Page 41 of Azrael

I checked my messages again.I’d killed men before -- more than I cared to count -- but this operation was different.This one wasn’t just club business.This one mattered to the woman who’d been sleeping in my spare bedroom.

“Azrael?”Her voice came softly from the end of the hallway.

I looked up, slipping my phone into my pocket.Zara stood at the juncture where the hallway met the living room, the light behind her turning her silhouette into something ethereal.The loose pajama pants and fitted tank top she wore revealed the curves I’d been trying not to notice.

“Everything okay?”I asked, my voice low.

She stepped closer, moving into the shadows with me.“I wanted to apologize.”

“For what?”

“Pushing about coming with you.”She stopped a few feet away.“I know you’re doing this for me, and I’m grateful.I just…” She trailed off, wrapping her arms around herself.

“You just want your mother back.”

She nodded, taking another step closer.“It’s been hell not knowing if she was dead or alive.”

“That’s why you tracked me down.And now I’m going to do what I promised.”

“Yes.”She was close enough now that I could see her face in the dim light, could make out the determination etched in her features.“If anyone can find her, it’s you.”

I shifted my weight, uncomfortable with the reverence in her tone.“I’m not the hero you think I am, Zara.”

“You found my mother when no one else could.”

“I haven’t rescued her yet.”

“But you will.”She reached out, her fingers brushing my forearm, light as a feather but searing as a brand.“I believe in you.”

Her touch sent heat crawling up my arm and settling low in my gut.Days of careful distance, of maintaining boundaries, threatened to collapse from that simple contact.I’d kept space between us for good reasons -- she was too young, too innocent, too Goddamn important to get tangled up with a man like me.I may have claimed her, but we had all the time in the world.No sense in rushing into things.

But standing in this darkened hallway with her hand on my arm, those reasons felt far away.

“Zara,” I said, her name a warning.

She didn’t back off.Instead, she stepped closer, close enough that I could feel the warmth radiating from her body.“I’ve been your woman for more than a day, and you barely touch me.You watch me when you think I don’t notice, but then you pull away.”Her voice dropped lower.“Why?”

The question hung between us, filling the narrow space.“You know why,” I finally said.

“Because I’m too young?Because my mother is missing?Because you’re dangerous?”She tilted her head.“I don’t think those are the real reasons.”

My jaw tightened.“Then what are they?”

“I think you’re afraid.”Her hand slid up my arm to my shoulder, leaving fire in its wake.“Not of this mission.You’re afraid of wanting something for yourself.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”But I didn’t move away.Couldn’t move away.

“Don’t I?”She leaned in, her face turned up to mine, her breath warm against my chin.“I’ve watched you too, you know.The way you make sure I have everything I need.The way you look at me when you think I’m asleep.The way you position yourself between me and any man who comes near, even when those men are just your brothers, people you know won’t hurt me.”

My hands hung uselessly at my sides, itching to grab her, to pull her against me or push her away -- I wasn’t sure which.“I’m too old for you.”

“Seventeen years isn’t that much.”

“It’s a lifetime.”

Her hand moved from my shoulder to my cheek, her palm cool against my stubbled skin.“I’m not asking for your heart, Azrael.I’m just asking for tonight, to be close to you just this once.”

Before I could respond, she rose on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to mine.Soft.Tentative.A question in the form of a kiss.

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