Craven Street (Whitechapel Paranormal Society Book 1) by E.J. Stevens

Author:E.J. Stevens [Stevens, E.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sacred Oaks Press
Published: 2019-06-25T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

The manager at the music hall was of little help and so it was, armed only with a playbill with the missing woman’s likeness, that Flan and I descended to a muddy stretch of the Thames where men, women, and children searched for treasures amidst the foul-smelling detritus.

Flan, recognizing one of the young women scavenging closer to the river, put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. The girl, a child really, looked up and gave Flan a small wave before going back to her labors.

“It’s a hard life,” I said, troubled. “We shouldn’t disturb her unduly.”

I reached up for Flan’s hand as she made to whistle again. We both froze, eyes locked, as my fingers brushed her lips. Suddenly, there were no demons, no foul murders, no impoverished mudlarks, or the smell of river rot.

There was only me and Flan.

She grinned and I blushed so fiercely, I thought I might faint, which was absolutely ridiculous.

“Are you alright?” Flan asked, stepping closer, grin replaced by a frown of concern, the fingers that had been between her lips now reaching out to steady me.

My God, why did I have to keep thinking about her lips?

“I’m fine,” I said. “Just overwarm.”

My eyes slid once again to her lips and I knew then that I was well and truly ensnared. Flan had made clear her intentions, but I had dissembled, claiming that I was worried about how our growing relationship would affect our work, though truth to tell I was worried about more than a power dynamic that Flan refused to recognize.

She’d made it clear more than once that she believed we were equals in all things. She followed my orders because she trusted me, not because of an established hierarchy within special branch. No, I was worried about more than our difference in rank.

I was frightened of what would happen if I gave away my heart. What I hadn’t realized until now was that the organ was already given.

I ducked behind a snail encrusted wooden pile and a stack of broken crates.

“Are you ill?” Flan asked, following close at my heels. “If you’ve had too much sun, there are better places to find shade…”

I spun and pulled her to me, stopping her words with a kiss.

Oh, what a kiss.

Maybe, I really had received too much sun. For surely, I was beset with fever. My skin burned everywhere that Flan and I touched, and as she reached her hand to cup the back of my neck, I trembled.

It was only the cry of a gull that broke the spell, a reminder that the eyes of strangers were close by. With a shaky breath, we parted, resting forehead to forehead as we regained ourselves.

“My God, Cora,” Flan said. “I never thought that would happen again.”

“Are you glad it did?” I asked, straightening and casting a covert glance up through my lashes.

“Do you really need to ask?” she asked, eyebrows disappearing beneath her cap.

Warmth swelled my chest as certainty filled me.

“We fit together like the finest gloves, always have,” I said with a smile.

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