Temptation's Heat

by Michelle Zink

  She continued down the hall. Rowen, feeling oddly intoxicated, followed her scent. He sucked in a breath. He needed to get his shit together. He was acting like a damn puppy.

  She stopped at a large wood door near the end of the hallway, pulling a gold chain threaded with keys from inside her blouse. He had the sudden image of her pendant, nestled between the creamy swell of her breasts, and had to force himself to look away.

  “These will be your quarters while you’re here.” She opened the door. “We all have a bedroom, private bath, sitting room, and small kitchenette. There’s a larger kitchen and living area downstairs.”

  “Are we permitted to live elsewhere?” he asked. “Providing it’s nearby, of course.”

  “It’s discouraged unless you’re married. Then you have to live elsewhere, unless your spouse is also a member of the Guard.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Does that happen?”

  “Not yet.”

  “So there aren’t rules against … fraternization?” The question escaped his lips before he could think about it.

  He wondered if it was his imagination that she blushed. “Not explicitly. No.”

  “But?” Rowen prodded.

  She shook her head. “Nothing. I just think it’s a bad idea. I don’t do it, and I think anyone that does is asking for trouble.” She gave him a tight smile. “But that’s just me. You should feel free to do what you want. Eva is single.”

  “Eva?”

  Scarlet shrugged. “She’s the only other female here. Unless you’re interested in Lily, and she’s not really part of the Guard. She prefers baking over fighting.”

  “I’m not interested in your sister. Or Eva.” It came out harsher than he’d intended, and he was suddenly aware that they were only inches away, her musky scent working its way into his veins. He was glad they were still in the hallway. He wouldn’t have wanted the temptation of being alone with her in his new quarters.

  She bit her lower lip, and he was consumed with the desire to plunder her mouth, to suck on the fullness of her lips, to feel her body move under his, her bare breasts pressed against his chest.

  “Anyway,” she said. Was it his imagination that she was breathless? “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around. If you need anything, use the phone in your room to dial 0. Lily’s the best concierge in town. She’ll see that you have anything you need.”

  She brushed against him as she left, setting his skin on fire.

  Six

  By the time seven o’clock rolled around, Scarlet couldn’t escape Guard headquarters fast enough.

  It was bad enough that Rowen Black had rendered her speechless. It’s not like that happened very often. But her physical reaction to him was enough to send her over the edge.

  Shallow breathing? Check.

  Lightheadedness? Check.

  Elevated body temperature? Double check.

  He wasn’t even her type. So he was gorgeous. His reputation said he was also self-centered and hot-headed. Dangerous. Reckless. The very last thing she needed.

  Okay, he was totally her type. But that didn’t mean it was a good thing.

  He was a member of the Guard. An infamous member. That had to be some kind of double violation of her Don’t-Date-the-Guard policy.

  She cursed under her breath and hurried along Main Street. Clifton had never quite recovered from its downfall as a now-useless railroad town, and tracks still crisscrossed the roads, a body of scars, despite the fact that trains hadn’t run through the town in ages.

  She hooked a right at the abandoned train station, wary now that she was heading into the seedier part of town. A group of younger guys, standing in front of a corner store with bars on its windows, directed catcalls at her as she passed. They looked harmless enough, but she rested a hand on the sickle folded into her waistband anyway. Her pendant warmed against her chest, the power that was part of her bloodline priming in the crystal prism that allowed the Guard to control their weapons. It was against the rules to harm a mortal, but the boomerang-shaped sickle with two deadly edges—one with jagged teeth, the other sharp as a razor—was particularly intimidating. She wasn’t above pulling it out to head off an altercation.

  She didn’t take her hand off the weapon until she was inside the dimly lit safe zone of the Anti-Chamber. Members of both the Alliance and the Legion drank there, and while they didn’t exactly socialize, they respected each other’s boundaries.

