by Elle James
“It’s closer.” Blaise gave the driver my address. “And I have a hunch.”
Not liking that look in his eye, I had to ask, “One that involves my computer? I have a hunch we might learn something from that video.”
“I need to check some things first.” He sat beside me in silence for the short ride to my tiny apartment.
We arrived and hurried up the stairwell to my third-floor apartment. Once inside, I powered up my computer, entered my password and stepped back, letting him handle the keyboard.
Blaise filled my little living room, not only with his body, but with his overpowering presence.
No matter where I went, I could sense him, see him and feel his energy pinging off the walls like loose electrical arcs.
“Are all demons as…” I fought for the right word to describe how I felt about him.
“Sexy, handsome, lust-inspiring?”
I snorted. “Try annoyingly sure of themselves, overly confident and in-your-face arrogant.”
Using the hunt-and-peck style of typing with his two index fingers, Blaise clicked the keyboard faster than I could using all ten of my fingers, and he chuckled as he brought up a search engine and entered the name of the woman we’d just interviewed. “We tend to be confident for a reason.”
“What reason?” Curious about what he was looking up, I leaned over his shoulder, trying to ignore the fact that he smelled good enough to eat, like brown sugar and cayenne pepper, a hot, sweet combination.
“Most of us are attractive and…well equipped.” He turned, bringing his lips within inches of my cheek. “Comes with the species.” That voice, low and dangerous, sent shivers through me.
Damn the demon. He had a way of making me hot all over with just a look. I straightened and put distance between us. “Why are you looking up Ivana Felding?”
For a moment he stared at me as I backed away, a smile curling the corners of his lips. Then he refocused on his computer search. “Checking on a hunch.”
I paced the floor behind him, still wondering what the hell made demons so special. This one had me tied in knots just teasing me with the image of equipment packages and naked skin. “Are hunches another trick up a demon’s sleeve?”
“Not all demons. You see, most demons have a special trait, skill, trademark—call it what you will.”
“And yours is hunches?”
“No. Mine are strength, speed and apparently a little mind reading.”
“Nice to know.” I crossed my arms over my chest, mentally ordering myself not to wonder if strength translated into stamina. “Where do the hunches play in?”
“Same as anyone. I believe intuition is highly underrated. When I have a hunch, it’s usually right.” He glanced across at me. “And it’s a yes on the stamina. What was the name of the woman in your building who was attacked?”
My mind stumbled over his stamina, my core aching to test his comment. “Judy Smith, why?”
He keyed her name into the search engine next to Ivana Felding. In moments, several pages of related sites offered information on the two women.
“Like I thought.” He clicked on one of the links, bringing up an article about the death of Gordon Felding, of Felding and Lebowitz, Inc.
“What’s just as you thought?” I stopped pacing and leaned over Blaise’s shoulder again. “So? Ivana’s husband was co-owner and CEO of a corporation. We know that. Hell, everyone in New York City knows that.”
“Look farther down in the article.”
I squinted, scanning the article until my gaze ran across mention of Judy Smith, the secretary at Felding and Lebowitz who found Gordon Felding’s body. “Coincidence?”
“Two of the most recent attacks were on women who had a connection to Gordon Felding.”
“You think whoever is reanimating these dead people is targeting Gordon’s girls?”
“I don’t know yet, but I don’t believe in coincidence.”
“Me either.” I straightened. “What were the circumstances of Gordon’s death?”
Blaise clicked on a few more news articles and read silently for a moment.
I stood back and admired the way his dark hair dipped below his collar, in loose, thick waves, curling up at his shoulders. What would it feel like to run my fingers through his hair?
“Can you focus on this case?” Blaise shook his head. “There will be time for those fantasies of yours later.”
Flames licked at my cheeks, and I fought to keep from popping the back of his head with the palm of my hand.
