Heart Of Stone

by Cynthia Eden

  Her breath heaved out.

  “I’m supposed to run security at this place.” His gaze swept over her. “After I take care of my new side job.”

  He’d just called her a side job. Not a side piece, but a side job. She found both titles equally insulting. “I warned you—”

  He turned away and strolled toward the elevator. As if he didn’t have a care in the world. All la-de-da casual. Did he not get how dangerous she was?

  He pushed the button for the elevator. Then he crossed his hands over his chest and glanced back at her. “Did you…or did you not…ask for a guard? I believe Luke called it 24/7 protection?”

  “I…did, but—”

  “You also wanted someone who wasn’t afraid to kill.”

  She swallowed.

  He flashed a smile, and his teeth seemed sharper than before. “I’m not afraid.”

  No, she got that.

  The elevator dinged. The doors opened. He motioned for her to go in first.

  After a brief hesitation, she did. I don’t want to be carried over his damn shoulder again. It was a big elevator, but as soon as he followed her inside, the space suddenly felt tight.

  Tense.

  Sabrina tried to make Adam see reason. “Look, I needed Luke to send me a paranormal who wouldn’t be influenced by me…I figured he’d send a vamp. I mean, they’re dead, right?”

  He stroked his chin. “I thought the PC term was undead.”

  “They don’t feel as much, not usually. So they’d be in better control with me.”

  “Or maybe you thought you’d be better able to control them.”

  Maybe.

  He let out a low whistle. “You really think you’re going to drive me mad?”

  Why was the elevator so slow? “It’s a possibility. With your aura being so dark, it’s a dangerous risk. I need someone who isn’t so tainted…” She needed to make him understand what she was seeing when she looked at his aura. “It’s, I swear, it’s like you’re already under someone else’s spell.”

  He blinked. Then his whole expression seemed to shut down. To turn to pure stone right before her eyes.

  Nervous, she backed up and her shoulders hit the elevator’s wall. A quick glance at the control panel showed her they were shooting toward the top floor.

  He stepped toward her. “No one controls me. Not anymore.”

  That was what he thought. He didn’t get just how insidious a muse’s power could be. “I’m holding back on you. I’ve been holding back since the first moment. If I let myself go…”

  His hand lifted and he touched her cheek. Surprised by that sudden tenderness—especially from someone like him—Sabrina stilled. She also tried really hard to ignore the sudden, sharp surge of desire that rose within her.

  Wrong time. Wrong place. Wrong guy. Very wrong guy.

  “You don’t trust Luke, do you, Sabrina?”

  Did she look insane? “His business is lies.”

  “Yet you still made a deal with him.”

  “Desperate times and all that,” she managed. The elevator had stopped. The doors had opened. They should leave or move or something.

  “Do you really think he would have sent someone to you who could be so easily swayed by your power?”

  Uh…was that a trick question?

  His hand slid down her cheek. Down, down…his fingers wrapped around her throat. He had to feel the frantic pounding of her pulse against his touch.

  His head bent toward her. His lips moved right next to her ear. She could feel the stir of his breath against her. “It doesn’t work on me.”

  “What?”

  Had she just felt the lick of his tongue along the shell of her ear?

  “I’m pure stone, sweetheart. Your power…your inspiration, it won’t do a single thing to me.”

  If only. But she’d heard that line before. People who thought they were so big and so bad, but they’d still been brought down before her. “You wish,” she told him.

  His head pulled back. His gaze—so dark and deep and unnerving—held hers. “I know.”

  Okay, did the guy want to play games? She could play. “You want a little test?”

  His mouth hitched into a half smile. “Hit me with your worst.”

  He didn’t truly want to see her worst. Sabrina’s stomach clenched. Her worst was out there in the world right then…her worst could very well have been the driver who’d run her off the road.

  But why just leave me there?

  Maybe…maybe he’d wanted to scare her.

  She knew he liked fear. To him, it was an aphrodisiac.

