"Call if you need anything."
He climbed out of the cab of Lonzo"s truck, moving more slowly than he really needed to. "I said I"ll be fine."
Eventually. Maybe.
As he approached his front door, he could hear music playing. Strange. Usually his neighbors were gone during the day. Even when they were home, their taste in music ran toward the cla.s.sical end of the spectrum. He was pretty sure what he was hearing was straight out of Nashville.
Huh, it was coming from his place. Had he left the radio on? He didn"t think so. He turned the key in the lock and shoved the door open. For sure he hadn"t left the lights on. What the h.e.l.l was going on?
Two steps inside the door, he stopped. What was that smell? Roses? He"d noticed that same exact scent just recently. Reggie.
A new surge of energy poured through his veins. He wasn"t sure if it was anger or hope. After he"d mustered up the gumption to order Reggie to leave him alone, she had done exactly that. He hadn"t seen her again and a.s.sumed she"d gone back to Portland. What if she hadn"t? His equipment bag hit the ground with a thud. He lifted one foot and moved it forward, then the next, managing to keep going until he reached his living room.
It was empty. Had she come and gone? He tried the kitchen next, hoping his heart wouldn"t burst in his chest before he found her. There was something that smelled of oregano and tomato sauce in the oven, but still no sign of Reggie.
That left his office . . . and the bedroom. Okay, that thought sent him bolting down the hall. His bed was made with the blankets turned back. It looked neat, tidy even. Welcoming and with a predictable effect on the fit of his jeans. He backed out of the room and headed for the only place that was left.
The door was closed but he could hear the rapid click of a keyboard in the hands of a master. He should"ve guessed Reggie would be playing with his equipment. Okay, that wasn"t the smartest a.n.a.logy he could"ve come up with.
Why was she here? Only one way to find out.
She"d heard him come in. It was all she could do not to go charging out to meet him, throwing herself into D.J."s arms. But if she was going to tread on the minefield of getting past his defenses, she needed to move cautiously and let him come to her.
Just as the door opened, she finished the e-mail she"d been composing and hit the Send b.u.t.ton before looking in his direction. When she finally did, she couldn"t say a word. All the earlier images kept getting in the way: D.J. fighting for his life before going down under the combined a.s.sault of the last two Others. Berk"s men wrapping D.J."s dead body in a blanket. Flying back to Seattle with his body bag at her feet. The horrific process of life returning to where there had been only death a few seconds before.
It was hard to believe he was really standing there, so handsome, so alive. He didn"t look particularly happy to see her, but she"d come too far to run away now.
"Hope you don"t mind that I let myself in."
He finally stepped into the room. She jumped to her feet. He towered over her enough when she was standing. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at her.
"I told you to go home."
She offered him a smile, but it wasn"t exactly a happy one. "I did. I just didn"t stay there."
"Why are you here?"
"Where else should I be?"
"d.a.m.n it, Reggie, I"m in no mood for games. Why are you here?"
Time to throw down the gauntlet. "Because I felt like a coward standing on that hillside with Javel and Berk while you were down there fighting."
He started pacing, snagging one of his tension b.a.l.l.s off the desk and working it hard. "I"m a trained warrior, Reggie. You aren"t. If I"d let you get killed, you would"ve stayed that way."
She picked up one of the other toys and tossed it from one hand to the other. "That"s not why I felt like a coward. And since you brought it up, why didn"t you tell me about your Paladin abilities?"
He did an about-face to look away from her. "I didn"t want you to know the truth of what I was. Even if we didn"t have a future together, I didn"t want you to think you"d slept with some kind of freakish monster."
He spoke in a perfect monotone, but that didn"t disguise the pain in each word he said. If she could get her hands on whoever had labeled him a monster in the past, she"d kick their collective a.s.ses off the s.p.a.ce Needle.
"You"re not a freak or a monster."
His laugh was ugly. "Try convincing my mother of that."
"Tell me about her."
At first, she didn"t think he was going to, but then he started speaking, slowly, but then the words picked up speed as he continued. "My father died when I was still a baby. Evidently he never told her what he really did for a living or what he was. Anyway, she turned to religion in a big way. Most of my memories of my early childhood were centered around the church, and that was okay, at least at first."
He wandered over to stare out the window. "But when she noticed that I healed almost overnight, she started freaking out. That was bad enough, but then I fell off the garage pretending to be a superhero and broke both legs and an arm. As you can probably guess, the hospital staff didn"t quite know what to make of a kid who was busted up one day and bouncing on the bed the next."
"Did the church think it was a miracle?"
Reggie would have, but it was clear that wasn"t how it had played out. It hurt to see D.J. looking so alone. She eased closer, slipping her hands around his waist and laying her face against his back.
He sighed and finally answered. "No, they thought I was possessed. When the prayers and the beatings didn"t work, my mother couldn"t live with the shame . . . or with me. At least she abandoned me outside a hospital. Guess I should be grateful for that much."
