“Is she off soon?” he finally asked.
“In a few minutes.”
Riddick glanced at Hunter as he pulled a stool up next to Mischa, who ignored him while she blushed so hard he thought she might pass out.
Hunter nodded to him and he nodded back, which, in guy-speak, was the equivalent of a full conversation. That suited Riddick just fine.
As Hunter leaned over and murmured something to Mischa that Riddick didn’t care about, he let his attention stray to where Harper stood at the bar, loading her last tray of drinks for the evening. She smiled at the bartender as she walked away and he grinned at her retreating back as if she’d made his day. The guys she delivered the drinks to offered her similar smiles.
There was something about Harper that made people happy, a warmth…an indefinable something that set her apart from everyone else in the bar…everyone else Riddick had ever met.
“How’s she doing?” he asked Mischa without taking his eyes off Harper.
“Fine, considering everything she’s been through.” She shot him a speculative look. “She’s missed you the past few days. Where have you been?”
“I had a few things to take care of out of town.”
“She certainly has a way with people,” Hunter said, thoughtfully.
Riddick glanced over at Mischa and Hunter, who had followed his gaze to Harper.
Mischa sighed. “If I didn’t love her so much, I’d hate her. It’s almost as if she’s…”
“Semi-charmed,” Riddick said.
Mischa looked confused, but Hunter smiled, no doubt having read his thoughts. When no one offered an explanation, Mischa shrugged and said, “You know I’ll have you killed if you hurt her, right?”
Riddick hoped she was serious and still had the contacts to get the job done. “Fair enough.”
“What if she hurts him?” Hunter asked.
She snorted. “He’s on his own.” She tipped her bottle in his direction. “God’s speed, slayer. God’s speed.”
Harper dropped into Riddick’s lap after her shift ended at a table in the back of the bar and was welcomed with roaming hands and a kiss hot and urgent enough to draw catcalls from neighboring tables.
About a minute before they could start ripping each other’s clothes off and risk an indecent exposure arrest, she broke the kiss and glanced toward the dance floor, stunned to see Mischa with Hunter. He held her intimately against his broad chest, but their body language spoke more of battle than dancing. Apparently, Mischa was still having some trouble following her heart.
“What’s happening over there?” she asked.
His hand moved over her back restlessly, heating her skin to a slow boil. “He dared her to dance with him. Called her a coward when she said no.”
Harper laughed. Apparently Hunter knew precisely how to push Mischa’s buttons. They’d make a great couple if her friend could quit overthinking everything.
She shifted on Riddick’s lap, drawing a groan from him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Harper rested her forehead against his. God, he felt so good. So right.
“You disappeared on me,” she said, poking him in the chest. “The way I figure it, you owe me three days’ worth of orgasms. That’s about thirty, by my calculations.”
One of his hands moved into her hair, cupping her nape. “Thirty?” he said against her mouth. “I can do that.”
Her whole body tingled in anticipation. She had no doubt he could do that. They’d had sex on every surface in her apartment and on every surface in his, and it got better every time.
He tugged playfully on the hem of her Clary’s t-shirt. “This is an interesting career choice for a paranormal PI. What are you doing here?”
“Well, I needed some quick cash to get the agency back on its feet, and given my limited job skills, I could either do this or wear the wiener costume outside the Dog-N-Suds.”
He smiled, obviously envisioning her dressed as a giant hot dog. “Good choice.”
She glanced at Mischa and Hunter, then back at Riddick. “What brought you here tonight?”
He looked down his nose at her. “What do you think?”
Heat spread through her veins. “I didn’t tell you about this job. How did you know?”
His smile was lazy. “I have my sources.”
If anyone else said that to her, she might feel a little creeped out. But because this was Riddick, knowing that he was keeping tabs on her only made her feel…warm. But then again, the warmth might have something to do with the impressive erection currently pressed against her bottom.
“So, where the hell have you been while you should have been giving me orgasms?” she asked.
“I had some errands to run. Why didn’t you tell me you needed more money to keep the agency going?”
She blinked at the sudden subject change. “I thought I could handle it.” She shrugged. “I guess I was wrong, because I haven’t been able to come up with half of what I need.”
He traced a fingertip along her jaw. “I agreed to be your partner, Harper. That means that just when you think you can’t handle it, I’ll be there.”
She fought back tears. It was maybe the sweetest thing she’d ever heard. As Harper struggled for words, Riddick stood up, deposited her on a stool opposite him and slid a fat envelope toward her.
She almost blacked out when she realized the envelope was full of cash. Holy crap…there must be…
“Forty thousand,” Riddick answered her unspoken question. “It should be enough to cover Romeo’s debts, plus the power and phone service for the building for the next few months.”
“How did you…just…how?” she choked out.
“I didn’t. Romeo did. He’s doing well in Vegas. Says ‘hi’.”
He’d probably also said a lot of things along the lines of “ouch, ouch, not my face”, if she hadn’t missed her guess. Riddick had gone to Vegas and beaten money out of Romeo. For her.
Harper jumped back into his arms, clinging for dear life. “Thank you.”
He nodded into her hair. “Now give me your keys, because I’m pulling the car around. We need to get out of here.”
“Why?”
“I’m paying you back what I owe you. Now.”
The tension in his voice had her laughing out loud even as her body wept in agreement. “I’ll grab my coat, say goodbye to Misch and Hunter, then I’ll meet you out front.”
He paused. “You know, I haven’t ever thanked you for everything you’ve done for me, have I?”
So he had been listening to her. “No, you haven’t,” she said, still grinning like a fool.
He grinned back at her and tapped the end of her nose with his index finger, then handed her a second envelope and left the bar without another word.
Mischa and Hunter rejoined her at the table. “What’s in the envelope?”
Not sure what could possibly top a fat envelope full of Romeo’s cash, Harper anxiously slid her fingernail through the seal.
What she pulled out of the envelope was so much more beautiful than cash, she was rendered speechless. Tears shimmering in her eyes for the second time that evening, she handed the contents of the envelope to Mischa.
“Oh my God,” Mischa said, scanning the document. “This is the deed to your building, marked paid. And it’s in your name, not Romeo’s.”
“And…” Harper said, gesturing toward the envelope with one hand and dabbing at her eyes with a cocktail napkin with the other.
Hunter reached across Mischa and snatched the envelope out of her hand. Peeking inside, he said, “It’s a name plate. The kind you hang on a door.”
“Harper Hall Investigations,” Mischa read off the plate. “I guess that means he’ll be a silent partner.”
Harper let out a watery chuckle. Of course he planned to be a silent partner. The man hardly ever spoke. What touched her most about the gesture was not that he planned to let her take all the glory for their hard work, but that he trusted her to be in charge. Witho
ut being told, he’d just given her her heart’s fondest desire: the opportunity to use her “gifts” to their full potential. The chance to truly help people again.
And of course, because she knew Riddick wasn’t much with the words and all, she realized what he was trying to say with this latest gesture.
“You’re welcome, Noah,” she whispered.
The End
Contents
Title page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Semi-Charmed Page 23