Firefox

y that Chloe had lost the baby.

Her breath hitched, and she wished she’d let Sparrow zap the old bitch but good.

Chloe lifted her face and sniffed, looking into Sparrow’s emerald eyes and his kind half-smile. He brushed his thumb over her cheek, wiping tears away.

If Carla hadn’t interrupted them, Chloe would have let him have her right there on her couch. She’d never reacted to anyone’s touch quite that way. Right now they’d probably be curled together on the couch, sleepy from their orgasms, not standing there while Chloe cried for all the things she’d lost.

“I think I want a shower now,” she whispered. She wanted to wash Carla’s visit away, scrub until she felt clean again, maybe try to scrub the thoughts of Norman and Carla and the years she’d wasted from her mind and watch them swirl down the drain.

Sparrow nodded. “Whatever you wish, my goddess.” He kissed her closed eyelids. “Would you like my assistance?”

Chloe managed to smile. “No, thank you.”

“Very well. I’ll be here when you’re finished.”

Chloe nodded and trudged into the bathroom. When she closed the door she hesitated a moment stuck between leaving it unlocked or locked. Did she trust Sparrow? She thought she did, even though everything he’d said and showed her seemed so unreal.

But nobody had ever been so attentive to her. And he’d slept naked with her in the same bed without taking advantage of her drunkenness. She’d thought she woke feeling curiously clean and normal.

Sparrow was trustworthy, even if he was a bit crazy and she was losing her mind to believe him. Perhaps the most trustworthy man she’d known.

But Carla’s face, Norman’s voicemail… Chloe locked the door, and it felt like a defeat.

The tears came before she’d even managed to turn on the water.

Chapter 10

Nothing hurt him like his lady’s pain. He’d suffered during the trials and the competitions, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. The physical strain of the contests sometimes hurt, but the thought that he might fail was a great mental strain. And the thought that his Gaia could end up in the arms of another, never even knowing he existed, that was almost enough to break Sparrow a time or two. He’d had to win. There was no other option.

None of that pain was a fraction as awful as what he experienced now, his goddess’ pain seeping into his own mind and heart.

When he heard the water come on and knew he had at least a few minutes before she would be finished, Sparrow sat on the couch and crossed his legs, letting everything clear from his mind but Chloe’s pain and the woman who had just caused so much of it.

He kept part of his consciousness in Chloe’s living room, so that he could snap back into himself if she unexpectedly needed him for anything. Otherwise, he’d be fully back before she was finished.

Sparrow reached out with his mind, his power, searching for the vile woman who’d just been at Chloe’s door. Chloe might not approve of what he was doing, so…he simply wouldn’t tell her.

What was the point of being a half-demon fox if he couldn’t make a little mischief now and then?

He saw her blue hat first, and the pale yellow spray of flowers on one side. As he got closer, he focused on those silk flowers and let his lightning coil outward to barely brush one petal.

The woman flinched as if he’d slapped her. She stood next to a long, black limousine, a man in a suit with the black driver’s cap holding the door open for her. She’d either just stepped out or was about to step in.

“Ma’am?” the driver said.

“I’m fine, Bernard. Just a sudden chill.” She didn’t smile at him. He was clearly beneath her.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He closed the door as she took a few steps away from the car. Sparrow widened his view—she was about to go into a huge stone building with a large red awning. A bank.

Sparrow followed her inside, and took in the man who rushed to greet her in his tailored suit, his upper lip slightly damp with sweat. He was intimidated by this woman.

That would make what Sparrow was about to do even more fun.

He let his power coil out again to touch her hat. She gasped and spun, looking around for whatever had startled her.

“Mrs. Greyson? Are you—”

“Yes, I’m fine. Let’s just get down to business. I want to cash out a number of CDs and…”