“Yeah,” I said, my voice husky. “Maggie says when you’re horny enough to chew nails, it’s time for sex.”
His sensuous lips lifted in a killer smile. “I’m gonna give you a lot more than sex, love.”
I knew he didn’t mean love, and, as he ran his hand lightly down the center of my body from neck to belly, it didn’t matter. Saber would initiate me, and, however odd a couple we might be—even for this one time—I was safe in his arms. When his fingers inched lower still, he kissed me, and I lost all reason. He stroked me with his torturing fingers, sliding over my folds, into me and out again. The pressure built, and he urged me to let go, but I didn’t know how.
“Saber, I need more,” I gasped. “I need you.”
Through a haze of lust, I saw him chuck his jeans and black boxers, and, when he braced his body over mine, I spread my legs to welcome him. He probed, and I stretched to enfold him. My legs locked around his waist, and with a long quick thrust, he filled me. After a moment to adjust to him so deep inside, he stroked, nipping at my mouth, my neck. I rode a swell that crested but wouldn’t break.
“Princesca,” he cried out, and sank his teeth into my neck.
Suddenly, the crest peaked and crashed, and I tumbled in waves of pulsing pleasure.
When the tremors eased, and our breathing slowed, Saber gave my neck a lingering kiss, then pushed up on his elbows to smile into my eyes.
“Good thing you heal fast,” he said, pushing a strand of hair off my forehead. “I just gave you the mother of all hickeys.”
Memory flooded back. “That’s right, you bit me,” I said, awed. “I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to do that.”
“Nope,” he said, teasing me with another thrust. “You. Don’t. Bite. People.”
“True.” I squirmed under him. His eyes went lusty again. “And I guess that’s fair, since I tore your shirt.”
“Ummm. My last clean one.” He slid out of me just a little, then slowly back in, deep, hard, hot.
My legs locked low on his, I caressed his butt. “Saber?”
“Yeah?” he croaked.
“Kiss me again.”
“Soon?” he asked, flexing inside me.
“Now.”
NINETEEN
Cosmil sat on the shanty porch in the willow wood rocker. The dappled late afternoon light danced in the clearing, but it did not soothe him.
“Francesca was shot last night,” he said, rustling the newspaper as he refolded it. “The animal attack is reported as well.” He sighed and glanced at Pandora. “I should not have recalled you so soon, my friend. I put you both in danger.”
Cosmil watched Pandora for a reaction, but the big cat sat on its haunches beside the rocker and calmly licked a massive paw. Too calmly, perhaps, yet Cosmil would not scold Pandora for defending herself against the drunkard who had cornered her as she’d made her way home. It had only been a small bite, after all, not a kill.
Pandora ceased licking and raised her amber gaze to Cosmil.
You foresaw only the vampires as a threat last night. Magick is not infallible.
“True.” Cosmil paused. “She handled herself well, did she not? Used her power without abusing it.”
You no longer see her as a monster, Old Wizard.
Cosmil sighed. “Not for a long while now, though I see more tests for her before the week’s end.”
Then Triton comes at last?
“Yes, and we must protect Francesca until he arrives.”
You wish me to watch her again?
Cosmil buried a hand in Pandora’s ruff. “Please, Pandora. I must concentrate on cloaking Triton while he travels.”
Shall I kill this man who smells of blood?
“Not out of hand,” Cosmil said. “Human justice must be served, if possible.”
Pandora snorted but leapt off the porch to head for the city. Cosmil drew a circle in the air, and the concealing spell he’d conjured for Pandora’s extra protection snapped into place.
Showering with Saber was my erotic dream come true, only better. Unsure and shy at first, I was soon hotter than the water cascading over us. Saber showed me a creative use for the built-in tiled bench and the term pulsating showerhead took on a whole new meaning.
We toweled each other off and might have drifted back into bed, but the phone rang incessantly. Finally I dashed to answer the cordless extension unit that had fallen on the floor—don’t ask me when—while Saber went to dress in Maggie’s room.
