Hearts Aflame Collection: 4-Book Bundle (5 page)

“Adrian, see this as an opportunity for you.
I’ve watched you since you were a Messenger in training and you are
an excellent messenger. But you are not completely fulfilled here.
Each member of this realm needs to find their utmost completion and
fulfillment in who and what they are. That has been missing from
you. Take the next two weeks to find out who you really are and
where you’re happiest, and I’m not speaking about the geographical
location.”

Adrian was stunned at her words. He thought
he’d kept the slight discontent, which rose up within him well
hidden. Apparently, he hadn’t done a good enough job. He had no
idea Meena had watched him so closely. She was like a mother to the
messengers, but she liked to keep things impersonal.

Taking a deep breath, he rose to his feet. He
could feel his wings vibrating behind him, the only evidence that
he was badly agitated.

“Thank you, Meena.”

She eyed him for a brief moment then nodded
in satisfaction. “Head on over to the Dispatch Department; they’ll
give you everything you need. Shalom, Messenger.”

With a slight bow, he turned and walked out
to face his fate.

Chapter One

“You know what your problem is?”

Melissa didn’t even bother looking up from
her computer. “I’m guessing you’re going to tell me.” She ran a
patient eye through the spreadsheet as she tried her best to ignore
her best friend, whom she also shared an office with.

“Yes, I will. You’ve become an emotional
coward.”

Melissa felt like she’d just received a dirty
slap to the face. She carefully took her hands off the keyboard and
slowly turned to look at the only other person in her office. The
first thing she took in was Trina’s defensive posture then she
looked into her eyes and saw her silent apology, but it was laced
with determination.

“What did you say?”

“I said, you’ve become an emotional
coward.”

“Yes, that’s what I thought you said.” With
that she turned back to her screen, but her concentration was shot.
She took a deep breath and tried to swallow the hurt that was
rising up deep within her. How could Trina say such a thing,
knowing all she’d been through? She turned back to her.

“I can’t believe you just said that. How
could you say that?”

Trina’s huge blue eyes clouded, “I’m sorry
Mel, I know you’ve been through a lot, but you’ve locked yourself
up.”

“I have not!”

“Okay, so when was the last time you went on
a date?”

“Just because I’ve become discriminating
doesn’t mean I’ve become a coward.”

“Discriminating? Is that what you call this…”
she waved her hands in exasperation. “Jeremy was a weasel and he
did horrible things to you, but it’s been a year, for heaven’s
sake!”

“I’m done with men.”

“Don’t you see? He’s won then.”

Melissa frowned, “What do you mean by that?
He’s gone from my life and I’m trying to move on. That doesn’t mean
he’s won anything.”

“Oh, but it does. He’s left you and he’s made
sure you’d never find anyone else to love.”

Melissa fell back against her chair as though
she’d had the wind knocked out of her sails. Is that what had
happened? Had Jeremy soured her so badly on love? Was that his
revenge for her divorcing him? The thought had her feeling
nauseous. She’d been heartbroken when she’d discovered that all the
time they’d been married, Jeremy had been cheating on her. The
betrayal had been of epic proportions and she’d sworn off men
completely. Did that mean that he’d won? Was that not a rational
reaction to a betrayal of such magnitude? She was confused and not
a little pissed off at Trina for triggering such thoughts in her
mind. Sitting up straight, she turned once more to her
computer.

“Look, I’m not ready to talk about this
now.”

“You’re never ready and if you have your way,
you never will be.”

“What the hell would you have me do? Drag the
next guy I see to my house and have sex with him?”

“I’m willing to volunteer.”

They turned to see Max standing by the door
with a charming smile on his face. Max worked in the next office
and they often shared lunch together.

Melissa rolled her eyes at him.

“Get out of here, Max. We’re discussing
important stuff here.” Trina waved him away.

His face fell dramatically, “Hey, I can do
girl talk and I’m really very good at sex talk.”

“The discussion is over so there’s nothing to
talk about.” Melissa told him.

“Aww, you girls are so mean.” He crabbed as
he walked away.

