Bishop's Angel (8 page)

Razor waved Wizard away. “You’re full of
it!” His lady friend decided to sit on his lap.

The patio door opened, and Angel and Misty
walked out. It appeared the two had become fast friends. And why
wouldn’t they? He already knew Angel was easy-going, and Misty was
the kind of woman who liked everyone until given a reason not to.
Angel squeezed in next to him, giving him an innocent look.

She leaned in and whispered in his ear, “I
see you’ve made a new friend.”

“Used to be my type,” he said, plopping a
whole shrimp into his mouth. “The kind of woman I can walk away
from.”

“That’s sad.” Bishop stopped chewing, and
stared into Angel’s eyes for a moment. “What’s your type now?”
There was a sparkle of humor simmering in her eyes.

She was serious. Bishop thought about it for
a moment. He couldn’t ever remember wanting to fuck a woman as much
as he wanted to fuck Angel at that very moment. He wanted to erase
the teasing amusement in her pretty eyes, and see it replaced with
smoky desire. He wanted her lips to part with pleasure, to hear her
whimpers as he loved her with his mouth and hands. The urge to
taste her passion ran strongly in his blood, heating it to the
boiling point.

“When we get home I’ll show you what my type
is.” He paused for effect. “
If
we make it home.”

“That sounds like a threat,” Angel joked,
plopping a piece of cucumber into her mouth. “So, where’s the
ocean?”

“See those palms over there?” He indicated
the palms on the other side of the pool. She nodded. “There’s a
path there that leads to the beach. We’ll take a walk after we eat
if you want.”

“I’d like that.” She leaned over and kissed
him on the cheek.

Damn! Her impulsive kiss caught him by
surprise. He went back to eating his meal.
How the hell am I
ever going to say goodbye to her?
She was digging her way
toward his heart so fast it was scaring the hell out of him.
Somewhere between Africa and home, the walls he’d built-up over the
years to protect him had tumbled down, leaving him
exposed…weak.

Diana had warned him that someday he’d meet
the right person and then everything would change. She’d said that
he might not recognize it at first, that he might even confuse it
for something else, like lust. Hell, lust was easy to recognize.
Lust was easy to accept, and Bishop wasn’t ready to believe it was
anything else. Diana had told him there’d be no running away from
it, only he was stronger than that. Wasn’t he?

Deep down in his gut he unwillingly
acknowledged the answer to that, and he knew that he needed to get
in control of his emotions again, and soon. To do that he needed to
distance himself from Angel.

My salvation. Do I really need
salvation?
Bishop thought about it for a moment. What did he
have to show for the last ten years besides a scarred up body and a
fat bank account?
Yeah, I do need rescuing.
But he wasn’t
going to hurt Angel by using her and just walking away. The more
involved they got, the harder it was going to be.

His gut clenched with dread, because Bishop
knew that they were already too involved.

Something was different. Angel had sensed
the change in Bishop before they even left John and Misty’s home
the day before. He had become aloof, almost indifferent towards
her. Cold. The hardened Navy SEAL Diana had described to her was
apparently back and had replaced the considerate, giving man she’d
come to know in the days before. Had she done something to trigger
the change? She thought about the women his friends had brought
with them to the cookout.
Maybe I don’t have what Bishop
needs.

A man on a dangerous mission, gone for
months at a time, the conditions and sacrifice’s he’d had to make,
all had eventually taken a toll. Hadn’t Bishop told her that he
wanted something good in his life? It seemed that all he really
wanted was a good girl to fuck, and she’d been so willing because
Diana, damn her, had filled Angel’s head with stories and pictures
of him, and Angel had fallen for him before she even realized
it.

That wasn’t fair, Angel thought to herself.
Diana couldn’t possibly have known she’d fall for her brother.
Blinking back the tears, Angel finished washing Barnie’s dishes,
and then refilled them with fresh water and food. He was right
there at her feet, waiting for her to put them on his mat. Once
that was done she poured herself a cup of coffee and decided to
take it out back. There was a hammock chair underneath the huge oak
tree.

