Aiden’s green eyes lifted and caught hers. “You wouldna believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
“How close are you to discovering the differences in the blood?”
She shrugged and took another bite. “I feel as if there’s a key piece missing.”
“There is. What if I can get it to you?”
Though she wanted to know about Aiden, she had realized weeks ago that to learn who he truly was, she had to find out the differences in the blood. “If I had that, then I think two, three days at the most.”
“It might take me a few days to get it, but once I do, we need the information as soon as possible.”
All night they had talked of mundane things like the city and her childhood. Not once had the conversation turned to her research on the blood or why he needed it. As soon as they had begun to speak of it, Aiden’s attitude shifted.
Gone was the smile and relaxed man who had sat across from her in the crowded restaurant. He was tense, his voice low and urgent, sending off warning bells in her head.
“What’s happened?” she asked quietly as she let her eyes wander slowly around the restaurant.
“My enemy is closing in. He’s also begun to target those close to us. I fear you may be next, Britt. Already he’s tried to kidnap someone in an effort to hurt one of my friends.”
“Who is this asshole anyway?”
Aiden gave her a wicked grin of approval. “Jason Wallace.”
She recited that name to memory. “I’ll be on guard. I’m not without skills, you know. I lived in San Francisco, London, and Berlin. I can take care of myself.”
“He has magic.”
That deflated her somewhat, but she didn’t let it show. “Will he leave me alone once you’re gone with your information?”
Aiden’s head moved side to side. “I doona believe he will.”
“So what? You stay with me the rest of my life for protection?” It had been said as a joke, but after the words passed her lips, the idea of him being there appealed to her entirely too much.
Britt looked away and put her napkin on the table as silence stretched between them. So he might not feel the same. It wouldn’t be the first time. It seemed she was into guys who didn’t feel the same or vice versa.
For once she’d thought she might have gotten it right with Aiden.
Finally he said, “If I thought that would work, aye, I would. It willna be enough. Until Wallace is gone, I’d like you to come with me.”
“And where is that?” She drank more wine to calm her nerves and the excitement his offer brought, but nothing seemed to help. The thought of going with Aiden wasn’t what frightened her, it was how much she wanted to go that did.
She had missed countless classes and deadlines for papers while helping him, but she didn’t care. For so long, she had strived for degrees and doctorates, anything to fill her life with some kind of meaning.
One cause, one man had changed her way of thinking in the blink of an eye. She’d found that meaning with Aiden, but she didn’t want to tell him that, since she was unsure how he would take it.
“Aiden? Where would I be going?” she asked again.
He sat forward and placed his forearms on the table. “A castle.”
There was more to it. That she knew instantly by the way his eyes watched her. “That sounds nice. I’ve toured a few castles while here, but I’ve never stayed in one.”
“I doona believe you know how serious this all is.”
“I do. You’ve made it clear from the beginning how dangerous this was.”
“But you didna believe me,” he said, daring her to lie.
Britt speared another piece of cheesecake. “No, I didn’t believe you until I studied the samples you gave me. This might not make sense to you, but the idea of studying something so unbelievable is too good to pass up.”
“Even if it costs you your life?”
She hid a smile as his eyes darkened while he watched her slowly put the fork in her mouth and wrap her lips around it. Then, slowly pull the utensil out. She swallowed the dessert, her blood heating with his gaze.
Maybe he wasn’t as immune to her as he would have her believe.
“Didn’t you tell me you’d keep me safe?”
He cleared his throat and looked away. “Aye. I did. I am,” he hastily corrected.
So he was drawn to her. Britt wondered why Aiden hadn’t made a move on her. She’d begun to think he wasn’t interested, but that had been blown out of the water.
What held him back? And did she want to wait on him?
The answer to that was a definite “hell no.” She wanted Aiden. Even when she knew she should be running the other way and putting as much distance between them as she could because of the danger surrounding him, she couldn’t.