There was a brief silence after Max walked
away.

“Come with me to Abel’s this evening.” Trina
said.

Melissa was already shaking her head. Abel’s
was a bar and nightclub which they had frequented before Melissa’s
marriage to Jeremy. It was a Friday night and Abel’s would be
hopping. She already had plans for the evening anyway. She had a
date with the bathtub and a bottle of wine. Plus, there was that
Barbara Freethy novel she wanted to read. Then it suddenly struck
her. Is that what her life had become? She was only twenty-nine! On
the spot, before she could change her mind, she made a
decision.

“Fine, I’ll come. But I’m not going to stay
very long.”

Trina stared at her wide eyed. “Are you
serious? You’re actually coming to Abel’s with me?”

“Yep, maybe that will finally get you to shut
up and leave me in peace.”

“Not a chance.” Trina’s smile was a mile wide
and she looked like her birthday had come early.

Melissa was glad she’d put a smile on Trina’s
face. Since the other woman had lost her Mom and fiancé almost in
one go, she’d battled depression and won. “Ah well, I can hope.
Meanwhile, how’s that gorgeous friend of yours? Are you finally
going to do something about the way you feel about him, or is it a
case of physician heal thyself?”

Trina made a face, “I’m going to seduce him.”
She stated with determination.

Melissa looked at her with respect. “Good for
you!” There and then, she decided that if Trina could battle her
setbacks and actually go about seducing a man, she could at least
go to a bar.

As she focused on her work, Melissa could not
deny the small thrill of excitement she felt at going out again.
She still didn’t feel ready to date, but maybe it was time she
began to put herself out there, like her older sister would say.
She felt a small frisson of fear, but the anticipation was greater
than the fear and it remained with her through the working hours
until it was time to close. Then the doubts hit.

As she stood in front of the mirror in the
ladies, she gazed at her reflection and wondered if she knew what
she was getting herself into. Was she really ready for this? She
could just go home and have an early night. At least, that way she
could wake up really early and do the laundry, then scrub her
bathroom and…

“This is pathetic, Melissa, just pathetic.”
She murmured as she ran her hands beneath the faucet. “It’s just an
evening with your best friend, sipping on a cocktail. You’re not
going to let that SOB steal that from you as well.”

With renewed determination, she wiped her
hands with a paper towel and ran the still damp hands over her hair
before marching out.

Chapter Two

Adrian scanned the bar and shook his head at
the scantily clad women. “What on earth made you believe that I’ll
find a life mate in a place like this?” He muttered with a frown at
his two closest friends.

“It’s a nice place to begin your search.”
Cassel replied.

Kaine just grunted, but said nothing.

Adrian was slouched on his seat, his posture
relaxed as he surveyed the organized chaos around him. He cast a
sidelong glance at his friends and hid a smile at the fierce scowl
on Kaine’s face. The six foot tall dark-haired man looked like the
warrior that he was. Cassel, the guardian angel who had gotten them
all into this fix in the first place, just had a calm air around
him. Since they were off duty, they could each relax with a glass
of wine.

“How do you know it’s a nice place?” Adrian
queried.

“Trina comes here a lot and she’s bringing
one of her friends. Maybe one of you can hook up with her.”

Kaine only snorted, not saying anything.
Cassel turned to look at him.

“All right Kaine, just say what’s on your
mind.”

Kaine shot him an annoyed look but went back
to his glass of wine.

“I know you’re upset and you should know, I
wouldn’t do this to you, to any of you.” Cassel said turning a
sincere gaze on Adrian. “I have no idea why the Council came up
with such conditions.”

“It’s not your fault, Cassel. It sucks, but
you shouldn’t blame yourself.”

“You should not have fallen in love with your
mortal.” Kaine said shortly.

There was a brief silence then Cassel let out
a sigh. “I know, but it happened.”

“Don’t be such a pain, Kaine. Something good
will come out of this.” Adrian tried to smooth things out.

Kaine just snorted again.

