Guild Boss (Ghost Hunters #14)(46)

The cold determination in his eyes told her everything she needed to know.

“You will find the tuner,” she said.

His expression softened a little. “You sound very sure of that.”

“I am certain of it.” She smiled. “You and I may have our differences, but I don’t doubt for a moment that you will fulfill your mission. You were born to be a Guild boss—the old-fashioned serve-and-protect kind of Guild boss, not the mobster kind.”

“Thanks. I think.”

“I was teasing you. Sorry. Couldn’t resist.” She pushed herself to her feet and started toward the kitchen. “Let’s get something to eat. And a glass of wine. Maybe two glasses of wine.”

Gabriel got up from the bench. “Lucy?”

She stopped and turned around to face him. “What?”

“I thought about you a lot during the past couple of months. I’m so damn sorry I didn’t know how bad things had gone for you after I left Illusion Town.”

The bleak pain in his eyes was too much for her. She took a couple of steps forward and touched the side of his hard jaw.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she said. “None of it was your fault. And to be clear, you were on my mind a lot, too.”

His mouth kicked up in a humorless smile. “Because you were so pissed?”

“Probably. But you also showed up in my dreams.”

“Your nightmares?”

“Sometimes.”

“Figures.”

“But sometimes I dreamed you were searching for me. I told myself that eventually you would find me. All I had to do was hold on until you showed up.”

Gabriel’s eyes heated. “I had a few dreams, too.”

She held her breath. “About me?”

“I was looking for you, but every time I got close, you slipped away.”

“Why were you searching for me?” she asked.

“In my dreams I didn’t have a reason. Didn’t need one. I just knew I had to find you.”

“What were you going to do once you found me?”

“In my dreams I didn’t think beyond the need to find you.”

She smiled. “Wow. Even in your dreams you are mission focused.”

Anger and frustration flashed briefly in his eyes. “That’s a real problem for you, isn’t it?”

“It would be if we were planning for the future. But right here and right now, no, it’s not an issue.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” she said. “Why do you ask?”

“Because when I’m awake, I know exactly what I would have done if I had found you in my dreams.”

She traced his mouth with a fingertip. “Kiss me?”

“I wanted to do a lot more than kiss you, but I would have started with that. What about you? What did you think would happen if I ever found you in your dreams?”

“We would have started with a kiss and decided where to go from there.”

“You can run that experiment anytime you feel like it.”

“How about now?”

Gabriel’s eyes got very fierce and very hot. “Now would be a good time.”

He reached for her with both hands, but she was already hurling herself into his arms. The impact of her body sent a shudder through him. He caught her close and held her with a mag-steel grip. His mouth came down on hers in a kiss that burned so fast and so hot she knew the experiment was already out of control. It was the same kind of kiss he had given her when he had rescued her from the Underworld. Her senses were overwhelmed.

Energy charged the atmosphere in the narrow hallway. She was suddenly flying just as she had in the Ghost City when she had channeled a storm and called down lightning. She clawed at the buttons on Gabriel’s khaki shirt. He let her peel the garment off his shoulders and then he went to work on her shirt. It landed on the floor beside his.

He stopped when he realized she had nothing on beneath the shirt except the amber pendant.

“No bra,” he said. He smiled and slowly trailed his palms over her breasts. “I like your style.”

“I need to be comfortable when I’m working.” She threaded her fingers through the hair on his chest. “And when I’m not working.”

He gave an exultant laugh, picked her up, and carried her down the short hall to her bedroom.

He didn’t rez the lights. The green radiance of the Dead City Wall pouring through the windows was all that was needed. He stood her on her feet beside the bed and removed the pendant. He set the amber necklace on the bedside table and unfastened the front of her trousers.

A moment later she was naked and stretched out on the sheets. She levered herself up on her elbow and watched Gabriel undress in the shadows. He was everything she had known he would be—lean, powerful, sleekly muscled.

He was also unmistakably and seriously aroused. Rigid. And all because of her.

Anticipation thrilled her senses. In her dreams he had been both hero and villain, rescuer and betrayer, thrilling and dangerous. Today she had summoned lightning, and instead of being alarmed he had laughed. He knew her secret and he did not give a damn. She knew his secret and she did not care, either.

They were both riding a psychic buzz generated by the brush with death in the Ghost City. Sooner or later they would both crash, but right now they were running very, very hot. Neither of them was in a mood to contemplate the future. Tonight was all about tonight.