Alarm slipped through me, even though there was little in his voice to suggest anything was wrong. “Why?”
“Ciara’s invited us to dinner.”
“Why?” I repeated.
He laughed softly. “Because she likes you. And because I told her you’d finally agreed to move in. It’s a celebration, of sorts.”
More likely a cross-examination. I wearily scrubbed a hand across my eyes. It was an unfair thought. Ciara wasn’t his mother, and though she’d been somewhat standoffish at the start, she’d slowly accepted my growing presence in Aiden’s life.
But this invitation was still unexpected.
“I’d love to accept, but I had a really shitty night last night, and I’m dead on my feet.”
“Dreams again?” Concern vibrated through his voice and warmed me deep inside. “Or something else?”
“I was working on a spell that would protect Belle.” She was within earshot, so I fudged the truth. “It took all damn night.”
“Was it successful?”
“I think so. We won’t really know for sure until Clayton tries something.”
He grunted. “Get some sleep then. I’ll tell Ciara we’ll make it next week.”
“Thanks.” I paused, torn between the need to sleep and the call of desire. “I can sleep as easily at your place as mine. That’s if you don’t mind a snoring companion.”
“I’ll take you any way I can get you. Be there in an hour.”
He didn’t only pick me up, but carried me upstairs when I all but fell asleep in the middle of dinner. He stripped me off, tucked me in, and kissed me, soft and lingering.
I protested sleepily when he pulled away, and he chuckled softly and dropped another kiss on my forehead. “Plenty of time for that in the morning, love. You need to sleep, and I’ve got reports to write up.”
Love. He’d called me love. I couldn’t help but wonder if he even realized it.
“Promise?”
“Promise.” He sealed the deal with another kiss, but this time it was fierce—demanding—and full of hunger. He broke away with a groan. “Sle
ep.”
“Like I can after that sort of enticement.”
He chuckled softly but didn’t kiss me again. I closed my eyes and listened to his retreating steps. I was asleep before he reached the base of the stairs.
Nothing happened on the Clayton front, and no more deaths were reported over the next few days, which suggested that the ghoul might have moved on. I certainly hoped so—I was over the whole dramatic confrontational final battle thing that always seemed to happen whenever a new evil stepped into the reservation.
The café was also quiet, which at least allowed us to do a stock take and to catch up on baking cakes and slices. But each day that went by uneventfully had tension rising within. The longer Clayton had to plan, the more dangerous he’d be.
What made the situation worse was the fact that we were relying on other people—on Ashworth’s connections with the Black Lantern Society, and on my mother actually keeping her word—to get the heads-up we needed if we were to have any chance of surviving Clayton. Belle and I had spent nearly thirteen years depending on no one but each other, and while it felt good to have people in our lives that we could count on, there was a part of me—undoubtedly a very stupid part—that would have preferred it to remain just the two of us.
Still, there was one good point about the continuing silence from Canberra—it allowed me to spend extra time with Aiden, even though I hadn’t officially moved in.
A hot chocolate appeared in front of my nose. I flashed him a smile as he reclaimed his position next to me on the sofa. It was close to midnight, but we both had tomorrow off so had made the best of it by catching up on some new release movies.
“What do you want to do tomorrow?” he asked.
“Shop? We’re almost out of food.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Shopping is boring.”