Just having him in her space had super-charged her libido. She’d never been attracted to the bad boy type before. Maybe he wasn’t a bad boy after all, not that she’d had any better luck with good boy types either. “Here you are.”She held out the file.
He’d thrown back his hood, which in itself was new to her as he always wore it when she’d seen him before. His black glossy hair just begged her to run her hands through it. Instead, she was careful his hand didn’t touch hers as he accepted the documents.
“Is it as bad as I think?” He looked up at her, his brown eyes searching hers for the truth.
“It depends on what youthink is bad. Cameron and Holly have one of those love stories that lasts beyond death, which is wonderful and beautiful and —”
“And the worst-case scenario given our task.” He slapped the file against his bare knee, his red, black and royal blue kilt having fallen open.
She forced her gaze from his dusky skin, her body already reacting to him. “Not necessarily. I’m sure if we put our headstogether, we can come up with a workable strategy.”
He lowered his dark brows and looked at her as if she were crazy. “Right. And while we’re at it, let’s develop a plan for world peace.”
He didn’t have to be an ass about it. “I’m sure one is being worked on even as we speak.”
He grunted as he opened the file, his message clear. He thought her naïve. She should have known he’d be a jerk.
Turning, she headed back to her kitchen.
“Where are you going?”
His voice caused her to halt. “I thought I’d get us some iced tea while you read.”
“Iced tea.” He shook his head. “Add some Lapsir to that.”
“Lapsir?” She’d never heard of that drink.
“It was invented after you transitioned. Just ask for it, and be liberal with it.”
She continued to her kitchen. The rumors about Malcolm weretrue. He came from the future, or rather the future compared to most of the spirits. Time had no meaning in the afterlife, which is why she didn’t mind getting another case. If she wanted to, she could go to a Tahiti replica and enjoy the warm waters for days and be back within seconds, but she wouldn’t be able to relax knowing she would be working with Malcolm.
That and their assignment. Sheshivered.
Quickly, she pulled the iced tea out of her fridge and poured it into two glasses. “A bottle of Lapsir.” The red liquid in the glass bottle that appeared seemed to move like fire, streaks of yellow and orange clearly inside it.
Instead of pouring it into Malcolm’s glass, she put it on a tray and brought it back to the living room. She could have ordered it while there, but she wantedto give him a chance to read about Holly and Cameron while alone. It had brought tears to her eyes, though she doubted it would affect him in the same way.
He was waiting for her as she put the tray down on her glass coffee table. He sat on her gray and black blotch couch, his brown cape, dark complexion and black hair a handsome compliment to her furniture.
She took a seat on her zebra stripedrecliner as she lifted her glass from the tray. “I thought I’d let you pour your own Lapsir.”
Opening the bottle, he didn’t respond. He poured a significant amount into the tea, causing it to take on the colors of the liquor. After capping the bottle, he raised his glass. “To success.”
She raised her glass as well before they both drank. “I think getting Holly to be open to living her own lifewill be difficult, but not impossible.”
Malcolm looked at her and laughed. “You reallyarean optimist. This assignment, if we’re successful, is going to wring us out and drop us in a heap on a stone-cold floor. However, if as I suspect, we fail, which I believe is the expectation, then we succeed in meeting their goals.”
She felt her body grow cold as her throat tried to close. “We can’t fail.”Her words came out scratchy.
“Why? You had the same reaction when you found out Holly was our assignment. What do you know?”
It was more what she didn’t know. “You read the whole file?”
He nodded.
He must have used the viewer, a reenactment of someone’s life that never completely portrayed the nuances, in her opinion. “Every spirit guide pair that has visited Holly has disappeared.”
He gaveher a look of amused disbelief. “You don’t know that.”
