Wild Card

by Rachel Vincent

  She laughed as we headed for the door. “This started out as a very romantic offer to cook for me every night of my life, but now it sounds like you’d be willing buy out every restaurant on this hypothetical island to avoid doing just that.”

  “Not to avoid, to give you options. And this island isn’t hypothetical. It’s just as yet unselected.” I closed the door behind us and checked to make sure it was locked—not that we had much to steal at the moment—then I put my arm around her waist as we headed for the elevator. And she let me. “You know, I’m not opposed to letting you choose the island. In fact, I would go just about anywhere you want to go, if you would just get on a plane with me.”

  “Why?” Kaci poked the call button, then turned to me and slid her arms around my neck. She looked up at me with eyes that seemed more green than brown in the weird hotel lighting, and pressed her entire body against mine. “Why would you want to go anywhere with me?”

  “Because I like you.” Because she was beautiful, and strong, and willing to threaten an Alpha on my behalf.

  “You like me now. But you might not like me next week.”

  “Of course I will.”

  “You don’t know that. No matter what you think, you hardly know me.”

  “That is not true. In the past twenty-four hours, you’ve blackmailed me, kissed me, pushed me away, married me, stolen two cars with me, taken off your pants and then fallen asleep next to me, and threatened an Alpha for me. And I’ve loved every second of it. What on earth could you do to make me not like you, after all of that?”

  “That’s the easy part, Justus.” She kissed me, then tugged me into the empty elevator, when the door opened.

  “How the hell is any of that easy?”

  “It’s exciting. It’s something new every other minute. It’s danger, and adrenaline, and close calls. The hard part is what comes after.”

  “Okay, I’ll bite. What comes after this?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Huh?” I pushed the button for the lobby level.

  “Forever on an island? Lying on the beach and eating seafood? What you’re actually describing is a lifetime full of nothing. That might be great for a month, or maybe even a year. But eventually, you’ll get bored with the tide, and the fish, and the deck chairs. And with me.”

  The elevator opened in the lobby, and I followed her out to the car, so I could watch her walk in front of me. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that,” I called after her, as I watched her hips move. “But I assume you have an alternative suggestion?”

  “Why would you assume that?”

  I unlocked the car with the fob, then rushed forward to pull her door open before she could get to it. “Because it’s rude to tear down someone’s fantasy without providing an alternative fantasy.”

  “Then you admit the island is a fantasy?” Kaci sank into the passenger’s seat and looked up at me.

  I made a mental note to stop underestimating her verbal prowess. That girl could back a lawyer into a corner using nothing but his own words, against him. “I admit nothing.”

  “That’s a solid trial strategy,” she said as I slid behind the wheel. “But maybe not a very solid cornerstone for a marriage.”

  “So, this is a marriage now?”

  “This is…insane,” she finally finished, with a quiet smile. “You’re insane.”

  “Now, that’s a solid trial strategy.”

  She threw her head back and laughed, and I stopped the car with us still halfway out of the parking spot so I could lean across the console and taste the tender flesh beneath her jaw. “Seriously, we could just blow dinner off and feast on each other, Kaci,” I whispered against her skin. “I’m not even hungry.”

  Tires squealed, and a car horn speared my thoughts. I growled at the car stuck behind us in the aisle, and she laughed again. “Well, I’m hungry.”

  “Fine.” I backed the rest of the way out, then pulled out of the parking lot onto the road. “Dinner it is. But then, I intend to taste other things.”

  “Sure.” Kaci grinned at me. “As long as those other things include chocolate syrup, cream filling, or whipped cream.”

  I groaned at the dirty images her dessert cravings called to my mind. “Oh, I think we can definitely make that happen.”

  * * *

  “This isn’t exactly what I had in mind,” I said as I tipped the room service waiter.

  “I’m sorry, sir?” He glanced down at the tray he’d just set on the table, searching for the problem.

