“I don’t have time for a captivating quickie on your desk tonight. I have errands to run. Also, I have a pen-shaped bruise on my ass.”
“Maybe next time I’ll spread you out on a bed. I think I’d like to have about four hours to spend on your body.”
She cocked her head, eyes glimmering with sexuality so raw he felt it, electric, riding up his spine. Her tongue darted out, sliding along her lips until he squirmed in his seat. “Is that why you called me, Mr. Emery?”
He took a sip of his mineral water and tried not to smile. “I took the liberty of asking a few friends back in Boston about those names you gave me last night.” He pushed the papers toward her and she took them, looking through them. “That may give you something. Not a whole lot, but hopefully a bit of help.”
She smiled. “Thanks, William. I appreciate it.” She stood and he followed, not wanting her to go yet. He reached her quickly, before she got to the door.
“Where are you headed?”
She stopped and he angled her body with his own, backing her against the door.
“Hmm, against this door, apparently. Déjà vu?”
He moved so close his body rested against hers. The sun-warmed scent of her skin rose to his nose and he breathed deep. Leaning in, he nuzzled her neck softly and she sighed, melting into his touch.
He skated his lips up, under her chin, his teeth nipping at her jaw. Her mouth was waiting for him when he got there, her lips parted, breath mingling with his as he slid into the kiss.
Her hands smoothed up the front of his shirt and he shivered when her nails scored over his nipples. Their tongues tangled, flirted, teased back and forth in an easy dance. It felt as if he’d kissed her a million times, her taste was so familiar and at the same time, like he’d never been kissed before. Their connection was so unexpectedly moving. He knew it would be, and yet found it surprising, too.
Need slammed into his gut, his cock, his heart. His fingers fumbled with the buttons on her shirt and she stayed him.
“You know you want this as much as I do,” he said as he struggled for breath.
“I do. But not here. Not now. I really do have to go. I’m expecting to meet someone and I can’t be late.”
He took a step back, feeling like a toddler who’d been told no. He wanted her, damn it! Why did any woman have the ability to do this to him? This wasn’t who he was.
He gave her a smile, easing back, using his feigned nonchalance to build a moat between them before he did something stupid like beg.
“Okay, then. You know it’s not fair to give me a taste and then deny me. But fine. Call me before you leave Vegas. Maybe we’ll get together before you go home.”
Her lips tightened into a line for a brief moment, but instead she breathed out and then shrugged. “Okay, then. Have a good one and thanks for the help.” She hauled the door open and he was, yet again, watching her leave. That’s all she had to say? Okay, then?
Oh, no! With a muted growl of frustration, he stormed after her. One of his people saw her walk out and handed her a note.
“What’s that?” he nearly barked as she read.
“A piece of paper with words on it. Don’t you have, like, eleventyfourteen women to blow before you turn into a pumpkin at midnight?” She tucked the note into her bag and headed toward the door.
“Let me walk you to the elevators at least. You’re staying here, you said. It’s getting late.” He quickly told the bouncer he’d be back shortly and hustled to catch up with her.
Nell wanted to rap him over the head with her bag. Oh, he’d see her again before she left Vegas all right. He was an idiot and willfully blind to what they had between them. Or, well, not so blind, which is why she knew he played it all cool after she’d called a halt to that kiss. She’d moved him, he wanted her and he didn’t like that he did. Well, tough shit. He was hers, the stupid twit. She wasn’t going to engage and let him goad her, though.
“Hey, wait, those are the elevators to the parking garage,” he said, trying to steer her like she was an idiot. Her legs still felt like rubber after that kiss. God, he’d felt so good there, his mouth on hers like it was made to be there. He had no idea how hard it had been to stop it. But she had to meet with Galen and Alex.
She rolled her eyes, exasperated. “I know. I need the elevators to the garage. I’m meeting someone down the Strip so I need my car. Thanks for walking me to the elevators. Have a good night.” She walked into the elevator, just waiting for the door to close so she could fume a bit, but he had the nerve to follow her in. Hmpf. He couldn’t bear to leave her. Ha!
“Why didn’t you say that? I’m going to walk you to your car.”
“This place is totally safe.” Not like she’d be worried if it wasn’t. She could handle herself quite ably against most threats.
“Of course it is, but I’m not letting a woman walk to her car alone this late. What sort of gentleman would I be?”
She refrained from answering that question and got out when the doors opened.
“You know, do you take these sorts of risks in…Where did you say you were from?” William’s legs were as long as hers and he didn’t have heels on, so he kept up nicely.
“I didn’t, but I’ll give you a freebie. Seattle. We’ve both already said this hotel was safe. And by risks do you mean fucking a near-stranger?”