“Gordon Felding died of a heart attack, making love to his secretary right after negotiating a deal with an investor from the Cayman Islands over a secret chemical compound. It was supposed to make the business a ton of money. But because he died before the papers were signed, the deal fell through. The company stock plummeted. They’re in Chapter Eleven bankruptcy now, and they still haven’t named a CEO to replace Felding.”
“Anyone personally take the hit financially along with the failed corporation?”
Blaise skimmed through all the reports. “Not that I can tell.”
“Keep looking. With both women being connected to Gordon Felding, I’d put my money on the failed deal as motive for revenge.” I stopped pacing long enough to squint toward the monitor. “On the other hand, any jealous lovers mentioned in the articles? Or was the secretary Gordon’s only fling?”
“The news articles don’t mention any other women involved with Mr. Felding.”
“Maybe we need to interview Mrs. Felding again.” I fished my phone out of my pocket. “Whatever happened to Lebowitz? Is he still in the picture?”
“Lebowitz actually started the company thirty years ago and made Felding his successor. Not long after, Lebowitz kicked the bucket, leaving Felding as owner and CEO of the company.”
“Any little Lebowitzes running around angry that they didn’t get a share of Daddy Lebowitz’s pie?”
“The man died a childless widower.”
“No bastard children he didn’t recognize? Greedy cousins?” I tucked my hands in my back pockets as I paced the floor, trying to think of anyone who might want to harm the women in Felding’s circle.
“None mentioned in the reports.” Blaise glanced up, a grin spreading across his face. “Did anyone ever tell you that you’re beautiful when you’re intense?”
I ground to a halt. “Don’t go there. The last guy who said that to me ended up with a fractured jaw.”
Blaise’s brows rose, but I couldn’t tell if it was in response to what I’d said or to what I was thinking. “You hit him?” he asked.
“A couple times. Almost got fired over it. My supervisor said I should have handled it without the tire iron.” I shrugged.
Blaise stared harder. “It wasn’t the compliment that got you mad.” He didn’t ask, the words he spoke were a statement plucked from the clear memory in my head. The night Vance Lincoln attacked me in the parking lot outside the freakin’ police station. If I had not been changing the flat on my cruiser, I wouldn’t have had the tire iron on me. I’d have been at Vance Lincoln’s mercy—all of his two-hundred-and-twenty-five pounds to my one-hundred-twenty-seven. I started getting catcalls when I was thirteen, but as long as it was just talk, I could handle it. What I couldn’t handle was any man—especially a police officer—thinking that looking the way I look gave him the right to do anything he wanted to me.
I figured if I couldn’t trust my fellow officers in Chicago, I might just as well fight the criminals and jerkwads of New York City. A new start might do me good.
“And here you are fending off zombie attacks instead of potential rapists among your coworkers.” Blaise grabbed my hand and pulled me close. “You need to know.” He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “I’m glad that you can protect yourself, Katya, but you’ll never have to with me.”
I should have pulled my hand from his, but his words wrapped around me, warming me in places that had been cold for too long. “
Let go.”
He turned my hand over and pressed a kiss to the palm.
By then his hold was little more than a touch. I could have pulled free at any time, but I didn’t. Damn the demon. There was just something about him that coiled around my senses, sucking me into his presence like metal to a magnet until my legs bumped into his thighs and my other hand lifted to touch those long, luscious locks of thick, black hair. And they were coarse but silky and every bit as sexy to feel as they were to see.
With a quick yank, he had me seated in his lap.
Caught off guard, I opened my mouth to protest, but his lips closed over mine before I could get a word out. The man was fast, like he said. But unlike every other man I’d met since Chicago, nothing about his touch made me want to pull away—or find a tire iron. His hold on me was still light. I could have gotten off his lap. I just didn’t want to. And once he claimed my lips, my will to resist fell to nothing more than a gentle groan.
