Dark Taste of Rapture (Alien Huntress 6)

“So what do you think she’s doing?” he asked, miserable in a way he’d never been. And he’d been pretty damn miserable throughout his entire life!

“Who knows?”

“Well, I can guess.” Hector slammed his glass on the tabletop with enough strength to crack the iron. Noelle had left AIR with Corban Blue, oh, about six hours ago. No one had heard from her since.

A soft glow emitted from his bare arms, and the scowl he gave Dallas could have slain an army. “She better not still be with that Arcadian.”

“Dude, calm down. I’ve never seen you act that way.”

No one had. Except Noelle. She’d seen every side to him. Harsh, aroused, teasing, cruel. She’d liked him anyway. Until he’d pushed her away that last time. And now that he’d confessed about his past, she wouldn’t want him no matter how hard he tried to win her back.

Not that he could try to win her back.

“Usually you’re the guy with complete control of his emotions,” Dallas said. “Now you’re like Dragon Man, able to spew fire and burn an innocent man to ash.”

Closer to the truth than he probably realized. Hector pulled gloves out of his back pocket and stuffed his hands inside them, hiding his skin, his tats.

“So have you slept with her yet?” Dallas asked.

His scowl returned. “Came close before you told me about … Anyway, there’s hardly been the time since, has there? We’ve been working a case since the moment we left your place. More than that, I haven’t forgotten Devyn’s threat on her life. And most important, you’ll die, remember?”

Dallas’s shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry. I really am. I know you want her.”

Want. Too tame a word for what he felt for Noelle.

“Was she any—”

“Do not go there, Dallas,” Hector said after tossing back the rest of his scotch.

“You’re right. Bad form.”

Possessiveness was like a spiked collar around Hector’s neck. He wanted to hold the memories of what he’d shared with Noelle close. Especially since there could never be a repeat.

“What about your arms?” Dallas asked. “How’d they react to the stimulation?”

“Poorly. Which is why I ditched her the morning after”—this morning, to be exact—“and told her we could never do anything like that again. So I’d ruined things with her even before your little announcement.”

I blew it. Big time.

For the best and you know it.

“I’m sorry,” his friend said again.

“Clearly, you’re the better man for her.” He’d thought that very thing before, but saying it aloud rankled. His throat clogged up with a mix of fiery rage and sorrow.

Dallas heaved a heavy sigh. “No, I’m not the better man for her. She never wanted me, and that’s a fact. She even tried to set me up with a friend of hers.”

It was stupid how much delight he took in that. “Really?”

“Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, I want her, but not as intensely as you do. Besides, I’ve never had a relationship last more than a few weeks. Being with her might save my life, but it would ruin yours and probably hers.”

Yeah, because if Dallas slept with her then tossed her aside, breaking her heart, Hector would probably flip out. Violently.

“I won’t touch her,” Dallas added. “You have my word. I just … I can’t hurt you like that.”

His head snapped up. “But your vision—”

Electric blues dulled. “If one vision has to happen, it’s going to be the one of you and Noelle. Hell, maybe that’s the one that will save me.”

Or maybe not. Guilt ate at him, but he couldn’t deny he experienced a flood of relief. “Thank you. I—”

“Nope. You don’t have to go there. We’re friends. And I’ll take care of Devyn, don’t worry. He won’t go after her.”

“Thank you,” he couldn’t help but say again. He should let the subject drop at that, but couldn’t. “Tell me everything you saw in the vision. Before the waking-up-naked part. Please.”

A shrug. “Nothing else to tell. You were naked, she was naked, and you were both asleep. She woke up, sat up, and said, ‘Thank God. Not a dream.’”

Disappointment joined the relief. “That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

So … Dallas hadn’t seen the act itself. Which meant, there was a chance the act had never even happened. Maybe, as Hector had previously suspected, he and Noelle had merely fallen asleep beside each other.

“Then I still can’t be with her.” He worked his jaw back and forth. “I can’t risk harming her.”

Dallas signaled the waitress for another round. A few minutes later, she delivered.

She wore a short skirt that stopped just under the curve of her ass and flared out at her hips like a ballerina’s tutu. Her red hair was split down the center and swinging over her ears in pigtails, and there was a heart painted in the center of her lips.

“Anything else?” she asked Dallas with an eagerness that had nothing to do with the tip she hoped to get. Well, not the cash one.

“How about your phone number?” the agent asked huskily, as if trying to prove to Hector that he wasn’t going to pursue Noelle.

She grinned, the heart blooming like the petals of a morning rose. “Already ahead of you, gorgeous. Check your napkin.” With a wink, she sauntered away.

“Way to get over your heartbreak,” Hector groused.

“I know, right. But if everything goes according to plan, I’ll be getting under it.”

Hector downed one of the shots, emptying the contents in a single gulp.

“Listen,” Dallas said. “I’ve been working with Kyrin, learning how to deal with my own abilities. He says it’s all about control. Mind over matter, that kind of thing. Maybe that’s all you need to do to keep yourself leveled out when you’re with Noelle.”

Mind over matter. As if he hadn’t tried that. “The danger …” A flash of Kira, lying naked in his bed, a hole burned in the center of her chest. “If I were to fail …”

“Well, how badly do you want her?”

No need to think it through. “More than I can even say.”

Dallas’s expression was total well, there you go. “Start training. Get yourself hot and bothered and practice touching vegetables or something.”