  She looked past a cluster of bikers in black leather and another group she recognized as fighters for the Legion’s Blackguard. Massive and flinty-eyed, they were every bit as intimidating as the warriors of the Shadowguard. Of course, to the untrained eye, they were just men, out for a few drinks and a game of pool on a Thursday night. Like the descendants who made up the Shadowguard, the demons of the Blackguard were part of an ancient bloodline. And while legend made them out to be freakish, monstrous creatures, millennia separated them from their spiritual origins. Most of them weren’t very different from the mortals they sought to sway.

  In appearance, anyway.

  Scarlet spotted Eva sitting at the bar. Dark roots peeked out from under her short blonde hair, her pixie face tilted up to a familiar mortal clad in jeans and a white t-shirt. Scarlet had seen him before. Matt Something-Or-Other. She wished she could save him the trouble by breaking the bad news; Eva didn’t date mortals.

  “Hey.” She sat down on the other side of Eva and gestured to the bartender, Billy, before looking at Matt, whose eyes were glued to Eva’s boobs. “Hi, Matt.”

  Billy set a dripping beer in front of her.

  “Hey, Scarlet,” Matt said.

  Eva looked up at him. “Scarlet and I have some business to discuss; do you think you could give us a few minutes?”

  “Sure.” Matt nodded, but his disappointment was obvious. “I’ll see you around.”

  “When are you going to put that poor guy out of his misery and go out with him?” Scarlet asked when Matt was out of earshot.

  “Never.” Eva took a swig of her beer and knocked on the bar for another. “And you know why.”

  Scarlet laughed. “You don’t have to marry the guy. Just go out with him. Have fun. See what happens.”

  “Says the girl whose last date was almost a year ago.”

  Scarlet leveled her gaze at Eva. “That’s different. I’ve been busy training. I hardly ever go out anymore. Opportunity is staring you right in the face.”

  Eva smirked, raising her eyebrows. “From what I hear, opportunity was staring you in the face today, too.”

  Scarlet took a drink of her beer, avoiding Eva’s eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Um, let me think … Tall, dark and handsome? Bad-boy rep? One of our very own?”

  “You must mean rude, obnoxious, and arrogant. And the fact that he’s one of our very own makes him off limits for me. Maybe you should date him.”

  Scarlet heard Rowen’s words in her head: I’m not interested in your sister. Or Eva.

  The sound of his voice in her head sent a wave of heat through her body. She shifted uncomfortably on the bar stool.

  “Rude, obnoxious, and arrogant?” She shook her head. “There’s only room for one of those in my relationships. And I’m afraid the job is already taken.”

  Scarlet laughed.

  “Seriously, though,” Eva said. “Why not? It’s the twenty-first century. Take him to bed. Have your way with him. Cut him loose afterward if you want.”

  “I can’t afford to risk it,” Scarlet said. “There’s too much at stake.”

  Eva’s expression grew thoughtful as she picked at the label on her beer. “Maybe there’s more at stake by not taking the risk at all.” She raised her blue eyes to Scarlet’s. “You know?”

  Seven

  Despite the Cal-King bed, luxurious sheets, and climate-controlled bedroom that were now his, Rowen slept like shit.

  It was that damn woman.

  Scarlet.

  Ever
y time he closed his eyes he saw her. The way her inky eyelashes shadowed her porcelain skin when she blinked. The full lips begging possession by his. The tiny waist, full hips, firm ass. The way she looked at him, an ocean of mystery in her green eyes.

  Fuck.

  He stepped out of bed and walked to the shower. He turned the nozzle to cold, hoping it would dampen his arousal, and stepped in, forcing his thoughts away from Scarlet Montgomery. He needed to get his head back in the game. Start thinking about what was next. Namely, meeting the other members of the Guard and angling for some kind of assignment. He’d go crazy if he was forced to sit for long around the plush headquarters of the Shadowguard.

  He walked back into the bedroom. He’d done some quick shopping after getting his room assignment and he was headed for the stack of new clothes on the bureau when the door that separated the living room from the bedroom opened.

  When he turned around, Scarlet Montgomery was staring him in the face.

  Well, not the face, exactly.

