The girl was staring at both of them, a bewildered look plastered to her face. If he didn’t act fast, her memory plant may not hold. He’d have to take more drastic measures.
So he did the only thing he could think of.
He leaned down and kissed the woman.
She gasped as his mouth covered hers, struggled against him at first.
An asshole move for sure, but what choice did he have? It would shut her up as he implanted a thought suggestion. The intimate contact would surely make it take hold this time.
Even though he was prepared, another powerful jolt of electricity charged into his body. His lips tingled, his face heated up, his bones felt as if they were turning to rubber. Fire raced through his body, igniting just about everything. His fingers. His toes. And a few key places in between.
Damn. What the hell is going on with him? Is this what reverting feels like?
If so, no wonder it was so compelling. Her energies were rejuvenating him like a hit of adrenaline or a megadose of caffeine.
The woman’s mouth was hot on his and tasted faintly of some Italian spices and… Bubble gum? He’d have guessed she’d be more of a mint-gum person. Soft waves of her auburn hair brushed across his face. It smelled like honey. Or maybe that was her gum. Everything about her was tantalizing.
But he could not—would not—give in to it. Struggling not to get lost in the sensation, he forced himself to think of what he needed to do. He’d wipe her memory, take the two of them home, then get the hell away from her forever. Everything about this woman was way too dangerous.
He no longer cared that Krystal reminded him of his sister. Like most sweetbloods, she’d probably succumb to an unscrupulous vampire at some point in her life. There was nothing he could do to prevent it. He’d have her name taken off his list and put on another Guardian’s. Let someone else keep tabs on her, just as long as it wasn’t him. The long-ago guilt he’d harbored about his sister seemed much less important than his survival in the here and now.
“Shh,” he whispered against her lips, working his way past her mental barriers. He was vaguely aware that this felt different, as well, but then he couldn’t recall doing a mind wipe on a human host during a kiss without putting his hands on her temple. He quickly implanted the thought suggestion.
You have nothing to worry about. You saw a street fight, that’s all. I came along and broke it up.
Her body relaxed just a touch, her free hand no longer pressing against his chest in an effort to get away.
Thank God, it appeared to be working. Finally.
He slipped into his usual mode with a woman and let his hand go to the small of her back, just above the curve of her bottom. She didn’t push away. If he weren’t holding on to the girl, he’d have threaded his fingers through the woman’s luxurious curls to caress the back of her neck or cupped her ass to pull her hips closer. But he didn’t. Despite his reputation, he did have a few scruples.
And then, because he couldn’t help it, You’re kissing me because you’re grateful for my assistance. You and your cousin were in terrible danger.
Only when he stepped away from her was he aware that her arms had gone around his neck at some point during the kiss. She blinked, touched her lips with the tips of her fingers, as if confused by what just happened.
“What—what was that?”
“You tell me,” he said, shrugging. “You were the one who kissed me.”
Her cheeks colored to a lively shade of pink. “I—I did? But I don’t understand…how?”
“How? Well, if you’d like another demonstration, I’d be happy to oblige.”
The combination of a cough and a nervous laugh bubbled from her lips. “I’m grateful for your help, but…ah…that’s not necessary.” It took two tries to get her hair tucked behind her ear. She was clearly unaccustomed to doing what she thought she’d done—willingly kissing a complete stranger.
Thank God the mind wipe took this time. He didn’t know what he would’ve done otherwise. Give him a knife and a Darkblood and he was golden, but anything that needed a careful hand or any kind of finesse wasn’t his deal.
After tonight, hell most definitely had a special place waiting for him. They were probably having his name engraved now.
The woman grabbed her cousin and held her close. “Are you okay?” she asked, stroking the girl’s hair. “I’m so sorry you had to see that fight. The city usually isn’t like this. I promise.”
“I’m okay,” Krystal said.
Though relieved that the memory implant had taken hold, he was still confused. The woman made it sound as if the girl wasn’t from around here. “She’s visiting you?”
“No. She moved in with me two months ago.”
Right before she’d been kidnapped, he realized. But that didn’t surprise him. It wasn’t safe for sweetbloods to live in big cities, where vampires were concentrated in order to be close to human hosts, and tonight proved that. She’d be better off way out in the country, where it was less likely she’d run into vampires.
“Where did she live before she moved in with you?”
“In a small farming town in eastern Washington.”
Perfect. “Then she needs to move back. The city is no place for a girl like her.”
“She can’t right now. I’m the only family she’s got for the time being.”
Apprehension knotted his gut. This sweetblood girl had no other options but to stay in the city.
“I’m Arianna Wells, by the way,” she said, holding out her hand.
He pretended not to see it and tucked his hands into his pockets, instead. He really didn’t want to experience her energy again. He was barely holding it together as it was. “Jackson Foss. Nice to meet you.” Changing the subject, he asked, “How far away do you live?” Although he knew the answer, he still needed to pretend he didn’t. She wouldn’t remember that he’d already admitted knowing her address.
“About twelve blocks north.”
