Page 8 of Death Raiser

“Fine. I’ve seen a bad decomp before,” Kang said.

“That’s not quite what I’m asking about.” I played with the buttons on my jacket. “On our last case together, you were possessed by an angry spirit who tried to kill me. We haven’t really talked since then.”

He pressed his lips together and didn’t respond.

I looked out the window and watched the streetlights fly by. He trusted me with knowing he had glamy abilities, although not what kind, why couldn’t he trust me with his feelings? We hadn’t spoken about the possession, and from Kang’s reaction, we probably never would.

“It was the oddest thing,” he said.

I jumped a little in my seat. He’d actually answered me. I held my breath and waited.

“I could feel the spirit slithering under my skin,” he continued. “I could feel her anger, and then her frustration when she couldn’t take over my mind right away.”

“But she did.”

Kang squeezed the steering wheel, making the plastic creak. “Eventually, yes. I wasn’t strong enough.”

I reached out and rested my hand on his forearm. He stiffened under my touch. “It’s not your fault, Kang. You didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t blame you for anything that happened. You need to know that.”

“I was getting her out of my head,” he said. “I almost had her, but she would’ve choked you to death before I managed to remove her. If you hadn’t wrenched her out of my body and taken her to the veil, I would’ve killed you.” He glanced over at me. His pained gaze dropped to the faded bruises on my neck, and he clenched his teeth together hard enough to make the muscles along his jawline pop out.

“But you didn’t.”

He swallowed and refocused on the road. “I didn’t.”

I removed my hand from his arm and went back to staring out the window.

“But you know what I realized?” he asked.

“What’s that?”

“I want to take you out on a date.”

Surprised laughter bubbled out of me. “It took getting possessed by a murderous spirit and nearly choking me to death to realize that?”

A smile tugged at his lips. “When you say it like that…”

“Seriously. I thought you would’ve figured that out after our dance.”

During the last case, we ended up at a club where we danced together in order to blend in while we waited for the angry spirit to show up. I was still trying to recuperate from the experience. If Kang made love like he danced, I wouldn’t survive the encounter.

I mean, not that I wanted to sleep with Kang.

Not really.

Okay, maybe.

Oh hell, I totally wanted to. I wanted to badly.

Apparently, I had a kink for grumpy detectives. Who knew?

Kang pulled into my parking spot and shoved it into park before turning to me. “I’ve known I wanted you for a long time, Lark.”

I frowned. “Now I’m confused.”

He sighed and popped off his seatbelt. “Dating is not a casual thing for me.”

“That’s funny. From what Jacobs says, I thought all you ever did was casual.”

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