Kayden just ran his hands through his hair and headed to the dispatch office. His instructions for the day were vague. All he was given was an address for the hotel and a room number. He wasn't looking forward to playing chauffeur all day, and the fact that he hadn't heard from Dani had his nerves frayed. Kayden decided to give Chase a call. He was sure Chase had been holding back that morning. Kayden would try to rattle his cage a little, but all he accomplished was getting Chase worked up about Dani taking off. There was definitely more to the story, but Chase wasn't sharing.
Still fuming, Kayden headed to the hotel to collect his charge for the day. He would be holding doors and driving some snob around all day instead of looking for his girl. It pissed him off that everyone from his parents to her damned Wrath guard took turns kicking the legs out from under her, and Kayden was the one to pay for it.
Why hadn't she called? Was there more to the situation with Chase than Kayden was aware of? Did she care so little for his feelings that she would up and disappear without a word? Had he unknowingly done something to hurt her? Had Chase and Darren filled her head full of his past adventures with other women, until she was disgusted by him? The questions and worries swam widely around his head, and Kayden had no idea how he was going to get through the day with his sanity intact.
He reached the hotel room and was surprised to find the door ajar. He knocked and waited but there was no answer. He knocked again and called into the room.
"Hello. Ma'am, are you ready?" There was still no answer. Something felt wrong about it to Kayden. He pulled his weapon and slowly entered the room. It was quiet. The light was on behind the locked bathroom door. He knocked on the door.
"Are you alright in there, ma'am?" He did not want to have to kick the door in to find some old lady dead on the toilet. Suddenly, the light went out and the door flew open. Kayden jumped back and raised his weapon in the sudden, total darkness. All he could see was the silhouette of a small person standing away from the open bathroom door.
"Is that a gun in your hand or are you just happy to see me, warrior?" A very sultry and familiar voice crept out of the darkness, and Dani stepped into the doorway. Kayden's heart almost stopped with the shock and joy of seeing her beautiful mouth turned up in a half smile. He holstered the weapon and pulled her into his arms. For a minute he couldn't speak; he could only breathe her in and be thankful for her presence and safety.
"You scared the shit out of me. I thought you left me, Angel," he huffed with relief.
"I am the Angel of Wrath, remember? My wrath is mighty today. I'm sorry, but it was necessary subterfuge. I wanted you all to myself, and I had to remove a few obstacles to satisfy my needs. I hope you can forgive me." She snuggled into his chest.
Kayden was just glad to have her in his arms. The anxiety of the morning melted away.
She pulled him to a chair and pushed him down before climbing into his lap and resting her head in the crook of his neck. Now, this was what he wanted. This was the most openly affectionate Dani had been without him pushing for just a little more than she was giving.
"Tell me what happened. I know you had a bad night, but this is a little extreme." He was confused. Who was Darren chasing if she was here, he wondered.
"I couldn't sleep last night, so I went for a walk. I was passing the indoor basketball court when I heard my name, so I stopped to listen. I guess Darren was also having trouble sleeping. He was still in his suit and pacing back and forth, talking on his phone. I don't know who he was talking to, but he asked if the tracking device on my car was enabled yet. I was already good and pissed off, so that was the straw that broke the angel's back. Did you know they were tracking me?" She looked at him with narrowed eyes and an edge of annoyance in her voice.
"I had no idea until this morning, when Dad told me you were gone. Dad didn't know until Darren told him that tracking you down wouldn't be a problem. Does my dad know you're here?" Kayden asked.
"No. I pulled some strings with his secretary and the duty clerk to fabricate a false visitor and get you assigned to me." She snuggled even closer and practically purred, nuzzling his chest. "I went out and found the tracking thingy in my car. It took me a while, but I found it. I thought it would be on the outside of the car, but it was tucked up under the passenger seat."
Shivering under her tender touch, Kayden rasped, "Where is Darren?"
"I have no idea. I tossed the tracker through the open window of a tractor-trailer that was delivering food to the mess hall. The plates on the truck were from Alabama." She shrugged and smiled.
Kayden could do nothing but laugh. Angel of Wrath, indeed. He could just imagine Darren finding the truck, and he wondered how long it would take him to figure out she'd duped him. Darren thought he was so damn smart, and she had him chasing his own flea-bitten tail.
"He was a little more than an hour behind the signal a few hours ago." He chuckled.
Dani had a full day planned for them. He took her shopping and sat back in the chair while she modeled for him. Then they had lunch at a café near the park. Both picked an entrée and placed the plates in the middle so they could share. She played with her food and talked animatedly about how good she was getting with a gun. Her dark hair fell in waves over her shoulders, and she absently tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear.
Kayden admired every little nuance of her posture and speech and the way she used her slender hands to speak. His heart swelled when, without a thought, she reached a hand across the table and laid it on his, like that was where it belonged, while she smiled and talked about his dad teaching her to box. Kayden was a bit jealous of all the time she'd spent with Darren and his dad on training exercises. He had always been so busy with his daily rotations.
It struck Kayden that he'd never really spent time with a female like this before. He'd taken females out and did a lot of partying with them. Usually he had two objectives, blood and sex, and it depended on whether his date was human or vamp if they were both fulfilled that night. He was obviously not going to take blood from another vamp. That would have been like death by marriage, but if he found a nice human female, that was different. He could take care of all his needs and strip the girl's memory, so why bother with dating?
No one before Dani had ever been able to catch and hold his attention. She sat across the table, and he had no hope of pulling his attention away from her. He was enthralled with every move she made, and he hung on her every word. Shit. He was in big trouble. This new territory was the most frightening thing he'd ever experienced. This female was capable of crushing him, and he didn't like it all. For the first time, he wasn't in control. He couldn't just walk away from her and not care. He couldn't imagine a future without her anymore. Oh God, it was really bad.
Dani pulled him from his deep thoughts when she said, "So what do you think? Are you in?"
"Huh?" he asked.
"You haven't been paying attention to me at all, have you?" she pouted.
"On the contrary, I was actually mesmerized by you, Angel," he confessed.
Watching Kayden, she realized how much he'd changed. Kayden had been affectionate, playful, and protective since the beginning of their relationship, but he was different now. Kayden had always been a lady's man, and she was very aware of that. It was amazing that he was willing to wait for her to be ready before broaching the topic of sex. More so that, as far as she could tell, he hadn't been with anyone since the day they first kissed. She couldn't say the same.
Dani watched him watching her all day. He watched her lips as she talked and her hands when she touched him, and, obviously, he watched her body.
She looked across the table into eyes full of tenderness. He said he was mesmerized, and as she drew circles on the top of his hand with her fingers, she believed him. He was not the cocky, devil-may-care party animal of the past. He was stunningly handsome, strong, patient, and affectionate. What else could a girl want in a guy? If she didn't have the constant longing to be near Chase, she believed Kayden would have her heart by now. He did, in many ways, if she were to be honest with herself. He made her feel happy and safe. He relieved some of the aching need for Chase. She missed the days when he was her guardian and with her all the time.
Being a warrior wasn't a nine-to-five kind of job. He went where they needed him, when they needed him, no questions asked. It was very much like being in the human military. On the other hand, maybe absence did make the heart grow fonder, because she surely felt his absence when he was gone.