Cassandra's Curse Ch. 05

Opening her fridge, she turned some, hearing him and chuckled. "So THAT'S where you live."

Raj grinned. "Yes, that's where I live. It's a nice place."

Smiling, she pulled out some cold pizza, tossing it onto a plate and then shoved it into the microwave as she dug around in the fridge again for some beer. "I've heard of it but I've never been there myself."

"Mmm .. you don't want to. It's pretty treacherous. I hear ghosts haunt it and strange things happen there."

She laughed, pulling out a beer and then held up one of her Coronas, offering, "Want one?"

"Sure ... I'll take one." He smiled some before adding, "So ... you ARE hungry."

Laughing softly, she pulled out a matching Corona and her little supply of lime wedges, tossing the first beer bottle towards him with a playful, "Heads up!" and then as the microwave dinged, she pulled out the pizza and grumbled some, "Yeah, a little I guess."

Raj caught the beer and watched her. She was gorgeous when her hair was down. Hell, what was he thinking? She was gorgeous anyway. Wait ... why the hell was this in his head? He was here to help her, here to build relations ... not a relationship. He popped the top off the Corona and took a swig of it as if intending to drown his thoughts.

Cass smiled as he caught the beer and then popped her own top before shoving a lime wedge down the slender neck and lifted the bottle to lick the juices from around the opening of the bottle, just happening to catch Raj's gaze over the rim. She couldn't help but grin seeing the look on his face, flicking her tongue over the opening again for another taste of the lime before dragging her gaze away from him to take a long swig of her beer and applied salt to the heated pizza.

Shifting a bit to get more comfortable there on the floor, Raj leaned against the chair and took another swig of the beer. God, this stuff was weak. But ... it was at least tasteful. At least she didn't have something like Budweiser or the other cheap-ass American imitations of real beer.

He kept thinking about why exactly he was here. First she was ready to kill him ... now she was serving him cocktails. She was surely a strange woman.

Grabbing her plate of pizza and swinging the beer lightly as she held it by her fingers, she made her way back to where he was sitting before the fire, lowering down to sprawl out some beside him and began picking the meat off her pizza. Her long hair fell over her shoulders some, tickling down her back as she leaned back against the couch, shifting her gaze to him every now and then.

He stiffened a bit when she neared him and he seemed about ready to get up until he relaxed and settled again. "So why'd you quit?"

She glanced over at him as she picked at her pizza and then took another sip of her beer, savoring the lime flavor before shrugging some. Glancing back at her pizza , she continued to mangle it some as she spoke, "Why stay?"

"Because without balance, evil will rule and New York will become the headquarters for Pandemonium to take over."

Cassandra sighed softly, reaching up to rub her eyes before answering him. "I know ... I'm stuck. I can't exactly quit but this ... thing ... its killing any other kind of life for me. You can forget dating!" She glanced at him with a soft smile, thinking some things are better left unsaid.

"Mm ... I can see that complication. Most men don't hold my hours do they?" He grinned at her playfully. "That and you come home with bloodspots on your clothes. He'd wonder what happened."

She laughed softly and nodded, tearing the layer of cheese off her pizza and nibbled at it. "Yeah, exactly ... not exactly something you explain to a guy, I suppose."

"My first reaction would be asking who I'd have to kill. Then I'd ask what happened."

Cassandra glanced over at him, her smile softening some as she just regarded him. If she didn't know better, that sounded like a protective nature in him coming out. If she wasn't careful, she was going to get attached to him and that's the last thing she needed and probably the last thing he wanted.