Cliff’s Descent by Dianne Duvall
Chapter Six
He was even more handsome than Emma remembered, with broad shoulders, the beginnings of dreads, and perfect brown skin that even cover models would envy. It looked so smooth and soft where he didn’t have a five-o’clock shadow, begging to be touched.
Uncertainty painted Cliff’s features as he glanced around. Giving his wide-eyed audience an abrupt nod, he directed his gaze straight ahead and crossed to the counter. Emma couldn’t help but stare like the others. The jeans he wore looked faded, comfortably worn, and clung to powerful thighs. A white T-shirt contrasted nicely with his skin and outlined a muscled chest and abs.
“Cliff!” a booming voice greeted him, so loud in the silence that Emma jumped. Behind the counter, Mason grinned at him. “Good to see you again. What can I get you today?”
Some of the tension in Cliff’s posture eased as he smiled in return.
Damn, he was handsome.
Whatever Cliff said next was spoken too low for her to hear from her position in the corner.
“Yes, sir. Coming right up.” Mason left and returned with a tray heaped with so much food it practically hung over the edges.
Emma stared.
Cliff laughed, the deep rumble drawing a smile from her. “Thank you.” His smile, however, faltered as he turned to face the room. She thought his hands might’ve tightened a bit on the tray, too.
As he strode forward, the thud of his boots seemed unnaturally loud in the quiet that had fallen.
A quiet broken by furtive whispers.
Cliff seated himself at an empty table and gave no indication he noticed when two men nearby rose and moved to a table farther away. Three more did the same.
Emma glared at them. Pussies.
Keeping his gaze on his tray, Cliff began to eat.
Tension thrummed in the air.
Lowering her fork to her plate, Emma added her phone to her tray, then rose and strode toward him. Her pulse picked up as she stopped a few paces away. “Hi.”
Cliff glanced up, his pretty brown eyes reflecting surprise that anyone other than Mason had spoken to him. “Hi.”
She motioned to the chair across from his. “Is this seat saved?” Cynthia had mentioned that Mr. Reordon had dined with Cliff the first couple of times he’d ventured up here.
“No. You can take it.”
She smiled. “Actually, I was wondering if I might join you.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Oh. Sure.” Rising, he motioned to the chair, then waited for her to settle in it before he retook his own seat.
How sweet and gallant.
Reaching across the table, she offered her hand. “I’m Emma.”
A little frisson of awareness raced up her arm when he clasped it and gave it a firm shake. “Nice to meet you. I’m Cliff.”
She even liked that about him. Sometimes when men shook her hand, their grip was annoyingly weak—as if they thought she might break if they clasped her hand as tightly as they would a man’s.
But Cliff’s merely fed her attraction.
Not even a flicker of recognition lit his eyes though.
Picking up her fork, she consumed another mouthful, then motioned to his tray. “You appear to be a fan of the fried rice, too.”
He chuckled as he tucked into the mound. “Yeah. The chefs here rock.”
“They really do.”
As he chewed, he studied her thoughtfully.
Emma willed herself not to feel self-conscious beneath his piercing gaze but couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking.
He paused to drink some tea, his strong throat working with each swallow. And those brown eyes never left hers. “You do know I’m the Cliff right?” he asked as he set his glass down.
She smiled, understanding now. “You mean Vampire Cliff?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
Relaxing, he gave her a tentative smile. “Just making sure.” He loaded up his fork. “They don’t really call me Vampire Cliff, do they?”
“I’m afraid so.”
He looked comically pained to hear it.
She fought a laugh. “Maybe they just don’t want to confuse you with Cliff in Accounting.”
He chuckled. “Maybe so.”
“With your exceptional hearing, I’m surprised you haven’t heard that.”
He shrugged. “I usually sleep during the day, and the night shift tends to be more furtive in their comments about us because they know we’re awake and may be listening.”
“True.” She sipped some tea. “When I worked the night shift, most vampire-related gossip was passed around in the soundproof restrooms.”
He laughed, unoffended.
A comfortable silence fell between them as they satisfied their hunger.
