Love Loyal and True (Must Love Diamonds 2)

Now what? Should he reveal himself, or wait for her to head up to the party?

He knew the moment he opened his mouth he’d scare the hell out of her, and yet after hearing she’d cleaned out her burned out apartment earlier, he wanted to make sure she was okay. Ask if she needed anything, like someone to talk to, or a shoulder to cry on.

A mouth to kiss.

Loyal shook his head at the ridiculous direction of his thoughts and hooked his thumbs in the utility belt of his costume as he forced himself to wait.

But soon it became clear by her slumped shoulders and absolute stillness, she wasn’t in a hurry to get up to the main house. He let out a silent sigh of resignation, then couldn’t help the upward tug of his lips as he shouldered away from the building.

“We have to stop meeting like this.”

Chapter 12

Roxanna’s heart jammed into her throat to strangle her surprised squeak. She jerked toward Loyal’s deep voice so hard she nearly fell off the bench. When she saw him lurking in the shadows in a Batman costume with a smirk on his mouth, anger spiked hot and hard.

“God, you’re such an ass. Stop doing that!”

“Hey, two out of three were not my fault. Actually, neither was this third one. I waited for you to leave, but it’s like your butt is glued to the wood there.”

She growled her annoyance and spun her leather-clad butt around on the bench so she wasn’t facing him. One glimpse of his strong, stubbled jaw and his damn kissable lips beneath that scowling half-mask and it wasn’t the scare that made it hard to catch her breath.

“What are you doing down here anyway? Shouldn’t you be up there?” She waved the cat-ear mask in her hand toward the Halloween party.

“Too many people up there.”

The comment brought back a fuzzy memory of his voice in her head. “Numbers don’t lie like people do.”

Both statements indicated he wasn’t much of a people person.

Big shocker there.

“Asher said you were staying home,” he commented as he moved closer.

The blackened remains of her apartment flashed in her mind.

“I don’t have a home,” she muttered before she realized how pitiful it sounded. Annoyed with herself, she stiffened her spine and squared her shoulders.

L

oyal swung his leg over to straddle the bench, his cape billowing around him as he sat down facing her profile, a mere two feet away. It was crazy how the simple proximity of his knees front and behind made her heartbeat rev up all over again. When she shot him a sideways glance, her breath caught at the concern in the dark eyes shining through his mask.

“You okay, Roxanna?”

The uncharacteristic sympathy in his soft voice breached her defenses, and the emotions from earlier swept forward in a dizzying rush.

She lifted a shoulder, blinking fast as she turned her gaze toward the party lights across the grass. “I’ve been sitting in my Jeep for the past twenty minutes trying to work up the energy to go up there, but…”

“Why do you have to go?”

“The fire is nothing compared to what so many of those kids face every day at the hospital.”

“Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less to you. You’re allowed to take time to process everything without feeling bad.”

She swiveled her head toward him in astonishment. Maybe she’d been transported to an alternate universe on the drive over. “Who are you, and what did you do with the real Loyal Diamond?”

His smile of acknowledgement was subdued. “He took the night off.”

Her heart skipped as she dipped her gaze down his chest, past his belt, to the spandex covering his muscled thighs. Black leather boots encased his calves and feet, and she had to admit, he wore the costume well.