It was the ghost tour company asking me to fill in for a guide who had a family emergency. I wanted the evening free to spend with Saber, but they’d tried everyone else on the backup list, so I agreed to take the gig. I’d be safe with Saber, and though I didn’t know where he’d be sleeping tonight, I hoped to grab more alone time with him.
Let’s face it, I hoped to grab more of him, period.
Ten minutes later, I was wearing terry cloth shorts and a T-shirt and blowing my hair with my hurricane-force dryer when Saber padded up behind me, barefoot and bare-chested but wearing his dress slacks.
“Heard anything more from Maggie?” Saber yelled over the noise of the blow dryer.
“Nope, but she’s due home in a little over an hour,” I called back, smiling as our gazes met in the mirror.
He caressed my hip and held up a black turtleneck pullover. “You think Neil would mind if I borrow this?”
“He’ll never notice.”
“He will if you rip it off me,” he said and pulled the thin sweater on. His muscles rippled under the fabric, and my hair dryer suddenly seemed too hot.
I switched it off and turned to Saber. “Need I mention the biting incident again?”
“That little bitty hickey isn’t healed yet?” He hooked one arm around my waist and lifted my hair for a peek.
“Not quite.” I laid my hands on his forearms to brace myself when Saber nuzzled the fast-fading bruise. “I’ll wear a shawl for the tour tonight.”
He froze and pulled back. “I thought you had the night off.”
“The guide on the schedule had an emergency, and no one else was available. We can go together and, um, do something later.”
“I can’t go, Cesca.” He let go of me and raked a hand through his hair. “I have to go to Hastings to investigate a suspected werebite, damn it.”
“A werebite?” I echoed. “I thought werecreatures were extinct.”
“They are, far as I know, but it’s my job to check out this kind of report. Problem is, Gorman’s out of the hospital.”
I tensed, then shook it off. “Saber, it’ll be fine. Hastings is only twenty or thirty minutes away, and Gorman isn’t likely to take a run at me so soon—not after the beating he took.”
Saber gathered me in his arms and hugged me tight. “You’re overestimating his intelligence.”
“I’m gauging his self-preservation,” I replied, hugging him back, enjoying his scent and how natural it felt to be in his arms.
He dropped a kiss on my head and stepped back. “Still, an ounce of prevention won’t hurt.” He flipped his cell phone open. “You have the late tour?”
“No, the eight o’clock.”
“Let’s see if March can suggest an off-duty deputy to hang out with the tour.”
“Saber, a bodyguard isn’t necessary. Really. By Murphy’s Law alone, I should have an easy tour tonight.”
“I trust firepower, Cesca, not fate,” he said, wheeling out of my room when March came on the line.
I admit his protectiveness was endearing. I eavesdropped on his end of the conversation while I wielded the flatiron—until he went into Maggie’s room. I lost the words then, but made pretty darn good inroads on my hair by the time Saber came back carrying his duffel bag and looking grim.
I set the iron on a towel and gave Saber my full attention. “What’s wrong?”
He dropped his bag on my bed. “March gave me an update. Ballistics positively matched one of the .22s we found in Gorman’s house as the murder
weapon, but the serial numbers were filed off. We can’t trace it.”
“And Gorman swears up and down that it was planted, right?”
“You got it. There’s no sign of a .22 rifle, and if Yolette was set adrift in a leaking boat, it hasn’t shown up yet.”
“What about the soil samples from the planter box?”
“No word yet. Hell, that could take a week. And,” he added darkly, “Etienne made good on his threat to call the French consulate. A small jet is on standby to fly him out of here Monday with Yolette’s body.”
“A small jet to go all the way to France?”
“We think he may go to Miami. There’s no flight plan filed yet.”
“Saber, how soon do you have to leave for Hastings?”
He glanced at his watch. “The sooner the better. March doesn’t seem to have a deputy available tonight. If I can wrap up the bite business quick, I can be back before nine and catch up with your tour.”
“Before you go,” I said, heading for my desk and laptop, “let’s see if Eugene sent those photos he took in Daytona.”