By the time he allowed me enough air to breathe, I was weak and trembling. My hand pressed to his chest, the fingers working their way through a few buttons to open his shirt. I had to touch his skin. My fingers found his chest, warm and sprinkled with hair like any human, only not like any human. He seemed larger than life. The hardened ridge beneath my bottom nudged against me, promising proof of his statement that demons have better equipment. I wanted to see and feel for myself. My hands slid down his chest, stopping when another button got in the way of my progress. I ripped at his shirt, the buttons popping off, pinging against the monitor and falling to the floor. But when my hand fell to his fly, he grabbed hold of it and pulled it to rest against his chest.
“Do you want me?” he asked.
Desire burned through my veins, desire and a need so powerful my left brain had disengaged, allowing my right brain to run the show. “Isn’t it obvious?” I replied, my body trembling, my words shaky.
Blaise shook his head. “Take a breath. If we’re in this together for more than just getting you off, then it’s not happening until you’re good and ready to admit you want me. And you should know right now, I’m not just looking for one time.”
My vision focused on his tanned chest and the ripple of muscles he wasn’t going to let me explore with my tongue. We’d had fun before, why couldn’t we do that again? Why did he have to make this all or nothing?
“You can tease me with images of your tongue running across my skin, but I’m serious. Until you can admit to me and to yourself that you want me—want something real with me—we won’t be making love.” He kissed my lips and set me on my feet.
My knees shook so badly, I almost fell. What was wrong with me? I drew on all the anger I’d felt over being treated like a hooker on the Chicago police force, trying to stir up enough rage to flatten the demon with some pithy remark, only my brain remained befuddled, my tongue tied.
I took a deep breath and dragged my jacket over my shoulders. “Let’s go to the station.”
“Good idea. I want to see that footage they confiscated from the security cameras at Felding’s apartment building.”
“Me too.” And being around other people would automatically force me to focus on the investigation and not my partner. Safety in numbers was one of the self-protection techniques I employed when I felt overwhelmed.
As we stepped out of my apartment, drizzle cooled my cheeks and guaranteed we wouldn’t get a taxi anytime soon. We walked the blocks to the precinct where we found Detective Thomas in a cubicle reviewing the footage.
“Glad you two got here. I could use your take on this.” He nodded toward the young cop manning the mouse. “Let it play.” After a second, Thomas jabbed his finger at the corner of the monitor. “See that?” A blurry image of the sidewalk outside the apartment building could just barely be made out. At the edge of the screen, light glanced off something metal and shiny. A vehicle door.
“Now, watch closely.” Thomas leaned closer, squinting at the screen.
Light from the entrance to the apartment building flashed off the smoothly polished door as it opened and a body stumbled out.
At the same time, Mrs. Felding’s limousine pulled up to the curb and the driver hopped out to open her door.
The creature from the mystery vehicle groaned something that sounded like Where is it? and lurched into Mrs. Felding, his hands wrapping around her throat.
For a brief second, the creature’s face came into full view—hollow-eyed with grayish-blue skin, and a face contorted into what appeared to be an angry grimace.
“Did you see it?” Thomas asked.
“The zombie, yes.” I nodded.
“No, the vehicle he got out of.” Thomas faced us, hands on his hips. “Someone is setting these creatures up to attack individuals.”
“What about the first two?” Blaise asked. “They only attacked homeless men.”
“Yeah, but the latest two seem to be targeting individuals.” Thomas scratched his chin. “I wish I had footage of the attack in your apartment building, Danske. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts whoever let that zombie loose outside Felding’s building led your zombie to the apartment above yours.”
“I agree.” Blaise told Detective Thomas what we’d discovered online. “Why would someone want to hurt those women?” Blaise asked.
“There has to be another connection.” I paced across the floor, my head down…thinking.
“Did you see the markings on the side of that van?” Thomas asked. “Back it up again.”
The cop backed the video up to where the light flashed on the van door as it slid open. White letters whipped by with a symbol that resembled a human wrapped in a cocoon.
“F&L Inc.,” Blaise stated. “And that’s the logo for Felding and Lebowitz.”