  That’s what I did to him. Her stomach felt leaden. “I don’t like games—especially not games that involve people’s lives.” She lifted her hands and pushed against his chest. “The elevator has stopped. Back away.”

  He looked at her hands, then up at her. His head inclined. “My floor…”

  When he eased back, she shot past him, only to stop short. The elevator hadn’t opened into some hallway—it had opened right inside one of the condo units. A big, crazy luxurious place with floor to ceiling windows that looked out over the beach.

  She could definitely see Luke’s hand in the decoration.

  Leather couches. Big screen TVs. Marble countertops. Over the top everything.

  “I’m guessing you didn’t notice that I had to put my key card into the elevator’s control panel so we could access this floor,” Adam said as he followed her. His steps seemed to echo because the place was that big. “The facility is secure, believe me. Video feeds, audio feeds, and if you don’t have the key card, the alarms start shrieking the minute you try to access a floor that you shouldn’t be on.”

  She turned around, her gaze sweeping the high-priced condo. No, not just a condo. A penthouse. A paranormal paradise.

  Or a paranormal prison. Sabrina figured it was all about how you looked at the place.

  He shrugged out of his coat. Yanked off his tie. Undid the top few buttons on his shirt.

  Keep going. She looked away. Bad Sabrina. Very bad. You do not need the guy to keep stripping for your viewing pleasure.

  The leather groaned as he sprawled on the couch.

  Her gaze jumped back to him. Okay, he hadn’t taken anything else off. Just undid a few buttons. Gotten comfortable. He’d—

  “Tell me who I have to kill.”

  He was cutting right to the chase. She shifted her stance a bit and kicked off her high heels. They were damn uncomfortable. And the dress—she would love to switch into something else.

  “Cute toes.”

  What? She looked down at her toes. The nails were painted the same blue as her dress. Her head lifted and she stared back at him.

  “Give me a name.” He rolled his hand toward her. “A general description. If you have something with the guy’s scent on it, that would be even better. I can hunt him down by dawn and have this problem squared away so that we can both go back to our lives.”

  She wished. Sabrina took a few halting steps toward him. “You think…it will be that easy?”

  His face had gone all hard and cold on her again. “I’m very good at killing.”

  Another reason she should not be attracted to him. He was a predator, straight to his core. And his prey? Humans? Paranormals?

  So she stopped taking those halting steps toward him. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and tried to figure out what she could possibly do next.

  “I think I know what happened…” He was all musing. Like he’d just solved a riddle. The riddle of her? “You met some poor jerk. He looked into your eyes and he was lost. That’s how it works, right? You have the power in your eyes…”

  “No.” A quick denial. He wasn’t the first to make that mistake. One psycho had once even tried to take her eyes from her because he believed that load of bull. “It doesn’t work that way. The power is in me. Inside. It’s not my eyes.” She squeezed said eyes closed. “They’re just an unusual shade of blue. Muse trademark
. Because we see things differently, our eyes appear a bit different.”

  “Auras. That’s what you see?”

  “Yes.” She made herself open her eyes. “So no one looked into my eyes and got zapped—”

  “Then how did you get the bastard so twisted up? Because that’s what happened, right? He got obsessed with you. Got dangerous. Got to the point where he’d do anything to have you.” Adam’s stare was unblinking. “All of those things you warned me about…”

  “All of those things and more.”

  “Am I dealing with a paranormal?”

  Excellent question. The problem was…“I’m not sure.” She would have once sworn that Eric Foster was completely human but…

  He can resist me. Somehow, he’d gotten to the point that he could actually resist her power—she’d learned that particular truth at the wrong time. When I realized he was a killer.

  He leaned forward, dangling his hands between his spread thighs. “What you mean? You took one look at me and you knew right away what I was.”

  “You’re different.” And it was hard to explain exactly how so but…“Your dark aura—”

  “Yeah,” he said cutting through her words, “I got that part before. So my aura was a dead giveaway that I was something…more.”

