Heart of Malice (Alice Worth Book 1)

by Lisa Edmonds

  I shook my head. “Not always. These were just very…intense. I survived.”

  “Do you need to go to a hospital?” Sean looked me over, I think for visible injuries.

  “Seriously, I’m fine,” I insisted. “No permanent damage. I was lucky. I know better than to just walk into a room without checking.”

  “I’m a security consultant,” Sean reminded me. “Can I do anything to help? Was the person who set the wards arrested?”

  I shook my head. “Really, I can’t talk about it. Client confidentiality.”

  Sean looked unconvinced, but he sat back, apparently willing to let it go, at least for now.

  Despite how self-conscious it made me, I appreciated both his concern and that he took my word that I was all right. Since my parents’ murder when I was eight, I hadn’t had anyone to fuss over me when I was hurting. Even now, five years after my escape from my grandfather, I didn’t spend much time around what few friends I had, and wasn’t used to others worrying about me. The only people I counted as friends were Adri, Bryan, Pete, and maybe Charles, if a vampire could be said to be anyone’s friend. The longest dating relationship I’d had was with Cam, the singer, and that was pretty much just sex. My fear of being found out kept me from getting close to people.

  Looking across the booth at Sean, I suddenly felt lonely. I’d long ago accepted my isolation as a condition of being in hiding. It wasn’t like me to feel maudlin about it, but to my horror, my eyes burned with angry tears. I hoped the bar was too dark for him to see them.

  I took a drink and stared absently in the general direction of the front door. I caught sight of Adri turning away a pair of teenage boys. They watched with wide eyes as she tore their fake IDs in half twice and handed them the pieces. The offenders slunk away, dejected, and Adri smirked, leaning against the doorway. She caught my eye and winked.

  “Alice?”

  I blinked.

  Sean was leaning toward me again. I got the impression he’d been talking, and I hadn’t heard a word he’d said. “I’m sorry, I spaced out for a minute. What did you say?”

  “I was asking what was wrong.”

  I forced a little laugh and glanced at my phone. If I was going to see Charles, it would have to be soon; dawn was an hour away. “Like I said, it’s been a long day. I’m not sure my friend is going to have time to see me tonight, and I’m starting to get tired. I’m just not the best company right now.”

  Sean reached out. I started to pull back, then forced myself to be still as his hand covered mine.

  I’m so tired of being afraid. The vehemence of my own thought startled me.

  “You okay?”

  “Yes. I’m all right.” I curled my fingers around his and his grip tightened.

  The part of my brain that was always on guard, always worried about giving myself away, wanted to yank my hand back, but the warmth of his skin felt good. It occurred to me that the stress of the day—Malcolm’s troubling story, a run-in with Special Agent Lake, two close calls with Betty’s wards, and Natalie’s magic manifesting unexpectedly—had left me feeling out of sorts. On another night, I’d probably have told Sean to go away. I might never have told him what I did for a living, or let him hold my hand. Knowing that on an intellectual level didn’t change how good his touch felt, however, or how much I appreciated having a good-looking man show interest in me.

  Sean brushed my palm with his fingertips. “Is your friend not coming?”

  “I’m not sure. He said he’d be along, but….” I shrugged. “It’s getting really late.”

  “Or early, depending on how you look at it,” Sean joked. “The sun will be up soon.”

  “I know.” I finished my beer and toyed with the bottle.

  We studied each other. “What are your plans if your friend doesn’t show?” Sean asked finally.

  “No plans per se. Probably just home to bed.”

  The subtext hung in the air between us like a chandelier.

  “I’d like to take you home,” Sean said.

  My brows shot up. So much for subtext.

  Sean chuckled at my expression. “You seem like the sort of woman who doesn’t play games. You’ve probably already decided if you’re interested in me or not. Now that I’ve gotten to know you a bit, I thought I’d take the direct approach and see what happened.”

  I nailed him with a look. “What do you think you know about me?”