“Good, I’ll see you safely home, then.”
“This is your car?” he asked as they approached a decades-old Cadillac parked half on and half off the sidewalk. Its pale yellow paint was chipping, one of the hubcaps was missing, the back bumper was askew and a dent in the back passenger door made him wonder if it even opened.
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, for one thing, who parked it?”
“You just broke up a gang fight and you’re concerned about my parallel parking?”
He laughed. “It’s kind of a piece of shit, if you want to know my honest opinion. It isn’t what I had expected from you.” He hadn’t really considered what he was expecting, just that it wasn’t this.
“I actually don’t recall asking for your ‘honest opinion.’” She cocked an eyebrow. Even though he’d wiped her mind and planted some completely self-serving thoughts, he liked that she stood up to him. “That is, if you want me to be honest with you.”
Okay, she had a point. “Fair enough.”
He opened the passenger door and waited for them to climb in.
“You’re driving us?” Krystal asked.
“Yes. I’ll either come back for my truck on foot or have one of my associates pick me up.” He shut the door and jogged around to the driver’s side.
Arianna probably loved this old thing because of its sentimental value, he thought as he slid in behind the wheel. Maybe it used to belong to someone she really cared about. Her grandfather? The boat of a car did look like the kind that had belonged to an old duffer who met the boys at the neighborhood coffee shop for an early breakfast before playing eighteen holes. He’d probably kept his clubs in the large trunk and set his hat on the back ledge. No doubt she couldn’t bear to part with it. But what did she expect his or anyone else�
��s reaction would be? There was no denying it. The car was a total junker.
“Unfortunately,” she said, “what’s under the hood runs well. That’s all that matters.”
He didn’t quite follow her. Had he heard correctly? “Why is it unfortunate? I’d think it’d be a good thing that the car runs well, despite what it looks like on the outside.” On the seats, he noticed duct tape covering several tears in the vinyl, too.
She looked a little sheepish. “Never mind.”
CHAPTER FOUR
ARIANNA’S PENCIL SLIPPED OUT of her hands as she walked past a row of cubicles in the accounting section of the Xtark offices. As she stooped to pick it up, all the files she carried fell to the floor, papers scattering everywhere.
Damn. She was totally discombobulated and distracted today.
Having misplaced her phone somehow, this was turning out to be the worst day ever. Normally she didn’t need to come into the office two days in a row, but there was another meeting. One of the new assistants had been let go yesterday. Apparently, she hadn’t divulged that she was a writer and she had social-media pages using her pseudonym. They’d fired her without giving her a chance to explain.
“Does anyone else have any secrets they’d like to confess?” the VP in charge of operations had asked in such a patronizing tone that Arianna had wanted to punch him. She was pretty sure that would’ve gotten her fired.
“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned,” Carter had muttered under his breath.
She’d almost laughed out loud. She was pretty certain that that would have landed her in hot water, too.
And to top things off, she’d slept crappy. She’d tossed and turned, and had some really bizarre dreams—one of them involving the really hot guy she’d met last night. When she awoke, she had a major kink in her neck and muscle aches that were so entrenched that even a strong cup of coffee and two Tylenol hadn’t helped.
Where was that damn phone? she wondered as she gathered up the papers. She’d searched her bedroom where she always plugged it in to charge on her nightstand, then the kitchen counters, even all the cracks and crevices in the Caddy. She distinctly remembered having it when she interviewed Blake and when she picked up Krystal, but hell if she could find it now.
Seeing that gang fight must’ve been more traumatic that she’d thought. She had to have dropped it somewhere in all the chaos. After she got out of here, she’d go back to the area to see if she could find it, even if the search did seem futile. If it was there, somebody probably had picked it up by now and was making calls to the Netherlands. Even though it was password protected, hackers had their ways. At least it hadn’t rained again last night. Maybe the man who’d broken up the fight had seen it. Could he have picked it up?
Her face heated up at the thought of him. She hadn’t really kissed him, had she?
His full lips had been soft yet commanding against hers. His chest strong and muscular under the palm of her flattened hand. She’d even felt the beating of his heart.
She’d planned only to give him a quick peck and was caught off guard when the kiss turned out to be so much more. He obviously hadn’t been surprised by that turn of events because without hesitation, he’d slipped his tongue past the seam of her lips and forced her mouth open. And she’d let him.
What had caused her to do something outrageous like that? It just wasn’t like her. Sure, the guy was really hot, but she normally wasn’t the swooning type.
Though his hair was tied back, a few multicolored strands had grazed her cheeks as he leaned over her. What kind of guy would color his hair like that? she mused. Sure, it looked great and she was pretty sure he knew that. There was no doubt that he was the kind of guy who liked attention. And he was obviously very practiced when it came to having strange women kiss him, too.
Good looks and charm typically meant nothing to her, thanks to her father. It was a sugar high that left you temporarily elated until reality set back in and you got practical. And Arianna was practical to a fault. So why the hell had she kissed him? She grabbed the pencil she’d dropped and held it so tightly that it snapped.
