“I’ll be waiting. I’m not leaving town without an answer,” he said, barely above a whisper. “You know what you have to do.”
His eyes bored holes into hers and in them, she could see the thousands upon thousands of years they had been bonded. Gabrielle and Lucifer. Bonded Archangels. Blue Blood vampires who reincarnated. No one else would ever understand her, no one else but him. Together until the end of time. Except this time...
Maybe this time...
It could be different.
“What are you going to do? Marry a bleeder?” Aldrich sneered. With that, he left, the bell still ringing long after he had disappeared into the street.
Aurora let out a shaky breath, walked back to the counter, then leaned against it, thankful for its support.
“Shit,” Bett said. “That guy wasintense. Are you all right?”
Aurora pressed her palm to her chest, feeling her heartbeat racing beneath her fingers. “I’m fine.” She twisted her hematite thumb ring, just as she always did when she was anxious. She didn’t care to admit it, but Aldrich’s appearance had rattled her nerves. She had come to Charleston last year to try to live independently, but he had followed. He was growing more assertive by the day. “Aldrich is just like that.”
“If he tries to set foot in here again, I’ll do you a favor and curb-stomp his ass.”
Aurora smiled and put her hand against Bett’s cheek. “God bless you.”
The bell chimed again as the front door opened, and for a cold second Aurora thought Aldrich had come back, but instead a tall young man entered, smiling. His hair was the color of wheat in the sunshine, shaggy and tousled, unlike Aldrich’s gilded mane.
“Morning,” Bett said by way of greeting. “To go?”
“Uh, actually, for here. Is it okay if I sit down?” He held up a worn messenger bag covered in sewn-on patches as if it proved that he had work to do. He looked like a college student with faded jeans, a screen-printed cotton T-shirt, and Rockport boots.
“Better have some tip money in that messenger bag of yours if you do,” Bett said, raising an eyebrow. “We’ve had enough troublemakers in this joint for one day.”
The man looked baffled, but Aurora just laughed. “Oh please, Bett,” she started, then said to the man, “She’s just joking. Go ahead, take any seat you like.” A smile slipped easily onto his face as he chose the table Aurora had just cleaned.
She went about putting the dirty dishes in the kitchen, giving him time to get settled, and when she came back, she found him sitting with a paper map of America unfolded, drooping halfway off the edge, it was so big. He’d made large red lines in marker following highways that crisscrossed all the way from Los Angeles to Charleston. His finger currently traced north up the East Coast.
Aurora smiled in greeting. Fortunately, it wasn’t a forced one.
“What can I get for you?” she asked, her pen ready over her pad.
He looked up, removing the marker that had been pressed thoughtfully to the corner of his mouth, and brightened when she spoke. “Just a coffee. With cream, please.”
“Nothing to eat?”
“No, no. Thank you. I don’t have that kind of cash on me. Coffee is absolutely perfect.”
“Coming right up. I just made it fresh. Not to brag or anything, but my coffee is the best on this side of the Mississippi. I roast it myself.”
He had blue eyes. They lit up like the summer sky when he smiled. He was so handsome when he did. “Is that so?”
“It is! Seems like you’ve been all over the place, though, so maybe you could prove me wrong.” She slipped her gaze to the map in front of him, making a point. “My momma always said, ‘Lips don’t lie!’ ”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to taste yours and find out for myself, won’t I?”
Aurora blushed. Her heart rapped on her chest bone as if trying to get her attention.
It took him a minute to realize what he had said. He blinked hard and shook his head, his mouth open. The red of his face clashed endearingly with the yellow of his hair. “Your coffee! I meant I’ll have to taste your coffee. Not your lips. Oh God. Oh, I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I didn’t mean itthat way. I’m so embarrassed. I’ll shut up now.”
Aurora actually giggled. “Don’t worry about it. I like a challenge.”
His laugh came as a relieved sigh, and Aurora got started pouring his cup with cream, as ordered. She returned within a minute to deliver it in one of their biggest, roundest ceramic mugs. It was one of her favorites; it had a hand-painted cat on the side. The Jazzy Java owner had bought it from a thrift store when the café first opened.
More red markings had appeared on the man’s map since she’d been gone. She admired the way he held his pen. It was such an odd thing to notice, but she liked the delicate curve of his hand as it went across the page.