“What do you expect to find?”
“I don’t know, but it can’t hurt to look.”
I slipped into my chair and retrieved my e-mail. Saber leaned over my shoulder, his hand braced on the desk. A few minutes, and there they were in an attachment, Eugene’s surveillance photos ranging from wide angles to telephoto shots. They weren’t all as clear on my system as they might be firsthand, but he’d captured several good shots of Yolette and a frightened-looking Rachelle.
“What did Yolette do or threaten to do that would spook a vampire as much as Rachelle looks spooked?” I asked aloud.
“And, if she was under Ike’s protection, why didn’t she ask him to help her?” Saber said.
“I don’t know, but get a load of Laurel in this one.” I enlarged a picture of Laurel shoving Rachelle away from the club’s doorway.
“Pull up the shot of Etienne in the car again,” Saber directed.
I did and enlarged it several times until we could make out the flask in his hand. A flask that seemed to wink silver in the parking lot light.
“Why carry a flask when the club sells booze?” I asked.
“Maybe he had something else in it. Is there a shot of him drinking from the flask?”
I scrolled through the photos again, enlarging here and there, but only one showed the flask.
“Damn, another dead end,” I said, closing the file.
“At least these put the Fourniers with Rachelle on the night before she was found dead,” Saber said. “And did you notice Gorman’s not in these shots? Not even in the wide-angle crowd shots.”
“Which means,” I said as I stood, “he wasn’t close enough to pose a threat, even if he was armed.”
Saber cupped the back of my head and stepped close to me. “I need to hit the road, but promise me you’ll be careful.” He moved his mouth over mine and murmured, “I have plans for us.”
Saber left at six fifteen with his gear, but his declaration of having plans for us lingered. I replayed it as I finished my hair, drank my last Starbloods, and cleaned Maggie’s suite. Not that Saber had left a mess. He’d even stripped the sheets and cleaned the bathroom.
I made the mistake of inhaling his scent from the sheets as I carried them to the laundry room, and fantasies exploded. Us in a hotel room making each other pant and sweat and climaxing at the same time the way it happened in romance novels. Too bad I’d taken The Kama Sutra back to the library. I got so hot thinking about getting wild with Saber, I had to stick my head in the freezer.
Which is where Maggie found me when she blew in the door at seven.
“Is the ice maker on the fritz again?” she asked as she propped her little wheeled suitcase by the table.
“Uh, no,” I stuttered and slammed the freezer door. “It’s fine. I’m just, um, making sure it’s on.”
She gave me a raised-brow look. “Did Saber do something to upset you?”
“Oh, no. Not a thing. We’re fine.”
“Where is he any—” Maggie broke off and stared. “Cesca, why on earth are you blushing?”
“Come talk to me while I get ready for the tour,” I said, rounding the island and heading for my room.
“What tour? I thought you had tonight off.”
“I’m filling in,” I told her as I broke out my makeup supplies. “Saber had to go to Hastings to investigate something, but he’s coming back later.”
Maggie leaned against the bathroom counter and frowned. “Is what’s-his-face, Stony, on the streets again? Because I don’t feel good about you working with that nut running loose.”
“They can’t lock Gorman up, Maggie, but it’s fine,” I assured her while I swiped on eye color. “He took a good beating, you know, and I doubt he’s up to following me around tonight.”
I didn’t remember if I’d told her Etienne was our real culprit, but I didn’t mention it now. She’d only freak.
“I can go with you,” Maggie offered.
“No,” I said, wielding the mascara wand. “You just got home. Saber cleaned your suite, and I put fresh sheets on the bed. I’m sure you have things to do before work tomorrow.”
“What are you doing after the tour?”
“You might want to make that who am I doing.” I opened the face powder and waited for my wording to sink in.
Maggie’s eyes went saucer round. “Oh. My. God. That’s why you were blushing. You’ve had sex. With Saber. Oh. My. God. How did it happen?”
“Well, first, it happened with him on top.”
“Too much information, smart-ass,” Maggie said and lightly slapped my arm. “Come on, you know what I mean. Thursday you didn’t want anything to do with him, and now you’re an item? What changed?”
