Enticing the Dragon
Page 19
“It’s a huge step. Walking into a pit of fire and allowing your mate to sink his fangs into your neck? All so you can become a dragon convert? It’s not quite the same as the whole dress, flowers and cake scenario most mortal women dream of. I expect you need some time to think about it.”
“Yeah.” Hollie cast a glance along the corridor toward the living area. She could just see Torque’s profile as he leaned against the window, gazing moodily out at the view. “I guess I do.”
When she returned to her seat next to Torque, she tucked her feet up under her and rested her chin on his shoulder. They watched the scenery flash past in silence for a minute or two. “What were you and Ged talking about in there?”
She turned her face into his neck, hiding a smile. “How to play with fire.”
“I guess you’re already an expert on that.” There was a hint of surprise in his voice.
“It’s a subject about which I aim to become even more knowledgeable.”
Chapter 16
Alban called Torque to confirm that he and Deigh had arrived and they arranged to meet prior to the concert. Apart from the fact that his old friend was in town, Torque could find nothing positive in the situation. The truth was he hated subterfuge. He hated bringing Deigh into his new life. He hated that Hollie was being pushed to the sidelines while she was here. He hated every goddamn thing about it.
“If the Incinerator would step out of the shadows and face me, none of this would be necessary.” He slouched moodily around the hotel suite as the time to leave drew closer.
“I don’t like this any more than you do, but if Deigh gives you some more details about Teine, then it will be worth it.” Hollie linked her fingers behind his neck, pulling him down for a kiss. “Just as long as she keeps her icy hands to herself.”
“Hollie, I am going to take her to dinner, ask her some questions and leave. You can’t possibly be worried there will be anything more to it.”
She laughed. “I’m not. And I’ll be with Alban.”
“You’ll have more fun.” He frowned. “And you should be with me now when I’m going to meet them.”
Hollie shook her head. “The idea is to get on Deigh’s good side. There’s no point in antagonizing her by turning up with me holding your hand. If I stay in the background, it may keep her sweet.”
Torque ran a hand through his hair. “Deigh is mad. Did I mention that? I can’t believe we’re having a conversation about keeping her sweet. It’s like discussing the best way to feed a rabid dog.”
Hollie stepped back, studying him with her head on one side. “If looks have anything to do with it, she won’t be able to resist you.”
He growled. “I am not a sacrifice to the ice sorceress. What will you do while I’m gone? The concert doesn’t start for hours.”
“I told Sarange I’d take Karina off her hands. I’ll take her out for a walk.”
“Won’t Sarange go with you?” Torque asked.
“I don’t think she’s feeling too great.”
Torque spared a moment to feel surprised. Sarange was a werewolf and a superfit human. He’d never known her have a minute’s illness. “I hope she’s okay.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Hollie placed a hand in the small of his back, pointing him toward the door. “I don’t want to send you off to meet another woman, but this has to be done.”
“Kiss me again to make it bearable.”
When her lips met his and her taste flowed through him, everything else faded away. His inner dragon surged, demanding release, urging him to possess her. Forcing himself to retain control, Torque still couldn’t keep his hands from her. Gripping her hips in a rough, possessive hold, he pulled her tight against him, letting her feel his arousal. Hollie gasped at the pressure and pushed back. Shaking at the effort to maintain control, Torque covered her mouth with his, dominating her, forcing her to open for his possession. Her enthusiastic response stoked the fire higher and higher until they broke apart trembling.
“Ah, Hollie.” He rested his forehead against hers. “What you do to me.”
“Maybe you could be a few minutes late...”
Torque sucked in a harsh breath, leaning back against the door as she sank to her knees. A tremor of pleasure ran through Hollie’s body as she grasped his thighs and leaned into him. She paused for a moment, pressing her face to the bulge in his jeans as she inhaled his scent.
When she reached for his zipper and button and freed his straining erection from the confines of his jeans, Torque’s heart rate skyrocketed. Tangling his hands in her hair, he gave himself up to a firestorm of emotion.
A soft whimper came from Hollie as she moistened her lips and pursed them to form a heart shape. When she leaned forward and softly kissed the head of his cock, Torque almost went into orbit. Hollie’s eyelids fluttered closed as she sighed. Slowly, she kissed down his shaft and back up again.
Opening her eyes, she kept her gaze fixed on Torque’s face as she licked all the way around his sensitive tip. Her pink tongue was warm and slightly rough and his flesh twitched at the delicious sensation.
His erection hardened and tightened as she moved her mouth along it, kissing and licking, judging to perfection where the most sensitive nerve endings were concentrated. Now and then, she applied a slight sucking pressure that spiked his pleasure even higher.
“Hollie...” He couldn’t take much more of this.
Shifting position, she brought her open mouth to him and closed her lips over the crown. Bobbing her head in a slow up and down motion, she relaxed her mouth on the downstroke, sucking and tonguing him as she glided back up. Watching his throbbing flesh slide in and out of her mouth was the most erotic thing he had ever seen.
