3
" Adira squirmed in Leah’s arms, wanting down.
Leah lowered her until her little sneaker-clad feet touched the floor.
Adira toddled away, patting the garments that brushed her head and shoulders.
Straightening, Leah watched her for a moment, then turned back to Seth. “I guess I’ll get back to work.”
Was that disappointment he felt upon hearing her words? He really was enjoying her company.
Adira turned around and toddled back. Grasping Leah’s fingers, she reached out, took Seth’s hand, and placed Leah’s in it.
Seth instinctively curled his fingers around Leah’s.
Satisfied, Adira turned and toddled off once more.
“Oh,” Leah said with a surprised chuckle. “Well. Maybe not.”
Seth was surprised, too. What was Adira thinking?
He glanced at Leah. Should he apologize? “Sorry about that.”
“No worries,” she said with another charming smile. Raising their clasped hands, she turned them so his was on top and slid her free hand over it. “Oooh. Look how big your hand is.”
How many times had he heard Tracy or one of the other mortal women he frequently encountered think Oooh. Look how big his hands are. You know what they say: big hands, big feet, big package in much the same tone as Leah’s.
Seth couldn’t help it. He barked out a laugh.
Leah’s eyes widened. “Wait. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
“It sounded as if you like that my hands are so big.”
She flushed. “I do, but I didn’t mean it like you think.”
“How do I think you meant it?” he asked with exaggerated innocence.
Face red, she laughed. “Stop making me blush. I just meant I like that you’re so big. Not just your hands. But all over.” Again her eyes widened. “I mean, not all over, but—”
Laughing, he took pity on her. “It’s all right. I understood what you meant the first time.”
Smiling, she squinted up at him. “You like to tease, don’t you?”
“Guilty as charged.” Many immortals did. It helped lighten what could otherwise be a dark existence.
She caressed his hand again, sending little tingles through it. “My hand actually looks small in yours. That’s so cool.”
It did. And the sensations her soft touch inspired unnerved him a bit. His pulse even picked up.
Seth eyed her curiously. “You really dislike your size so much?” He thought it a shame. She was a beautiful woman.
Shrugging, she released his hand and let hers fall to her sides. “When someone gives you a complex in high school, it tends to stick with you.”
Adira reappeared as if by magic. Taking Leah’s hand, she again placed it in Seth’s, then moved away.
The two looked at each other and smiled.
Leah nodded after Adira. “Maybe she’s hoping I’ll distract you so she can take her time looking over the toys she plans to coax you into buying before you leave.”
Seth winked. “Or maybe she just heard you say you like my big hands. "
― Dianne Duvall , Death of Darkness (Immortal Guardians, #9)
5
" Tonight, when the walls started closing in on me, I figured a drive in the country might be nice because I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Then I got here, you opened the door, and I thought: Oh crap, he’s going to think I’m a total stalker.”
“Not at all.” Seth raised their clasped hands and grinned. “I merely assumed you wanted to see my big hands again.”
Laughing, she gave his shoulder a shove. “You’re such a tease!”
His heart lightened. “Admitted without shame.”
“Well, I’ll forgive you,” she quipped, “because you’re letting me hold your hand.” Drawing their clasped hands closer to her face, she cupped her free hand over them and smoothed circles over his as she assumed a comical expression of amazement. “Oooooooh. So big,” she breathed.
Seth laughed. "
― Dianne Duvall , Death of Darkness (Immortal Guardians, #9)
10
" He strolled through the store to the back room.
Leah sat at a desk, staring at a computer screen that displayed a spreadsheet of some sort. “Give me two minutes,” she mumbled, her tone distracted, “then I’ll be done.”
Seth leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. She wore glasses tonight. He had never seen her do so before and wondered if she needed them for reading and close-up work the way many humans did once they reached their forties. The frames were black, reminding him of those that had been popular in the sixties. Her long hair was pulled back in a slightly disheveled bun. The jeans and blazer she’d apparently changed into before going back to work hugged her beautiful figure.
She had, as Sheldon would say, a real sexy-librarian thing going on that heated Seth’s blood. The longer he watched her, the more he wanted to touch her, to peel that blazer off, loosen her hair, and—
“Finally,” she announced with a sigh. Closing the file, she removed her glasses and spun the chair around to face him. When she looked at him, her eyebrows flew up. “Hi.”
“Hello.”
She studied him for a moment. “Something on your mind?”
Aside from a deep desire to strip her naked? "
― Dianne Duvall , Death of Darkness (Immortal Guardians, #9)
17
" #1 of 2 Leah munched another chip as she watched a couple on-screen race madly away from men with guns who were intent on killing them. She and Seth sat shoulder to shoulder on the sofa, both slumped down until they were practically lying on their backs. Seth had pulled the matching ottoman up against the sofa, so it really did feel as if they were lying in bed together, watching a movie.
She slid him a covert glance.
He had donned black cargo pants and a black T-shirt after his shower but had left his big feet bare. He had also left his hair loose. It now spilled over the back of the sofa in a glossy curtain, the thick wavy tresses still drying.
He chuckled at something the male protagonist said.
Leah smiled. She loved seeing him laugh. She didn’t think he did so as often as he should.
Every once in a while, she noticed his gaze would slide to her legs. Her feet were propped on the ottoman close to his. The robe she had borrowed had parted just above her knees and fallen back, leaving most of her legs bare. And that pale flesh repeatedly drew Seth’s attention.
She held the bag of chips out to him.
Smiling, unaware that the faint golden light of desire illuminated his eyes, he poked his hand in and drew out a couple of chips.
She smiled back, then returned her attention to the screen.
The protagonists had at last made it to safety. They checked each other over for wounds, something both had miraculously escaped incurring in true Hollywood fashion. Then they fell into each other’s arms, finally giving in to the lust that had sparked between them ever since their first contentious meeting.
Leah sighed as she watched them peel each other’s clothes off with eager hands. It made her want to do the same with Seth. Her body even began to respond as her imagination kicked in. “I miss sex.” The words were out of her mouth before she could question the wisdom of speaking them.
“I do, too,” Seth confessed.
She glanced over at him and found his eyes glued to the screen.
More so since I met you.
Her eyes widened when his voice sounded in her head. “Really?”
“Yes.” The actors on-screen fell naked onto the bed and began to simulate sex, their moans and groans and cries of passion filling the room. “It’s natural to miss it,” he said matter-of-factly. “Nothing to feel guilty about.”
“No. I mean, you really miss it more since you met me?”
He froze. A look of dismay crossed his features as he cut her a glance. “I said that out loud?”
“No. I heard it in my head.”
Sh**.
She grinned. “I heard that, too.”
F**k. "
― Dianne Duvall , Death of Darkness (Immortal Guardians, #9)
