Daring Devlin (Lost Boys #1) - Jessica Lemmon Page 0,9

me, he smelled of cold and snow as he stepped into my house. He wasn’t quite dead weight, but almost. I attempted to guide him past the coffee table, but he stumbled and whacked his knee. His mumbled curse coincided with the wobbling of the jar candle burning on the table. I held my breath, briefly considering that a raging apartment fire was not ideal, but thankfully, the jar settled.

I plunked my boss down on the couch inelegantly, lifting his arm off my neck. He collapsed into the back of it, his chest heaving from exertion. His arms shook as he shivered.

I turned to close my front door, came to stand in front of him again, and stared in disbelief. Why was Devlin Calvary bleeding and outside without a coat? What was he doing at my doorstep?

Especially that last part.

“Phone,” he demanded, holding out a shaky hand.

“I can dial for you,” I told him as I palmed my phone. I was shivering, too, but my jitters were more from nerves than the cold. “The hospital or—”

He snatched it out of my hand.

“Hey!”

He punched in some numbers and then lifted the phone to his ear. I stood over him, mute, and considered the condition he was in… did he even know who I was? And what was he doing here? That was most perplexing of all. Had it been chance that he’d stumbled to my apartment? I really didn’t think so.

I slid my gaze down his long frame resting on my couch, across broad shoulders, and to the chain wallet hooked to his jeans. Biceps bunched as he wiped his lip with the back of one hand. Part of a tattoo peeked out from a T-shirt sleeve.

He looked so… different from the way he normally looked. Yet no less attractive. Gone was the slick, suited man who barely acknowledged me at work. For a second I wondered if Devlin had a scrappier younger brother—or an identical twin. With the same thick dark tumble of hair my fingers ached to touch. I studied the half of his face that wasn’t oozing. The carved cheekbone beneath one of his electric blue eyes. The blue of summer. But it wasn’t summer. It was freezing. As evidenced when he shook again.

After several silent seconds, he ended the call and returned my phone. He licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, a slight wince crinkling his face. “Thanks.”

I accepted my only means of communication with the outside world wondering what to do next. He attempted to stand, and before I thought, I put my palm on his shoulder and pushed him back down. “Where do you think you’re going?”

He glared up at me. Like a large cat at the zoo who’d been caged too long that if out of the enclosure would maul you for fun. My heart kicked extra hard at the thought. The thought of Devlin mauling me was a far more attractive prospect than it should have been.

Don’t interfere, Rena. That wasn’t my mom’s voice but my own this time. The smart voice. The voice that warned me not to leave the club alone, not to accept the possibly laced drink from the too-good-looking bartender. The voice of survival and reason that Joshua hadn’t possessed. If only he’d delayed coming to pick me up by five minutes… one minute. Hell, thirty seconds.

The voice in my head had protected me from dangers real and imagined since Joshua died. This time I ignored it.

Leaning over Devlin, I tried to look as intimidating as I could, which wasn’t easy considering I had a pencil poking out of my hair and weighed all of 130 pounds. He could squash me like a bug on his best day. But today wasn’t his best day. Clearly.

“You need medical attention.”

He lifted his chin to take me in, the eye that wasn’t swollen shut widening with surprise. Then the corner of his mouth tipped into a half-grin, and a dry chuckle stuttered past his chattering teeth. “You offering to be my nurse, Rena?”

He knew my name? I was flattered, and a little warm. I had no idea he knew who I was other than the dim waitress who couldn’t operate the touch screens or find the butter. But he totally knew. He’d said my name.

I liked the way it sounded coming from him: all raspy and breathy. Then I mentally slapped myself. There was no reason to be swooning when he was such a mess. Shaking my head to