  Sean leaned forward, meeting my gaze—and my challenge—head-on. “You’re a private detective. You work hard, you’re loyal to your clients, and you aren’t afraid of the risks that come with the job or going in where others fear to tread. You’re tough, and other people’s respect is important to you. You don’t like to be the center of attention, but you want the person you’re with to listen when you talk. You’re on constant alert. I bet if I asked you to close your eyes and describe every person in here, you could do it. And you enjoy good Scotch, good beer, and good music.”

  I tilted my head. “Leaving the other items aside for the moment, how do you know what kind of music I like?”

  “I’ve been watching your reactions to the songs that played while we’ve been sitting here. You liked Guns N’ Roses, scoffed at Starship, and lost your train of thought twice while listening to ‘Purple Rain.’ That tells me a lot about you right there.”

  “It is a great song,” I mused.

  “Alice.”

  We both looked up. Way up.

  Bryan stood at the booth, looking at our hands with raised eyebrows. Suddenly self-conscious, I pulled back from Sean and put my hands in my lap. “Yes?”

  “Mr. Vaughan sends his regrets. Unfortunately, he won’t have time to see you tonight. Unless it’s an emergency?”

  I thought about that. Charles and I had known each other for almost five years, but you had to be very careful around vampires. The situation with Natalie probably didn’t qualify as the kind of emergency that would justify pulling him out of his meeting, and if he got angry with me, he might not help me.

  I sighed and shook my head. “Not an emergency, Bryan, but if you could get me in to see him tomorrow night, I would appreciate it. I have a situation where I need his advice.”

  “I’ll put you on the schedule and text you a time,” Bryan said. “Do you need a lift home?”

  I wasn’t drunk, but the Scotch and the beer on an empty stomach had given me a buzz and I knew I wasn’t okay to drive. I frowned.

  Sean spoke up. “I was just about to offer Alice a ride home.”

  Bryan focused on Sean. “Oh?” He managed to pack a lot of suspicion and distrust into that one word.

  Sean returned his gaze, totally unfazed, then both men looked at me. I had a decision to make.

  Bryan could get someone to take me home. Probably Pete, or either he or Adri if I hung out while they closed.

  Or I could call a cab.

  Or I could do something completely irresponsible and ask a security consultant with beautiful eyes to give me a ride home.

  What the hell. “If you could take me home, I’d really appreciate it,” I told Sean. He grinned.

  Bryan didn’t look happy about my choice. “Call up here when you get home. We’ll drop your car off in a few hours.”

  “You are such a sweetie. I’ll go settle up with Pete.” I slid out of the booth and walked to the bar.

  “You headed out?” Pete asked me as he ran my credit card.

  “Yep.” I filled out the receipt, left a generous tip, and handed him my key. “That’s for my car. Bryan said he’d drop it off in a bit.”

  Pete stuck the key in his pocket, then printed off Sean’s tab. Sean handed him a twenty and a ten and told him to keep the change.

  “Thanks, buddy.” Pete dropped the tip into the jar before turning to grab a bottle from the beer cooler.

  “After you.” Sean gestured grandly at the front door. We said good night to Adri as we passed.

  Sean’s car was a silver Mercedes, and he’d managed t
o get a parking spot right near the door. I sank back into the leather seat and buckled in. Sean put my address into the car’s navigation system, and we were off.

  We chatted about music as the car glided smoothly and quietly through the nearly deserted city streets toward my neighborhood on the east side. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes as Sean talked. Despite my interest in what he was saying, I found myself drifting.

  I jolted awake when I felt Sean’s hand on my arm. “We’re here,” he said softly.

  I looked out the windshield and rubbed my eyes. We were parked in my driveway. It was a twenty-five-minute drive from Hawthorne’s to my house, and apparently I’d been asleep for most of it. The car’s engine was off. I got the feeling we might have been here for a couple of minutes before he’d woken me up.

  I stretched and something popped in my back. “Sorry I fell asleep,” I murmured, fumbling around for the door handle.

  “It’s okay.” I heard the smile in his voice. “Your snore is adorable.”

  I gasped and turned back to face him. “I do not snore!”

