Page 18 of The Bookseller and the Alpha
Calypso
Luc got me out of the hospital in record time. I slouched against the leather seat of the car. Luc drove like he did everything else, expertly and with unconscious grace. He’d carried me in his arms like I weighed nothing. Up close, he’d smelled of mint and coffee and warm healthy male. The smell had shot straight to some primitive part of my brain. That and the way his thumb had rubbed my neck in the elevator. I’d been nearly purring with pleasure as he held me in his arms. I’d enjoyed that far more than was good for me. I hadn’t needed him to carry me—I could have made it to the car—but being in his arms had felt ridiculously romantic. His arms had held me close, cradling me against his chest like I was precious. My face heated as I remembered how I’d all but melted against him. He’d acted as though he didn’t notice. Maybe he didn’t. He was an Alpha and Sam had explained that the guy had a protective streak a mile wide and single-minded focus. I was part of the job.
In the darkened vehicle I studied his profile, the strong nose and harsh cheekbones. I’d thought he was arrogant when I first met him. Now I was less sure. He was driven, yes, but could he possibly be oblivious to the effect he had on women? I remembered the young mother in the arcade. Had he genuinelynot noticed her reaction? I twisted my fingers together in my lap. Fingers that itched to stroke the angle of his jaw, trace the outline of his scar and scrape my nails through the stubble on his chin.No! Bad Calypso. I had told the nurse he wasn’t my boyfriend. It was true. Fantasising that he was my boyfriend didn’t make it so. I let out a small sigh. The term “boyfriend” wasn’t right for him anyway. He was no woman’s “boyfriend”; there was nothing of the boy around him. What could you call him? “Lover,” perhaps.No, I wouldn’t think about that. About him being in my dream.“Husband,” …maybe. Crap. Was he married? The thought sent a spear of guilt through me and I sat up straight. Was I lusting after someone else’s husband? Someone’s mate? He was an Alpha. A sexy, powerful Alpha. He couldn’t be single.Idiot, idiot Calypso.
“What’s wrong?”
Luc’s head whipped toward mine, his eyes intent.
“Nothing,” I muttered.
“It’s not nothing. You were half asleep in that seat, then you sat bolt upright. Tell me what’s wrong.” His voice was hard, demanding, sending delicious shivers through me.
I couldn’t very well admit that I’d been wondering if he was married. I certainly wasn’t ready to talk about it. “Well, uh,” I stalled. What could I say I was thinking about? What would distract him? “I was thinking about the intruder.”
“Are you frightened?” One of his hands left the wheel and captured one of mine. He returned his eyes to the road but kept my hand in his. My stomach twisted. I’d judged him unfairly. He was much kinder than I initially thought and now I was lying to him. But there was no way I was going to admit the real reason. My infatuation was my problem.
“No. It all happened so quickly. I feel guilty about Sam, but it almost doesn’t feel real. It was so weird.”
“So, what made you sit up?”
Geez, he wasn’t going to stop pressing until I came up with something convincing. Well, I had something to tell him alright. This was going to be a doozy of a distraction. “I kept wondering about how the intruder could have got into my apartment. Initially I thought that maybe he’d climbed onto the balcony somehow and smashed through the glass sliding door, but I just can’t get a mental image of him running across the room. It was like he just appeared from thin air.”
“Thin air,” Luc repeated. I could almost hear gears in his brain whirring. What about that sentence made him think? My breath caught.Fuck me.
Luc’s grip tightened on mine. “A portal,” his voice rumbled.
My stomach clenched. A portal was high level magic. “Are you sure?”
“Hell no.” Luc gave a short tight laugh at my question. “Was there a pop of air right beforehand?”
I tried to sort through my memories of those panicked moments. Everything was a jumble. I’d heard my own breathing, fast and shallow. Sam’s voice, telling me to “get to the front door.” Our footsteps on the tiled floor. “I can’t remember.”
“Fuck,” said Luc. He released my hand to run his own through his hair. “I should have figured it out earlier. It’s how someone was able to break into your shop without triggering your wards…Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
He was right. I was so fucked, and I had absolutely no idea why. Tears threatened, but I blinked them back.
Luc reached to the console and pressed a button. The sound of a dialling phone filled the car. “Yes boss?” I recognised Billy’s voice. “How’s Sam?”
“Cranky because he didn’t catch the guy who hurt him, but he’s fine. Just a broken arm. It’s already healed.” I heard Billy’s relieved sigh on the other end of the line.
“That’s great. Really. But I’m betting you called me for something else.” I could hear the murmur of voices in the background. “Need me to ask the cops something?”
“Take over the scene from the local police, Billy. There’s a plausible scenario that the intruder used a portal.”
There was a moment of shocked silence before Billy said, “Understood. On it.”
Luc ended the call. The car slowed and he turned into the entrance to an underground carpark where an automatic gate was opening.
This wasn’t my apartment building.
Chapter 21
Luc
“This isn’t my building.” Calypso turned to look at me.
“It’s mine.”
