“No cops are coming, are they?”
Kohl saw no reason to lie to her. She wouldn’t remember this conversation. He was one hundred percent positive Andrew was going to wipe her memories of this night before he put her in the cab. “No.”
She took the news with an air of composure. It didn’t surprise him as much as her next move.
Reaching up, she touched the corner of his mouth with her fingertips, near his fang. Then let her fingertips trail through the short hairs of his beard.
His upper lip twitched from her touch and he barely managed to repress the sound of pleasure her touch wrought. Kohl held perfectly still, unsure where she was going with this, but enjoying the nearness of her too much to stop her.
“What are you, Kohl?”
Again, there was no reason to outright lie. He knew she was one of the few humans in the world who were aware of creatures like him. It was the reason she had been in that courtroom.
Well, maybe not exactly like him.
“I’m…” He paused, rethinking his answer. “Different.” He’d very nearly revealed everything, but something stopped him at the last moment.
“I bet you are.”
The words were said in a light tone he knew was meant to be flirty, but there was still a trace of wonder there. Again, he wished he could read her thoughts.
The door opened behind Kohl, and Andrew joined them.
“Your cab is on its way,” he told Devon.
Her hand fell from Kohl’s face. She crossed her arms against the cold and thanked him. With a hint of a hesitant smile, she dropped her chin and kicked at a small stone stuck in the dirt.
Kohl felt the air rush from his lungs when her touch left him. “Andrew, give us a second, will you?”
“Hawke told me to make sure she got in the cab okay,” he said.
“She will. I just want a minute. Please.”
After a brief hesitation, Andrew gave him a nod. “I’ll be right inside. Just let me know when it gets here.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Sure thing.”
Kohl knew the only reason he was agreeing was because whatever happened between him and Devon, she wouldn’t remember. And so it wouldn’t become an issue.
The door closed behind Andrew, and Kohl suddenly found he had no idea what to say to her. But he wanted to say something, even if she wouldn’t remember it, something that would distract her from the horrors of the evening. “I saw you on the news,” he blurted. “That’s how I knew who you were.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wished he could take them back. Reminding her of a separate traumatic event wasn’t exactly what he’d been going for.
But she took it in stride. “I assumed,” she told him. “So, what’s with the eyes? I mean, they’re back to brown now, but earlier they were way lighter, and the pupils?—”
He cut her off. “It was nothing, Devon.” Stepping closer, he noticed the way his heartbeat became much more pronounced and the warmth returned to his blood in response to being near her. He stopped just short of touching her, lest it got to be too much too soon. For some reason, this woman brought out the beast in him. Quite literally. “Look, I just wanted…” He searched her face, but the words wouldn’t come. So, he retreated again, placing one hand on the opposite shoulder as he scanned the trees behind her. He sighed heavily. “I don’t really know what I wanted.”
She observed his behavior with a lack of emotion that was a bit disconcerting coming from a human, even though he knew why she was so calm. And, he was glad Hawke had saved her from the horrors she’d just witnessed.
He crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking her stance. “I just wanted to make sure you’re all right.”
“Are you afraid of me?” she asked.
Something between a laugh and a snort came out of his mouth. “No. Why would I be afraid of you?” His eyes fell from her face, to her full chest and rounded hips, and back again. She was easily half his size. And human.
“I have no idea. Except your body language tells me otherwise.”
“So…what? You’re some kind of expert?”
