnight earlier.

He stood up, and his height dwarfed the military-tidy room. “Are you having trouble sleeping?”

“A little.”

“So am I. But I’m a bit of an insomniac anyway.” He adjusted the waistband of his pajama bottoms, lifting them a smidgen. They’d fallen even lower on his hips. “Was I always?”

God, he looked gorgeous. Rough and ready. “Were you always what?”

“An insomniac?”

She tried not to stammer. He was moving closer. “I don’t know. We never slept near each other.”

“But we fought paranormal creatures, searched for a magic talisman and helped your cursed lover get back to his dead wife?”

“It sounds unbelievable, but that’s what we did.” Her cursed lover had been a time-traveling warrior who’d shape-shifted into a raven.

“Was it hard to let him go?”

The question threw her. Daniel had never questioned her in detail about Raven. “I wanted him to be happy, to find peace.” Before Raven went away, he’d asked Daniel to look after her. But since Daniel didn’t remember, she wasn’t about to tell him. There was only so much she could say about the past without getting emotional. Besides, he was looking after her, even without recalling his promise to Raven.

Allie shifted her bare feet. By now, she and Daniel stood face-to-face. Seducing him crossed her mind again, but she thought better of it. She wanted more from him than sex. She wanted him to remember that he’d loved her.

He had loved her, hadn’t he? He’d never come right out and said it, but she assumed that he had.

A knot grew in her belly. What if she’d been wrong? What if all he’d ever felt for her was a physical attraction?

She glanced at the neon green numbers on the alarm clock. It was almost midnight, and she was battling a newfound blast of anxiety. “I should go. I should try to get some sleep.”

“Me, too. For all the good it will do.” He reached out to touch a spaghetti strap on her nightgown. “You look pretty, Allie.”

The knot in her stomach got tighter. Was he making a play for her?

“I imagined you wearing something like this. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you wore it on purpose.” He snared her gaze. “You’re not psychic, are you? Like your sister?”

She felt like a rabbit caught in a trap. “I can’t read people’s minds. And you shouldn’t have been thinking about me in my bedclothes.”

“The way you shouldn’t be coming to my room looking like an innocent siren?” He stepped back, putting distance between them. He wasn’t making a play. He was reprimanding her, along with himself. “We’re both guilty of misconduct.”

Yes, they were, and he was too damn observant for his own good. Struggling to temper her emotions, she said good-night once again, and turned and left his room, closing the door gently behind her.

Too bad he wasn’t observant enough to figure out that the innocent siren loved him.

The sun shone through the windows, making Daniel aware of its yellow rays. Christmas was only two weeks away, but the Southern California weather didn’t seem to know the difference. Not that Daniel cared. The holidays didn’t make him cheerful. Why he felt like a bit of a Scrooge, he couldn’t say. But lots of people got depressed around Christmas, so he tried not to make too much of it.

Although he was still sleep deprived, he showered, shaved, and donned a pair of freshly laundered jeans and a basic white T-shirt. Next, he headed to the kitchen where Allie was getting a jumpstart on breakfast. She’d already beaten him to the punch and brewed a pot of coffee, and now she was cracking eggs into a bowl.

He stood in the doorway and watched her. She was wearing a big, fluffy pink robe and ugly slippers with mottled colors. He assumed that the pretty nightgown was underneath, but damn if he could tell. She was belted good and tight. He supposed that after last night’s encounter, she wasn’t taking any chances. But at least it was out in the open. At least they’d admitted that they were attracted to each other. Or sort of admitted it. Whatever the case, one thing was clear: they weren’t going to act on it.

Maintaining a platonic relationship was best. Safer, he thought. Less complicated.

“Morning,” he said by way of a greeting.

She glanced up, and they stared at each other, trapped in remnants of the awkward stuff. He cursed the caveman feeling that being near her gave him. He wanted to toss her over his shoulder and carry her back to his bed, ugly robe and all.

Finally, she gestured to the food on the counter. She’d diced onions and tomatoes to go along with the eggs. She’d grated cheddar cheese, too. “I hope you don’t mind that I raided your fridge.”

“No, it’s fine. Help yourself. You’re a far better cook than I am.” But who wasn’t?

“Do you want an omelet?”

“I’d love one. Could you put ham in mine, though?” He wasn’t up for another meatless meal. The awful sandwich from yesterday hadn’t stuck to his ribs. He needed something with substance.

She opened the refrigerator to get the ham, and Daniel walked past her to pour himself some coffee. He took a closer look at her slippers and noticed that they were cat faces, with pointed ears, plastic eyeballs, tiny pom-pom noses and long white whiskers.

He couldn’t help but smile. They were even more ridiculous than he’d first assumed. He pointed to the fur balls in question. “Does Sam like those?”

“She loves them.” Allie wiggled her feet. “So do I.”

“It must be a girl thing.”

“I suppose you think they’re atrocious.”

“Yeah, but it’s okay. You can wear whatever you want.” Except pretty nightgowns while she was in his room. He made a show of looking around. “By the way, where is Sam?”

“She was up earlier, but she went back to sleep.”

In Allie’s soft, warm bed, no doubt. “I guess she’s not an insomniac.”

“No. She’s a cozy sleeper. But cats are supposed to take catnaps.”

Daniel’s omelet was done first. Somewhere in the midst of their conversation, Allie managed to fix hash browns, too. She handed him his food, and he stood near the sink and wolfed it down. He didn’t sit at the table because he didn’t want to make a domestic ritual out of sharing meals with her. It was bad enough that he’d brought her to his house for an extended stay.

But what choice did he have? The vandal, the potential stalker, was all too real, and he intended to do whatever it took to keep Allie safe.