“Need some help?”
She looked up to see Carter step out of the elevator. He leaned heavily on his cane and approached slowly, as if each next step could cause him to fall.
“Nah, I’m fine,” she replied as she picked up the last of the files.
As she got into step beside him, matching his pace, she noticed his pained expression. “You okay?” He looked a little worse than he had this morning.
He grunted. “Nothing that a medical miracle couldn’t take care of.”
Although she wasn’t privy to all the details, she knew that Carter was suffering from a debilitating disease that only seemed to be getting worse. It had to be really frustrating for him, especially since he used to be really active, running marathons, climbing mountains, kayaking the sound. When she first started at Xtark, she’d seen pictures in his office of the time he and his buddies summited Mount Rainier. He’d looked healthy, vibrant and happy. The past few times she’d been in his office, she didn’t see the photos and had wondered if he’d stashed them away. She certainly didn’t blame him for not wanting a reminder of what he used to be capable of doing.
“Sorry to hear that,” she said, keeping her voice low as they walked past the customer-service department where dozens of CSRs with headsets were answering calls. Xtark might make her mad a lot of the time, but they did put out some very popular games, including the violent and gory Hollow Grave. Plus, they didn’t outsource, which she appreciated, though it probably wasn’t due to their desire to support the local economy and workers, but because they didn’t trust anyone who wasn’t directly under their control.
God, she was in a bad mood today. Xtark paid her well and was a pretty decent company to work for…as long as you played by their rules. If she didn’t like it, she could walk. One thing was certain—she needed to get a serious attitude adjustment. Maybe that was what she needed. A vacation.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m learning to deal with the hand I’ve been dealt, because when we die, we die alone.” He sounded so matter-of-fact; was that what happened when you were faced with no alternatives?
For an instant, she considered her own mortality. How would she live her life if her days were numbered or if she knew her independence would soon be gone? One thing was certain. She sure as hell wouldn’t be working for Xtark.
“Are you just coming back from the doctor’s office now?” She knew Carter had weekly visits to monitor the progression of the disease. Why wasn’t he working remotely, the way she did most of the time? Surely it would be easier for him working from home.
Seeing what life was like for him made her feel pretty lousy for being frustrated about her job. He put up with a lot more on a daily basis than she did. Just getting to work had to be a bitch.
“The very place, yes.”
She didn’t want to turn into one of those people in the lunchroom who griped about everything. In fact, this morning, one of the CSRs who looked too young to have even graduated college yet had laughed at Carter after he left the room. She’d said it was disgusting how his shirt wasn’t long enough to cover his muffin top. Arianna had quickly retrieved her yogurt from the refrigerator and left them to gossip on their own. She wished she’d told the young woman to grow up, that Xtark wasn’t like her sorority house where members were chosen simply because they shopped at Nordstrom. Carter was a computer genius who not only was one of the lead designers of Hollow Grave, but also built Xtark’s popular online forums. If it weren’t for him and what he’d done for the company, that young woman probably wouldn’t have a job.
But she hadn’t said anything. Seeing him now emphasized how shallow and mean some people could be. And she should’ve known better. Growing up as the
girl who saw shadows move, who tried to tell everyone that monsters did exist, hadn’t exactly made her popular. More like an outcast who was made fun of until she’d learned to keep her mouth shut. Carter, however, didn’t have that choice. Next time, she vowed to speak up and defend him.
When they got to his office, she hesitated, looked around. “Can I talk to you a sec?”
“Sure.” They stepped inside and she closed the door.
“Do you know if there’s a way to find a lost phone? You know, some kind of GPS device that can track down its whereabouts?”
“Yes,” Carter said as he pulled his desk chair out and sat down with a heavy sigh of relief. “But the app would need to be on the phone before it was lost or stolen.”
She cursed under her breath.
“Why? I take it you lost your phone?”
“Yes, and it’s driving me crazy not having it. I suppose if it doesn’t turn up in the next few days, I’ll have to get a new one.” She rubbed her neck. Her throbbing muscle aches weren’t getting any better, either. “Normally I’m not very forgetful, so it’s really frustrating.” Although they were alone in his office, she lowered her voice, anyway. “Hey, I don’t know if you’ve been following Paranormalish lately, but I was interviewing one of the boys involved in the disappearance of the high-school student near the Devil’s Backbone.”
“Sounds vaguely familiar.”
“I know you set up my cloud account, but to be honest with you, I’ve totally forgotten how to access it via the computer. Although the interview wasn’t great, I did take a few photos that I think people will be interested in seeing. Believe it or not, the kid looks just like Tai Simmons. The interview sucked, but I figured I’d post a picture or two and get some good laughs.”
“T-Si?” Carter scoffed. “You looking to expand your readership into the teen-girl segment of the population?”
“I know,” she said, laughing. “But it’s the only hook I can think of, since we didn’t go out to the disappearance site. It’s not like I’ve got any appropriately ominous photos to share.”
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