“I’m not sure exactly,” I said, sweeping the powder brush over my face. “He kissed me on our way back from the tour last night, and then when I was—”
I caught myself before I said “shot,” put the powder brush down, and locked gazes with Maggie.
“The good news is I’m fine. Well, you can see that, right?”
“Spit it out, Cesca.”
“I was shot last night, but,” I said, holding up a hand to keep her from interrupting, “it wasn’t Gorman, because he was in the hospital. The cops don’t know who did it.”
“You were shot?” Maggie’s eyes slitted.
“In the back of my right shoulder in front of the building,” I confirmed. “The paramedics took me to Flagler, but I was already healing by the time the doc saw me.”
I rounded out the event by telling her that the sheriff’s office and the city police were investigating.
“You were shot last night, but you’re traipsing off to do another tour tonight when Saber’s not going to be there to protect you?”
“He couldn’t protect me last night, Maggie. Neither of us saw it coming, but I wasn’t in a crowd then,” I said as I packed away my makeup. “Tonight I will be, and Saber’s going to catch up to the tour by nine.”
Maggie took a deep breath and unballed her clenched fists. “Let’s skip over this and get to the good stuff. What happened with Saber? Not the intimate details,” she said, giving me a wicked grin, “just the overview.”
I laughed. “You know, I’m not sure.” I grabbed my Regency outfit from the closet and filled her in as she helped me into the gown. “After the detectives left, we were watching the Monk DVDs I ordered, and he kissed me again. Then, this afternoon, he took the dressing off my shoulder and things just happened.”
“Good things, I take it?”
“I thought so,” I said, trying not to sound dreamy.
“That’s all that counts. And Saber’s coming back tonight?”
“Well, maybe not here to the condo.”
“Ah, so you may not be home until the wee hours? If then?”
I waggled my brows. “I can only hope.”
Maggie was quiet a minute, then said,
“Do you think this is a good idea? You’ll have challenges most couples don’t have.”
“In the first place,” I said as I put my slippers on, “we’re not exactly a couple.”
“But you trusted him enough to sleep with him.”
“I did, didn’t I?”
I gazed at the bed, smiling what was probably a goofy smile, but Maggie was right. I had trusted Saber. I did trust him.
“Are you both ignoring the vampire issue?”
I shrugged. “He is, and I finally feel desirable. Right now, I’m letting that be enough.”
I strolled north on St. George headed for the tour substation, cell phone and key in my reticule, a spring in my step.
Okay, so I lied to Maggie, but only a little. I did wonder where Saber and I were going, if anywhere. I was in like with the guy, and most definitely in lust. I might be a romantic, but I’m a practical one. Love takes time. More than the four days I’d known Saber—except maybe in old wartime movies where the guy and girl meet and marry days before he ships out.
For all I knew, Saber would hightail it back to Daytona and never visit. Never invite me to visit him. Or he could be off investigating all over the state and see me once in a blue moon. And never call in between times.
Shoot. Now I was depressing myself.
A man on a red Vespa zipped by on Treasury Street, and I stopped in my tracks. Note to self: Knock it off.
A week ago I had a new job and the itch for a man. Four tours from hell and a dead body later, I still had a job and a very hot guy who was hot for me. Saber made my teeth sweat, sure, but just because he was my first didn’t mean he’d be my last. One step at a time.
Some Sunday nights are hopping on St. George, but tonight it was quiet at the north end of town. Even the music from the Mill Top Tavern seemed muted. Maybe I’d have my first normal tour, and nothing would crop up to interfere with a long night of passion with Saber.
My hopes for that elusive normal tour ended when I saw the ten college students waiting for me. Spring breakers. They had the worst earmarks of the breed. Sunburned from hitting the beach, drunk from hitting the bars. A lot of bars, judging from the way they behaved. Loud, rowdy, stumbling, weaving. And that was just the girls. Two of them wore shorts so short and halters so brief, they were a deep breath away from public indecency.
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