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He seemed stu
“Whoa there, Kitten, what’s going on?”
Burrowing closer, I drawled in a deep breath. “I thought the DOD carted you off to some lab to keep you in a cage.”
“Cage?” He laughed a bit unsteadily. “No. No cages. They just wanted to talk. It took longer than I thought. Everything’s okay.”
Dee cleared her throat. “Ahem.”
Stiffening, I realized what I was doing. Oh, so not cool. Disentangling my arms and wiggling out from his, I backed up and blushed. “I…I was just excited.”
“Yeah, I’d say you were,” Dee said, gri
Daemon was staring at me like he’d just won the lottery. “I kind of like this level of excitement. Makes me think of—”
“Daemon!” both of us shouted.
“What?” He gri
“We know what you were suggesting.” Dee darted out from underneath his hand. “And I really want to keep my food down tonight.” She smiled at me. “See. I told you. Daemon is fine.”
I could see that. He was also smokin’ hot, but back to the whole point. “They didn’t suspect anything?”
Daemon shook his head. “Nothing out of the norm, but they’re always paranoid.” He paused, his eyes searching mine in the dim light of the porch. “Really, you don’t need to worry. You’re safe.”
It wasn’t me I’d been worried about, and oh boy, that was bad. My sense of self-preservation was messed up. And I honestly needed to get out of here. “All right, I need to go home.”
“Kat…”
“No.” I waved him off, starting down the steps. “I really need to go home. Blake called and I need to call him back.”
“Boris can wait,” Daemon said.
“Blake,” I said, stopping on the sidewalk. Dee had wisely gone inside, but Daemon had moved to the edge of the porch. My thoughts, my emotions, felt overly exposed when I met his eyes. “They asked me a lot of questions—especially the lady.”
“Nancy Husher,” he said, frowning. A second later, he was standing before me. “She’s apparently a big deal within the DOD. They wanted to know what went down Halloween weekend. I gave them the Daemon-edited-version.”
“Did they believe you?”
He nodded. “Hook, line, and sinker.”
I shivered. “But it wasn’t you, Daemon. It was me. Or it was all of us.”
“I know, but they don’t know that.” His voice lowered as he cupped my cheek. “They won’t ever know that.”
My eyes closed. The warmth of his hand eased some of the fear. “It’s not me I’m worried about. If they think you blew a satellite out of orbit, they could see you as a threat.”
“Or they could just think I’m that awesome.”
“It’s not fu
“I know.” Daemon moved closer, and before I knew it, I was in his embrace again. “Don’t worry about me or Dee. We can handle the DOD. Trust me.”
I let him hold me for a couple of moments, soaking up his warmth, but then I slipped free. “I didn’t tell that lady anything. And the damn phone rang as I was getting out of the car. She knew we were lying about why we were there.”
“They’re not going to care about us lying over the phone. They probably think we were out there getting it on or something. You don’t need to worry, Kat.”
Anxiety didn’t fade. It snaked through me. There had been something about Nancy. Calculating. As if a pop quiz had been sprung on us and we’d failed. I lifted my eyes, meeting his. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
He smiled. “I know.”
I could have stood there staring at his sparkling eyes all night, but something urged me to run as far away from him as quickly as I could. Something bad was going to come from all of this.
I turned and walked away.
Chapter 16
As expected, I spent the better part of Thanksgiving poking around the house alone. Mom really got shafted, pulling a double shift that took her out of the house from around noon Thursday until noon on Friday.
I could’ve gone next door. Both Dee and Daemon had invited me, but it didn’t feel right busting up their alien Thanksgiving. And from the amount of creepy peeping I was doing from my window every time I heard a car door close outside, I knew everyone showing up was secretly an ET. Even Ash arrived with her brothers, looking like she was going to a funeral rather than a di
Part of me didn’t like that she was there. Yeah, I was jealous. Stupid.
But I’d made the right call by not going.
I was an anxious wreck. Today alone, I’d tipped over the coffee table, shattered three glasses, and blew a lightbulb. Being with people probably wasn’t a good idea, but it would’ve been nice to lose myself in the holiday festivities for a little while. The only good thing was the fact my head didn’t feel like it was being ripped apart after the shenanigans.
Around six in the evening, I felt that now-oh-so-familiar tingle on the back of my neck right before Daemon knocked. A ball of confusing feelings unfurled inside me as I hurried to the door.
The first thing I noticed was the large box beside him, and then the scent of roasted turkey and yams.
“Hey,” he said, holding a stack of covered plates. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
I blinked slowly. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
“You going to invite me in?” He held up the plates, wiggling them. “I come bearing gifts in the form of food.”
I stepped aside.
Still gri
A lump formed in my throat as I turned to Daemon.
“I brought a little of everything.” He headed toward the kitchen. “There’s turkey, yams, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green-bean casserole, some kind of apple crisp thing and pumpkin—Kitten? Are you coming?”
Peeling myself away from the front door, I went into the kitchen. He was setting up the table, uncovering the dishes. I…I didn’t know what to think.
Daemon raised his hands and two depression glass candleholders Mom never used floated to the table. Candles came next, and with a wave of his hand, their wicks sparked tiny flames.
The lump grew, nearly choking me.
Di
“And after di
“You do?” I whispered.
He nodded. “But you’ve got to join me for di
I shuffled to the table and sat, watching him with eyes that were blurry. He made me a plate and then sat beside me. I cleared my throat. “Daemon, I…I don’t know what to say, but thank you.”
“Thanks aren’t necessary,” he said. “You didn’t want to come over, which I understand, but you shouldn’t be alone.”
Lowering my gaze before he could see the tears gathering in my eyes, I grabbed the flute and downed the bitter-tasting white wine. When I looked up, his brows were raised.
“Lush,” he murmured.
I gri
He nudged me with his knee under the table. “Dig in before it gets cold.”
The food was divine. Any doubts I had about Dee’s cooking abilities vanished. Throughout our little makeshift di