  She nodded. “The man we’re after—he isn’t who I thought he was.” A human? Could a human really be such a beast?

  “When you left that ball tonight,” his eyes never left her face, “you were followed. I saw the SUV get on your tail the minute you left the parking lot.”

  “And you came flying to my rescue?” Her words held a mocking edge, but he had come to her rescue. Not flying, but racing there on his motorcycle.

  “If he’d still been at the scene, I could have ended him right then and there.”

  She didn’t enjoy thinking about someone’s death. Sure, she had a reputation for being bad, but people had her all wrong. “I wish I could go back. Change things. Never even meet him.” Sadness thickened her voice.

  Adam pushed off the couch. He stood to his full, towering height. “There is no going back. Not for any of us. Better to bury that dream now.” Bitterness was in his voice and on his face. Bitterness and pain. Whatever secrets were in Adam’s past, they weren’t pretty. “A name. Give me his name.”

  When she took this step, when she turned on him, Sabrina knew death would try to come for her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and said, “Eric. Eric Foster.”

  His eyes widened, and she knew he recognized the name. “The freaking tech billionaire?”

  Her shoulders rolled in a small shrug. “What can I say? I’m really good…at inspiration.”

  ***

  “You look kind of familiar,” the blonde said as she ran her fingers over the front of Eric’s tux. “Have we met before?”

  “I haven’t had the pleasure.” They had just climbed into his limo. The SUV that he’d used before? Long gone. It would never be traced back to him. There were some true benefits to having shitloads of money. After he met the blonde—he thought her name was Mary or Maggie or something like that—Eric called for his driver. His driver knew that Eric valued privacy above all else. Privacy and discretion.

  “I swear I know your face,” she said as her hand pressed harder to his chest. The scent of her perfume was overwhelming. The driver closed the door and they were alone in the back of the limo. “Are you like a celebrity or something?” She gave a high-pitched laugh. “Maybe I saw you on TV.”

  He smiled at her. “Not a celebrity.” In fact, he made a point of staying away from the limelight. “Something else. Something better.”

  She pressed her body closer to his. She kissed his jaw. Then she put his earlobe between her teeth and gave a little tug. “Tell me,” she whispered, “I’m dying to know.”

  He caught her hand and brought it to his mouth. Eric pressed a kiss to her palm. “You will be dying,” he promised.

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  It was his turn to kiss her jaw. Then, just as she’d done, he caught her earlobe between his teeth and tugged. Softly at first, but then harder, letting her feel the edge of pain.

  Before the night was done, she’d feel plenty of pain.

  “You want to know what I am?” He breathed into her ear. “I’m a killer.”

  Her breath came faster. Her body shuddered. “That’s not funny.”

  “I’m not joking,” he replied softly. This time, he eased back and kissed her lips. “And guess what? I’m going to kill you.”

  Chapter Three

  “Was he your lover?” Adam knew he probably shouldn’t have asked the question, but he did it anyway. Curiosity compelled him. Curiosity could be a real bitch.

  The quick jerk of Sabrina’s head told Adam the answer to his question. So did the sudden paleness of her skin.

  The bastard was her lover.

  Adam forced his hands to unclench. He wasn’t exactly sure when he’d fisted them. “You really didn’t see what he was, did you?”

  She paced toward the windows that overlooked the beach. “Maybe you need a little background on me. A few months ago…well, maybe—maybe it was more than a few months…I-I try not to think about it too often…” Her voice trailed away.

  Adam waited. Every muscle in his body was tight with tension. Why did the idea of Sabrina with a lover piss him off so much? She wasn’t his. Who she fucked wasn’t his business.

  I want to make it my business.

  He was heading into dangerous territory, and Adam knew it.

  “There’s a lot of madness in the world.” She was staring out of the windows, gazing into the darkness, and definitely not looking back at him. “That madness caught me.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Sabrina gave a mocking laugh. “Literally, I was caught by a man named Simon Lorne. A man utterly consumed by madness. Unfortunately, he knew far too much about dark magic and dark paranormals. Simon’s wife had been taken from him—killed—and he was willing to do anything in order to get her back.”

