Chapter 6
Chapter Six
The silence in Caleb’s Mercedes seemed almost oppressive as they drove away from the Silver Bell Wedding Chapel.
Delia kept stealing glances at him, noting the tight set of his jaw and the way his knuckles had gone white where he gripped the steering wheel.
The adrenaline from their confrontation with the demons was still coursing through her system, making her jittery and hyperaware of every sound, every shadow that passed by the car windows.
And if she was feeling like that, she could only imagine what Caleb must be experiencing. Although she’d seen him use his demonic abilities before, something had seemed different about this last battle, as though his demon blood had ramped up a few levels.
She wasn’t sure what to think about that.
“Your place or mine?” Caleb asked, his voice almost harsh, deeper and rougher than usual.
Some kind of lingering effects from the almost berserker fury he’d exhibited a few minutes ago?
That possibility scared the hell out of her. What if he allowed his demon blood to take over so much that he couldn’t find his way back to the man she loved?
That’s not going to happen, she told herself. He knows what he’s doing.
At least, she hoped he did.
“My place,” she said, and prayed that was the right answer.
Maybe Caleb would have preferred to be at his house, but her home was a little closer to Pru’s, and right now, Delia thought the familiar comforts of her own space were exactly what she needed.
“I’ve got some of that wine left over from dinner last night, and I think we both could use a drink. ”
He nodded, and they drove the rest of the way in an uncomfortable silence.
Every so often, Delia found herself touching the small cuts on her arms where she’d been scraped by debris during the fight, doing her best to reassure herself that the injuries were minor and the important thing was that they’d both made it out in one piece.
She definitely couldn’t say the same for the demons.
When they pulled into her driveway, she noticed her porch light was still flickering in that odd pattern from the night before. She looked over at Caleb and wondered if she should say anything, but then decided that right now, a twitchy lightbulb seemed like the least of their concerns.
Inside, she headed straight for the kitchen while Caleb sat down on the couch, something about his ongoing silence and the stiff set of his shoulders telling her that he was probably dealing with his own doubts after that ferocious battle.
She got out a couple of stemless wine glasses and poured Montepulciano into each of them.
Once that was done, she put the now-empty bottle in the trash and headed into the living room.
Even a month earlier, she might have taken one of the chairs that faced the couch. Now, though, she sat down next to him, so close that her knee almost brushed against his.
Whatever else, she needed to let him know that seeing him in action like that hadn’t changed anything about the way she felt about him.
“So,” she said, then took a sip of wine and did her best to relax into the sensation of its rich, fruity warmth sliding down her throat. “That was educational.”
Caleb chuckled, but there wasn’t much humor in the sound.
“I suppose that’s one word for it.” He picked up his wine glass but didn’t drink from it, instead staring down into the dark liquid as if it held answers he desperately needed.
“I keep thinking about what could have happened if you’d been hurt in there. ”
The quiet intensity in his voice made her reach over and lay a gentle hand on his knee. She’d seen him worried before, but this felt different.
Was it simply because he thought the stakes were a lot higher now that they’d both made their feelings for one another clear?
“But I wasn’t hurt,” she said, her tone low but firm. “We both made it out, and we stopped those demons from completing whatever they were doing with that portal.”
“This time.” He finally looked over at her, and what she saw in his dark eyes made her breath catch. Bone-deep fear, the kind that had nothing to do with demons or ley lines and everything to do with her. “But what about next time? What about when we’re up against something even worse?”
She set her wine glass down on a coaster and turned to face him. “Caleb — ”
“I can’t lose you, Delia.” The words came out in a rush, as if he’d been holding them back for too long. “I know we haven’t talked a lot about what’s been going on between us, what we’re doing, but I need you to know that you’re the most important thing in my life. The only thing that matters.”
The vulnerability in his voice, the way he was looking at her as if she might disappear at any moment, made her heart ache.
All the reasons she’d been holding back from letting their relationship progress any further, all the careful distance she’d been maintaining, suddenly seemed meaningless and downright foolish compared to the raw pain on the face of the man sitting next to her.
“You’re not going to lose me,” she said softly as she reached over to take his hand. His fingers were warm and shook slightly when she touched him, but that didn’t prevent her from clasping his hand. “We’re in this together, remember? You said so yourself.”
“I know, but — ” He stopped there and gave a frustrated shake of his head. “I’ve spent most of my life keeping people at arm’s length. I knew it was safer that way. But with you….” His fingers tightened on hers. “With you, I can’t seem to maintain any distance at all.”
She leaned closer, close enough that she could see the amber shimmers in his warm brown eyes, could smell the faint scent of smoke that lingered on his hair and clothes from the battle at the chapel. “Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”
For a moment, they just looked at each other. Then Caleb lifted his free hand to cup her cheek, his thumb brushing across her skin with heartbreaking gentleness.
“I love you,” he said simply, and those words made a shudder go through her. Not because she hadn’t heard them from him before, but because this time seemed even more heartfelt, more intense.
And she wouldn’t hold back, not when she knew this was a simple truth she understood to the very depths of her soul.
“I love you, too,” she whispered, “more than anything.”
His expression shifted from fear to wonder to something so tender, it made her eyes sting with unexpected tears.
Had he been worried that she wouldn’t be able to say those words anymore, that something in her feelings might have changed over the course of the past hour?
When he kissed her, their embrace seemed different from all the others they’d shared…
deeper and more desperate, somehow a claiming and a promise all at the same time.
She could taste the wine on his lips, could feel the barely leashed power that ran through his veins, and yet, none of it frightened her.
Maybe it should have. Maybe all this was utter insanity. But she knew him, had come to see him as the man who made her laugh and who somehow managed to light the fire in her heart and who also allowed her to be utterly comfortable at the same time, and she knew she could never walk away from that.
No matter what happened.
When they finally ended the kiss, it was only so she could move even closer and rest her head against his shoulder. “We should probably talk about what comes next,” she said, even though part of her wanted to forget about talking altogether.
Caleb brushed a gentle hand across her hair. “Tomorrow,” he told her. “We can figure out tomorrow later. Right now, I just want to hold you.”
So he did, as they sat curled together on her couch with the wine forgotten on the coffee table, and for a little while, demons and portals and citywide conspiracies faded into background noise nearly drowned out by the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her cheek.
The next morning, Delia woke up alone on the couch, covered with the throw blanket from the back of the sofa. She honestly didn’t even remember falling asleep, but she supposed Caleb had decided it was better to leave her there than move her into the bedroom and risk waking her up.
It seemed he’d taken their wine glasses into the kitchen, since the only thing on the coffee table now was a note from him explaining that he’d had to leave early to meet with contractors at the flip house but that he’d call her later.
She smiled a little as she read the note, remembering the way he’d looked at her the night before when he’d told her he loved her.
The memory sent warmth spreading through her entire body, even as her practical side reminded her that they still had a supernatural crisis to deal with, not to mention the usual round of life, like meetings with clients and contractors and a trip to the dry cleaners’ that she couldn’t put off any longer.
After toast and coffee and a quick shower, she sat down at her kitchen table with her phone, steeling herself for the conversation she’d been dreading. But after what Pru had discovered about the systematic targeting of wedding venues across the city, Delia knew she couldn’t put it off any longer.
She touched Olivia’s entry in her contacts and waited, hoping her cousin would be in a receptive mood that morning.
“Delia!” Olivia’s voice sounded cheerful enough, but it also seemed a little tense around the edges. “I was just thinking about you. Did you have a chance to look at those alternative venues you mentioned?”
“I did,” Delia said, glad her cousin had given her such an easy opening. “And I found some really beautiful places. But how are you feeling? Any more bad dreams?”