Page 23 of Immortal By Morning
“Oh. Well—” Abril glanced down to Lilith with a scowl when the dog continued to pull, tightening the leash painfully around her wrist where she’d wrapped it. “Settle down, Lilith. We’ll head home in a minute. You were the one who insisted on coming out here,” she pointed out with a little exasperation.
When Lilith whined but sat down behind her and stopped pulling, Abril released a little breath of relief and shifted her attention to Kim again, blinking in surprise when she noted that the woman had stepped closer still. A lot closer. The invading-her-space kind of close.
The hair on the nape of her neck standing up, Abril started to take a step backward, but froze when Kim’s hand shot out to clutch at her arm. Abril’s gaze immediately moved to meet Kim’s, but even as it did the other woman’s eyes shifted a bit to the side and past her. In the next moment Kim had retracted her hand and started to back away.
“I should go. It’s late. We’ll talk again soon.” In the next moment, the darkness almost seemed to swallow up Kim and her friend and Abril was alone again with Lilith.
“Well, that was weird, huh?” Abril muttered, and then was debating whether to continue this walk or return to the house when a scuff of sound behind her had her whirling around with alarm.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Abril couldn’t at first see the speaker in the darkness in front of her, but she did recognize the voice asbelonging to Gina’s client and neighbor, Jackson. She also recognized from his tone that he wasn’t sorry at all for scaring her. In fact, there was a smugness to his tone that made her think he had set out deliberately to do just that and was glad he’d succeeded.
Suspecting the man would pester her about being included for the casting of his commercial, which was business which should be dealt with during business hours, she opened her mouth to excuse herself, and then gasped in pain as bright light suddenly shone into her eyes. Abril raised her hand to try to block it, but still had to shut her eyes against the blazing beam. The damned thing was so bright it seemed to burn through her eyes and right into her brain after the darkness that had preceded it.
“Oh, sorry about that,” he said now on a laugh. “Just wanted to make sure I knew who I was talking to. You can open your eyes now.”
Abril risked squinting her eyes open the barest bit, relieved to find the light was now directed down at the tarmac. Lowering her hand, she let her eyes open fully and then started around the man’s dark form, determined to return to the house. She’d had enough of Gina’s neighbors and would be damned if she was going to get stuck out here talking shop to this one.
“Whoa, where are you going?” Jackson caught her arm as she tried to move past him, forcing her to a halt. “No need to rush off. It’s actually lucky that I ran into you. I was going to stop by tomorrow to ask when Gina plans to start casting for the commercial. But why wait when we’re here right now?”
Abril’s mouth tightened. The man hadn’t juststopped her, he’d yanked her so close she could smell his disgusting breath. What the hell had he eaten? The only time she’d smelled anything so vile was when a mouse had died in the heating vent and the stench had permeated her office.
“My God, girl, you smell absolutely delicious,” he complimented, dragging her closer so that he was practically grinding on her as he leaned down to press his face to her neck.
Abril immediately tried to pull away, but Jackson wasn’t letting go. She actually thought she felt his lips and teeth scrape against her neck as he inhaled deeply and murmured, “Mmmm. Nice.”
She was about to knee the man in the groin when Lilith suddenly jumped on him with a bark that was uncharacteristically vicious coming from the usually sweet Lab. Much to her relief, Jackson was startled enough that his hold on her slackened and she was able to pull herself free. Taking several steps backward until the darkness was all she could see again, and hopefully all he could see too, she said firmly, “Do not come by the house tomorrow. If you have a business question, call the office during business hours.”
She didn’t wait for him to respond but turned abruptly and hurried away tugging Lilith with her. Her heart was racing, adrenaline pouring through her body, and she was suddenly aware of the sounds in the night, including her own footsteps. Afraid that Jackson might follow the sound and harass her again, she moved onto the grass and then cut across Gina’s huge yard, heading for the front doors, instead of walking back to the driveway and taking that up to the house.Lilith ran along beside her, staying close rather than running ahead and tugging at the leash.
“Good girl,” Abril murmured breathlessly as she drew her to a halt on the landing and reached for the door. “You deserve a reward for defending me from that pervert. How about a swim?”
Nine
“Maybe I should go out and make sure Abril and Lilith are okay,” Crispin muttered, glaring out the front window. “I do not see them and they have been out there awhile.”
“Abril and Lilith returned from their walk while you were putting the tent flap back up,” Roberts said mildly.
Crispin blinked at this news. That had happened a good fifteen minutes ago. The tent flap Roberts had thrown over the roof of the tent so that they could watch from inside the house had slid back down. He’d made a run out to the car, found some clips in the trunk, and gone around to the side of the house to better secure the panel up and out of the way.
“Oh,” he said finally, relieved she was okay, but wishing Roberts had said something earlier. He’d been fretting for some time now.
“You should go kiss her again.”
Crispin’s head jerked around with shock. “What?”
“You heard me,” Roberts said calmly.
“I may have,” Crispin agreed. “But I cannot have heard correctly. It sounded like you said I should go kiss Abril again... when you told me not an hour ago that I should avoid kissing her, lest I scare her off with life mate passion.” He paused briefly, scowling at Roberts, and then asked irritably, “So which is it? Do I kiss her or not?”
Roberts turned from the sliding glass door he’d been staring through and said patiently, “I did tell you not to kiss her for fear of scaring her off, but now you are not doinganything. You are not even talking to her.”
“Because I do not know what to say,” Crispin said with frustration. “I have not had the occasion to speak to women who were not either relatives or work colleagues for ages. What do I say? How do I start a conversation? Should I begin by talking about the weather? Or by telling her that I think her eyes are as lovely as emeralds?”
“I am not sure,” Roberts admitted apologetically. “But either is better than nothing. You two are not talking at all. You are barely even looking at each other, just stealing glances when the other one is not looking. You are both acting like a couple of awkward teenagers, all timid and bashful. Continue on this way and you will never win her to you. You need to make her love you so that she will overlook what we are and agree to be your life mate. But if you cannot talk to make that happen, then I guess you are going to have to try sexual persuasion.”
“Sexual persuasion?” Crispin asked with interest, feeling himself harden at the very thought.