  He could only look at her, the air charged with something thick and hot, his naked body on fire despite the cool air in the room. Scarlet’s eyes were glued to his body in the moment before she raised them to his.

  “I … I’m sorry … Lily …” She looked away.

  He walked toward her, hyper-aware of his nakedness. Of how easy it would be to pull her to him. To feel her body against his. To reach down and rip the buttons of her shirt, pull it from her body while his mouth found the creamy mounds straining against the lace bra he could make out beneath the white cotton.

  “I don’t mind if you don’t,” he said, reaching past her to the towel that hung on the door.

  He was being a dick, but he felt a perverse kind of pleasure in the knowledge that he was throwing her off her game. He had a feeling Scarlet Montgomery wasn’t off her game often. The fact that he was the one to do it, however inadvertently, gave him a welcome feeling of control. One he hadn’t had since he’d first laid eyes on her in Ambrose’s office.

  She raised her chin. “No. Of course not.” She waved toward the towel. “Do … whatever you need to do. I just wanted to tell you that Lily is serving breakfast. She wondered if you would be joining us.”

  He wrapped the towel around his waist and stopped in front of her, close enough to smell cinnamon on her breath. “Lily was wondering, huh?”

  Her slender throat moved as she swallowed, and he had a flash of his mouth connecting to the pale skin at her neck, his tongue tasting the delicious hollow at the center of her collarbone.

  “Yes,” she said, bowing her head a little. “I knocked, but, uh … no one answered, so I … I …”

  He leaned in, dropping his head until it was almost touching the skin near her ear. “Well, you can tell Lily I’ll be right down. Unless you can think of something that would make missing breakfast worthwhile.”

  He heard the intake of her breath as she reached up and put both hands on his chest. Her warm palms on his shower-cooled skin sent a ripple of electricity surging through his body like a lightning bolt.

  Then she gave him a good shove. “I’ve already been to that party. I’m not interested in a repeat.” Her eyes flashed. “And in case you’re wondering, I’ve seen a naked man before. You’re nothing special.”

  She turned and left before he could respond. He stood there in the empty room, wondering if the sting he felt was the cold or the fact that she had just made it abundantly clear she wasn’t the least bit interested in him.

  Eight

  Scarlet could only hope she hadn’t given herself away. That it hadn’t been obvious how much restraint it had taken not to step toward Rowen, to press herself against that very male—and yes, as long as she was being honest she might as well admit it—very hot, body. Her palms had burned against his skin, cool and damp from the shower. She felt the heat moving between them. Could almost smell the animal attraction in the air.

  Then, he had turned all cocky, looking at her with the “been there, done that” gleam in his eye.

  And good thing, too. It was just the reminder she needed.

  She plastered a look of calm on her face as she entered the dining room. It was a cacophony of silver on porcelain, quiet murmuring, and a heated debate between Braden and Kane about the most expeditious way to dispatch a revenant with a sickle.

  Lily pushed through the door from the kitchen carrying a basket of steaming blueberry muffins. “Should I set a place for him?” she asked Scarlet.

  “I have no idea.” Scarlet took her seat next to Braden. “The man is infuriating.”

  Braden turned to her, grinning. “I always figured you for the infuriating type.”

  She grabbed a muffin from the basket and took a huge bite, chewing it angrily. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  His laugh was a warm rumble coming from his wide chest. “Just that nice and respectful hasn’t done the job. Obviously.”

  “Obviously?”

  “C’mon, Scarlet.” She was surprised to see embarrassment on his face. “You’re Ambrose’s daughter. Even those of us who can be dicks wouldn’t dare treat you with anything but kid gloves, but it’s not like you’ve been interested in what any of us were offering.” He took a swig of coffee, his big hand incongruous against the dainty floral cup Lily insisted on using. “Maybe infuriating is just your type.”

  As if on cue, Rowen walked into the room. Scarlet’s body betrayed her with a fresh slam of lust as she took in the tight black t-shirt and snug jeans, hugging his body like they were made for him, making no secret of the significant package between his legs.

  Then again, that wasn’t a secret anyway. Not anymore.

