Until the Sun Falls from the Sky(136)
“You never have to be scared of me, sweetheart,” he told her quietly but firmly as his hand dropped away.
She surprised him by asking, “What about when your anger fills the room like a physical thing?”
He wound his arms around her and gathered her closer. “If that happens, Leah, then it happens. There are times when I’ll get angry but no matter how angry I get, you never have anything to fear.”
Regardless of his words and the feeling behind them she persevered. “What about when your body goes all funny?”
He blinked slowly before repeating, “My body goes all funny?”
“Yeah, it gets stiff, the muscles all tense, stand out. I can’t explain it, but –”
Lucien was appalled. “I’ve done that to you?”
She studied him, her look wary then she nodded before saying, “Just now and when, um… that time Katrina came over.”
“Christ,” he muttered, stunned and disgusted with himself. He hadn’t even felt it.
“I’d said some awful things…” she defended him and his arms gave her a gentle shake to stop her exoneration.
“That won’t happen again,” he declared.
Leah watched him, her eyes wide, lips parted and this time he didn’t revel in a look that made her adorable.
“What is it?” she whispered.
His reply was swift and terse. “Preparing for battle.”
“Wow,” she breathed.
“Against an immortal, Leah,” he went on, tone still curt. “My strength is twenty times yours. When I’m in a fight or flight situation, my adrenalin releases just as yours does, but it makes me twice as strong as I was before, twice as fast. If I were to –”
“You didn’t,” she cut him off.
“And I wouldn’t,” he stated. “I’ll repeat, my pet, when you’re with me, you never have anything to fear.”
At that, she replied, “That part I know.”
After she spoke, he watched as her face stilled then horror filled it and she grew pale.
Her heart started racing. In his anger, he’d ceased attuning his to hers and his remained steady.
But she’d given something away and it wasn’t that she trusted he’d never harm her.
“Leah?”
She looked toward the door and she quickly changed the subject, “Maybe we should call my family to come and have breakfast.”
“Leah –”
“I’ll make breakfast today. Crêpes Suzette.”
The idea of Leah attempting Crêpes Suzette, which she’d fail to do (not to mention it was dessert), was infinitely amusing, especially considering flambéing was key to the dish’s success. He mentally located the fire extinguisher, just in case.
At the thought of witnessing this endeavor and her reaction at her inevitable failure, Lucien was tempted to let her off the hook.
However, he didn’t.
“Look at me, sweetheart.”
Her gaze flitted to his eyebrow.
His arms tightened and his tone was a warning. “Leah.”
She sighed and her eyes caught his.
“What did you mean?” Lucien asked.
“What did I mean what?” Leah asked back.
His eyes narrowed. She wrinkled her nose.
“Tell me, Leah,” he ordered.
“Oh all right,” she snapped and frowned at him before admitting something astonishing and tremendously gratifying but doing so with extreme ill-humor. “You make me feel safe.”
Again, Lucien was stunned. This time in a much better way.
“I make you feel safe,” he repeated.
“Yes. You,” she poked him in the chest, “make me,” she pointed to herself then her hand fluttered in the air, “feel safe.” She dropped her hand and stared at him. “You’re big and fast and you can throw a blinkety blank car, for heaven’s sake. You make me feel tiny and sheltered and… well, safe!”
That warmth in his gut started spreading.
“Leah –” he began, his hand inching up her back, sifting into her hair.
But she wasn’t quite through.
Glowering at him, she admitted irritably, “My father left me, which was enough to twist me in a way that I’d never feel safe. We were girls on our own. Mom’s strong but, you know, sometimes…” She trailed off, losing track of her theme then she found it and kept going, “Then every guy I’ve ever been with has hit the top bell on the jerk-o-meter. You can be a jerk but, get this!” she fairly shouted. “One of my boyfriends sat in the car while I changed the tire. Another one didn’t do a freaking thing when some guy was pawing me at a bar. After I got away I asked him why he sat there and watched and did not… one… thing and he said he didn’t want to get ‘into it’ with some ‘moron’ and it was obvious I could ‘sort myself out’.” She lifted her hands and used two fingers to put quotation emphasis on her words before dropping them again and finishing, “Can you believe?”