Femme Fatale
Page 1
PI Mick Swayne has seen it all—his clients have included liars, thieves, and even killers. He thinks he can handle anything and anyone. Then she walks into his office. Savannah Moreau is beautiful, seductive, and…a vampire? The gorgeous vamp hires Mick to help her track down a killer who is hunting in Chicago, but as Mick slips deeper into Savannah’s paranormal world, he wonders if he can really trust his new client…
By Cynthia Eden
This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real people, places, or events are not intentional and are purely the result of coincidence. The characters, places, and events in this story are fictional.
Copyright ©2016 by Cindy Roussos
Cover art and design by: Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs
Copy-editing by: JRT Editing
(build 2)
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Femme Fatale
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Epilogue
Author’s Note
About The Author
Chapter One
Trouble. He knew the sexy blonde was trouble the minute her high-heeled feet tapped across his office floor.
Mick Swayne jerked his gaze off those nicely arched feet—up the blonde’s long, long legs, and back to the mystery lady’s face.
The face of an angel. The body of a sinner. He cleared his throat and slowly rose from his position behind the desk. “I didn’t realize I had any other appointments scheduled for the day.” Not that it was actually day right then. He’d been working late—as usual—and the sun had long since set.
She smiled at him. Not such an angel. Because her red lips were lush and tempting. Her eyes were a dark and deep brown, heavy-lidded, and slightly up-turned at the corners. “Your assistant was leaving when I arrived. I hope you don’t mind, but he said it would be okay for me to come on in and see you.” Her voice was smooth and soft. No accent coated her words.
He stalked around the desk. “I don’t mind at all.” He wasn’t exactly in the position to turn away clients. But when he saw his assistant again, he’d let Adam know this shit wasn’t cool. You introduced a client first. You didn’t run away and leave a lady on her own.
She took a few more steps forward, her high heels clicking over the wooden floor once more. Her hand extended to him in greeting and, when they touched, a sudden, sharp heat seemed to blast right through Mick.
What. The. Hell?
Her smile deepened. “I think you’re just the man I’ve been looking for.”
And, baby, I’ve been dreaming about a woman like you for far too long.
He should let go of her hand. Step back. Say something business-like. But Mick couldn’t quite make his fingers work. He liked touching her. In his grasp, her hand was smooth, delicate. Silken. He could imagine that hand stroking him—too easily.
One blonde brow arched as she studied him. “I hope I didn’t say something wrong.”
The only thing wrong were his thoughts. He wasn’t supposed to be hot for clients. He was a professional, dammit. He helped people. He didn’t lust after ladies with problems.
Even if those ladies did smell like sweet cream.
He pulled away and motioned to the chair in front of his desk. “Why don’t you have a seat and tell me just what’s happening?”
She looked down at her hand, then back at him. There was a faint hint of curiosity on her face, as if she wanted to ask him a question, but then she headed toward the offered chair and lowered herself slowly. She crossed her legs, and that delectable little skirt she wore hiked up a few more inches.
Sweet Christ.
“Is everything all right?” His potential client asked with a frown of quick concern.
“Great,” he growled. Get your shit together, man. He propped his hips against the edge of his desk and exhaled slowly. As he did, his gaze swept over her face once more as he tried to get a sense of who she really was.
Her blonde hair skimmed her shoulders, perfectly framing her face. Her skin was flawless—no sign of any wrinkles at all. He had no clue how old the woman was. Maybe she was a socialite who enjoyed using Botox. Maybe she was younger than her air of confidence implied. Maybe she was—
“Is it true that you worked for the Chicago Police Department for over fifteen years before you took this position?”
He blinked. That certainly hadn’t been a question he’d anticipated. “Ah, yeah. It’s true. I was a detective on the Force.”
“A homicide detective.”
Was she interviewing him? “Yes.”
Her gaze slid down his body, and her eyes lingered on his right leg. “But you were injured on the job. You had to leave?”
He stiffened. Was she trying to see if he was up to handling her case? “I took five bullets on my last case. Three to the chest.” One of those had come damn close to his heart. “And two hit my right leg.”
“That’s why you limp.”
His teeth clenched. “My limp doesn’t slow me down, if that’s what worries you.” He’d been through two months of hellish physical therapy with that leg. He wouldn’t let the limp slow him or stop him from doing any job. Despite what the PD thinks.
She leaned forward. “I’m not worried. I am curious.”
This whole scene was just bizarre.
“Curious about you,” she added. Then she waved her hand around his office. “About how someone like you ended up in a place like this.”
He probably should’ve been insulted. Instead, Mick just laughed. “I get it’s not the Ritz, but I’m a PI, ma’am, not some crowned prince. I do the job. I solve cases for my clients. I get my hands dirty, and I discover the truth that they need to hear. Limp, no limp. Bullet scars and all…I handle business.” His captain had wanted to bench him after that last case had gone to hell and back. He’d had two options—take that permanent bench, or walk.