Conversation resumed among the other employees as they finally got over the shock of having a vampire in their midst who wasn’t accompanied by Mr. Reordon. But most continued to dart looks their way.
Emma glanced at the guards stationed around the room. When Todd grinned big and gave her a thumbs-up, she rolled her eyes.
“I’m curious,” Cliff said.
Returning her attention to him, she raised her eyebrows.
“Why did you ask to sit with me?” He surveyed the room. “I think most people here are understandably leery.”
Her hackles rose. “Well, they shouldn’t be,” she snapped, then cursed when her sharp tone drew another look of surprise from him. “Sorry. It’s just…” Relinquishing her anger, she smiled. “We’ve actually met before.”
His brow furrowed. “We have?”
She nodded. “The morning the mercenaries attacked. I was on sublevel 1 when they started bombing the place. The ceiling collapsed and buried me before I could evacuate with the others. I think it knocked me out for a minute. And when I came to… there you were, hauling away concrete and whatever else fell on top of me.”
His chewing slowed.
“My arm was broken.” She waggled the arm that bore not a single scar from the incident thanks to the healing touch of Seth, the powerful Immortal Guardian leader. “You bound it as carefully as you could, picked me up, then spirited me away to sublevel 5, where Dr. Lipton saw to my wound and ensured I made it safely through the tunnel.”
He studied her. “That was you?”
He remembered? A little thrill shot through her. “Yes.”
“You were going back to help some of the others.”
“Yes.” Sadly, both Wayne and Lloyd had perished when the ceiling had collapsed. She likely would have, too, if Cliff hadn’t responded so quickly. Giving in to impulse, she reached across the table once more and rested a hand on his forearm. “Thank you, Cliff, for saving me.”
He glanced down at her hand on his arm. “You’re welcome.”
Though she wanted to linger, she withdrew her touch.
“I have no memory of that.” The words came soft and slow, as though he wasn’t sure he should admit it.
“You don’t? I thought… You seemed to recognize me once I mentioned it.”
His mien turned somber. “Most of what happened that night is a complete blank, so Reordon showed me the surveillance footage. I saw myself dig a woman—dig you—out of the wreckage. But I don’t remember doing it.”
Emma wasn’t sure how to respond to that without mentioning the torture that had robbed him of those memories. And she didn’t want to bring him down. She wanted to see him smile again. “Well,” she said after a moment’s consideration, “I can see why Mason heaped your plate with carbohydrates. You must burn a lot of energy, because damn you’re fast.”
He grinned. “Yes, I am.”
Success! He looked so young and handsome when he smiled. “What’s that like? I mean, you moved so quickly that morning that everything around us was a blur. How do you keep from bumping into stuff when you run that fast?”
His brown eyes sparkled with amusement. “I didn’t at first. There was a bit of a learning curve.”
“I bet.”
The rest of the conversation flowed smoothly as he shared some of his earliest fails as a fledgling vampire and she relayed her astonishment at learning the job she had applied for involved working for immortal beings. Needless to say, they laughed a lot. Emma found Cliff to be utterly charming and immensely likable.
It seemed as though only minutes passed before he announced with reluctance, “I’d better go. The guards can’t have their lunch break until after they escort me back to sublevel 5, and I can hear their stomachs growling.”
She stared. “You can? Over all this?” Dozens of conversations and the clatter of utensils filled the air.
“Yes.”
She glanced at the guards. “I have to admit, it was pretty cool the way they entered first and fanned out around the place… as if you were the president and they were your Secret Service detail.”
He laughed. “I wish.”
When she glanced down at her watch to check the time, her eyes widened. “Has it been an hour?”
He nodded.
No wonder the guards’ stomachs were rumbling. “I’d better go, too.”
They bused their trays, then strolled over to the entrance together. There they paused as Todd and the other guards approached.
“It was nice to meet you, Emma,” Cliff said with a faint smile.
“Nice to meet you, too, Cliff.”
Turning, he headed for the elevator as the heavily armed guards closed in around him.
That had sounded a little too final for her liking.
She would see him again. Wouldn’t she?