  She looked away, trying to concentrate on the omelet Lily slid onto her plate instead of the image of a naked Rowen Black, body still glistening from the shower, now seared into her brain

  Nine

  Her arms were in mid-air. She was doing something to her hair, but it was her breasts that had him captivated. They strained against the fabric of her shirt, the perfect fullness of them outlined in lace.

  “You can watch from the sidelines, if you want,” Kane said to him.

  Rowen nodded, pulling his eyes away from Scarlet’s curves.

  He liked Kane. Sensed a fellow rebel in his flinty eyes, his gruff demeanor. And Rowen learned some things from talking to the other man. Turns out Rowen had been sent to replace some guy named Mikhail, a member of the Guard who had disappeared nearly two months ago. Word was Mikhail had been under suspicion for fraternizing with the enemy even before his disappearance. They didn’t have proof, but Mikhail’s invisible-man act was enough to indict him in the eyes of the rest of the Guard.

  Rowen stepped back against the wall as Lily led Ambrose Montgomery into the training room. Rowen didn’t know who looked more fragile, the ailing old man or his youngest daughter, supporting him with obvious effort.

  Pushing back from the wall, Rowen walked across the floor and offered Ambrose his arm.

  “Sir.” He glanced at Lily. “Breakfast was delicious. I don’t know you well, but I’m assuming you have something cooking in the kitchen.”

  A surprised smile lit her face. “How did you know?”

  “Just a hunch.” He winked at her. “Go ahead. I’ll keep your father company.”

  “You sure?”

  He nodded, smiling down at the old man. “It’s my honor.”

  “Thank you. I’ll save you a cookie.” Lily kissed her father’s cheek before hurrying from the room.

  Ambrose took Rowen’s arm and patted his hand. “That was kind.”

  Rowen accompanied him to a chair on one side of the room. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Ambrose chuckled. “I knew there was more to you than meets the eye.”

  Rowen helped him get settled in the chair before retreating to the wall. Braden, Ivan, and the woman named Eva trickled into the room and took up residence near the door.

  Ambrose brought his hands to
gether. His clap was dry and faint. “Everyone ready?”

  Scarlet and Kane, facing each other in the center of the room, nodded and raised their sickles. Kane hadn’t seemed unusually large when they’d been walking to the training room, but standing next to Scarlet, he was huge. A mountain next to a rose bush. He had a foot and at least a hundred and twenty pounds on her. A flicker of dread pulsed through Rowen’s chest.

  He cut a glance at Ambrose, looking utterly unconcerned, before returning his attention to the center of the floor where Scarlet and Kane were slowly circling each other in ready position. It was none of Rowen’s business if Scarlet Montgomery wanted to get her ass kicked.

  Scarlet stepped forward first and extended her arm. She struck Kane’s sickle with her own, and a dull thud rang out across the room.

  Kane held firm, stepping to the left and hitting her sickle with his own. Her arm came down with the force of the blow, but she held onto the sickle and pivoted to her other foot, raising her leg to strike at Kane’s fighting arm.

  Kane blocked her, sickle in hand.

  Rowen watched as the pair executed a series of quick maneuvers. He was surprised how quickly Scarlet moved. Her smaller size gave her an advantage in speed that she utilized to the hilt against Kane’s greater bulk. But what he lacked in speed, he made up for in force, and he rocked her with every blow he landed.

  Rowen admired her tenacity. Her stubbornness was an advantage in battle.

  They’d been fighting for a full twenty minutes when Scarlet ducked under Kane’s right arm, spun around his back, and hooked the sickle in his left hand. It clattered to the floor.

  Kane looked up in surprise, lashing out with one of his legs, hitting Scarlet’s right arm so hard that Rowen saw her body vibrate with the impact. Her sickle dropped out of her hand, skittering to the far wall.

  Rowen thought it might be over, but they continued to circle each other, sizing the other up, before simultaneously advancing. They continued their battle hand-to-hand, battering each other with blows and kicks that didn’t look the least bit watered down.