  We stared at each other in the faint blue light from the dashboard. In the east, I could see streaks of orange and red on the horizon. Dawn was breaking. Desire stirred the air like a fan.

  I’m not sure who made the first move, but we suddenly closed the distance between us. Sean’s kiss was hungry, and his stubble scoured the skin around my mouth. I ran my fingers through his thick hair and held on as the kiss deepened. When our tongues met, it felt like a shock ran through my body. He pressed me back against the seat, his hands coming up to touch my face. The warmth in my belly from the Scotch moved lower and I made a little sound.

  When we came up for air, Sean held my chin. His eyes looked very bright in the early dawn light. “Do you want to go in?”

  I took a moment to consider. That guarded part of my brain was still voting that I end the evening here and now, but my hormones were redlining and my desire was drowning out the anxiety. Besides, I had a lot of built-up tension and stress from the day that I wouldn’t mind working out of my system. “Let’s go inside.”

  Sean kissed the tip of my nose. We got out of the car and I led him up the sidewalk to the porch.

  As I unlocked the door, I ran my fingertips along the doorframe to lower the house wards. I opened the door and stepped inside with Sean behind me. I shut the door and raised the wards again. They would let us out, but anyone trying to get in would get a nasty surprise.

  I switched on the light in the foyer and Sean looked around. I’d bought the house, a beautiful but neglected Victorian, for far less than it was worth when I first arrived in the city. The previous owner had passed away, and his children lived out of state and didn’t want to deal with fixing it up before they sold it. The neighborhood wasn’t fancy, but it was quiet. After extensive renovations, the house was beautiful, if simply furnished.

  I turned to put my bag on the small table by the door. Sean wrapped his arms around me and trailed kisses up my neck from my shoulder to my jaw. As I leaned back against him, he burrowed his face into my hair and inhaled deeply. I shivered and turned around to take his hand. “Upstairs.”

  Sean let me lead the way. When we got to the landing, he followed me down the short hall to my bedroom.

  We stood in the middle of the room, looking at each other in the light from the streetlight. He really was a fine-looking man.

  Suddenly, Sean twitched, as if he’d just thought of something. “Call the bar.”

  “What?”

  “You were supposed to call the bar to let them know you got home safely,” he reminded me.

  Oh. Right. I dug my phone out of my pocket, pulled up my contacts list, and scrolled down to the H’s.

  The phone rang four times, then: “Yes.” A familiar rumble.

  “Hey, Bryan, I’m home.”

  “He dropped you off?”

  I looked at Sean. “Yep,” I lied.

  “Are your house wards up?”

  “Yep.”

  “You going to bed?”

  “Yep.” That’s me, the witty conversationalist.

  A pause. “Good. We’ll drop your car off in about an hour. I’ll text you about seeing Charles tonight.”

  “Thanks. Good night.”

  “Good night, Alice.”

  I ended the call, put the phone on my nightstand, and looked at Sean.

  “Why did you tell him I dropped you off?” he asked, his voice mild. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

  I shrugged. “None of his business either way.” I leaned down and unzipped my right boot, then slid my foot out. I did the same with the left, then pushed them aside.

  Sean watched me silently. There was something fierce in his eyes, and I liked the intensity of his gaze. He waited for me to make a move, to let him know what I wanted.

  So I did.

  I grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled him to me. Sean crushed my body to his and lifted me. I wrapped my legs around his hips and clung to him, kissing him hungrily. He took a couple of steps forward and we dropped onto the bed. My hands fumbled at the buttons on his shirt while he slid his hands up over the skin of my stomach. He helped me get my T-shirt off over my head, and then I went back to unbuttoning his shirt. My fingers were clumsy from urgency.

  Evidently, I was taking too long. He made an impatient noise and pulled his shirt and undershirt off, revealing a muscular chest that looked like it belonged on the cover of one of those cheap romance novels. I stared at him in wonder.

  He paused, looking down at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Not a thing.” I gently raked my fingernails across the flesh of his hard stomach, leaving scratches I couldn’t see in the dim light. He made a growly noise and kissed me hard while he lifted my torso and unhooked my bra. It went flying and suddenly his mouth moved from my lips to my right breast. My back arched and I moaned as he licked my nipple, then gently sucked, watching me as he teased me with his tongue.

