"Seriously? You'll explain for me?" he asked with disbelief.
"If Anders is willing, so am I," Decker said with a smile. "We did say we'd help after all."
"Damn," Justin breathed, hardly able to believe his luck. The minute they explained, Holly would be all over him. They really were trying to help him. It made him kind of feel bad for giving them such a hard time when they'd met their life mates. Yeah, they'd been pathetic, but they'd done their best and he could have been a little more sympathetic. Really, this wasn't as easy as he'd thought. Even for him.
"Why don't you go take a little walk around the parking lot," Anders suggested.
When Justin glanced to him with surprise, it was Decker who pointed out, "That way you can't be accused of being at all involved in the explanations."
"Oh, right. Good thinking." Justin stood at once, nodded in thanks to them, and said, "Tell Holly I'll be waiting for her outside when you're done, so we can have a private little talk of our own." Grinning happily, he started away and then paused to add, "And order me the carnitas tacos when the girl comes to take orders, will you?"
He didn't wait for them to agree, but hurried away whistling a snappy tune. This was going to change everything, he thought as he headed back out to the parking lot. His life was about to change.
Justin started out pacing in the parking lot. However, after twenty minutes of that he was bored and impatient enough to get in the car to wait there. He started the engine, put some tunes on loud, and watched the entrance of the restaurant, waiting for someone to come tell him they were done. Probably Holly, and then she'd kiss him and whisper that she wanted to experience the incredible, mind-blowing life mate sex, and they'd do it right there in the car like a couple of animals, uncaring who heard or saw.
That was the first fantasy. More lurid ones followed. Sex on the car rather than in it, right on the hood while Decker and Anders had to control the minds of anyone passing to prevent their remembering seeing it. Then they passed out and Decker and Anders had to pile them in the car. But they regained consciousness halfway back to Jackie and Vincent's and did it in the backseat, screaming their heads off down the freeway until they collapsed again.
Justin then began imagining all the places they could do it at Jackie and Vincent's house. His room, her room, the kitchen, the living room, the office, the pool . . . The options were endless and the positions more and more impossible, well for mortals they would be, not for them. But eventually even that began to bore him, and he began to wonder what the hell was taking so long?
"So Justin is the only one of you who can't read or control me and that is usually the sign of a life mate?" Holly said slowly, frowning at this news. She was a married woman and she loved James. Had grown up loving him. She wasn't interested in being anyone's life mate, she was already a wife.
"It is one sign of a possible life mate, yes," Anders said calmly. "It does not always work that way though."
"Sometimes it is just a symptom of someone who has spent a great deal of time around immortals," Decker put in. "The mortal may have built up a natural resistance to being read and younger immortals can have trouble overcoming that subconscious barrier."
"Yes, well, you guys are the first immortals I've met so that doesn't--"
"You may not have known they were immortal," Anders interrupted quietly. "We do not go about announcing ourselves to others. Had Justin not turned you to save your life, we would never have admitted what we are to you."
"Oh, of course," Holly murmured.
"The inability to be read can also be a result of madness or damage done to the mortal's brain by injuries," Decker added, filling the silence that had fallen. He then added pointedly, "Such as the blow you took to the head."
Holly reached instinctively toward her head despite not having a clue where it had even been injured. Had she hit the front, the back, the side . . . ? She didn't know, and there wasn't even a faded bruise to tell her.
"There may have been some damage done that the nanos have yet to repair," Decker said gently. "I understand you have some memory issues about the incident that led to your turning."
"I did," Holly agreed. "But I remember now."
"However, you didn't at first," he pointed out.
"No, I didn't," Holly agreed with a frown and supposed if Justin had tried to read her then that she might have been harder to read and he might have thought he couldn't read her and then not tried again.
"It's sad really," Decker said on a small sigh.
"What is?" Holly asked with uncertainty.
"Well, Bricker is desperate to find a life mate," Decker told her with a little moue.