Making sure Barnie didn’t slip out behind
her, she made her way there. Diana and Alex had turned their
backyard into a beautiful, lush jungle of palms, flowering plants,
and trees. There was a huge Koi fishpond in the middle, and bird
houses and feeders were everywhere. Everything looked so green and
full this time of year. The nylon hammock swallowed her up as she
sank into it, gently rocking back and forth.

Barnie was watching her from the window, no
doubt wishing he could join her. Then she saw movement behind him
and realized Bishop was up. He’d gone out the night before and
Angel woke to find him sleeping on the couch.
What did I do?
Then she shook her head, already knowing the answer.
Nothing,
that’s what.
He was the one pulling away.

Her phone began to ring, and she dug into
her front pocket for it. “Hello?

“Miss Davenport?” asked a male voice.

“Yes?”

“This is Tom with Pesky Pests. I’m just
calling to let you know your house has been cleared for
re-entry.”

Maybe this was her solution. “Okay, Tom,
great. Is there anything I need to know?”

“Nope, all looks good, there’s no sign of
any termites, and the gas has cleared. We’ll be back in a couple
months to check just to make sure we got them all, and you have a
two-year warranty. So if you have any concerns or problems during
that time just give us a call and we’ll be right out. Once you get
the repairs done, your house will be good as new.”

That was Angel’s next big expense. “Thank
you.” She flipped her cell closed and considered whether or not she
should go home now or just wait another couple of days for Diana
and Alex to return. That had been her original plan. Would Bishop
care if she left?

As if just thinking about him could conjure
him up, he surprised her by opening the door. Their gazes met.
“Good morning.”

She didn’t like the sound of indifference in
his tone. “Hi.” Angel forced a smile on her face, willing herself
to act as if there was nothing wrong. “You look tired,” she added,
noticing the dark circles beneath his eyes. “Tonight you can have
the guest bedroom.”

His expression turned into a frown. “I
thought I told you—”

“You won’t be taking the bed away from me. I
just got a call from the termite people. I can go home now.”
When did I decide to go home?
“There’s no need for both of
us to be here for Barnie.”

“No, but I just got a call that our furlough
might be cut short. We were told to remain on standby, which means
we can be called away at any time now.”

Angel’s jaw dropped.
Oh, God!
Her
eyes were burning, which meant tears were on the way. Bishop
couldn’t see her reaction, but she couldn’t help it. When she
raised her cup to her lips it didn’t surprise her to see her hand
trembling. She chomped down on her bottom lip.

“Angel…”

Crap!
He must have noticed it, too.
She remained silent, slowly meeting his gaze, painfully aware of
the tears that were swimming in her eyes.

“Can we talk?”

Not what she expected. “About what? Your
actions speak louder than words.”

He stiffened. “Care to explain that?”

She took a deep breath “Something changed
yesterday at the cookout. Since then you’ve gone out of your way to
avoid me. I finally figured it out.” She gave Bishop a watery
smile.

“What did you figure out?”

“That you got what you wanted, and now
you’re done with me.” There, she’d said it. Let him deny it. It was
the only explanation she could think of.

The blue in Bishop’s eyes became so dark
they looked like glassy sapphires, and they appeared just as sharp.
As his expression grew taut and darkened, a tic appeared in his
lean jaw and Angel lowered her gaze nervously. She realized
instantly that she might have gone too far, and chalked up her
runaway tongue to being hurt. He had to know she was confused over
his sudden distance.

“Do you really believe sex is all I wanted
from you?” The words were spoken between his teeth.

Shrugging, Angel reluctantly raised her
gaze, meeting the fury in his and not backing down. “What am I
supposed to think, Bishop? I thought things were good between us,
that we had a connection. Then yesterday it was like a switch being
flipped off, and I’m left feeling like it’s something I did—”

“No,” he walked forward and sat down on the
stone bench in front of the pond.

