Free The Guardian's Keeper (The Guardian Trilogy, Book 1) by T.R. Raven Page A

wanna come?” Barbie pushed her shoulders back a bit, sticking her huge chest right out towards Nikoli as she twirled a strand of blonde hair around her fingers.
    “ No, I’m sorry, we have plans already. Did you meet my girlfriend Claire?” Nikoli asked.
    “ Yah, we were just chatting before you got here.” She narrowed her eyes at Claire, and then smiled at Nikoli. “I bet she could go do whatever it was you were gonna do by herself, and you could come to the party? I really, really want you to come, Nicky, I won’t have any fun without you there.” Trashy Barbie licked her lips.
    “ Sorry, I’m spending tonight like every other- with my girl,” Nikoli said firmly, giving Claire an extra squeeze around the waist for emphasis. Claire felt light headed and had trouble focusing on acting like this was a natural occurrence.
    Trashy Barbie pouted. “ Okay, but you don’t know what you’re missing. If you change your mind, you know where to find me tonight.” She tossed Claire a haughty look and sauntered back to her car.
    Claire will ed her legs to hold her as Nikoli slid away from her after Trashy Barbie had pulled away. “What the hell was that?!” she sputtered.
    “That,” Nikoli smirked, “w as Theresa. I’ve persuaded her 3 times already, but every time I run into her she starts up again.”
    “ Not Trashy Barbie! That kiss! I thought there was no kissing, no flirting?” she stammered, exasperated.
    “‘Trashy Barbie’?” Nikoli laughed. “Well, I guess I figured if I saved your cute behind from one wild animal today, you could return the favor and save mine from another.”
    Claire stood, flabbergasted, as Nikoli went into the house, leaving her on the front porch with an empty basket and an earful of his throaty laughter.

Chapter 10
     
    Dinner was a relatively quiet affair. Claire was still reeling over the kiss on the front porch. It may have been a show put on to scare off Trashy Barbie, but Claire knew the feelings behind it were real. Nikoli had been so adamant there could be nothing between them like that but then he went and broke his own rule. So now what?
    Nikoli was subdued, even with Joyce. They talked here and there between bites of their meal but it was all small talk. No one seemed up to discussing the Fang, or the Gypsies, or t he trip to Hungary.
    “ All right you two, off to bed with you. You’ve got a long trip ahead of you in the morning,” Joyce commanded.
    “ I’ll help you clear the table first,” Claire insisted, refusing to look at Nikoli.
    “I’ll head on up,” Nikoli told Joyce. “ I just have to get something out of my truck first.”
    “Go on then, get going.” Joyce waited until she heard the front door close. “Everything okay, Claire? You two are awfully quiet tonight.”
    “ When I went to get the vegetables this girl showed up, and she was throwing herself at Nikoli and….” Claire felt close to tears even recounting Trashy Barbie’s visit.
    “ Tall, blonde, dresses like a streetwalker?” Joyce grimaced.
    Claire nodded.
    “That’s just Theresa. She keeps chasing Nikoli and he keeps turning her down- and right back she comes again.” Joyce rolled her eyes. “Don’t you worry about her, I told you Nikoli’s had eyes for no one but you, Theresa will never change that.”
    The front door opened and Nikoli st uck his head into the kitchen. “Goodnight ladies. I’ll see you in the morning.”
    “Goodnight,” Joyce called to him. “ I left your injection on your dresser for tomorrow.”
    “ Thanks Joyce. Goodnight, Claire.”
    “Goodnight,” Claire muttered in his direction as he climbed up the stairs.
    Joyce shook her head. “ The sooner you two figure this out, the happier you’ll be.”
    “How right you are.” Claire sighed and headed up off to bed herself.
    She had just closed her bedroom door when Nikoli knocked softly.
    “What do you want?” s he growled at him, throwing open the door. “Come to tell me we can’t be