  I wanted his skin on mine, but his jeans were out of my reach and I made a complaining sound.

  Sean chuckled and rose, unbuttoning my jeans. I wiggled as he pulled them off, leaving me in my underwear. He stood above me, shirtless, jeans riding low on his hips, looking me over like a starving man in front of a five-course meal.

  I stretched my arms above my head and looked at him through half-closed eyes, running my bare foot up his leg. “Are you waiting for a formal invitation?”

  In a flash, he was back on top of me, pinning my hands to the bed while his mouth teased first my right breast, then my left. His hands slid down to my hips as I trembled. It had been months since I’d been touched.

  I felt a tug on my Wonder Woman underwear and looked down. Sean was sliding them off slowly, his eyes on mine, looking for permission. In answer, I raised myself up a little and he grinned, and then the underwear was gone too. When his gaze moved down and settled between my thighs, I blushed.

  Sean moved up my body to kiss me. “You are so fucking beautiful,” he said roughly.

  I started to make a snarky comment about him not having to pile on the compliments since I’d already invited him to my bed, but then he did something with his fingers that made me forget what I was going to say. Sean’s mouth trailed down my throat, and his tongue moved slowly down my abdomen to my navel, where he gently tugged on my belly-button piercing with his teeth. When I moaned, he slid down the bed, bent his head, and licked me.

  I cried out, arching my back. The resulting pain in my stomach was no match for the pleasure. I clutched his head with my hands, my fingers in his hair, as he raised my hips and caressed me with his tongue.

  Soon, I was shuddering under his touch. I felt like if he wasn’t inside me soon, I’d lose my mind. I tried to pull him up, but he refused to budge. The pleasure was too intense, and I was reduced to begging. “Please. Please.”

  I felt him move away and heard the sound of his shoes falling on the floor, then a zipper and the rustl
ing of clothes. When I opened my eyes, he was naked, and I swear my heart skipped a beat at the sight of him.

  “Condom,” I said breathlessly, reaching for him. There was no chance of me getting pregnant, but it was always best to be safe.

  He produced a small square packet as if by magic, rolled the condom onto himself, and returned to the bed. Despite his attentions, it had been a while and he was a tight fit. He groaned and I screamed again, my nails digging into his shoulders. Starbursts filled my vision as I wrapped my legs around him. I cried out, but it sounded like someone else. I’d never felt anything so good in my entire life.

  A wonderful pressure began to build low in my abdomen. I opened my eyes and looked at him. He was sweaty and gorgeous in the morning light, his eyes on my face, watching me closely as I moved beneath him.

  Suddenly, in the midst of the passion, a bolt of fear made my stomach clench. The nagging worry I’d managed to drown out earlier was back at the worst possible time. I was afraid of being found, of being caught, of losing control and being vulnerable. I went from delirious with desire to guarded and tense. I was suddenly unable to lose myself in the moment, and the climax that had begun to build faded. I closed my eyes in despair and my grip on Sean’s biceps loosened.

  His movement slowed. “Alice?”

  I opened my eyes.

  Sean bent down to press his lips to my ear. “Let go,” he told me, moving his hips in some magical way that made me cry out. “Let go. I’ve got you.” He kissed my ear, then bit it.

  I looked into his eyes. Maybe he saw my fear; he seemed to be able to read me pretty well. “I’ve got you,” he said again, this time with more force in his voice. He cupped my face with his hand and held my gaze. “Let go. Come for me, beautiful girl.” He shifted position a bit, catching my knees with his forearms. My gasps turned into one long cry.

  As the rush of pleasure swept over me, I let go of my fear, my anger, and the worry I would be found, and did something I had never done before: I threw off the tight control I kept over my magic, and as Sean began to shudder, my magic poured out of me and rushed around us in a hurricane of green-and-white energy. I thought I heard things crashing in the background as he groaned, but I didn’t care. I lost myself in the storm.