Angel's Shield (5 page)

“Not Jesus,” Haniel said, breathless.

Jeremiel started laughing, head in Haniel’s neck. After a moment,
Haniel joined him.

“What just happened?” Jeremiel asked, once he’d managed to calm
down. The mess in his boxers had started to congeal. Ugh. He rolled off his
friend.

“Damned if I know,” Haniel said, plucking at his shorts.

“Yeah, well, now I need a shower.”

“I think it’s going to take more than a shower to wash this mess
away,” Haniel said quietly.

Jeremiel shifted over and slid his arm around his best friend. “You’re
not a mess, Haniel. Never.” He sighed. “Let’s just see what happens. Isn’t that
what you’re always saying? Don’t do anything drastic.”

“What? Like have sex with my best friend?” Haniel scoffed. “Been
there, done that.”

“Got the t-shirt,” Jeremiel said automatically.

“What would the others think?” Haniel asked.

Jeremiel frowned. “I don’t feel like we did anything wrong.”

Haniel was quiet for a long time. When he finally spoke, his words
sent a shiver through Jeremiel. “I’m more worried about something happening to
you. We live a dangerous life, my friend. And now I have something to lose
again.”

Chapter Four

Charmiene downed the last of her coffee, trying not to think about
what the two men had looked like in bed together. Haniel’s blonde hair had been
mussed just enough to make her want to run her hands through it. Jeremiel’s
morning stubble had her itching to glide her fingers over his jaw.

God, I’ve got it bad,
she thought, putting the cup in the sink. She ran water in it,
then turned off the faucet and leaned against the counter, staring out the
window. Morning sunlight slanted across the backyard, highlighting the soft,
white dandelion globes decorating her lawn. A sudden gust of wind sent the
seeds into the air. She wondered what it felt like to skim the breeze like that.
For as long as she could remember, she’d wanted to fly.

She glanced at the picture of her parents she’d taped to the
refrigerator door. Her mother barely came up to her father’s shoulders, but
they were so much in love it never seemed to matter. She remembered her dad’s
laugh and her mother singing to her in Korean, but they’d died when she was
eight. Was the longing she felt for the skies just her psyche’s way of trying
to heal the damage of her loss? She shook her head and looked outside again.

“I’m certainly no angel,” she murmured, sighing. She gathered her
purse.
Jeremiel is an angel, though, no matter how much he denies it.
She’d seen his legacy marks twist from his forearms up over his shoulders when
he’d been in the bed. The cut on his skin had scabbed over last night. This
morning it looked even better. She frowned.
He certainly heals fast,
she
mused.

“Charmeine?”

She spun around. Jeremiel stood in the doorway, thankfully
dressed. Her composure couldn’t handle any more half-naked angels right now.

“Oh, Jeremiel. Good morning,” she stuttered, imagining him without
his shirt. He’d washed up and his dark hair was wet. “I was just leaving.”

He smiled, slow and devastating. “No need to hurry off on my
account.”

She blushed. “I have to get to work.”

“Did she leave?” Haniel asked, coming up behind Jeremiel. His eyes
landed on hers. “Oh, good. You’re still here,” he said softly, not smiling, but
not frowning either.

She glanced away, not understanding the expression on his face,
and gestured to the coffee pot. “I made extra today, in case you wanted some.”

Jeremiel stepped into the kitchen. “Thanks.” He poured himself a
cup and sipped at it carefully.

Haniel followed him in, looking around as if cataloguing the room.
She watched him hesitate as he moved closer, but then he leaned against the
counter near her. He seemed larger than he had yesterday, but maybe it was
because she hadn’t spent much time standing next to him. He loomed over her,
broad-shouldered and muscular. Just the kind of guy she liked, not that it
mattered. He wasn’t hers to touch. He cocked his head, waiting for her to
speak.

She nodded at him, not sure what else to say. Why was this so
damned awkward?
Because they make you feel things you can’t have,
a
little voice whispered to her in the back of her head.
And they’re crazy
gorgeous.

“Is it okay if we stay a few more days?” he asked suddenly,
surprising her.

She blinked, then wrenched her brain into focus. “Uh, yeah. I
guess so,” she replied, twisting her purse’s strap between her fingers.

Jeremiel smiled. “We need a rest. We’ve been hiking non-stop for a
long time.” He traced his finger around the rim of his cup.

She watched him, mesmerized, then shook herself out of it. She
really did need to get to work. “It’s fine. You can stay as long as you need,”
she offered. She didn’t know why, but she trusted them, as absurd as that was
on one night’s acquaintance.

“Thank you,” Haniel said.

She smiled at him briefly. “You’re welcome.”

He touched her arm.

She froze, heart knocking on her ribs. Even just his fingertips on
her skin had her flustered.

“We really appreciate it,” he murmured.

She stared at his hand. Fine lines, so light she wasn’t sure if
they were scars or just some strange variation of his skin, ran up his wrist.
They looked almost like faded legacy marks, light instead of dark against the
corded muscles of his forearm. What had happened to him? She shivered and
pulled away, not understanding why she wanted to shove closer, instead. “Um, it’s
okay. But I’ve really got to get going, now. I don’t want to be late,” she said
brightly, faking cheerfulness as she crossed the room. Inside, she felt a lot
of different things: arousal, need, longing. Happiness? Not so much.

“Be careful,” Jeremiel said, stepping out of her way.

She paused at the door. “Careful?” Of what? She lived in a tiny
rural town. The only thing she had to worry about was maybe hitting a deer with
her car. Of course, there were those feelings she’d been having of being
watched lately. She reigned in her imagination.
No, you’re just being
paranoid.

He shrugged and shook his head. “Just… yeah. Be careful driving,”
he said, like he was her father or older brother or something.

She smiled, amused. “I will.”

