Chapter Eight
Liam woke three days later feeling like he’d been on a three-day bender.
A shave and a shower improved matters greatly, but didn’t shake off the killer headache pounding behind his eyes.
He kept having the urge to touch under his nose to check for blood.
Surely his sinuses were beyond pressure capacity and would explode at any moment?
Devon found him sprawled back crookedly over his bed, clutching his head and groaning in a whisper. She suppressed a laugh, drawing attention to herself when it made her snort. Liam opened a single eye and glared at her.
“You find this funny?”
“Come on, you’re just dehydrated,” she scoffed at him as she grabbed for his hand and tried to pull him upright.
“I’m not going anywhere until my brain fits back inside my skull.”
“I wouldn’t be contrary if I were you. I won’t be kind to your head if you make me force you. Let’s go. Up, up,” she coaxed.
Liam did as commanded, rising to his feet and leaning against her a little when the blood in his head pounded.
Once everything settled, he followed her out of the suite.
He kept his eyes mostly closed, trusting her to guide him as he flinched away from the daylight.
She kept hold of one of his big hands with both of her smaller ones.
She brought him into a morning room, making him realize that it was well into the afternoon because there was no direct sunlight in the eastern facing windows.
In spite of the time, however, the table in the room was set with the makings of a hearty breakfast and lots of fruit and juices.
Liam was suddenly famished and he practically threw himself into one of the chairs.
Devon began to lift covers off of eggs, ham, mounds of toast and bacon.
“Cook would be happy to make you a steak if you prefer that to—”
“No, this is great,” he said quickly.
Devon had served him a large plateful of everything before he realized it; then she sat down with tea and toast for herself.
He picked up his juice, emptied the glass in just a few swallows, and then refilled it.
She was right of course; he was hellishly thirsty.
“You know,” he said after picking up his fork, “you aren’t required to serve me.
Or keep me company. I’m not here to disrupt the way you live any more than is necessary for security reasons. ”
Stillness shimmered over her, her genuine smile fading into something less readable. Her eyes turned to focus on her teacup and toast. “You’re so right. I’m sorry. You also have a total right to be alone and at peace when you wish it. I don’t know how I could be so presumptuous.”
Devon stood up hastily, but Liam was already reacting. He had her by the wrist with the lock of his hand and jerked her forward as he came out of his chair. The result was full body contact. It happened so fast that the ring of his fork hitting his plate was still in the air.
“Liam,” she protested.
“No. Look at me, Devon.”
Devon did, her eyes snapping up with irritated fire. He had to suppress a smile, lest she think he was laughing at her. It was just, her spirit charmed him so much at the most unexpected moments.
“Devon, I didn’t mean that to sound so damn cold.
It was a scripted remark, one I’ve used before in the workplace with my principals, and it came out automatically.
I enjoy your company a great deal. I didn’t mean I wished to be alone.
I only meant that I didn’t want you to feel you are required to wait on me. ”
“Liam, I’m a powerful, independent woman who does whatever she likes, whenever she likes. There’s nothing about you that would compel me to change that. I’m here because I wish to be, not because it’s required.”
It was a compliment and an insult all wrapped up together. Liam stared down at her, completely bemused. Finally, he lifted her hand and kissed the back of it, briefly enjoying the clean scent of her skin. “Then let’s eat,” he invited.
Devon stepped back, peeling her body away from his as though they were two static filled socks fresh out of the dryer.
The moment she understood he wasn’t trying to scrape her off, she felt that instant attraction that continually pulled them together.
He’d done little more than sleep these past couple of days and though she’d spent almost every minute caring for him, she had missed his vitality and the electricity of his waking presence.
Missed him. When she’d only spent so few hours knowing him. It was insane. It was silly. It was …
Undeniable. She had lived long enough to know the truth in the things she felt.
The truth of the matter was that she was flushed with lust for a human male for the first time in decades.
She knew she was hard to please to begin with.
Ever since she had left the Morphate enclave of Dark Manhattan, encounters with Morphate males were few and far between.
But the move had been very necessary. Her Alpha, Nick Gregory, had deemed it so.
And whatever else she was, she would always be loyal to Nick and Amara Gregory.
So that had left her with a very rare selection of Morphates living outside of the Dark Cities to choose from, and those males tended to be walking the wrong side of the law and the wrong side of their loyalty to Nick.
Despite her voracious Morphate drive and appetites, for her, sex was far too personal an exchange to waste on the untrustworthy and the arrogant.
As far as human males went, she’d always been a little afraid of breaking them.
Even the strong ones. She knew she could damage them if she got carried away, and what fun was bed sport without the option of getting carried away?
Then there was simply the short-sightedness and rampant immaturity than ran like water through humans in general. It was a turn off.
But Liam was something entirely different.
He was that pure Alpha male personality that attracted her madly, with the build and body to damn well back it up.
She wasn’t afraid of breaking him, that much was certain.
She might be the stronger of the two of them, but strength wasn’t everything, and Liam practically hummed with confidence in his prowess.
That and the way he moved, with a purely male ease of contained power, perfectly balanced and tautly controlled.
And just the smell of him. The excellent masculine aroma of heat and soap and sweat.
Add to it the chemistry between them, and they lit up like the Las Vegas strip every time they came close.
Oh yes. She wanted this man in a bad, bad way.
But the fact that he was fresh out of his sickbed was only the beginning of the host of problems this particular desire would create.
She knew her body wanted his with an incredible intensity, but there were things to be considered.
There were reasons why she should be cautious and careful.
There were always reasons why she needed to be cautious and careful.
She sat down slowly, smoothing her skirt and taking a careful sip of her tea.
“Have you been getting along all right with my crew?” he asked after a few minutes of relishing his first meal in days; looking around himself as if his crew would be somewhere within sight just because he was talking about them.
“Quite well. They’re efficient and they take great pains to explain everything they have to do. We’ve been practicing some procedures for public outings. Inez is a wonder—”
“Good afternoon! Or should I say morning?”
Devon watched Liam’s entire body stiffen, his demeanor changing instantly as Carter Spencer entered the room. Carter bent to kiss Devon’s cheek, his hand sliding beneath her hair at the back of her neck in a possessive gesture. He kept it there as he stood to face Liam.
“Breakfast at 2 P.M.? Devon, it’s so very continental of you.”
“Carter,” she greeted, “you know that one of the rules of this house is that I don’t adhere to the conventional if I can get away with it.”
“Well, I’ve come to scold you yet again. You’ve been positively neglectful of your work these past three days,” Carter said, pointedly sliding a disdainful glance at the cause of her truancy. “We’re behind on everything. You know the world can’t revolve without you.”
“Carter, really,” she reproached sternly, flushing with embarrassment at his behavior.
He was acting like a total ass, confirming Liam’s dislike of him and shaming her defense of her secretary.
Carter was purposely trying to make Liam feel a cut below Devon.
It irritated her. It was the story of her life, it seemed, to be surrounded by obnoxious intolerance.
“Spencer,” Liam put in calmly, continuing his breakfast as though nothing had disturbed him.
But Devon could see the hard gleam in his amber eyes that told her exactly how Liam felt about Spencer and his intrusion.
“Give me that smart phone you’re always carrying around.
” There was no asking. It was an order, no matter how casually it was put.
Spencer went rigid. “That’s private and no business of yours,” he said in clipped tones.
“Actually, it is my business. Anything that concerns Devon, now concerns me. The slightest endangerment or whisper of a threat will be met by me until I’m satisfied that it’s eliminated.
” Devon felt Carter’s entire body tensing all the way to the fingers around her neck.
“Right now,” Liam continued, “that threat is you and your open-house style of information storage.”