  “He’s talking to me.” Kaci came out of the bathroom with her hair in a ponytail and her face scrubbed clean. “But this is exactly what I had in mind. Chocolate syrup.” She pointed to the slice of cheesecake drizzled with chocolate. “Cream filling.” The stuffed raspberry tart. “And whipped cream.” On top of a huge slice of red velvet cake.

  “You two really going to eat all that?” the waiter asked on his way out of the room.

  “Oh, those are just for her,” I said as I closed the door in his face. Kaci was all the dessert I needed.

  “This is amazing!” She rubbed her hands together as she looked over the tray full of sweets. “I’ve never had room service! Maybe we should have just stayed here.”

  “You’ve never had room service?”

  “Nope. Haven’t spent much time in hotels. Shifters tend to rent cabins or houses, for privacy when they travel. And I haven’t traveled much.” She scooped a finger full of whipped cream from the cake and licked it off her finger. “I don’t know what to eat first.”

  “All of them.” I tucked all three sets of napkin-wrapped utensils beneath my arm, then picked up the cake and the tart. “Grab that last one and follow me.” I set both plates on the middle of the still neatly made comforter, then started unwrapping silverware.

  “On the bed?” She sounded scandalized, and my new goal for the night became drawing that sound out of her again—without food.

  “Yes. It’s like a hotel picnic. Unless you’re planning to make a mess. If that’s the case, I’m going to have to ask you to eat them all three…off me.” I pulled my shirt over my head and dropped it on the floor. “You know, to preserve the linens.”

  She laughed as she carefully crawled onto the bed, holding the cheesecake plate in one hand. “Funny. Put your shirt back on.”

  “Take yours off, I countered.”

  “Not gonna happen.” But she was grinning.

  “Well, I think at least one of us should be topless.” I started to sit, then noticed something missing. “Would you like a drink with those?”

  “Just water, please. I don’t care if I never see vodka again.”

  “That’s fair, considering your first experience. But I would like to point out, in defense of alcohol everywhere, that in slightly smaller, slower quantities, it has its advantages.” But I took two waters from the mini fridge and left all the little bottles of alcohol alone. If she wasn’t drinking, neither was I.

  “Here.” I handed her an unopened water bottle, then crawled onto the bed and sat cross-legged next to her, in front of the row of desserts.

  “You know, I’m perfectly willing to share.”

  “Well, okay. If you insist. But you go first.” I gave her a wicked smile. “And just so you know, that’s my policy in all other areas, as well.”

  Her brows rose. “Or we could go together…”

  “That’s a lot easier with dessert than with other things, but sure, I’m game.” I cut off the tip of the cheesecake slice and fed it to her.

  She moaned around the bite, and the sound was…pleasant. So I fed her a bite of red velvet cake, and she moaned again. Next, I tried the tart, but some of the cream filling stuck to her lip, and she licked it off, and—

  “Are you aware that you are dirty when you eat dessert?”

  Kaci froze. “What?” she said around a mouthful of tart.

  “You make erotic sounds when you eat dessert.”

  Her eyes went wide. S
he slapped both hands over her mouth and chewed furiously. “I do not!”

  “Yes, you do. And that may be the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  She dropped her fork onto the cake plate and pushed it toward the end of the bed. “Well I can’t eat that now!”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you’ll be sitting there thinking dirty things about me while I eat.”

  “Kaci, I’d be thinking dirty things about you no matter what you were doing. You’re wearing a ring I gave you and sitting on a hotel bed. Also, you’re gorgeous.”

  “You’re not bad to look at, yourself.” She cut another bit of cake without meeting my gaze. Then she changed the subject, as if the admission made her uncomfortable. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could eat room service every day? Neither one of us would have to cook or clean.”

  “Actually, I could probably make that happen. We could live in a hotel on our island, if you want. You could have room service for every meal, and I could feed you cake for breakfast every morning. On the balcony, or in bed…”

  “You can stop trying to convince me that life is more fun when you’re rich. I can’t imagine anyone would argue with that premise. The problem isn’t the money. It’s leaving the country forever.”