“You can’t kiss and fuck me one minute, and
then turn all cold and distant the next. Unless you’re a totally
heartless bastard.” Angel could tell he didn’t like what she’d
said.

“It’s nothing you did, Angel. And I owe you
an explanation.” His legs parted and he leaned forward, clasped
hands dangling between them. “You know what kind of life I lead.
When I joined the SEALS I promised myself that nothing and no one
would get in the way of my being the best I could be, and there was
only one way I thought I could accomplish that.”

“How?”

“By not putting myself in a position where I
cared for someone else. I’ve seen what it does to men in battle
when their minds aren’t on what they’re doing, but on someone back
home, on a situation, or they’re worried about leaving a widow and
children behind. They make mistakes, and sometimes it costs them
their lives.”

Diana had told Angel something similar, but
she couldn’t accept hearing it from Bishop. “That’s life, Bishop.
Do you honestly think you can control your emotions like that? Is
it your intention to spend the rest of your life alone?”

He looked at her long and hard, and then
exhaled deeply. “I used to think so.”

Used to?
Angel was starting to feel
hope. She had to know. “So what happened?”

“You’re what happened.” His voice was hard
and laced with self-loathing. “Just for a moment I reached out and
took what I really wanted. I was selfish, Angel. I should never
have touched you that first morning.”

“I wanted it, too, Bishop. I’ve wanted you
for a long time. Do you think you don’t deserve what everyone else
has?” He didn’t answer her. Angel shook her head with disbelief.
“You can’t plan your life that way.”

“Look,” he scooted to the end of the bench,
which put him in closer proximity to her. “Yesterday I realized I
needed to back off a little. You’re nothing like the kind of women
I’m used to, the kind I don’t think twice about when I leave them.
The kind who don’t give me a second thought when I leave them. But
you—” he hesitated as though searching for the right words,
“Christ, it’s only been a few days and I’m already too involved
with you. I know that now.”

“So what does that mean?” His explanation
angered Angel, so much so that she began to tremble. How could he
live like that? How could anyone? And where did he get such an
idea? For the first time in her life she wanted to hit someone. The
thought frightened her. This time, when tears gathered in her eyes,
they were from angry frustration.

“Then my leaving shouldn’t be a problem.”
She worked her way as gracefully as she could from the hammock
swing. “I’ll leave you my number. When you get the call just leave
a message and I’ll come back over to check on Barnie.”

“Angel, you don’t have to leave.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll be a temptation or
something?” She was proud of herself for remaining composed. She
couldn’t afford to break down in front of him, not totally. There
would be time for that when she got home and was alone.

Bishop didn’t respond to her question, but
the muscle working in his jaw said it all. He didn’t try to stop
her when she walked past him to go back inside. When she opened the
kitchen door, Barnie tried to dart out and Angel bent to catch him.
She didn’t realize Bishop was right behind her, and the next thing
she knew his hands were at her hips to keep from knocking her down
when his body crashed into her.

“Oh!” She straightened and stepped away from
him as if his touch burned her.

“Sorry.” He closed the door behind him.

Angel set Barnie on the floor and kept going
toward the stairs. The sooner she got out of there the better. She
rushed up the stairs and headed straight for her overnight bag.
With every item she slammed inside, her anger grew another notch.
At the same time tears ran down her cheeks.
It’s not as if we’re
in a relationship or anything. Why am I so damned
emotional?

Angel knew why. Because Bishop’s reasoning
didn’t make any sense to her. They had something, and they could
have even more. Thinking he could go through life as a loner,
without meaningful relationships, was insane. He was cheating
himself. Mumbling angrily beneath her breath, she looked around to
make sure she hadn’t missed anything. Then, she zipped up her bag,
grabbed it, and left the bedroom.

She was halfway down the stairs when she
noticed Bishop standing at the bottom. Angel wasn’t going to fool
herself into thinking he was there to stop her. She hesitated
halfway down, then took a breath and continued. It was all she
could do not to hit him out of anger as she stormed past him.
Halfway to the front door she stopped, dropped her bag, and swung
around.