Page 82 of I Accidentally Hired a Shadow Walker
“I already called Jackie. She’s on her way here now,” Raymond said. “And she’s bringing backup.”
I looked up from the phone at him. “You’re in my head, aren’t you?”
“Just anticipating your needs.” His eyes locked on me. They were deep, consuming, and left heat on my flesh I couldn’t comprehend.
“Tell me what I need now?” I didn’t mean for it to sound like a question or for my voice to tremble theway it did.
“To find the demon who did this and remove his head.” There was no question in his voice. That was exactly what I wanted.
“You really do know me, don’t you?” I lowered my phone, and his full lips dropped as I moved my hand away from him. I hesitated before I searched the office for more clues. “How could this happen?”
“They’ve been targeting this place for days.” Raymond picked up the chair that had been knocked over. “Maybe one of them thought they got lucky with everyone away.”
“You think it was an accident?” I looked at him.
“Possibly.” He looked around. “Yeah, I think so. If not, they could have gotten her anywhere. Why here? Why in your office?”
“They came for me.” My stomach hurt just thinking about it. It was the first thought I had after watching the video. Natalie was in danger because they were there for me. “I should have left days ago. This wouldn’t have happened.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. You couldn’t have seen this coming.”
“I should have!” I smacked the desk. “I was so busy worrying about losing my business, I didn’t see it, the obvious threat to her.”
“We should have had guys watching her as well.” Raymond tried to take some of the weight off my shoulders. It didn’t help. Natalie was my responsibility.
His words didn’t take away the mounting guilt, but they activated something else in my brain, the part that was pissed about not knowing about the security details they had in place. He reminded me I was actually upset with all of them for not telling me the demons were attacking to begin with. I turned that anger into action. After a long breath, I shook away the part of myself that had been frazzled by Raymond. I needed the “get-shit-done” Jericha.
“Regretting past actions won’t change them, but we can learn from them. That is the last time you hide something like this from me.” I looked at himwith a serious expression, but before he could defend himself, I continued. “I understand why you did it. You don’t have to explain it, but no reason is good enough. It might have been hard for me to hear, but I’m a big girl. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time. And while I am bending the rules here, allowing you to help me, that doesn’t mean I don’t need to know everything.”
“Understood.” He nodded. “Won’t happen again, I promise.”
“When Jackie gets here, I’ll tell her everything. She can run things while I’m gone. She’s already offered anyway. I know we planned to leave tomorrow, but after I hand everything off to her, we’ll leave tonight.”
“Are you sure?” He crossed the room and placed his hands on my shoulders.
“Of course I am.” I looked up at him. “That thing took my friend. Natalie must be terrified right now, and she’s the only one of us who can't even begin to protect herself in a situation like this. She’s not magical. I can’t waste any more time here, not when she’s in trouble now.”
“Good.” He pulled me closer, his hands tightening on my shoulder as he did. Then, he kissed me. In the middle of the chaos in my office, with demon blood spilled on the floor, Raymond kissed me.
Everything went quiet as our lips pressed together. This wasn’t like our other kisses. It wasn’t one of lust or challenge. It was gentle, the kind of kiss that touched something so deep inside me, I forgot it existed. The kind of kiss I never let a man give me. My heart fluttered and my stomach tightened as his lips trembled against mine.
Then, the thought, like hot iron, pressed into the back of my mind. Was he afraid? Is that why he hadn’t forced me to go into his world sooner?
When his lips lifted away, his forehead pressed against mine. I stared at his lips, afraid to look up into his eyes. I could feel his gaze on me, heavy, intense, wanting. What would happen to me if I did? Would that flutter inmy chest grow?
I stepped back from him, placing my fingers on my lips as I turned my back on him. I couldn’t look him in the eye. I had to keep my mind on the task in front of me. Natalie.
“We wait until Jackie gets here.” A guttural sound, heavy with grief, escaped Raymond’s lips as he spoke, reiterating the plan I’d already laid out. I flinched at the sound before he cleared his throat, and his voice returned to that usual smoothness. “Let her know what’s going on, and then we leave. Tonight.”
“Okay.” I took a deep breath before I turned to face him. He was there, the cool guy I knew before that moment, and the tightness in my chest eased.
I was about to ramble. The need to just fill the space with words to avoid talking about that moment bubbled up in me like an unwatched cauldron. Luckily, my incoming rambles were interrupted by the sound of approaching tires. I moved to look out the window and saw the familiar car pulling up. A moment later, Jackie stepped out of the passenger side.
“She’s here.”
“I’ll let her in,” Raymond spoke quickly, and before I could look back at him, he’d already left my office.
Moments later, Jackie entered the office ahead of Raymond, who was trailed by Miguel.