Reggie wanted to punch somebody. She kept her touch gentle, but let her fury boil over in her words. "d.a.m.n it, D.J., she doesn"t deserve your grat.i.tude for anything. How could she do that to her own son?"
He shrugged. "As near as I can tell, she was a kid herself and running scared. I did okay without her, especially when one of the local Paladins tracked me down after I fell playing a game of pickup basketball in college and broke my leg again. With the dawn of the computer age, the Regents started scanning hospital reports for stories like mine."
"You found somewhere to belong. With the Paladins."
He finally turned back around. "I owe them everything. When I showed a talent for computers, they paid off my student loans and bought me the best equipment on the market. We"re family-or were. Guess I"ll find out for sure when I go back to work next week. I, uh, broke a few rules."
G.o.d, because of her, he"d lied to his friends. Not only that, she"d bested him at the one thing he"d excelled in. With the job his mother did on him, he probably thought that his sword arm and ability to outhack the vast majority of the computer geniuses in the world were his sole talents.
How could she fix this?
"This is my fault, D.J. Surely Devlin will see that when I talk to him."
D.J. held her out at arm"s length. "No way are you dealing with him. You"re going home to pick up the pieces of your life."
He was still trying to protect her, the sweet fool. Time to set the record straight. "Nope, sorry, that"s not happening. I"m here and I"m staying."
Anger flashed hot in his dark eyes. "d.a.m.n it, Reggie, no. You"ve seen my life. I spend most of my time wading in blood and watching my friends die over and over again. Sometimes they don"t make it back at all. Someday I won"t. I won"t ask you to share that life with me."
Okay, time to play hardball. "I told you I felt like a coward, but you"re wrong about why. I thought I"d missed the chance to tell you how I felt about you. You might not want me, but I"m not walking out that door without telling you."
She had his attention now. "I love you, D. J. Clayborne. I love everything about you. You and those friends of yours suffer in silence to keep people like me safe. That"s such a powerful gift, and we don"t even get to thank you for it. You keep your lives secret so the rest of us don"t have to deal with the ugliness that"s part of every day you pick up your sword."
D.J. stared at her in shock, shaking his head as if he was having trouble deciphering her words. Finally, he stumbled across to his computer chair and dropped into it. She followed him, climbing up in his lap.
"What I don"t understand is how you can be so brave when it comes to facing off with those Kalith crazies, but scared when it comes to trusting me. In case you haven"t noticed, I"m not your mother."
That earned her a small smile. "Believe me, I noticed."
She tossed the toy aside to cradle his face in both hands. "Then don"t punish me for her crimes. I"m not going to run away, and I"m not going to leave, not unless you force the issue. We both know that it would be stupid to walk away from what we"ve shared, and you"re not a stupid man. Or are you?"
Her heart lodged firmly in her throat while she waited for him to answer. It took forever-at least ten seconds.
He swallowed hard and whispered, "No, I"m not stupid."
Her heart stuttered when he turned his face to nuzzle the palm of her hand. "I didn"t think so, which leads me to the next step."
"Which is?"
"Well, you don"t want to ask me to share your life. I get that. So that leaves me with only one thing I can do."
"Which is?" he repeated.
"I can ask you to share my life instead. There are downsides. I spend hours on the computer when I have a puzzle to solve. I collect all kinds of toys to play with while I"m hot on the trail of some handsome, world-cla.s.s hacker. Also, I"ve been told I"m a bit stubborn, and I have a temper. Think you can live with that?"
His smile spread slowly, but lit up his whole face. "Yeah, I think I can live with that. Besides, Lonzo told me that if I ever got a chance at a do-over, I should make a smarter decision."
"I like your friends."
"Good, because you"ll be seeing a lot of them."
"Not right now though. I want some serious alone time with you-no Paladins, no Kaliths, no friends. At least not for a day or two."
"Not a problem. Laurel and Sasha ganged up on me and ordered me to take a week off. And suddenly, I have a few ideas about how to fill that time."
He muscled them both up out of the chair and carried her down the hall toward his bedroom. He tossed her into the middle of his king-size bed and followed her down.
There was a lot of hunger in his smile. "What do you say we start here and maybe end up in a Las Vegas wedding chapel? How does being Mrs. Darnell Jacob Clayborne sound?"
She considered the matter. "I like Mrs. D.J. better, but I"ll take you any way I can."
His dark eyes turned serious. "Call me whatever you want as long as you love me."
She tugged him down for a long, hot kiss. When she pulled back, she cupped his handsome face and smiled.
"Then I"m just going to call you mine."
Also by Alexis Morgan.
The Paladin Series.
BOUND BY DARKNESS.
DEFEAT THE DARKNESS.
DARKNESS UNKNOWN.
REDEEMED IN DARKNESS.
IN DARKNESS REBORN.
DARK DEFENDER.
DARK PROTECTOR.
The Talion Series.
DARK WARRIOR UNTAMED.
DARK WARRIOR UNBROKEN.
DARK WARRIOR UNLEASHED.