"Get some rest."
"Yeah, right!"
The two women sat in companionable silence for a moment, then suddenly Damali jerked her head up. Her heart was beating fast, and she was on her feet. "Got a cold-body reading on monitor one."
JL burst through the bedroom door, the full team behind him. "Got a cold-body reading on monitor one!"
"So we gathered," Marlene stated in a blase tone.
"What do we do, Mar?" JL said nervously.
"Hit the lights... and let Carlos in."
"Are the monks okay?" Damali ignored the disgruntled team that flopped onto stools and chairs behind her. She couldn't keep her eyes off him. However, she was glad that the guardians had lowered their weapons.
"Yeah," Carlos said slowly. "But they have to repair the south wall before morning." He smiled, appraising her from head to toe.
"Awww, maaaan." Rider just shook his head.
"About that Jack Daniel's," Shabazz said in a disgusted tone, standing and leaving the room.
"Wanna go out?" Carlos murmured, moving one of Damali's stray locks over her shoulder with his finger.
"Maybe just for a little while," she whispered.
"Card game, anybody?" Marlene said, leaving the room with the team slowly filing out behind her.
"Wanna go to a club?"
Damali shook her head. The sight of Carlos was practically paralyzing as he ran his hand up and down her arm.
"If you're hungry, I can take you to dinner, or a movie, maybe we could just take a walk on the beach... or whatever you want to do, just name it," he murmured, stepping in closer to her.
His scent filled her as she inhaled him deeply. "It's too dangerous for you right now outside. You shouldn't have risked coming out. They explained everything to you, right?"
He nodded, tracing her collarbone and slipping the edge of her T-shirt off her shoulder with his finger. "I love you in red," he said, his eyes burning her, igniting an internal fire. "Noticed you've been wearing that color a lot lately."
She swallowed hard. "Baby... uh, listen. You've gotta go back home."
"So early?"
"Yeah, like right now, okay," she stammered, closing her eyes as his nose trailed across her shoulder, past her neck, and his lips captured her earlobe.
"I missed you..."
"I missed you, too," she breathed. "But not here. Not in this compound with my whole family here. Some things are just not done."
He chuckled low in his throat. "You're right."
"I know I'm right," she whispered, melting against him as his arms enfolded her.
"Then you wanna get your blade and go somewhere?"
"Aw, Carlos..."
"Please."
"Well... maybe. Just for a little while."