to convince her to lower the barriers surrounding her heart.
“And your mother?” he asked.
“She died a year ago.”
He pulled her hand to his lips, planting a kiss in the middle of her palm.
“That must have been tough.”
She trembled in response to his caress, but her eyes remained stubbornly hidden behind her lashes. She’d share her body, but not her wounds.
“Yes, but we weren’t close.” She struggled to swallow, as if she had a lump in her throat. “She never understood my lack of social skills and she was disappointed that I spent more time in the library than with the other kids.”
“Disappointed in you?” He didn’t have to pretend his angry astonishment. “Impossible.”
“She didn’t want a valedictorian, she wanted a prom queen.” A humorless smile curved her lips. “Or at the very least a cheerleader.”
He swore beneath his breath, wishing her mother was still alive so he could teach her just how special her daughter truly was.
And more importantly, what he did to people who would dare to hurt this female.
“Her loss,” he rasped.
“I suppose.”
He hesitated, wondering if there’d been more to her mother’s disapproval than a shallow desire for glitz rather than gold.
“Did she ever sense you were special?”
She tugged her hand from his grasp, pressing it against his chest in instant denial.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Angel—”
“No,” she muttered. “I won’t discuss it.”
“Denying your powers won’t make them go away.”
She gave another shove against his chest. “I’m hungry.”
He swallowed a sigh. At some point he was going to have to make her accept the truth of who and what she was.
But not now.
Now he had her naked in his bed, and there were far more pleasurable ways to spend the next few hours.
“Me too,” he murmured, pressing his lips to her forehead, his hand trailing up the curve of her waist to halt just below her breast.
Her breath caught and she instinctively arched toward his hardening cock.
“Niko?”
“I swear I’ll feed you,” he promised, nipping the lobe of her ear as he rolled her flat on her back and covered her with the hard weight of his body. “Anything you want.” His hand closed over her breast, his heart coming to a complete halt as he gazed down at her wide, velvet eyes. His. His woman. “Later.”
Her hands lifted to wrap around his neck, her eyes smoldering with a matching desire.
“Much later.”
It was, in fact, much, much later when Niko at last headed for the shower and Angela made her way down to the kitchen wearing nothing more than an oversized T-shirt.
She’d discovered once she opened her bag that it was never wise to try and pack when in a blind panic. Her hasty lack of attention had made certain she had a plethora of things she didn’t need—like mismatched socks and dirty towels—and very little that she did need.
Typical.
Her luck had never been good. And lately it’d been downright crappy.
Well, except for Niko, she admitted, a precious warmth settled in the center of her heart. He was, hands down, the finest thing that had ever happened to her.
Still, it would have been nice to have her own nightshirt and a toothbrush.
Tossing a handful of dried cranberries into the large salad she’d chopped in a bowl, she was debating whether or not to make a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches when a male voice whispered directly in her ear.
“Ah, so this is where Little Red Riding Hood hides from the big bad wolf.”
Nearly leaping out of her skin, Angela whirled around to discover a stranger standing far too close for comfort.
A part of her recognized the intruder was mouthwateringly handsome with pale brown hair that was highlighted with strands of honey and eyes that were a rich gold. But a larger part was far more concerned with the lean, muscular body casually dressed in jeans and a black tee that moved with the same fluid grace as Niko.
This was no harmless trespasser.
“Shit.” She pressed a hand to her thumping heart. “Who are you?”
“I’m Arel. A friend of Niko’s.” The golden gaze skimmed down her slender body. Not so much ogling her barely covered limbs, but searching for potential defects. “He asked me to meet him here.”
Yeah. Like she was going to take his word for it.
People who were invited knocked on the front door and waited to be let in. They didn’t creep into the kitchen and terrify half-dressed scientists.
Covertly backing toward the counter behind her, Angela sought to distract the intruder.