My breath caught in my throat. How did he see that without slowing the video down? I met his gaze. Oh, yeah, super speed, strength—and stamina—were this demon’s skills. “Someone from Felding’s own plant set this up?”
“I’ll check for any reports of stolen vehicles from the F&L motor pool.” Thomas lifted a desk phone. “I need you two at the F&L corporate building asking questions.”
I was already struggling into the sleeves of my jacket, as I headed for the door. “Going.”
Blaise grabbed my collar and helped me, his fingers resting on my shoulders. “Forgetting someone?”
Chapter Five
I stepped outside the precinct. “I’d hoped you’d grow bored with this investigation and leave me to it.” Another lie. I figured if I kept telling myself I didn’t want his company, and didn’t want him, it would make it true. That was my plan of attack where my feelings for Blaise Michaels was concerned. Lying to myself and denial all the way. Okay, fine—I could admit that I was attracted to him. But he wanted more than I was willing to give. Maybe even more than I was able to give. I’d never had a successful relationship before, and I certainly wasn’t in the mood for one now. Involvement led to disappointment, which led to heartache. I’d vowed long ago not to have a heart where men were concerned, and Chicago had only cemented that vow.
“Keep telling yourself that. It doesn’t work.” He patted my back. “When two people are meant to be together, it happens despite your attempts to stop it.”
I stood at the curb, waving as cab after cab drove by me, empty but not stopping.
Blaise stepped around me and out into traffic. A cab driver slammed on his brakes and barely stopped in time to keep from hitting him. He flipped the demon a finger and inched forward.
Blaise gave him the stink eye, daring him to hit him. Then he smiled that full, you-can’t-resist-a-demon grin and the cab driver’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“You’re manipulating his mind, aren’t you?”
Blaise shrugged. “I wouldn’t say that.” He opened the door and held it for me as I slid across the seat.
As soon as he got in beside me, I faced him. “Have you done that with me?” I poked a finger into his chest, barely able to ignore the ele
ctrical charge that raced up my arm and into my chest. “Because if you even so much as push one thought into my mind, I’ll figure out what it takes to kill a demon and squash you like a bug.”
He grabbed my finger and sucked it into his warm, wet mouth, “Umm.” When he pulled my finger free, he tipped my chin. “Not only are you beautiful when you’re angry, you’re also very tasty. So tempting.”
My body quivered, my knees shaking. “Don’t call me beautiful.”
Instead of replying, he kissed me, pressing his lips into mine, his tongue sweeping past my teeth to slip along the length of mine. When he broke it off, he smiled down into my eyes. “You are a beautiful woman. It’s a gift, not a fault.”
“Not in my line of work. People assume there isn’t a brain to go along with the looks.” I scrubbed the back of my hand across my mouth, my lips still tingling from his invasion. I wanted so much more, but I refused to ask for it, considering the strings that would come attached. If I gave in to Blaise, what did that make me? Weak? Needy?
“You’re anything but weak. And what’s wrong with needing someone else in your life?” Blaise caressed my cheek with his palm.
I ground my teeth together to keep from turning my face into his hand and touching his skin with my lips. I couldn’t let a demon turn my head. I was in this job to prove myself as a valuable member of the detective force—a contributing part of the PIT crew’s efforts to keep the streets safe for humans and paranorms. I’d thought I enjoyed being a street cop, but now that I’d been investigating, I had to admit I kind of liked it. It was like solving—
“—a puzzle,” Blaise completed my thought.
“I find that extremely annoying.”
“I find you endearing.” He leaned back against the seat, a smile on his lips. “Are you ready to admit you want to be with me?”
“Not in this lifetime.” I crossed my arms over my chest, refusing to look at him. It was hard enough to concentrate when I was this close to him. I had been in the habit of going months without sex and never missing it. Since I’d met Blaise, I was in a constant state of arousal with no end in sight.