Anders nodded. "He's seen so many of us find our life mates recently he's suffering terrible envy."
"We've pointed out that the rest of us have waited more than two hundred years for our mates. Some as many as two thousand or more and that he's still young, but I imagine it's hard to watch everyone else finding their life mate while he is alone."
"So he's desperate to believe you are his life mate," Anders said with another sad shake of the head.
"But I'm married," Holly pointed out. It was the only response she had to their suggestion that Justin might be crushing on her because he hoped she was his life mate. To her, it said everything. Life mate or not--which she highly doubted--she was married and therefore unavailable.
"Yes," Decker nodded. "Still, he's positive that you are his life mate, and that you won't be able to resist him."
"Is that why he keeps calling me honey and babe and stuff like that?" she asked with a scowl. She'd noted it, but had mostly ignored it because the circumstances were all so bizarre. Also because she'd assumed he was seeing her as a protege to his mentor and the terms were meant with a sort of avuncular affection. Apparently not.
"Exactly," he assured her. "He's fixated on you, and he's quite sure that you will . . ."
"Will what?" Holly asked when he hesitated.
"Basically, that you will respond to his amorous attentions," Anders finished with an apologetic expression.
"But I'm married," Holly repeated. Justin was a good-looking man, and yes she had noticed that amongst the madness that had taken over her life, but she had a husband, a man she had loved since she was a child. She would never break her vows, and she would never hurt James.
"Yes, well, we didn't say that his thinking was clear or sensible," Decker pointed out solemnly. "In fact, that's why we wanted to talk to you instead of letting him explain."
"You probably would have thought he was mad," Anders pointed out.
"And he's not really," Decker assured her. "He's just a tad confused . . . and desperate. Think of him like a puppy at the pound, eagerly licking the hand of anyone who stops to pet them."
"Why would I have thought he was mad?" Holly asked with uncertainty. "I mean if he just explained as you have . . ."
"Well, you have to understand, as far as he's concerned it's a fait accompli," Decker said solemnly. "To his mind, you are just seconds away from throwing yourself at him and dragging him off to bed."
"I would never!" Holly gasped with amazement. She'd never thrown herself at a man in her life . . . ever. Heck, the only experience she had in that area was James and even now, after almost four years of marriage, she had yet to initiate any sort of intimacy herself. He was always the aggressor. Of course, she kissed and hugged him, but not in the take-me-to-bed way. She just wouldn't know how. But even if she did, she was married. She cared too much for James to hurt him that way.
"Right, well there you go," Anders said with a nod. "That's why we wanted to tell you. We wanted to explain it in such a way that you would understand without his accidentally insulting you."
"Hmmm." Decker nodded. "We wanted to give him back the . . . er . . . support he gave to us when we each met our life mates."
"Oh," Holly murmured, but her attention was on Anders. He'd made a choking sound and turned away to hack violently into his hand as Decker had s
aid that.
"Anyway, we'll do our best to help keep Bricker in line. But, it would probably also be best if you avoided being alone with him as much as possible. You might very well be saving his life if you do."
"Saving his life?" she asked with confusion.
"Oh, yes. You see we have a law against interfering with a married couple," Anders explained solemnly. "If he's even suspected of trying to seduce you away from your husband, he could be . . . punished."
Holly's eyes widened. She'd already heard what their idea of punishment was--execution Bricker had said. Good Lord! She wouldn't want to see the poor man executed when he was just confused and desperate enough for a life mate that he was mistaking her for his.
"Yes," she said solemnly. "I will be sure to avoid being alone with him."
"Well, that's grand then," Decker said cheerily and then glanced up with a smile as the waitress stopped at their table. "And here is our meal."
Holly smiled at the girl as well, but once she'd set their plates down and both men dug in, she glanced to the tacos they'd ordered for Justin and said uncertainly, "Where is Justin?"
"Oh, he's fine," Decker assured her. "He went for a walk,"
"A walk?" she asked blankly, and when neither man responded, added, "But his food will get cold."
