Dusk Avenger (Flirting with Monsters #3) - Eva Chase Page 0,78
cool of the aloe spread over my arm. As the pain drew back, other sensations came into more vivid awareness. Like the brush of Omen’s fingers, unexpectedly gentle, as he finished his administrations. Like the not-at-all unpleasant heat emanating from him where he was now poised just inches away.
As he let my arm go, I gave in to the urge to poke one of his substantial pecs. “Who would have thought the hellhound could be so sweet?”
Omen snorted. “Yes, my preference that you remain uncharred so you can actually participate in those upcoming battles is clearly a sign of boundless devotion.”
“There you go,” I said, cheerfully ignoring the sarcasm dripping from his voice, and leaned back on my hands. “I knew underneath all the rancor you adored me.”
The shifter’s gaze skimmed over my breasts and down the rest of my body, the flicker of orange light in it kindling a very different flame all through me. Then he pushed away from the bed with a jerk, that familiar ice forming in his eyes. Any good humor flattened from his tone. “You should get back to practice. With a minimum of burnt flesh this time, if you can manage that?”
I glowered at him. “Why do you have to revert back to being Bossypants the Asshole? Is it that hard to admit that you care at least a tiny bit what happens to me beyond my usefulness to your cause? And, y’know, to act like it for more than a few seconds at a time?”
“We’ve talked about this. I’m not interested in being another one of your fuckbuddies. I can’t see any way that won’t just lead to more disaster.”
“I’m going to have to point out that you’re the one who brought up fucking. I’m not even asking you to kiss me. All I’m talking about is a little more consistency in the respect and compassion department. Or do you figure since I’m only half shadowkind, I’m only half worth caring about?”
He bared his teeth. “I certainly didn’t come here to make friends with mortals.”
“I’m not ‘mortals’—I’m me. And I think I’ve proven that I’m nothing like the ones you hate.”
“I never said you were like them.”
I threw my hands in the air. “Then what’s the problem? You know I’m in this to the end. I’ve given up pretty much everything I had before you all crashed into my life to see this mission through. Why are you still so convinced that being a little friendly will ruin your life somehow?”
“Who says it’s my life I’m worried about ruining?” Omen said, with an edge of a snarl. “Do you really think getting more wrapped up in my business is going to turn out so hot for you?”
How could I resist an opening that good? I peered at him through my eyelashes. “Yes, actually I expect it’d be incredibly hot.”
The hellhound shifter let out a strangled sound. “And of course you have to turn things around like that. I don’t for one second think you’ll be the one hitting the brakes if I stopped doing it.”
“So what you’re saying is you don’t trust your own self-control, and you’re blaming me for it.”
“That’s not— I know what you’re like. I’ve seen how you’ve drawn the others in, even if there was nothing malicious about it. Don’t try to pretend this is all about making friends, because I see you.”
He said the words like an accusation, but the deeper truth of them rippled through me, dispelling most of my frustration. My fingers relaxed where they’d clenched the bedspread as we’d argued. One corner of my mouth lifted in a crooked smile.
“Yeah,” I said. “You do. Not just like that. You’re the only one who saw that I was more than human when even I was turning a blind eye. You see what I’m capable of, and you see when I’m struggling—and you like me at least enough to push me or bandage me up as I need it. That’s why I like you, or at least why I’m trying to through all the hot-and-cold routines you pull.”
At my change in tone, Omen’s stance had gone rigid. “What are you trying to pull now?”
Huh, it looked like kindness pissed off the hellhound shifter even more than snark did. Because it got under his emotional armor more than he liked?
I shrugged, keeping the same calm attitude. “I’m simmering things down—which doesn’t mean I’m backing down. I just don’t see the need to keep throwing insults at each