Page 61 of Legion
“I’ve known him since we were kids, but we never had cause to touch minds until one day eight years ago.He’d telepathically reached out to tell me to be careful; that I was being followed.”
Luka tensed, squinted slightly.“Followed?”
“It was an ex.I dealt with it.Haven’t seen him since.”Naomi paused.“Has Tobe contacted you at all?”
“No.Why?”
She gave a stiff shrug.“No reason.”
“Let me guess ...he isn’t pleased that you’re in my bed, and you’re worried that he’ll eventually come to me about it?”
“It’s not a jealousy thing, if that’s what you’re wondering.He’s just hyper-protective, and you’re a man with a whole lot of enemies.”
“He thinks you’d be safer away from me and that you can do better?”
“Yes, pretty much.Why are you half smiling?”
“I said similar things to Ella regarding Viper.”Luka thought it ironic that he’d now be hearing the same said of him.“I didn’t want Viper in the picture.He and I had some unpleasant conversations in the beginning.”As such, Luka really wouldn’t be able to judge Tobe if he did choose to make his reservations clear in person.“Ella’s mother and aunt weren’t crazy about her involvement with him either.Are your family on the same page as Tobe regarding me?”
“My mom isn’t bothered by it.My stepfather has his reservations but only spoke of them once.”
Luka twined a strand of her hair around his finger.“He runs the pizzeria where you work, right?”
“Right.”
“You live an unusually quiet life for an imp.”Evenhehad heard the note of suspicion in his voice, so it was no surprise that she stiffened.“Why do you only work part-time?”
Her casual shrug seemed a little forced.“Alfie doesn’t need me full-time.”
“Hmm,” Luka responded.“Is that the only reason?”
“Why?What’s with all the questions?”
He blinked at her defensive tone.“I want to know you.”He almost smiled at how she eyed him, wary and uncertain.That was Naomi, he’d come to learn.Always cautious of people’s motivations.
“Why?”
“Because,” he replied simply.
He couldn’t pinpoint why curiosity clawed at him often around this she-demon.He’d known many women.Bedded many women.Until her, none had intrigued him beyond a surface level.He found himself wanting to pierce the guardedness she wore like a layer of perfume.
It was really no wonder that his defenses had steadily grown to read her as a threat.She was ...not quite under his skin, but scratching at it, demanding entry.An uncomfortable feeling.“I didn’t anticipate that you would matter to me, but you do.”
She swallowed.“Maybe you’re just caught up in the siren spell.”
“You know that isn’t true.You’d be able to tell if I was.”It would be a lie to say that her song hadn’t impacted him.The pull she gave off was pure sexual magnetism, so it had of course contributed to his attraction to her.But she was so beautiful, sensual, and compellingly self-assured that she would have snatched his attention with or without it.
“There were sirens in my past,” he added.“I felt their call, just as I feel yours.But the effect of their song wore off fast, and none of them kept my interest.”He gently tapped her nose.“You’re a different matter.”
“And you’re not sure how you feel about that, are you?”
“No, as it happens, I’m not.I generally don’t like to find myself in unfamiliar territory.”
“So why aren’t you ending our arrangement?”
“I really can’t say, because I don’t have an answer.”
Finding herself at a loss here, Naomi stared at him in silence for long moments.
