Chapter Nineteen
PAXTON
*
One month later...
I've finally got a lead!
Sitting at one of the little tables at Zia's Deli, the sandwich shop and delicatessen just a few blocks from Alex's apartment building, I tried and failed to contain my excitement. I kept on bobbing up and down on the edge of the chair, my eyes constantly darting to the entrance each time the little bell over the door jangled.
This deli had been the place where he'd gotten the first sandwich that he brought me, and it had become something of a regular meeting spot for the two of us. I'd drive into downtown after closing up Davies Books, and he'd meet me at the deli for a quite bite to eat while we decided on how we'd spend the evening. Sometimes, he took me out to the ballet, or the theatre, or some other expensive date that I suspected was intended to dazzle and impress me. Other times, I'd drag him through museums or art galleries, pointing out cool facts that he acknowledged with a good-natured roll of his eyes.
Normally, when he came sweeping into the deli, he'd ask me if I'd found out anything about his unique condition as he leaned down to plant a kiss on my cheek, and I'd dejectedly shake my head. But not this time! This time, I had an answer for him!
...well, I didn't have a full answer, I amended that last thought. But I did have a new place to start. And if Alex could give me some answers tonight, I might make significant progress on finally unraveling his riddle.
Five minutes later, I looked up at the ringing bell above the front door – and felt my mouth widen into an instinctive smile. I couldn't help smiling at the sight of him, now, even when it made me feel like a bit of a sun-dazzled idiot.
Alex just always managed to seem so carefree and confident, so effortlessly in control! He swept in, nimble enough on his feet to turn to the side and avoid a little old lady headed out the door at the same time. He lifted his arm just high enough so that her fuzzy, bobble-topped hat brushed ever so lightly against the underside of his tailored jacket. Stepping past her, he held the door open for her in a gallant act of chivalry – which he immediately ruined by giving me a waggle of his eyebrows that made me burst out laughing.
"Hello there, sexy," he greeted me, bending down to plant his usual kiss on my cheek as he dropped into the seat across from me.
"You're just flattering me so that I won't take you to a museum," I laughed, accepting the kiss. "You have no idea how sexy I am."
"I'd be eager to answer that question – in the name of science, of course," he tried. "What do you say? My building's just a couple blocks away."
I gave him my most innocent expression, fluttering my eyelashes dramatically. "Aren't you going to ask if I've found any leads on your mystery, yet?"
He waved a hand. "Don't try and distract me from my real goal of getting you into bed. And besides, I know the answer. It's always the same one, after all. You haven't found anything solid yet, but you've got all sorts of new restricted areas that you want to look in next, and you need my help to get access."
"No. Well, yes," I corrected, thinking of how many restricted libraries still called out tantalizingly to me. And with Alex at my side, I could just breeze right in, without a second thought! I didn't understand why he wasn't more amazed at his own abilities. "But this time, things are different!"
"And why's that?"
"Because I've got a lead!" I finished triumphantly, sitting slightly back to take in his reaction.
For a moment, Alex didn't move. He just kept looking at me, a slight little smile on his face as if he hadn't quite heard me. "Didn't you hear?" I repeated myself. "I've got a lead!"
"No, I heard you," he said. "And what is it?"
A little part of me wondered why he wasn't quite as excited as I'd expected, but I had enough energy to make up for his lack. I forged ahead, unable to keep from spilling the beans for any longer. "King Arthur!"
He blinked, clearly not expecting that. "What?"
"King Arthur, as in the legendary British king with the round table," I repeated. "It took a lot of reading, I'll tell you that." I reached down and unzipped the backpack that I'd set under the table, pulling out a hefty stack of photocopied pages from our last illegal library visit. "But here, this is a text from the fifteenth century from an English monastery where they talk about when the 'great king' – that's King Arthur – visited them. And see what it says?"
Alex took the pages that I pushed towards him, frowning down blankly. "Where am I supposed to be looking?"
I scooted my chair around the little table, closer to him so that I could point over his arm at the selected passage of text. "Here." Closer to him, I caught a whiff of his cologne that nearly threw me off my train of thought, but managed to cling to it. "How's your Old English?"
"Rusty," he said dryly.
"Then let me translate." I took the pages back from him, very aware of his closeness as he leaned towards me to peer over my shoulder. I found the proper passage and ran my finger along the page as I read. "The great King visited us, and he showed us that he is truly blessed to lead. With a word, he was able to command the heavens and earth to act as he willed, and he brought great peace upon those of us afflicted with ills and maladies. He bowed his head in thanks, telling us that it was a gift from the Lord, as is proper, and he had to fulfill his duty. He did not stay, telling that he had more to do, and miraculously, his mounts were fresh and ready to leave with a gesture from him. We are blessed by his visit."
Lowering the page, I looked up at Alex. His brows drew together. "So you think that King Arthur had the same powers as me?"
"It seems that way," I nodded. "And here's the other thing." I thought back, remembering a detail from an earlier date where Alex had opened up a little bit about his otherwise largely mysterious background. "Didn't you say that your family came from England originally?"
"Yes, I did," he said, his eyebrows rising. "You remember that?"
I smiled up at him. "I listen to you, yes. Now, do you know anything more, in particular? Like whether your bloodline connects with a certain ancient king?"
It took a second for this hint to sink in. When it did, Alex's mouth dropped open. "You think that I might be related to King Arthur himself?"