He’d walked.
And started his own business because being a detective was just who he was.
A faint smile tipped her lips. “I think you are going to do very nicely for me.”
“Great. Wonderful. Does that mean I just passed your interview session?”
Her lashes lowered. Were those fake? Because they were crazy long. “It means,” she said, “I’ve been looking for you, for quite some time.”
For him?
“And I’m very glad that I found you.”
He was starting to wonder if the blonde was crazy. Such a pity. To be that gorgeous and insane. Waste. But he kept his expression blank and asked her, “Want to tell me just why you came to my office today?” Why you were looking for me?
“Murder.”
His shoulders tensed.
“Murder is such a nasty business.” Her gaze seemed to turn distant, almost as if she were seeing right through him. “There is no need for the kills to go this way. Certainly not in my town.”
He was leaning more and more toward the insanity idea with her. Unfortunately. “Have you…committed murder?” Mick asked her carefully.
She gave a little laugh, one that slid right over his skin like a caress. “I’m not here about my crimes.”
Oh, shit. That hadn’t exactly been a reassuring answer.
She focused those dark, deep eyes on him. “Have you heard about the two bodies that were recently discovered? Both males. One was outside of a club called Intoxication. And the other body…it was found dumped at the Navy Pier.”
His guts were twisting. “Hard to miss the stories about those two. They’ve been splashed all over the news.”
Clearing his throat, Mick added, “Two males, one in his late twenties, one in his early thirties. They were both found in the nude, and both men died due to severe blood loss.”
Her lashes lowered, then lifted as she pinned him with her stare. “You still have lots of connections at the PD. Surely you know more than just that.”
He did. He also didn’t want to get chatty with this woman he didn’t know about classified info—
“The blood was drained from their bodies,” she said, almost sadly. “But the only wounds either man had were two small puncture marks on their necks.”
She shouldn’t know that.
“There were no signs of struggle,” she continued. “As if the men never even thought about fighting back.”
She was speaking way too easily about these murders and sharing intel that had not been released to the general public. “How would you know that?” Mick asked her. Battle-ready tension filled his body.
“Information has a way of reaching me.”
“That’s a rather bullshit answer.”
Her lips quirked. “I suppose it is.”
He waited. The seconds ticked past. “I don’t think I got your name.”
“No. You didn’t.” Her hair slid over her cheek as she leaned forward a bit. “It’s Savannah. Savannah Moreau.”
“Savannah…” He liked the way her name felt on his tongue. He didn’t like the way every alarm in his body was going off. “Why don’t we just cut to the chase? Why don’t you tell me exactly why you’re in my office?”
“I want you to help me find the murderer. Those two men—I can’t let their killer get away.”
“You knew both victims?” Mick pounced on that.
“I knew them. They knew of me. If they’d come to me, I could have helped them but…” She shrugged. “Someone killed them. The police aren’t exactly equipped to handle this case, but I believe you can help me.”
The clock on his desk seemed incredibly loud. Tick. Tick. Tick. “Why the hell can’t the cops handle it? Why—”
“In my experience, human cops don’t do so well when they face off against monsters.”
Yeah, he’d been right. The gorgeous blonde was crazy. “Monsters.” Mick sighed, a truly long and mournful sound. “I see, they are—”
“Do you believe in monsters?” Savannah asked him as she rose to her feet. That sweet cream scent of hers drifted toward him as she closed the distance between them. Her hand rose and she put her fingers over his heart.
“I believe that humans are monsters. I don’t have to make up any crazy stories about creatures going bump in the night. Humans commit crimes. Humans hurt and humans kill, and it’s the humans who have to be stopped.”
She shook her head. “The humans have to be protected, this time.”
“Look, lady—”
“You should believe in monsters. You have a monster killing in this city. And the cops won’t understand. They won’t be able to catch him. But you and I—together, we can.”
Her touch singed him. His body was reacting way too strongly to her. Especially in light of the whole crazy vibe that she had going on. “A monster is hunting here, huh? What is he? A boogeyman?” Mick asked.
She shook her head. Her lips thinned in what sure looked like annoyance.
“A werewolf?” he pressed.
Her gaze hardened. “No.”
“Ah, right—the puncture wounds and the whole no blood thing.” Mick nodded. “I get it. Vampire, right? I’ve got a vampire loose in Chicago, killing at will.” He laughed.
She didn’t laugh. “That’s exactly what you’ve got.”
Pity stirred within him. “Is there someone you want me to call for you? Someone who might be looking for you?” A nurse. A doctor. A shrink?
“The killer is looking for me, but you and I are going to find him before it’s too late.”
His hand lifted and his fingers wrapped around her wrist. “You’re confused. I can’t help you.”
“I’m not confused.” She stared up at him. “I think you are.”
His index finger was stroking along her inner wrist. A movement that he totally hadn’t meant to make. “How about I go get you a cab?”
She shook her head. “Monsters are real. I know that with utter certainty.”
