Wicked (A Wicked Trilogy 1)

guy like me before."

That was so true, in a lot of ways. The stake felt light, but it was sturdy. He slowly slid his fingers off mine, leaving behind a wake of shivers. "Are you sure you want to give this to me?"

"It's my extra. I'm not using it, and I want you to have it on you, especially going forward." He leaned over, grabbing his beer, then settled back against the couch beside me. His thigh rested against mine; the nearness was comfortable to him, and I imagined if I stopped thinking about it, it would be to me too. "You have to hit them in the chest. As if they were vampires."

I turned the stake over, respecting the craftsmanship it took to whittle this baby into such a sharp, destructive end. "Thank you."

He nodded and tipped the bottle to his lips.

"I mean it." Gingerly placing the stake on the coffee table, I grabbed my soda and sat back. Around midnight we received a mass text from David advising us of an emergency meeting Tuesday afternoon. We knew it was about the gate. "How do you think the other Order members will respond to what David's going to talk about?"'

"I don't know." He grabbed the remote off the cushion next to him and flipped on the TV. "Let's not talk about any of that, okay? I know that's probably not the smartest decision, but babe, there isn't anything we can do at this point that's going to change things."

I hesitated as I studied his profile. "But what about the other halfling? If that gate opens, it becomes even more imperative that we find out who that is."

"We?" He grinned as he took a drink. "I like that. We. Sounds good."

My cheeks heated as I glanced at the TV. He'd turned it on to some movie channel.

"We know there's at least one more member that fits the bill, but I haven't been given the details just yet. They won't say the name until they have something on them," he said, and for some reason, unease blossomed in my stomach.

I didn't have any reason to think he wasn't telling me everything. He'd been pretty upfront. "I'm sorry for not warning you ahead of time about talking to David and putting you in the position of having to tell him about the Elite."

"It's okay."

I shook my head and avoided his gaze. "Actually, it's not. Val . . . she already knew because I told her the weekend after you told me. I had to talk to someone so I could wrap my head around it. I know that doesn't justify doing it, but I wanted to be upfront."

When I dared a quick look at him, he didn't look too pissed. His expression was virtually blank. "Did you tell her why I was here?"

"To hunt the halfling? No. You heard her. She didn't know about the halflings until now."

A moment passed and then he nodded. "Have you've told anyone else?"

I shook my head.

He seemed to mull that over. "Well, honestly, it doesn't really matter now. Even if you didn't tell her, she would've heard about it when she was in that room."

No real measure of relief was felt even though he handled it a lot better than I probably would have. "I should've called you this morning and gave you a heads up or something."

"Hey," he said, curving his free hand around my chin, turning my gaze to his. "A heads up would've been nice, and I would've preferred for that conversation to go down when there wasn't anyone else in the room, but it's over and done with. David knew about the Elite, so it wasn't like I was dropping some big bomb or breaking the rules."

"You already broke the rules with me."

"I did." He dragged his thumb along my lower lip, and if I were a braver girl, I would've caught that wicked finger with my mouth. "For tonight, let's just . . . be normal."

I pulled back, eyes wide. "What?"

"Normal. Like those people we saw at the diner the night you almost slit my throat with your stake," he explained, and I remembered the girls and guys we'd seen in there. "Let's just not talk about any of that shit. Okay?"

I bit down on my lip and nodded as I returned my attention to the screen. A knot formed at the back of my throat, and I downed half my soda to get rid of it. He had no idea how wanting the same thing I did, even in the littlest way, affected me.

As he ended up settling on a Vince Vaughn movie, I relaxed, one muscle at a time, sinking into the couch beside him, his shoulder pressed against mine. We laughed at the same jokes, shook our heads at the same scenes, and it didn't take long for me to realize just how badly I needed this—both of us did.

After the movie was over, we ended up chatting through the credits, and another older eighties flick came on. It was late, well past three in the morning when Ren flicked his tired gaze to mine and sat forward, dropping his bare feet to the polished, cement floor.

"Ready for bed?"

My eyes opened wide.

"It's really late. I don't feel like going back out there, and I'm not cool with you doing it alone. I'm not suggesting anything. Just stay with me."

"Just stay with you?" I repeated. "In your bed?"

"It's a big bed. Like three people could sleep comfortably in there, even if you add a large dog at the foot of the bed." Smiling slightly, he patted my leg while I stared at him. "Come on."

Ren stood, picking up our empty drinks and taking them into the kitchen. Then he headed into the bedroom, holding the door for me.

One would think I didn't face cold-blooded killers all the time by how weak my knees felt when I stood. What was I doing? I decided I didn't know as I walked across his cool floor, my shoes and socks tucked against his couch.

Letting the door drift shut behind us, he crossed in front of me. Next to the bed, he flipped the lamp on. "I have a shirt if you want to change into it. Should work for you." He went to a dresser, pulling open the second drawer, and took out a dark shirt. He walked it over to where I hovered just inside the bedroom.

Amusement danced over his face as he placed the shirt in one hand and took the other, guiding me toward the bathroom. "You can get changed in there. Or out here. I would totally prefer it to be out here."

Snapping out of my frozen stupor, I pulled my hand free. "I'll get changed in there."

"Sad face," he murmured, and then louder, "I'll be waiting."

I shivered as I closed the door behind me and turned the light on. For a moment, I froze in the bathroom, my heart racing with . . . excitement. I hadn't slept with a guy since Shaun, with or without sex. I honestly had no idea what I was doing, but I stripped down to my bra and panties, and then quickly rinsed my face with a splash of cool water.

The last thing I wanted to do was sleep in a bra. Heck, I hated wearing a bra ninety percent of the time. I didn't have small breasts and they weren't huge, but they did like to jiggle when they had a taste of freedom. As I debated whether I should leave the bra on or not, I caught a glimpse of my ultra-bright blue eyes and flushed cheeks in the mirror. I closed my eyes, my fingers trembling as I reached behind me and unhooked the bra. The straps slipped down my arms, and I quickly grabbed the borrowed shirt, slipping it on over my head. It reached just below my thighs, and I'd definitely not be doing any jumping jacks anytime soon.

Before I left the bathroom, I snagged the bobby pins holding my hair up in a twist, and sighed the moment my hair was loose. Curls fell in every direction, and my scalp tingled with happiness. Gathering up my clothes, I opened the bathroom door and came to a complete stop.

Holy fae on fire, Ren was shirtless, standing with his back to me, and I got to see the rest of the tattoo.

He'd changed into loose cotton sleep pants that hung indecently low on his hips, and that was all. His muscled back was on display, and those vines from the front of his chest and arm crept over his shoulder, tangled down the right side of his back. In vivid detail, peering out from the vines was a black panther, its eyes the color of amber, and its mouth open, tongue a crimson red, sharp teeth a brilliant white

All I wanted to do was run over and touch it.

"I was starting to get worried about you in there." Putting the pillow in place, he turned around. "Thought I might . . ." He trailed off, lips parting.

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Both of us were staring at each other, and I didn't know what he saw in my expression, but he was gazing back at me like he'd never seen me before. There was such concentrated intensity in his stare that it felt like a physical caress. The tips of my breasts hardened, straining against the shirt.

"God. Damn," he said, voice husky. "Wearing my shirt might not have been one of my brightest ideas."

"I'm . . . sorry?"

He ran his hand through his hair, the muscles in his arm and stomach doing amazing things as he clasped the back of his neck. "You were in a serious relationship before, right? The guy you lost?"

Not knowing how that had anything to do with his shirt, I nodded.