Would he take another bullet for her? Yeah, he thought, he would. He would do just about anything for Allie Whirlwind. He wasn’t sure why; he just knew that he would.

“You’re going to get heartburn.” She scolded him for eating so fast.

“I’m fine.” To prove his point, he took a second helping of hashed browns.

She shook her head and sat at the table, spreading a napkin on her lap. She would have looked quite proper if it weren’t for the horrendous robe and slippers.

“I already called Rex,” he said. “He’ll be here in a few hours.”

“I wonder where he’ll start.”

“With my background, I suppose.”

“Are you nervous about it?”

“Why?” He scooped the last of his food onto his fork. “Do you think I have something to hide?”

“No. I just can’t imagine being in your position.”

“I can’t imagine being in yours, either.”

“Getting my loft trashed or having the kind of ancestors that I do?”

“Both.” He thought Allie was too sweet to hail from a lineage of evil witches, but that was her background, her burden to bear. He had no idea what his was going to be.

He’d lied about not being nervous.

By the time Rex arrived, Daniel’s anxiety was at an all-time high. But he hid his feelings, greeting the other man with a sturdy handshake and inviting him into the living room.

Rex Sixkiller was a half-blood from the Cherokee Nation. At thirty-six, he was the same age as Daniel, and although they weren’t from the same unit, they were both Desert Storm veterans who had served in the army. But like most people from Daniel’s past, he had no recollection of Rex. Of course since regaining consciousness, Daniel had made a point of spending time with the Warrior Society, and that included Rex.

“Where’s Allie?” the P.I. asked.

“In her room. I’ll go get her.”

Daniel went down the hall and knocked on her door. She appeared in a colorful Santa Fe style dress and a pair of western boots. Her hair was plaited in a single braid that hung down her back, leaving the angles of her beautifully sculpted face unframed. Her earrings were big silver hoops decorated with turquoise nuggets.

“Rex is here,” he said.

“Oh, okay. I’m ready.”

She walked beside him, and upon entering the living room, Daniel made the introduction. Rex rose to meet her. He also checked her out a bit too closely, putting Daniel on edge. From what he knew, Rex was single and somewhat of a player.

Daniel gave his comrade a territorial stare, and Rex looked back at him with a curious expression. Apparently the other man had wanted to gauge Daniel’s reaction, to see what he and Allie were truly about. And now he knew.

Daniel had the hots for his female friend.

“Let’s get started,” Rex said, settling back onto the sofa and elbowing a leopard-print pillow.

Daniel sat next to him, leaving a leather recliner for Allie.

For a moment, they were all silent, then Rex turned to Daniel and said, “Tell me what you recall from your past.”

“I recall bits and pieces about my parents. My dad lives close by, and my mom died when I was a boy. I’m from the Lakota and Haida Nations.”

“Do you remember being from those tribes or is that something you were told after the coma?”

“I remember.” He paused, then frowned. “I also remember Mom’s body being laid out at the funeral house. It isn’t a good memory.”

“No. I don’t suppose it is.” Rex furrowed his brows. “Do you have any good memories?”

“Not really.” Daniel paused once again, pondering the question. “Actually, my memories of Allie are good.”

He glanced her way, and she scooted to the edge of the recliner. As soon as their gazes locked, he broke eye contact. He wasn’t comfortable with Rex watching.

“How good are they?” the P.I. asked, almost making the query sound like a double entendre.

Not that good, Daniel wanted to say. “They’re kind of warm and fuzzy, I guess.” He hoped that didn’t sound stupid, but it was the only description that came to mind. “I don’t remember her as much as the feeling of being around her.”

“And it was warm and fuzzy?”

“For lack of a better term, yeah.”

Rex shifted his attention to Allie. “Does that sound about right to you?”

She nodded. “Daniel and I were close.”

“But there was no romance?”

“No.” She started to fidget.

Annoyed, Daniel squinted at the P.I. “Is this line of questioning necessary?”

“Yes, it is. I need to know if there’s anything that happened between the two of you that the vandal might have seen or heard.” Rex pushed Allie a little further. “No romance at all?”

“No,” she said again.

“Not even one little oops? One little kiss?”

She responded with another fidgety, “No.”

Rex kept pushing. “Were you visibly attracted to each other? The way you are now?” he added, not mincing his observations or his words.

Her breath hitched. “Yes.”

Damn, Daniel thought. This hungry-for-each-other thing wasn’t new. He gave Rex a flustered stare. “Can we move on now?”

Rex gave him a tight nod in return. “Yes, but I’d like to know about other women from your past. Do you recall any of your former lovers?”

“No, and I already told you about Glynis over the phone.”

“She’s a good place to start, but she can’t be the only significant woman from your past. I’m going to have to interview your friends and family and see what they know.”

“You’re an old friend,” Daniel pointed out. “Don’t you remember me being with anyone?”

“Unfortunately I don’t. You were private that way. But someone else from The Society might have a helpful recollection.”

Having his life dissected by other people sucked, Daniel thought. “What if the vandal isn’t a former lover? What if it’s someone with a whacked-out crush on me?”

“I plan to work on that angle, too. And I’m going to need as much cooperation as I can get from you.” He looked at Allie. “And from you. Whoever did this has probably been watching you and Daniel. Tracking your relationship. She might even blame you for his memory loss.”

Daniel spoke up. “You’ll get our cooperation. But I’m not sitting idly by. This is my investigation, too. Whatever leads you uncover, or the police discover, or I find out on my own, I’m following through on them. I’m doing the legwork.”

“I figured you would.” A second later, Rex addressed Allie, including her once again. “And you, too. From what I heard, you and Fearless made quite a team.”

“We did,” she admitted softly, drawing Daniel to the sound of her voice, to that warm and fuzzy feeling that lingered in his scattered mind.