I shrugged. "I don't really have any evidence for this part, but it would make sense, wouldn't it? He's the only one I've found who could do anything like what you can, and maybe it's a bloodline thing. Worth following up on, I think!" I paused, taking a breath. A little part of me had expected that Alex would have been overjoyed by my discovery, but he didn't seem to be jumping up and down in his seat like I'd expected. "Are you upset?"
He blinked. "Why would I be upset?"
"I don't know," I said, hating the little twinge of self-doubt that flared inside my head. I'd always had that voice there, whispering to me that I wasn't good enough, that nothing I did would ever measure up. "You just don't seem as happy with this news as I had expected. I would have thought you'd be more excited that I have a lead."
"I guess that it isn't quite as big of a mystery to me as it is to you," he said after a minute, looking down at his lap. That lump in the back of my throat grew bigger. "Since I've had the power, I haven't really wanted to look too deeply into it. What if I find out that it's going to go away, that it only lasts for a few years? I'd hate to have that hanging over my head."
"You wouldn't rather know that it was coming, instead of waking up one day and just finding it all gone?"
He shrugged. "Not if knowing doesn't help me avoid it. If I could tell when I was going to die, I wouldn't want to find out. Let it be a surprise, you know?"
"Seems like a strange philosophy for someone who could find it all out," I said. It occurred to me that our conversation had taken a slightly darker turn at some point in the last minute, but I didn't see how to put it back on a lighter track.
"Yeah, well, sometimes I wouldn't mind ditching the powers altogether, if it took some of the pressure off me." Alex looked down at his lap. He took a deep breath, let it out – and then looked back up, his face brightening. "But I should probably stop sucking all the joy out of this moment, shouldn't I?"
"Do you want to talk more about it?" I asked. It had sounded, for a second, like he'd been about to reveal something deep, and I didn't want him to feel that he couldn't open up to me.
He shook his head. "Maybe later. But right now, I think you deserve some recognition for all the work that you've put in." He gestured at the pages of photocopied book, still spread out on the table in front of us.
I shrugged, suddenly self-conscious as warmth coursed into my cheeks. "It really wasn't that hard."
But he shook his head, and his eyes held mine. They glowed brightly, the green drawing me in and seemingly reflecting the warmth of his smile. "No, it was a lot," he insisted, his voice a little hoarse, a little husky. "I've never had anyone put in this much work to help me, not even if I was paying them. Certainly not because they wanted to figure out a mystery."
"It really wasn't that much work," I tried again, but I couldn't even make myself believe the words. With Alex looking at me, not breaking away from my gaze, I found it suddenly hard to think about anything except him.
"It's more than I deserve, and I owe you for it," he murmured. His leg brushed against mine, and I realized that our chairs were still all but pressed together. Less than a foot separated our bodies, and his smile seemed to be working its way deep inside of me, leaving little embers of delectably pleasurable warmth in its wake. "I need to find a way to pay you back for all that you've done for me."
I opened my mouth, intending to tell him that no, it wasn't necessary for him to pay me back. After all, I hadn't been expecting any kind of reward from this. He'd given me a mystery, that was all, and I had to try and solve it. I didn't think that he'd hand me a sack of cash or a big honking diamond as a thank-you.
But the words didn't come out. Different ones took their place, apparently jumping in somewhere between my brain and tongue. "What did you have in mind?"
His smile widened. "Let me take you home."
"But we haven't even eaten dinner," I began, my mouth babbling as my brain went wild from my overactive imagination.
"We'll order pizza and eat in. It will be nice, quiet." His eyes burned into mine, filling my head with naughty thoughts and images, a constantly repeating movie that I didn't want to stop watching. "Intimate."
A little part of me still wondered if I was ready. After all, just a few minutes earlier, Alex hadn't seemed especially enthusiastic to find out that there might be a reason why he had his powers. But I'd still put in all that work on researching his past, scouring history for accounts of magic, and didn't I deserve a reward?
And besides, I'd been fighting my urges with Alex for far too long already. I'd held him off for a month of dates, a month of charming nights out that ended with me going to sleep alone in my apartment, wishing that he was there beside me. He was, without a doubt, the most attractive man I'd ever seen, movies and television included. He wanted me. He wanted to do all sorts of wonderfully naughty things to my body, and didn't I want that as well?
"Okay." The word came out softly, barely a whisper, but he still heard it. I looked up, saw him smiling, even as surprise flickered across his features.
"Are you sure?" he asked, and suddenly, I knew that I'd made the right choice. Even though we both wanted it, he was still willing to check, to make sure, to not rush in and take advantage of me without thinking.
Heat flared, deep inside of me, and I desperately needed him. "Yes," I nodded, leaning right out of my chair, against him. I pushed my body against his, trying to smother my flames against his body, wrapped my hands around his neck to pull him down for a kiss.
Even before our lips broke apart, he stood up, his arms tightening around my body to lift me up and carry me out. He broke the kiss for a second to whisper something under his breath that I couldn't quite catch, stepped out through the front door of the delicatessen-
-and we were in my apartment, instantly, as if we'd teleported straight across the miles of distance in a heartbeat.
I didn't question it. My hands clung to Alex, and hot, desperate need coursed through my veins. I didn't care about the magic, about his ability.
I wanted the man.