"We'll have it packaged and take it out to him if he doesn't return by the time we're done eating," Decker assured her.
"Or maybe split it ourselves," Anders commented, eyeing the tacos. "They look pretty good and I'm hungry enough to eat my meal and his too."
"Me too," Decker said cheerfully and glanced at the plate. "We'll split it."
"Good idea," Anders decided with a grin.
Holly just shook her head at the pair of them and turned her attention to her sandwich. Still, she did wonder where Bricker had gone off to. A walk? Why? She wondered, but in the next moment bit into her sandwich and forgot all about Justin Bricker.
"So, Holly," Decker said a moment later. "Do you like flowers?"
"I used to," she said, lowering the sandwich she'd been about to bite into again. "But after working at the cemetery for a couple weeks I'm kind of off flowers. They represent death to me now rather than happiness and cheer."
"Yes, I can imagine," Anders said sympathetically. "What about picnics?"
She burst out laughing and shook her head. "I grew up being dragged from one archaeological dig to another. Every meal was basically a picnic. Can't stand them, or camping or anything that has to do with the great outdoors anymore." She sighed. "One thing that lifestyle did was turn me into a definite city girl. Give me restaurants any day."
"So, no camping for you, huh?" Decker asked with amusement as she started to raise her sandwich again.
Holly shook her head. "Definitely not."
"Dogs or cats?" Anders asked.
"Neither. Allergic, but also I was mauled by a dog as a child. They terrify me now," she said with a shudder.
"Favorite and least favorite foods?" Decker asked.
Holly paused, lowering her sandwich once more without taking a bite, and glanced from man to man. "Why all the questions?"
"Just trying to get to know you better," Anders said mildly, and repeated, "So favorite and least favorite foods?"
Justin glanced toward the restaurant door, an irritated frown claiming his lips as he wondered for the umpteenth time what the hell was taking them so long. Surely they'd finished explaining about life mates to Holly by now? Someone should have come to get him . . . preferably Holly.
How long had it been since they'd got to the restaurant? He glanced at his watch to note the time, but he hadn't bothered to check before this so couldn't be sure how long he'd been waiting, and it could just seem like a long time because he was waiting. It always seemed to take forever for something to happen when you were waiting.
Sighing, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes briefly. If no one came to get him in the next fifteen minutes, he'd go take a look inside and see if they were still talking or whatnot. If they were, he could at least grab his meal and eat it out here. He was starving. Rubbing his aching stomach, he opened his eyes and glanced toward the restaurant, and then stilled when he saw Holly heading across the parking lot with Decker and Anders on either side.
"What--?" he began, sitting up abruptly and frowning as they reached the car. His words died though when Anders slid into the front passenger seat and tossed a white styrofoam take-out container into his lap.
"We brought your meal," Anders announced.
Justin peered down at the container and lifted it with confusion. "It feels pretty light."
"Yeah. Sorry, but talking is a hungry business and Decker and I kind of picked at your tacos."
Picked at them? Justin thought with dismay at he opened it to see that not only had they eaten the tacos, they'd pretty much demolished the nachos that came as a side. All the container held was a couple of nachos and a smattering of salsa.
"We were going to order you something else to go, but then figured you wouldn't want to wait, and we are going shopping now anyway, so you can pick up whatever you want there," Decker put in.
"Thanks," Justin said sarcastically and popped a nacho into his mouth. He wasn't too upset though. Anders's comment about talking being a hungry business had reassured him that they had talked to Holly, and he supposed he owed them for doing that favor. That thought in mind, he popped the second nacho into his mouth, closed the box and then turned to peer at Holly. Unfortunately, she was peering silently out her window, her face turned away from him. He wasn't at all sure what that meant. Was she embarrassed and shy to be around him now that she knew she was his life mate?