  “I have to leave forever. You could come back and visit Faythe and Marc, and their ever-expanding litter of kidlets.”

  “Oh, stop it.” She shoved my shoulder. “You know the boys are adorable.”

  “Yes. But you’re more adorable.” I leaned in and nibbled on the tip of her shoulder as I slid one hand beneath the hem of her tee. Slowly.

  She took my hand and her gaze captured mine. “Stop.”

  “Why? I know you want me. I can smell arousal in your scent.”

  “Oh my God!” She looked scandalized. And self-conscious.

  “There’s no reason to be embarrassed. I think it’s hot.”

  “It’s impolite to mention romantic intel gathered from pheromone detection, Justus!”

  “Well when you say it like that, it sounds much more scientific than erotic.” I shrugged. “So, what? I’m just supposed to pretend I can’t tell?”

  “Yes! Justus, I’m not going to sleep with you.”

  “That’s because you’re afraid to admit you like me.”

  “No. I do like you. It’s because I’m afraid to be married to you.”

  “Why?” I pushed the other plates back. “I swear on my life that I didn’t marry you for the money.”

  “I believe you.”

  “Then what am I doing wrong?”

  “Nothing.” She leaned forward and kissed me, and she tasted like chocolate, and raspberry, and other sweet things that had nothing to do with room service. “You’re not doing anything wrong. But that doesn’t mean this has to end with sex.”

  “Sex would not be an ending. This doesn’t have to end at all. That’s the whole point of forever.” I kissed her again, and my hand slid into her hair. Her tongue met mine, and then she put her hands on my chest. She explored me while we kissed, as if she’d never done that before, and with a sudden, heartbreaking epiphany, I realized that she hadn’t, really, because she didn’t remember touching me like this before.

  And for her, that meant it hadn’t happened.

  For Kaci, none of what I remembered of the night before had happened. That must have been very scary for her. Very…confusing.

  “How can this be real?” she murmured as I kissed my way down her neck. She clutched at me, as if she wanted more than she was willing to let herself have, and damn, I wanted to give her whatever she wanted. “How can anything that feels this good be happening to me, after—?”

  “After what?” I sat up to look at her, and her eyes filled with tears.

  “Justus, they’re not wrong. What they say about me is true. I am a monster. I found that dead woman in the woods, and I was so hungry, and—”

  “No. Kaci, they could not be more wrong about you. You did what you had to do to survive. They’re the monsters, holding something like that against a little girl. You…are perfect.” I leaned in to kiss her neck. “The universe owes us this,” I whispered, pushing her hair back. Sliding the collar of her shirt over her shoulder, so I could taste the point where her collarbone ended. “After everything life has put us through, we deserve this, Kaci. You deserve better than I could ever give you.”

  She laid back on the pillow, and I lay next to her, propped on my elbow. Her hand found mine on the comforter, and she clung to it, staring up at me. “You’re wrong. But I really want to believe you.”

  I leaned down to kiss her, and her free hand slid behind my neck. Then down my back. Her mouth opened, and she pulled me closer, lower, until I lay stretched out over her, supporting my weight on one elbow, her hand still clutching mine.

  We kissed like that forever, in the closest approximation of what she clearly wanted, but would not take, and I didn’t notice until much later that we’d kicked all the desserts onto the floor.

  Later, she rolled toward me on the bed, still fully clothed, and laid her hand on my chest. Her head on my shoulder. Her eyes were closed, her breathing slow and even. She was nearly asleep. Or maybe she was barely awake.

  “It’s because you’ll leave,” she murmured.

  “What?” I scooted closer, bunching the comforter up between us, trying to get close enough to hear sounds she was hardly even making.

  “If I sleep with you, this marriage will be real. You’ll get your money and you’ll leave. And I can’t go with you.”

