closed the distance between them. Rising onto her toes, she kissed his cheek, then hugged him hard. “Thank you for giving Cliff the sun again.” Though the tranq guns upset her, Aidan was a good man who, like her, was just trying to do whatever he could to save Cliff.
He hugged her back. “Thank you for loving him and bringing him happiness.”
If only that were enough to heal him.
Releasing him, Emma backed away.
“Are you going to see him tonight?” he asked.
“Yes. He’s supposed to come over after he and Bastien finish hunting.”
Aidan smiled. “Then you should shower and wash my scent off you. We don’t want to tempt fate.”
She laughed. “I’ll go do it now.”
As soon as he left, Emma locked the door and headed for the shower.
Cliff skidded to a halt in Emma’s front yard, dropped the duffel bag, stripped, and cleaned up within seconds. Even on his worst nights, he abided by the ritual. Just the idea of her seeing him coated with the blood of the vampires he’d slain made him cringe.
Then he smiled, thinking of the night she’d peeked through the blinds and caught him.
Her eyes had widened. And when she’d opened the front door and stepped out onto her porch, the look of baffled astonishment on her face had made him grin. “Hi, beautiful,” he’d called, buck naked in the moonlight. He had just finished wiping off every speck of blood and hadn’t yet put on clean clothes.
Mouth hanging open, she’d shaken her head. “What… is happening? Are the voices telling you to streak now?” she’d asked incredulously.
Cliff had burst out laughing.
“Seriously, did you just run all the way here with no clothes on? Because if you did, you’re going to have to tell me what route you took so I can go kick the ass of every woman who saw you naked. That body is mine.”
Once he’d gotten his mirth under control, he had grudgingly confessed that he always changed clothes before he saw her and why.
She’d told him he didn’t have to. He’d insisted he did. It remained vitally important to him that he keep the violence of the hunt separate from his time with her.
So here he stood again, naked on her front lawn.
Cliff swiftly garbed himself in clean clothes, headed up the stone walkway, and rang the doorbell. Emma had tried to give him a key, but he drew comfort from the routine of it… and wanted to leave her the choice of whether she felt like seeing him and dealing with his insanity. He would think that sooner or later she was going to need a break.
The door swung open.
Emma smiled up at him and greeted him with a kiss as she always did. “Hi, honey.”
As he entered, however, a new scent reached his nose. He drew in a deep breath and held it as she closed the door. Turning to face her, he studied her carefully. “Aidan was here.”
Her pretty face crinkled up with consternation. “Yes. And let me just say that sometimes your heightened senses freak me out a little. Do you know how creepy it is that he can smell me on you?”
Cliff stared at her. “He told you that?”
“Yes, when I asked how he knew we’d been seeing each other.”
“Oh. I figured he’d probably just seen you in my thoughts.”
“He said that, too.” She scowled. “He better not have seen any hot naked times.”
That gave him pause. “If he did, I’m sure he skimmed past them. He’s a good guy.”
“Yeah. I think so, too.” She bit her lip. “Ooh. I hope he wasn’t reading my thoughts the first few minutes I spoke with him.”
“Why? What were you thinking?”
She titled her chin up in a gesture of defiance. “That if he was here to tell me I shouldn’t see you anymore, he could go fuck himself.”
Cliff would smile over that later. Right now, however, his attention fell to her wrist and stayed there. Setting the duffel bag down, he gently clasped her hand and her elbow and raised her forearm so he could study the new smartwatch. He’d never owned such a device and wasn’t sure how they worked. The watches he wore were standard fare, inexpensive and easily replaced since vampires shattered them periodically.
The watch that now graced Emma’s slender wrist, however, was sleek and black with a numberless face that boasted dancing flames.
He met her gaze, uncertain of her response to the gift and his friend’s visit.