Page 66 of Grave Beginnings

He pointed at me. “I’m on to you.”

“I wish,” I said without thinking.

Angel’s lips curved up in a smile like he tried to hide it. “Eventually,” he said.

I could spend decades distracted by him. “Why are you so nice to me?” I asked, and regretted it. I didn’t really want to know.

“I get the feeling not a lot of people have been nice to you in your life?”

“I have people,” I defended. “Nikki’s nice to me. And my grandpa. And Peanut Butter.”

“And your old partner betrayed you. Your parents kicked you out, and your Sergeant sent you over here without asking you first.”

I flinched at each statement, feeling them like the punch to the gut they were.

“Let’s get you home,” Angel said, grabbing my bag and putting away my laptop. He added the bottle of water to my bag and waited for me to gather up my stuff before following him to the door. “You’ll feel better after you rest.”

We walked to my car in silence, but I enjoyed his hand on my lower back, our energies mixing in that strange, cooling way. People stared at us as we passed. Because I was SV? Because he was a shifter? Or because we were both men? I was afraid to find out that the answer was likely, “all of the above.”

I hit the button to unlock my car and threw my stuff in the backseat, before turning to apologize again.

He shook his head before I could utter the words. “No apology. You’ll eat?”

I clenched my fists at my side, standing in the open doorway of the driver’s side, wanting to yank him into a hug because it had been far too long since I let anyone touch me that way.

“Sure,” I agreed. “It’s probably better that it’s just Ivan and me. Since all this is new to him. But maybe…” I climbed into my seat and clicked the seat belt into place as he leaned in. “We can try another night?”

Distance would make it easier to shove down the attraction. It had to. I’d never felt anything like this before; like whatever our magics were, they orbited each other with a gravitational pull to keep us aligned.

“Yes. Anytime. Promise you’ll text or call if you need something. Even if it’s ‘cause you’re freaking out and need to talk.”

“I promise to call or text if I need you. But I’ll remind you that I’ve been doing this mostly on my own for thirty-four years.”

He sighed. “Yeah, and I think that’s part of the problem.” Angel reached out to tilt my chin toward him, pressing a light kiss to my lips before he backed away and closed the door to the car. I sat there a few seconds, wishing I could burn the memory of his kiss onto my lips permanently, but he stepped back and I turned the car on.

We had time, he had said. I really wanted him, and time, but had no idea how to merge those two things.

22

I blazed a trail home,using voice-to-text to check in on Grandpa, Ivan, and Nikki. All replied fairly quickly, which made my drive home a lot less stressful than the day had been. The video of the daycare weighed heavy on my mind. But I parked and headed upstairs with Angel’s kiss still burned onto my lips.

How easy would it have been to go home with him? Forget everything and bask in the sexiest man I’d ever met? Too easy. And that was the problem.

I entered my apartment to the wireless speaker playing Stray Kids’ “Walking on Water” on low, and Ivan lying on the floor with Peanut Butter on his chest. I hesitated, closing the door behind me and staring at him. Was he okay?

“Ivan?”

“Hmm?” He grunted at me.

“You okay?”

“Yes?”

Was that a question? “Did you eat?” I put my bag away, stuffing it in the cubby beside the door to keep myself from opening the videos from the daycare again.

“Cereal.”

“Breakfast and lunch?” I clarified.