  Nine

  Kaci

  “So, I’ve been thinking,” I said as Justus opened the hotel room door. “Maybe I went about things the wrong way yesterday. With Ed Taylor.”

  “Just a sec.” He turned to the waiter standing in the hall with a full tray. “Come on in, man. You can just set it on the table.”

  The waiter set the tray down, and my stomach rumbled. I hadn’t eaten anything since dinner the night before, except a few bites of dessert, because I drew the line at eating cake off the floor.

  Justus took the padded black folder, and while he signed the breakfast bill, the waiter’s gaze dropped to the carpet at the foot of the bed. Where twin chocolate and raspberry smears stained the carpet. Then he picked up last night’s tray, where the misshapen remainders of our dessert had been scooped back onto their original plates. He glanced up at me with an arched brow.

  I could feel my cheeks burn. “We had a little accident.”

  Justus laughed as he set the bill on the used tray and handed it to the waiter. “What did you mean about Taylor?” He asked as he bolted the door behind the waiter.

  I sat at the table and pulled the dome from the first plate. Waffle-scented steam puffed out at me, and it took a conscious effort not to moan with pleasure. I really like to eat. “I mean, instead of asking him to vote for your acquittal just because that’s the right thing to do, maybe we should show him that he can’t afford to find you guilty.”

  Justus pulled out the chair across from me and sank into it. “And how would that be true?” He uncovered the other plate, and his western omelet smelled so good I almost regretted ordering in favor of carbs.

  “Well, the best thing I’ve come up with so far is that if he votes in your favor, he could be regaining the council power alliance he lost when he got pissy because Abby choose Jace over his son.”

  “You’re going to have to walk me through that one.”

  “He’s said he’s open to acknowledging the Mississippi Valley Pride, right?” I said as I poured syrup over my big, fluffy Belgian waffle. “If that happens, Titus will be a council member. Which means that for the first time in the history of this country, there will be eleven Alphas, rather than ten.” I cut a bite with my fork and gestured with it. “That’s an odd number. There will never be another tied vote. And the best way for Taylor to make sure he’s on the side that wins is to make friends with the tie-breaking vote.”

  “Titus.” Justu
s looks impressed. “And there’s no better way to do that than by voting not to execute his little brother.”

  “Exactly,” I said around my first bite.

  He shook a bottle of Tabasco over his omelet. “Do you think he’ll go for that?”

  I frowned at his breakfast. “You didn’t even taste that before you put hot sauce on it.”

  “You didn’t taste your waffle before you put syrup on it.”

  “But syrup goes on waffles.”

  “And hot sauce goes on eggs.” He looked right at me and shoveled a huge, spicy bite into his mouth. “Are you going to criticize my breakfast or answer the question?”

  “I don’t really see that as an either/or scenario,” I said as I broke a strip of bacon in two. “But I think Taylor will go for it. That unofficial alliance will give him a very real advantage.” I ate one half of the bacon and gestured with the other half. “Titus will clearly be allied with Faythe and Marc, who share a vote, with Rick Wade, and with Bert Di Carlo. And probably with Isaac Wade, through his connections to both Rick—his dad, who’s also the council chair—and Jace—his brother-in-law. That’s five out of eleven Alphas. With Taylor as the sixth, they have a majority vote, and they’ll be able to push through any agenda they want. Unfortunately, the same would be true on the other side, should he ally with the other five Alphas.”

  “Are they split that evenly on everything?”

  “No, fortunately. Blackwell tends to align with Milo Mitchell, Nick Davidson, and Wes Gardner. But Ed Taylor and Jerold Pierce are issues voters.” I shrugged as I cut another bite. “Not that the others aren’t. They just tend to agree with their allies on the issues. But my point is that if Taylor aligns himself with the Blackwell camp, they’ll lose every time Pierce’s swing vote swings the other way.”

  “Wow. Shifter politics makes D.C. look like playtime.”

  I spoke around my bite. “I know nothing about human politics.”