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Or he’d get dead…yeah, realistically, given who he was dealing with that was unfortunately avery real possibility.
Chapter Fourteen
“I can’t go inthere!”
Seriously? Fromthe look of horror, tinged with just a smidgeon of fear, it appeared Kaleb hadunwittingly discovered Shaw’s achilles heel. “It’ll be fine.”
“What if someone Iknow sees me?” Hissed Shaw, locked in place, staring into the massive displaywindow.
“How many of yourValkyrie buddies shop on Fifth Avenue?”
“None.” Shaw wasemphatic.
“Exactly, so Ithink your reputation will be safe. Come on. It’s just a dress shop.”
“A wedding dressemporium, according to the sign.” Shaw pointed upwards at the golden giltsignage that elegantly boasted that this store was the one and only; ViviDarvyn Emporium. The store frontage vast, with two enormous picture windows oneither side of large double doors manned by a security guard dressed up as a yeolde english coachman.
Staring at theenormous window she was currently frozen in front of. Shaw’s attention wasrivetted upon the one and only dress featured there, displayed on a headlessdummy. It should have looked insignificant, considering all the empty wastedspace around it. But the gold leaf back drop, and twinkling swaying lights of athousand hanging fairy lights lovingly spot lit the dress. Giving theimpression it was made of nothing but liquid sparkles.
Tightly fitted atthe bodice, the dress appeared to be both backless and almost frontless,dipping daringly low in all directions before the material cascadeddramatically to the floor, in what seemed almost a careless after thought.Somehow the scene managed to create the illusion that the headless figure wasstanding in a puddle of sparkling liquid gold and diamonds.
You couldn’t movein that dress. Shit, you probably couldn’t breathe in that dress. Yet, everyfemale and more than a few men slowed as they walked by, giving the dress adeep, longing, covetous look. And this was New York! New Yorkers didn’t slowdown for anyone or anything.
“We can’t stayhere, we’re blocking the sidewalk.” Also earning a truckload of filthy looks inthe bargain, Kaleb noted.
“I don’t care.”
“I believe I’vejust discovered Valkyrie kryptonite. Hey, I could rebrand boxes of rose petalsand sell them to all your enemies. Think of the carnage.”
Freyja save her,the Demon thought he was so cute and funny. Scowling at Kaleb at leastdistracted Shaw from the display window. Okay. Fine. She could do this. Butfirst, a few clothing adjustments. Morphing her black loose camo pants intosilk tapered trousers. Swapping out the shitkickers for gladiator black halfboots with a four inch heel. Keeping the sleeveless vest she was wearing butchanging the leather to a cobweb wet silk look. Unfortunately, she couldn’t doanything about her hair, several curls having escaped from the knot she’dsecured on top of her head only an hour ago.
“Damn. I love howyou do that.” Kaleb grinned appreciatively.
“I’m good to go.The question is, how are we going to get you past the doorman?” Shaw eyed thedisreputable tight blue jeans Kaleb was wearing. There was a fist sized holehigh on his left thigh, probably the result of a large hacking weapon. Whilstthe faded grey t-shirt was two sizes too small and clung to his frame like itwas spray painted on. Then there was the footwear. There’d been none availableamongst the limited clothing choices Shaw had managed to scrounge from thefloor of Zuri’s jeep. Forcing Kaleb to improvise by hacking through the leatherof his formerly thigh high boots to create ankle boots. He looked rumpled,dissolute and… sexy.
Pushing thatthought to the side determinedly, Shaw studied him intently. He’d been nothingbut cheerful, friendly and helpful all morning. Happy to accompany Shaw toZuri’s warehouse so they could utilise her sister’s personal Portal. Evenkeeping his trap shut as he studied all the weird and wonderful contraptionsZuri had strewn about the cavernous ground floor of the warehouse she lived in.
For most of theitems it was hard to tell how close to completion they were, or for that matterwhat they would do once they were complete. Knowing Zuri, they could beanything from an ice machine to a space rocket.
The mezzanine loftspace had been dark when Shaw let them in with her code. Pretty sure her sisterwas passed out upstairs after pulling yet another all-nighter in her lab. Thesmell of machine oil, gunpowder and bergamot tainting the air, as they madetheir way carefully through all the machinery mayhem to the rear of thewarehouse where Zuri kept her Portal.
Very few Valkyrieswere permitted to maintain their own personal Portal, but given all theequipment Zuri hauled around, and the dangerous instability of a lot of theexplosives and chemicals, it had been deemed a safety measure that Zuri haveready access to her workshop located at Headquarters and her one at home.
It was a simplematter for Kaleb to set the co-ordinates for their destination in New York. Thealleyway they arrived in both clean and tidy, but perhaps that wasn’tsurprising, given it was snuggled between two luxury jewellery flagship stores.A convenient two minute walk away from their final destination, the Vivi DarvynEmporium.
Whereunfortunately they were faced with an insurmountable obstacle. There was no wayMr Muscles, parading as a ye old worlde coachman, was going to let Kalebthrough the door in ragged boots, torn jeans and a too tight t-shirt.
Which wouldprobably make all the pedestrians happy Shaw predicted. Since he seemed to beattracting as many admiring covetous glances as the sparkly wedding dress.Annoying, too sexy for his own good, Demon.
He was probablywallowing in all the attention. Glancing Kaleb’s way, no, the smile and dimplewere totally locked on Shaw. Which should make her happy, that his head was inthe game. But she reminded herself the Demon smiled and dimpled at everyone.There was nothing special about his attention, because she was no one specialto him other than a one night stand.
A night he had yetto acknowledge even occurred.
Which did notpeeve Shaw… at all. It had been sex. Great sex. But they had more important thingsto do than dwell on something that probably… she meant absolutely would neverhappened again.
Crap, perhaps shewas the one who needed to get her head in the game. The sooner they completedStephanie’s to-do list, the sooner Shaw could get signed off by Medical, andreturn to battle full time. Where she belonged.
Battle. She’d beendreaming of her glorious triumphant return to the Fjornfall Planes for over ayear now. In fact, it was all she should be thinking about. Problem was, MrDimple was distracting her. Not that Kaleb was acting any different than he hadin the past; all polite chit chat, and twinkling eyes. But that was kind of theproblem.
