Page 203 of Nightshade

“Has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?” Remy shamelessly flirted back.

The girl rested her chin on her palm and smiled. “Aren’t you so sweet?”

“Okay, are we … getting the room, or what?”

Snapping a mildly irritated glare in my direction, the girl slid the key in front of us, and I swiped it up from the counter.

“Enjoy yourselves,” she said, her voice spacey.

“We will. Trust me, I can go all ni--”

I kicked Remy’s leg and spun around for the door. Once outside, I scanned over the parking lot, taking note of the two cars parked there. I assumed one belonged to the clerk. Both vehicles stood empty as we passed on the way to the room.

“What was that?” I asked over my shoulder. “Some kind of fallen angel glamouring trick?”

“Glamouring?” He spoke the word like a bad taste in his mouth. “I’m not fae. It’s called bona fide sex appeal.”

As I slid the key into the lock, Remy pushed me aside, and the goofiness of before turned serious. Instead of bothering with the lock, at all, he walked right through the door.

Literally.

Mouth hung wide, I stared after him, puzzled. When I shoved my hand toward the door, the steel surface grazed my knuckles, sending a throbbing ache up into my wrist. “Damn it!” I recoiled my hand and shook off the sting.

The door swung open, and Remy jerked his head and winked. “All ours, baby.”

Groaning, I closed the door behind me and frowned when he threw himself onto the bed, folding his arms behind his head. “We’re here. We might as well--”

“No.”

“You’re sure? You might not get the opportunity again.”

Shooting him the second glare of the night, I took a seat at the small table. “Contrary to what you seem to think, I actually like Jericho. A lot.”

“Like?” Remy snorted a laugh. “The guy burned down an entire city for you, and you like him? I like oats for breakfast. Sometimes, I like satin instead of cotton. Two-ply toilet paper instead of--”

“I get it.” As much as I didn’t want to have the conversation with Remy, it was a nice distraction from the sickness in my gut, telling me the whole idea of meeting some random guy in a motel room where a woman had been killed not long ago was bad. Real bad. The only reason I decided to go along with it was that Remy wasn’t human, which made him a much more formidable bodyguard.

“I’m not the type of girl who falls in love at first sight, okay?”

“Then, you’re definitely my type of girl.”

“I will never be your type of girl, Remy. Let’s get that straight.” Glancing out the window, I noted the same two cars that had been there before, but movement caught my eye. Frowning, I turned to see a cat prowling between the vehicles. Hairless. Smooth, velvety gray skin. It looked an awful lot like Camael. Couldn’t be.

Shaking my head, I cleared my throat and swung my attention back to Remy. “It’s better this way. With Jericho. He would’ve been disappointed to learn that I’m not … well, that I’m ordinary. Honestly, the fact that you’re even interested is odd.”

“Ouch. Look, I don’t know what the fuck romance novels you’ve been reading, but you are far from ordinary. I don’t know that I’d call you entirely normal, though. I mean, I saw your collection of cat ornaments back at the house. You’re kind of weird, if I’m honest.”

“Okay, that started out sweet and then ended like a Remy statement. And the cats belonged to my aunt, for your information.”

“Makes sense. Older lady, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Were the panties hers, as well?”

Just as I turned to send a third glare back at him, the door knob clicked, and I shot up from my chair and rounded the bed, to the other side of Remy, who’d jumped to his feet already.

The door swung open to reveal a tall figure, and the moment he stepped inside, I moved from behind Remy, completely confused.