****

Eight and a half hours later Charmeine was ready to drop. She’d
spent the entire day catering to busloads of tourists and school children, here
to visit the nearby parks and their many trails on the last day of the week.
She’d dealt with more than the usual number of comments about her eyes, which
drove her crazy. They were just eyes. She looked like her mother, so what? It
was like no one had ever seen an interracial person before. The ones who asked
how her hair could be curly when she was Asian just made her angry. Ugh.
Fridays tended to suck. Her feet ached. Her head ached. She’d burned her arm
right near the crease of her elbow and it throbbed annoyingly.

“Melvin, I’m sorry, but I’m exhausted. I gotta go before I
collapse,” she said, untying her apron.

He waved a hand at her from the grill. “Yeah, no problem. You go
home and get some rest.”

She waved at the other two waitresses and headed outside. The late
afternoon sunlight slanted through the trees that lined the street, but she was
too tired to care about the lovely weather. All she wanted to do was go home
and sleep. She stopped by her car, tensing when a pricking at the back of her
neck alerted her to eyes following her movements. Surreptitiously, she looked
around, pretending to check out the flower arrangement in the shop next to the
diner. Nothing. A few people walked down the sidewalk on the other side of the
street, but no one was watching her, not that she could tell, anyway.

“Dammit,” she muttered. This wasn’t the first time she’d felt this
way. For a few months now she’d thought someone was spying on her at random
times, but had never been able to figure out who it was.
Maybe I’m just losing my mind.
Her skin pricked even more, so she
hurriedly unlocked her car and drove away from the center of town, stomping a
little too hard on the gas on her way up the hill just past the last house. “You’re
imagining things, Charmeine,” she told herself irritably. “Too much work and
not enough rest. You know how you get.”

Ten minutes later she pulled into her gravel driveway and turned
off her old Chevy, leaning her head on the steering wheel. The sudden lack of
air conditioning made the inside of the vehicle stifling in seconds as the
sun-warmed vinyl of the dashboard leached heat into the interior. When someone
tapped on her window, she jerked her head up, heart pounding, sure someone had
followed her home. Instead, Jeremiel pressed a finger to the glass, smiling at
her innocently. She stared at him dumbly as she willed her heart rate to slow
down.

You’re safe. He’s a good guy, remember?
He looked darkly handsome, his
blue eyes more intense than she recalled from this morning, if that was even
possible. The slow burn of arousal slid through her exhausted body, replacing
the fight-or-flight instinct with something equally dangerous.

“Are you getting out?” he asked, voice muffled by the glass.

She pulled herself together. “Yeah,” she said, opening the door.
The air outside wasn’t much cooler, but the breeze coming down off the
mountains was welcome. She lifted her sweat-soaked hair off her neck. “It was a
hell of a day.” She tried to ignore how good he looked, but it was difficult.
Even his worn jeans and faded blue t-shirt couldn’t disguise the perfection of
his body. She tore her eyes away, blushing. He wasn’t wearing any shoes.

He closed the door for her. “We made you a sandwich and saved you
some melon.”

She stopped on the sidewalk. “You cooked?” She couldn’t imagine
it. He seemed so extraordinary, more angelic than human, that she had trouble
with the idea of him in her humble kitchen. She tried to picture him wearing
her frilly apron and shook her head, laughing at herself.
He never once
admitted he was an angel, you idiot.

“I wouldn’t call it cooking,” Haniel called from her front porch. “But
we can throw together a sandwich as well as the next person.” He had on a pair
of old cargo shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt. The white fabric made his eyes
seem luminous. Or was that just her libido going crazy? She rubbed her face,
grimacing. She had to shower before she collapsed. The grease from the grill
coated her skin unpleasantly.

“Why don’t you take a cool shower? We’ll set the table for you and
then you can eat.” Haniel held open the screen door for her. “You look tired.
It’s the least we can do.”

She walked past him into the cool dim of her house, ignoring the
tingle in her spine as her arm brushed his. “Thanks. I
am
pretty tired.
It was a busy day.”

Jeremiel followed her in. “Go. Relax. There’s nothing else for you
to do today.”

She walked up the stairs, a little confused, but also a lot
grateful. She hadn’t been looking forward to fending for herself. She could put
up with a bit of coddling, right? Even if it came from two men who set her
heart racing in a way that she couldn’t understand.

****

The next week passed much the same way as Friday, with Haniel and
Jeremiel making simple meals for her when she got home from work. She didn’t
feel anyone watching her anymore, for which she was grateful. Her nerves were
already shot from living with two men. She’d thought she’d enjoy their company,
and she did, but she also struggled with the crackling attraction she felt for
them. She’d never dated. Never had a boyfriend. She’d been too busy with school
and then caring for her grandmother to bother with boys. Now she wished she
had… maybe she’d understand what was happening to her. The evenings were
pleasant, but oddly surprising. She wasn’t used to having anyone to talk to. Mornings
were just strange. She couldn’t help staring at them as they stumbled from her
spare bedroom, mussed and sleep-warm. They didn’t seem bothered by sharing a
bed, and she was pretty sure they were ‘
sleeping
together
,
’
not just sleeping.

And the image of that is enough to make me lose it completely,
she thought as she pulled on her
uniform a week after they’d arrived. She’d had to work without a break for
seven days, but starting tomorrow, she had four glorious days off. She had no
idea how she would handle puttering around her house with two hot men invading
her space.

She’d never expected them to stay so long, but she had to admit,
she liked it. It was weird, but she liked having them around, even though the
more she got to know them, the more she wanted them for herself. She wanted to
be able to touch them, kiss them, sleep in the middle of their bodies and wake
up warm and safe.

“Stop daydreaming,” she said aloud, shoving her feet into her
shoes. Outside, the day was warm and sunny again.