The pressure began to build deep inside him, the veins at his base pulsing and burning, aching for release. Holding the sides of her head, he moved his hips in time with her mouth, feeling her moans vibrate all the way along his length. “So close.”
With Hollie’s hot, sweet mouth surrounding him and her tongue lapping him, he was lost in her. Throwing his head back, he closed his eyes, and braced his leg muscles, letting it hit. An orgasm close to explosion pounded his hypersensitive nerve endings at full force. Rapture was like liquid fire being poured into him, triggering a series of stunning aftershocks. Slowly, he came down from the searing high.
Feeling Hollie gently withdrawing her lips, he opened his eyes and looked down at her upturned face. Her eyes were bright with tears. His hands were still on either side of her head, but his grip was light. Even during the storm of his emotions, he was sure he hadn’t tightened it.
“Tell me I didn’t hurt you.” His voice was shaky.
“Of course you didn’t hurt me.” She smiled and he was reassured that her tears were an expression of how intensely she had felt their physical connection. “You’re my dragon.”
Leaning down, he placed his hands under her arms and lifted her to him. Time. Since they’d met, it was the one thing they had never had enough of. Even if they managed forever, would he be able to find the words to tell her how she made him feel?
“And you’re mine, Hollie. All mine.”
* * *
Hollie had researched places to go with a one-year-old and decided on the aquarium. It proved to be a hit with Karina, who was fascinated by the sea creatures. Cooing and babbling, she waved her arms delightedly as Hollie, with two bodyguards following at a discreet distance, pushed the stroller around the exhibits.
Hollie herself was even more entertained by Karina’s delight than she was by the creatures around her, but nothing could keep her thoughts from straying to Torque. She knew how emotionally draining the meeting with Deigh would be and wished she was there at his side to support him. Anything that took him back to his past was hard for him. Knowing the story of what Teine had done to him, she could understand why.
As well as her concerns for Torque’s well-being, she was still buzzing with erotic memories from the recent scene in their hotel room. Although her body had been overheated, it was the emotional connection that burned deepest. Torque was in her soul, and that was what made sex between them so good. She bit back a smile. Good? I meant rapturous.
Although Karina couldn’t talk, she was good at making her needs known. When she lost interest in her surroundings and started lifting her arms up to come out of the stroller, Hollie figured it was time to stop for refreshments. Finding a seat in an area away from the crowds that thronged the main walkways, she took Karina’s bottle out of its thermos and lifted the little girl onto her knee. The baby gave a sigh of contentment as she started to drink.
Sarange’s instructions had been clear. Karina would have formula and then some solid food. Next would come a nap in the stroller, followed by a diaper change.
“You’re going to be gentle with me on that one, aren’t you, sweetheart? I’m new to all this.” She murmured the words into Karina’s hair, and the little girl gently patted Hollie’s cheek as she drank.
Hollie became vaguely aware of someone approaching her, only looking up when that person paused right in front of her. Her gaze traveled upward from a pair of hand-stitched tan shoes—I know those shoes!—following the suit pants, white shirt and navy tie upward until she was looking into Dalton’s frowning gray eyes.
Among the dozens of thoughts swirling through her mind in that instant, there was only one that mattered. Once again it fixed itself in her mind.
This is not a coincidence.
“Did you follow me here?” Of course he had followed her. The chances of seeing him in the coffee shop in Dallas were remote. Seeing him a second time in Denver? Hollie’s mathematical brain tried and failed to calculate those odds.
“It’s nice to see you, as well, Hols.” He took a seat next to her, nodding at Karina. “Whose baby?”
“A friend’s. Answer the question, Dalton. Did you follow me?”
Conscious of one of the bodyguards signaling to her, she caught his eye and shook her head, the gesture so slight that it went unseen by Dalton. Hollie and Karina were in no danger and she needed answers.
“Kind of.” He grinned and she relaxed a little. This was Dalton. He was her friend and her colleague. Or ex-colleague. She still didn’t know what was going on with her FBI status. Right now it was about the least important thing about this whole situation. “Would you believe me if I said I saw you coming out of your hotel? I mean, once that happened, I had to go after you, didn’t I?”
“Why didn’t you approach me as soon as you saw me? Why wait until now?”
“Jeez, Hollie. Why all these questions? This is me.” He looked slightly bemused as he echoed her own thoughts. “If you must know, I was making sure you weren’t being followed by anyone else.”
“Oh.” She subsided, chewing her lip. His reply sounded reasonable. Scary, but reasonable. “This is about the Incinerator.”
“Of course it is. What the hell else did you think it was about?” He gave her a sidelong look. “So you finally did something about it.”
Hollie could guess what was coming, but she was going to look him in the eye and force him to say it. “About what?”
“Come on, Hols. Him. Torque. You’re obsessed with him. Always have been. It’s what split us up. Now you’re with him.”
Dalton used to laugh about her “Torque-thing.” It had been a joke between them. It’s what split us up? It was like he was trying to rewrite history. It was also not like Dalton.
She drew in a breath. “I wouldn’t have this sort of conversation back when we were dating, Dalton, so I’m sure as hell not doing it now. You know better than to think I would give you a say in how I live my life.”
