Page 50 of Demon Loved
Alarm went through him. The other man’s tone had been casual enough, but Belshegar wondered if Levi knew what he was truly saying. To simply reveal his existence, just like that?
“I will explain the situation to them,” Levi said, a note of understanding now in his tone. “You don’t need to worry that they’ll make you leave. I’ll vouch for you.”
Belshegar wanted to believe that.
But….
“Even though — ” he began, and Levi smiled again.
“Yes, even though you’re seeing my daughter.”
While he’d never been on a rollercoaster, Belshegar thought the ebb and flow of his emotions during this conversation must be something like that — worry, then relief…then worry all over again.
He found his voice. “Brianna told you?”
“No,” Levi replied at once. “She doesn’t discuss her private life with us very much…well, not until things get serious, which hasn’t happened very often. But her mother told me she’s sounded happier when she’s talked to her on the phone these past few days…and I saw the way you were looking at her when she was performing at the folk festival on Saturday. It seemed clear to me that something was going on between you two, even if I couldn’t say for sure exactly what it was.”
So many thoughts were passing through Belshegar’s mind, he wasn’t quite sure where to start. Somehow he found his voice, though, and said, “You’re not going to forbid me to see her, when you know what I am?”
Now Levi chuckled — but not in a scornful way. No, it seemed more that he was laughing at himself.
“Considering who I am and where I came from, that would make me quite the hypocrite, wouldn’t it?”
It was an angle Belshegar hadn’t considered, but he supposed he could see why Levi might think that. “So…I have your permission to continue to see her?”
“She’s a grown woman who can make her own choices,” Levi replied. “She certainly doesn’t need my permission — or her mother’s — when it comes to her private life. However….”
The words trailed off, as if Levi wasn’t quite sure what he should say next.
“However?” Belshegar prompted.
Those blue eyes were suddenly sharp as lasers.
“If you hurt her…if you’re only amusing yourself while you’re here…then I’ll make sure you have justice, whether on this plane or the next.”
15
Thank the Goddess for busywork. Chelle had left a bunch of invoices for Brianna to organize — a task she guessed wasn’t strictly necessary, considering the gallery’s books were all digital — but she didn’t mind.
Not when making sure each invoice went in the right file folder helped somewhat to keep her mind off Bill Garrett.
All right, she was totally fooling herself. No matter what she did, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from thinking about how his mouth had felt pressed against hers…how she still got flutters all through her body at the mere memory of that kiss, or the ones that had followed.
Always the gentleman, he hadn’t asked to come inside when he walked her to her apartment door. He’d kissed her again, of course, but then said he’d be in touch about dinner, that he wasn’t sure when he’d be able to call, but he’d make contact well before six.
From some men, that might have sounded like a total brush-off, although she had a feeling a lot of them wouldn’t have tried to ghost her until after they got her in bed. Joke was on them, though — she might have been fooled like that when she was young and stupid and in her first year of college, but now that she was the ripe old age of almost twenty-four, no way was she doing anything with a guy until at least the fourth or fifth date, just to be safe.
Although she supposed that if you counted up all her various dinners and outings with Bill and wanted to be technical about it, then they’d already reached that milestone.
However, it seemed clear he wasn’t going to push things. And because she somehow knew with the same certainty as the sun rising in the morning that he’d call her right when he promised, she wasn’t going to let herself worry about that part of the equation.
No, she should really be worrying about what was going to happen on Monday, the day he’d said he was going back to Los Angeles. True, he’d switched his travel dates before, so there was no reason in the world why he couldn’t switch them again, but she assumed at some point the rubber would meet the road and he’d have to go home, if only to handle any business he couldn’t take care of online or over the phone.
She didn’t think she could bear that.
Maybe she could go with him? L.A. was in Santiago clan territory, but they’d been neutrally friendly with the McAllisters ever since the Escobars had been ousted, so maybe it wasn’t outside the bounds of possibility that she might be able to tag along for a visit.
Assuming, of course, that Bill even wanted her there.