It was more likely that she was anxious about the whole thing now, he decided as his gaze landed on her finger and the ring there. She would have to end her marriage, or at least tell her husband it was over before she would say or do anything with him, he realized. She was just that kind of woman. At least he suspected she was. The truth was, he didn't know much about Holly except that she was his life mate. Perhaps he should find out more about her while they had the chance. Once she explained things to her husband and was free to be with him, they would no doubt be spending all their free time in bed, and talking would be the last thing on their minds.
"So," he said brightly, turning a bit in his seat to smile at her. "What made you want to work at a cemetery?"
Holly turned to peer at him with surprise, and then smiled wryly. "Money. Although I don't really work at the cemetery. At least, not as a permanent position. I actually work for a temp agency and they placed me there for the cemetery's tax season."
"Oh. Right," he murmured and thought that was good to know. Not that there was anything wrong with working at a cemetery but . . . Well, okay, he would be a little worried about anyone who picked it as their first choice in job options. Of course, nowadays, people took jobs where they could get them and he understood that.
"So . . ." He hesitated, unsure what to ask next. Did he dare ask how long she'd been married? That seemed an insensitive question to ask a woman you were stealing away from her husband.
"Here we are," Decker announced, turning into the grocery store parking lot.
Justin let his breath out on a slow sigh and let go of the debate on what to ask next. He could think about it while they shopped and ask more questions later, he decided.
"Bricker."
Justin closed his door and glanced to Anders in question as the man urged Holly around the SUV with a hand on her arm. Rather than walk her up to him though, he led her toward Decker as they reached the front of the vehicle and said, "You two go ahead. We'll be right behind you."
"What's up?" Bricker asked when the man then turned to him, blocking him from following.
"We learned a bit about Holly in the restaurant," Anders announced.
"Like what?" Justin asked curiously.
"Well, first off, she doesn't like questions," he said with wry amusement. "I suspect it's beca
use of her upbringing, but she's a very private person."
Justin merely nodded at this news and supposed it was good that he hadn't asked too much then.
"Also, she loves fish, flowers, wine, puppies, kitties, picnics, documentaries, nature shows and anything to do with nature," Anders added, and then slapped him on the shoulder. "We thought that information might help you out in the wooing department."
"Yeah. Thanks," Justin said with a grin. "Thanks a lot."
"Just helping out a fellow Enforcer," Anders said with a shrug, and then turned to follow Holly and Decker. Justin hurried after him.
Eight
Holly surveyed the three carts the men were pushing. Each had insisted on grabbing one on the way in. She'd had no idea why at the time, but was beginning to understand. Dear Lord, they were in the last section, produce, and each cart was stacked to overflowing. It was like they were feeding an army instead of three men and two women. They must have half the store in those carts between them, Holly thought. She followed the men, slowing as she realized that they were heading for the checkout after doing nothing more than picking up a bag of potatoes each from produce. No lettuce, no broccoli, nothing at all healthy.
"I don't know if you guys know this, but a while ago they invented these things called fruits and vegetables," she said conversationally. When the men all stopped walking and turned to stare at her blankly, she added, "I gather some guy named God came up with them at the beginning of time. You might like to give them a try."
"Oh," Justin said finally when the other two remained silent, their gazes shifting over the groceries in their carts. "Well . . . er . . . we're kind of meat and potato type guys. Potatoes are vegetables," he added brightly and gestured to his cart as if to show that he'd collected all the vegetables they needed.
"So are broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce," Holly pointed with amusement.
This time Justin and the other two men exchanged grimaces and glances, before Justin spoke for all three of them again, saying, "Yeah, not so much. I mean sure they are vegetables, but they aren't real vegetables if you know what I mean."
"You mean they aren't manly type vegetables?" she asked, one eyebrow arching and her expression stern.
"Exactly," he said seeming relieved that she understood. "Potatoes and jalapenos are manly type vegetables. Lettuce and that stuff . . . well . . . they're more rabbit food . . . don't you think?"