  At that moment, Adam was very glad she could not see his face.

  “He had guards…A lot of them. They made sure I never escaped. Simon…hurt me. He was making a collection, you see. Getting everything he needed to cast a powerful spell. Not everything.” Her shoulders slumped. “Sorry, I need to be clearer with you. He was getting everyone he needed for that spell.”

  Adam felt rooted to the spot.

  “Simon needed the heart from a vampire, the wings of an angel, the lips of a witch, and inspiration from a muse.” She gave another rough laugh. Only this one held more pain than mockery. “But Simon mistakenly thought the power of my inspiration was in my eyes.” Sabrina turned to face him.

  Adam made sure his face showed no emotion.

  “He was going to cut out my eyes.”

  Her beautiful eyes.

  “The cavalry came roaring in…and I escaped, with my eyes still exactly where they belong. I ran as fast as I could. I was looking for safety. I was looking for a good life. Instead, I found Eric. Or rather, he found me.” She gave him a weak smile. “You see, Eric and I had met long before I was taken captive. We met, and I could see he was on the verge of brilliance. He just needed that little push. That bit of —“

  “Inspiration?” Adam supplied quietly.

  “Yes.” She pressed her lips together and then a few moments later said, “Before my abduction, Eric and I grew close. When we were together, things seemed perfect. That wonderful rush of euphoria. And I thought…Maybe this time will be different. Maybe he will be different.” She raked a hand through her hair. “He was definitely different.”

  “Let me guess.” He tilted his head and studied her. “You inspired him to make those technical breakthroughs. Because of you, the guy is a billionaire.”

  “I didn’t give him the skills, just the drive to follow his passion.” She swallowed and her gaze was haunted. “Things went wrong. They often do, if you aren’t
very careful. I try to be careful. I swear, I do. But when I was taken, Eric…well, he freaked. His obsession with me went to a whole new level. He thought I’d abandoned him, thought I’d left him for someone else. He searched desperately for me, and with every day that passed, he changed more. I should’ve seen the danger with him. I don’t know why I didn’t see it.” Her eyes squeezed shut. “By the time I was free, by the time I found him again, it was too late. The man I’d known…The man I thought I’d known, was long gone.”

  “I’m not sure I understand.”

  Her eyes opened. “Some people say that there is a thin line between brilliance and madness. You ever heard that?”

  Adam just stared at her.

  “Let’s just say that while I was gone, Eric crossed that line. He crossed it again and again. He wanted to punish me, you see. He wanted to hurt me for leaving him.”

  His muscles were clenched so tightly that Adam’s body ached. He could feel the beast he kept chained inside—deep inside. It was clawing at him. It wanted freedom. It wanted blood. Eric’s blood. “It wasn’t your fault that you were taken.”

  Her twisted smile made his chest feel odd. “It’s not like I could tell him that. I mean…what was I supposed to do? Go up to the guy I thought was human and say, ‘Hey, sorry for the vanishing act. Totally not my intent to disappear. I was taken by some dark magic wielding psycho who wanted to steal my power to bring back his dead wife. I was held in a prison, tortured for kicks, and prevented from escaping by his asshole guards.’”

  Adam raised his brows. “Guess that’s not the story you went with?”

  “I couldn’t tell him I was a muse. That wasn’t an option. And when I first saw him again, I didn’t realize how much he’d changed.”

  “Didn’t see that in his aura?”

  “That’s the funny thing.” Sabrina hesitated. “I could no longer see his aura at all. For the first time in my life, when I looked at a person, there was no aura. No extra lights or extra darkness. No extra colors at all. Nothing for me to fix. Nothing for me to worry about. It was just him. I thought…I thought that meant we were supposed to be together…or some fated thing like that.” Her chin notched up. “Paranormals are big on fate, you know?”