Just then two women walked in and headed for
the bar. There was a petite blonde with the figure of a pocket
Venus and her companion, a dark-haired woman who had a wounded air
around her. The dark haired one caught his attention and he
couldn’t focus on anything else. There was something about her,
which spoke to him at a primal level. Mesmerized, he couldn’t take
his eyes off her and watched as she sat at the bar, looking like
she’d rather be anyplace else on earth than at the very place she
was.

“That’s Trina.”

Adrian froze as he heard Cassel’s voice. He
turned to look at his friend and caught the rueful smile on his
face.

“The fair one is Trina. The one you’ve been
staring at is her friend.”

He couldn’t understand the relief he felt.
For a split second, when he’d thought the woman was Cassel’s Trina
he’d felt, he couldn’t quite describe the desolation he’d felt.
Looking back at the dark haired woman, he had no idea how he knew,
but he just did. She was the one he’d been waiting for. The perfect
piece to fill that gaping emptiness he’d felt for as long as he
could remember, an emptiness he’d told no one about.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was on
his feet.

“Come introduce me, Cassel.” He ordered and
walked toward the women at the bar, not bothering to see if his
friend had actually followed.

He had almost gotten to where both women were
seated when she stiffened then turned to look directly at him. It
was almost as though she’d sensed his presence. He almost stumbled,
but he kept moving forward, his eyes trained on her. Their eyes met
and something flashed between them before she deliberately turned
away.

“Cass!”

Adrian halted as the petite woman exclaimed
and got to her feet and threw herself into his friend’s arms. The
moment was passionate and intimate and he found it hard to believe
that those two were still dancing around the fact that they had
feelings for each other. He averted his eyes and met the watchful
eyes of the dark-haired woman. This time though, she didn’t look
away.

“Hey Trina, meet Adrian. And this is the
woman I’ve been telling you all about.”

Adrian turned to see his best friend with his
arms wrapped around the tiny waist. What struck him the most was
the happy smile on his face.

Taking the hands she stretched out, he smiled
at Trina, “It’s truly a pleasure. He can’t stop talking about you
and I couldn’t wait to meet you.”

She smiled and her blue eyes twinkled at him.
“I hope he hasn’t said anything naughty about me?”

“Er, not too much naughty stuff.” He winked
at her and she threw her head back and laughed. He just smiled as
his gaze wandered back, seemingly of their own accord. She was
still watching him with a slight frown, like she was trying to make
him out.

“Oh, Mel this is Cassel’s friend Adrian.
Adrian, Melissa.”

He watched as she stretched out her hands,
her reluctance was plain. “Hi.” She greeted shortly.

“Hey, what are you drinking?”

She raised an eyebrow at him, “White wine.
Why?”

He noticed from the corner of his eyes that
Trina and Cassel had already wandered off to where Kaine was
seated, so he sat on the recently vacated bar seat beside her. “I
left my drink, so I think I’ll have that.”

He made a signal to the bartender and pointed
to Melissa’s drink. After his glass of wine was delivered, he
turned to smile at her. “So, tell me all about yourself.”

She raised an eyebrow and gave him a dirty
look, “‘Tell me about yourself?’ That’s your great pick up line?”
She asked in disgust.

Adrian couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped
and had to suppress the laughter when she frowned. “I admit it
would be terrible if it were a pick up line. But I really do want
to know more about you. I find you very intriguing.”

Chapter Three

I find you very intriguing. Melissa stared at
him, his voice echoing in her mind. She knew his type, full of
charm and flattery. They flashed their megawatt smiles and imagined
the whole female population turned to mush. It also didn’t help
that they had blonde good looks. But she wasn’t falling for all
that. Been there, done that. So she deliberately took a sip from
her wine glass and laid it gingerly on the table.

“Look, if you’re looking for a flirtation,
you’re out of luck. I have neither the time nor the inclination. If
however, you’re after a quick lay, then we might be able to arrange
something.”

She hid a smirk of satisfaction when she saw
the clear shock in his eyes. That ought to get rid of him, she
thought to herself. Instead, his eyes turned smoky and she could
almost swear she felt his hot gaze caressing her body; she
certainly felt the heat run through her.