“Oh, really?” He wasn’t in the mood to humor her, but he was trying, somewhat. It had been a long day and his knee was aching like a bitch. “And how do you know that?”
She smiled at him—a full smile that showed off her white teeth. Incredibly sharp teeth. Her upper canine teeth—they were long and fang-like.
Screw being fang-like…they were fangs.
“I know,” she told him quietly, “because I am a monster. A vampire, to be exact.”
Chapter Two
“What in the hell did you do to yourself?” Mick Swayne demanded as he freed her wrist and stared at her with narrowed green eyes. Truly deep and sexy eyes. “Did you file your teeth?”
She had to laugh at that, then she let her tongue skim over the edge of one fang. His gaze followed the movement and she saw the jerk of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed. “No, Mick,” she told him. “I didn’t file them. They sort of come this way. Or rather, when I’m in the mood for a bite…” And the hot detective was rather tempting. “They extend and sharpen up. It’s easier you see…” Her hand lifted and trailed over his neck. His pulse raced beneath her touch. “So much easier to puncture the skin and drink from prey with sharp fangs.”
He caught her arm in a steely grip. That was one of the things that she was enjoying about him—he was so wonderfully strong.
Tall, muscled, with wide shoulders, and that hard, rough face…he wasn’t a pretty boy by any stretch of the imagination. He was a man who’d seen the dark side of life and had the scars to prove it. A warrior, in a time when most warriors had been forgotten.
A fighter.
He’d be her fighter.
Oh, but what she wouldn’t give to take a drink from him right then. But that isn’t the plan. It isn’t. She just had to keep reminding herself of that important fact.
“Vampires aren’t real.” He sounded so certain of that truth, even as he stood directly before her.
Savannah barely contained an eye role. “Of course, they’re real. Who do you think has been killing in this city? Draining blood from those two men?” She paused and said, “A vampire.”
“You? You did it? Is that what you’re—”
Now she was getting annoyed. Her sigh cut through his words, and then, in a flash—and mostly to rattle him—she rushed across the room. Only when a vampire rushed, she truly damn well rushed. In less than half a second’s time, she was across the room, a good ten feet away from Mick, staring out of his window and into the night.
There was a stark silence behind her. A few moments passed, and then, a bit hoarsely, he said, “How the hell did you just do that?”
“Easy,” she replied without glancing over her shoulder at him. “I’m a vampire. I drink blood, I sleep during the day, and I move very, very fast.”
The floor creaked beneath his footsteps.
“I can do a few other things,” she added, trying to be honest. Considering what would be coming Mick’s way, she figured a little honesty was only fair. “When you let me bite you, I’ll be able to see into your mind. I’ll find your secrets. Your dreams. Your fears.” Now she did glance back at him. “Vampires use fears against their prey. The same way they use dreams against them. I can become the thing you want most…or the thing that terrorizes you.”
“Bullshit.”
Oh, but he was cute to her. So tough. And that little cleft in his chin was absolutely delectable. She’d like to lick it.
Savannah made a mental note to do just that, later.
“Your fangs are gone.” Now he sounded…stunned. “What did you do? Take them out?”<
br />
She laughed, even though he was starting to push her patience. It didn’t matter how sexy he looked with that rough stubble lining his jaw and with that dark, thick hair of his all tousled…they had a job to do, and no time to waste. “How about you watch closely…” Then she turned fully toward him. He was a big guy, a few inches over six feet, but she was tall herself, and with her heels it would be an easy enough matter for him to lean down and kiss her.
If he’d wanted…
He will want me before we’re done. Savannah was sure of it.
But for the moment…
She bared her teeth. Her fangless teeth.
His eyes narrowed as he stared at them.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give to taste him right now…
And her canines lengthened. Stretched.
Right before his eyes.
“Sonofabitch,” he muttered.
“Actually, I’m not.”
Mick shook his head.
“Five thousand dollars a night. That’s what I’ll pay you if you take my case. If you help me to hunt the vampire who is hunting in my city.”
He raked a hand over his face.
“He can’t be allowed to keep killing. He’ll start to attract attention to the vampire world, attention that I just can’t afford to have. If humans found out about my kind…well, it wouldn’t be good.”
His hand dropped. “I’m human. You just told me about vampires.”
So I did. But that was part of her plan. “Five thousand a night,” she said again. “Are you taking my case or not?”
“This is insane.”
“You seem to focus on that a lot,” she noted. “Insanity. Craziness. You should get over that. Things are going to move fast for us. You’ll see acts that defy explanation. Things that may terrify you. You don’t get to keep calling crazy every time something odd happens. You either understand and accept that the world isn’t what you thought…or you’ll find yourself in some very serious danger.” Danger she wouldn’t be able to stop.
“Vampires,” he whispered.
“Vampires,” she agreed. “And that killer? I think he’s out in the city, probably even out hunting tonight. I want you at my side. I want you to help me stop him.”