“The difference this time is it matters to an investigation.” There was a hint of triumph in his voice.
“I know that,” she snapped back at him. “I told McLain the Incinerator was targeting places Torque had been. Now instead of trying to score points because you don’t like him, tell me if you are any closer to finding the person who killed her.”
Hollie forced herself to get a grip on her anger, partly because it wasn’t helpful, but mostly for Karina’s sake. Cuddling the little girl’s warm, plump body close, she reviewed the situation. Dalton had shown no sign of surprise when she let slip that she had told McLain about the connection to Torque. That must mean the FBI had been investigating the link all along. She wasn’t sure whether that was good, or bad. On the one hand, no one had come pointing any fingers at Torque or interrogating him and his friends. On the other, they hadn’t caught the Incinerator, either.
“I’ll be honest with you, this case is as puzzling as ever.” Dalton dug his hands into his jacket pocket and stretched his long legs in front of him.
“But you’re here,” Hollie persisted. “There must be a reason for that.”
“You’ve been right so far. Wherever Torque goes, the Incinerator follows. It made sense for the investigation to be there, as well.”
“But no one from the FBI has spoken to Torque.” Hollie was confused. She had assumed that, when the investigators kept their distance, it must mean that McLain hadn’t told the team of Hollie’s suspicions. If they knew Torque was the link, keeping their distance made no sense.
“We haven’t needed to do an interview, Hollie. Not when you’ve been right up close to him.”
The note in Dalton’s voice surprised her and she turned her head to look at him more closely. She could see hurt in his eyes, and it shocked her. After all this time, he still cared that much?
The pained look deepened. “Even sharing a room. When McLain sent you undercover, she couldn’t have expected that sort of dedication from you.”
“McLain told you I was working undercover?” Hollie frowned. “You never mentioned that when I called you.”
His smile was lopsided. “I guess you’re not the only one who’s good at keeping secrets.”
“This isn’t about scoring points, Dalton.” A little flare of anger made her speak more harshly than she’d intended. “We’re on the same side here. We both want to catch a dangerous arsonist before he does any more harm.”
As she finished talking, Karina drank the last of her milk and sat up straighter. The baby regarded Dalton with wide golden eyes for a moment or two. Apparently deciding she didn’t like this stranger, she nestled closer to Hollie, burying her face in the front of her blouse and starting to cry.
“Look, you’re busy and I have to go.” Dalton got to his feet.
Hollie wanted to cry out in annoyance. All Dalton had given her was a series of nonanswers. “I’ll call you.”
Her priority was trying to soothe Karina, but the whole situation was intensely frustrating. If anything, Dalton’s presence in Denver had deepened the mystery. As she watched him walk away, the questions she wanted to ask rose to her lips. She couldn’t pursue them now, but she was determined to get the answers from him. He had spoken as if her undercover role was still being treated as part of the investigation. Well, if that was the case, he could step up and brief her fully.
“Hey, sweetheart.” She reached into Karina’s bag and produced a tub of pasta. “Want some of this?”
Karina did a quick check to make sure Dalton had really gone before clapping her hands to express approval of the plan. As she fed the baby her lunch, Hollie’s thoughts returned to Torque. She really wanted to see him, or call him, to tell him about the encounter with Dalton.
Bumping into her former boyfriend at the same time Torque was meeting his evil ex was the worst kind of timing.
“These days, there doesn’t seem to be any other kind,” she said to Karina. In response, the baby cheerfully smeared pasta sauce onto the front of Hollie’s blouse.
* * *
Torque met Alban and Deigh in the hotel lobby. Alban greeted him with a look of relief that told Torque everything he needed to know. Not that he had ever imagined a trans-Atlantic journey with Deigh would be easy.
He had seen Deigh away from her mountaintop often enough to know that the key to her behavior lay in the decisions she made. When she chose, she could be charming. It never lasted long, but she could sustain the appearance of normality for short periods. It was, after all, how she had tricked Torque into their brief relationship.
With relief, he observed that, on this occasion, she appeared inclined to be pleasant. The only oddity was her clothing. Although she had disposed of her ice princess robes, she hadn’t taken account of the hot and humid weather. Deigh wore white jeans and a pale blue sweater with a long white coat over the top.
“Did you mention that, even at night, it’s over seventy degrees?” Torque murmured to Alban as they headed out to a waiting cab.
“No, because I’ve given up on trying to make conversation of any kind,” Alban said. “If it’s not about you, my friend, she doesn’t want to know.”
Torque winced. Those words didn’t inspire him with confidence that he was going to be able to keep this light and walk away. His mood lowered even further when, once they were in the cab, Deigh pressed up close to him, her eyes shining as she gazed at his face.
Ice sorceress unleashed. Was this really such a good plan?
That night’s performance was at Denver’s iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater. The naturally formed, outdoor venue was world-famous for its acoustics and ambience. Torque had been looking forward to this concert more than any other on the tour. Now he was wishing himself a thousand miles away. Just him and Hollie on a deserted island somewhere...maybe recreating the scene from the hotel room earlier.