Scorched Ice (Fire and Ice #3)(23)

Turning the shower on, she stepped beneath the hard spray. She hung her head as she allowed the water to beat against her sore muscles and flexed her hand again. The sting of the burn had faded as had the blisters. Now her skin resembled a lobster fresh from the pot.

Julian’s crisp, masculine scent filled the room before the curtain pulled back to reveal him. Her gaze ran ravenously over his naked form as he stepped into the shower with her and closed the curtain. She longed to run her fingers over the etched muscles of his powerful frame.

“What did Vern have to say?” she asked, unable to tear her gaze away from the water sliding over his abs in enticing rivulets.

Resting his hands on her shoulders, he gently turned her until her back was to him. The heat of his body warmed her further as he ran his finger down her spine in a feathery caress that had her aching for more.

“He was just checking in. The three of them are moving north through the Midwest. They’ll meet us in Maine in a week.”

“Good,” Quinn murmured.

He stepped closer to her, the smooth skin of his chest rubbing against her back as his hands fell to her hips. She shivered when his fingers trailed their way up and down her sides before coming around to caress her belly. The water running over her hypersensitive skin only heightened the passion he so easily stoked to life within her. Ever so slowly, one of his hands dipped down while the other rose to cup her breast.

***

“They keep calling,” Julian said and scowled at the phone.

Devon chuckled beside him and propped his feet on the end of the chair he lounged in. “You had to know what you were stepping into by trying to unite vampires, Hunters, and Guardians. There is going to be a lot of turmoil and uncertainty in the beginning. They’re all going to be looking to you to sort it out. This is going to take years.”

Julian’s gaze went to Quinn as she jumped up in the pool to smack the volleyball back over the net. Chris lunged for it and missed. Julian couldn’t help but smile when Quinn’s laughter drifted through the air to him. The vampires could call him a thousand times a day for the rest of his life if it kept her safe.

“I knew,” he replied, “but it makes me miss the days before cell phones.”

“It will calm down,” Luther said. “This is the right move, and one day we’ll all be able to breathe a little easier. I hope I’m still around to see that day. I’m not getting any younger, you know.”

“Don’t let Cassie hear you say that,” Devon replied. “She may try to change you.”

Luther lifted his glasses to rub at his nose before lowering them back into place. “All a Guardian ever wants for any of their Hunters is a long life. Until recently, that was something that rarely happened. Now, it may become a reality.”

“It will,” Julian said forcefully.

“I have faith in you for that,” Luther replied. “We’ve all come a long way.”

“Yes,” Julian murmured.

“At least you can pretend bad service and hang up on them. Those kids follow Cassie and me around our property wherever we go. I keep building houses, and they keep finding us,” Devon said.

Julian laughed as he stretched out in the chair. “You love it.”

“I actually do,” Devon admitted.

Julian’s smile vanished when his phone rang again. He snatched it from the ground and hit the button when he spotted Prue’s number on the screen. “Got another one who wants to talk to you,” Prue said irritably.

They were supposed to have the new vamps these three recruited meet them in Maine, but it didn’t matter that the first meeting had gone well and word had already begun to spread; many of the vamps had questions they wanted answered first. Patience was not his virtue, it never had been, but now he drew on reserves of it he’d never known he had as he watched Quinn laugh and high-five Melissa.

“Put them on,” Julian told Prue.

“Julian?” a man inquired.

“That would be me,” he replied.

He kept his gaze focused on Quinn while he spoke with the vampire and answered his questions. Her lithe body flowed with grace as she moved with ease through the water. The red bikini he’d bought for her at the department store down the street was an enticement he was finding difficult to resist. He hadn’t been surprised to learn Quinn didn’t own a bathing suit when Dani first suggested swimming. Recreation wasn’t something she knew or understood, but she would one day.

Seeming to sense his gaze, Quinn turned to him and gave a little wave. He smiled and waved back at her, his eyes briefly falling to the scar on her sternum. He believed if the scars ever faded from her again, she wouldn’t reopen them now. They showed no signs of vanishing from her ivory skin though, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t see them as imperfections or find them unattractive. To him, they marked her as the warrior she was.

Quinn turned away again as he ended the call.

“You should probably just record a message,” Devon said. “Pretty sure those were the same questions you were asked last time.”

“Or set up a website with FAQs,” Luther suggested.

“Both could work,” Julian replied. “I’m sure Lou could do it.”

“Imagine what the humans who stumble across that site would think,” Devon chuckled.