He didn’t want to know. Oh, hell, of course he did. He wanted to know if she did this sort of thing regularly or whether it was special between them. It was still a one-night stand though. Just a special one.
“Do you?”
“Walk to my car in hotel parking lots?”
“Are you sulking? Because I told you up front this wasn’t going anywhere.”
She stopped next to a deep green Mercedes and he approved mightily. Until she turned to the shiny black car next to it.
Her annoyed look, the one she’d tried to hide when he’d jabbed at her with his last comment, smoothed into amusement.
“What? Don’t tell me you expected the Mercedes?” She laughed, putting her bag, much larger and far less useless than the one she’d had the night before, on the seat.
Speech eluded him. The car was beautiful in its own way, but not sleek. Not new and elegant. It didn’t have air bags and heated seats. It was a muscle car.
“1969 Camaro. Beautiful, isn’t she?” She said it with pride.
He circled it. “Gotta admit, it’s fucking gorgeous. Someone really gifted did this work.” He looked up to catch her surprised look. “Now I surprise you. My father loved classic cars. He passed that love on to me and my brother.” He wished she’d be around long enough for him to show her his collection.
She’d moved to join him at the blunt nose end. “I am not mechanical at all. I just knew I wanted one so I spent six years until I found her. There’s this guy in Oregon, way up in the mountains.”
“Pete Simpson. I just went up there last year to buy a Jag. A ’68. Drove her back here in the late summer and it was perfect.”
“Red, right?” At his nod she continued. “He’d just finished it when I went down on my way to San Francisco midsummer last year. He said he had a buyer. Congratulations.”
“So do you or not?” he burst out and she stopped, fisting her hands on her hips.
“We’re back to that, are we? Do I fuck near-strangers on a regular basis? That was the question, yes?” She paused. “Well, here’s the thing, bucko, you made sure to tell me several times since last night that this wasn’t going anywhere. You wore a condom, so I don’t think you have a right to ask that question.”
Chapter Six
Before Nell could smirk, she felt the sharp metallic bite of magic on the back of her tongue. Mage magic.
“Get down, now!” She shoved William down behind the shelter of her car and his mouth, opened to argue, snapped shut as a sizzle of offensive magic hit the ground nearby. Quickly, she spelled the security cameras in the area to a continuous loop. They couldn’t afford to be se
en if they could avoid it.
Still crouched, she grabbed him by the shirtfront and hauled him close. “Stay your handsome ass right here. If you get in the way, we could both get hurt. Do not call the authorities.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind? Stay here!”
She shook him off even as she let the magic fill her, opened her othersight and hunted for the mage nearby. When she turned back to him, she knew her eyes reflected her power, knew he saw it in the way his own widened and the restraining hand he’d had on her ankle fell away.
She quickly reached inside the car, grabbing her bag and opening it. The reassuring cool of gunmetal touched her hand.
“A gun? What the hell?” William asked in a sharp whisper as she made sure the clip was full and the safety was off.
“You’re in over your head and I need you to deal. Now listen to me. Stay down. You can’t help me, but you can hurt. So shut the fuck up and keep out of harm’s way. I’ll be done in a few minutes. The door will shield you.”
The gun was nice and all, but she’d do as much as possible with magic. Discharging weapons was a pain in the ass—the sound drew attention. Magic was cleaner and more easily hidden. Still, she’d shoot that damned mage assassin in the head if need be.
She inched her way around the back end of the car, tracking the mage with her othersight. She used a simple diversion spell, one that would make sure the mage heard her from another direction, and stood.
There were two; a human also stood several feet away. He was well armed. She needed to take out the mage first. After that, the human would be easily dealt with. One-handed, she drew her magic and sent it toward the mage, knocking him down.
He writhed, screaming in pain and the human turned and a spray of automatic weapon fire peppered all around her. With a quick look at the expiring mage, she turned her attention to the human who continued to shoot.
She hissed when a bullet just barely missed her arm and reached out to slam him with her energy. She’d used a lot on the mage—when this was over she’d need to rest and recharge.
William watched the entire exchange, totally shocked and shaken by everything he saw. The gun was one thing, although why anyone would be trying to kill them was bizarre enough. But her eyes. The subtle movement of her hands and the blurred wave of…whatever the hell it was, as it had hit the other guy and knocked him down in obvious great pain. And now she did some stuff with her hand, her gun pointed down, as she walked to the other guy. He’d fired an automatic weapon at her and she didn’t look hurt. What was going on? Was he being punked? Were there hidden cameras?
In a blinding flash, the two men were gone and she turned and stalked back toward him.
“You…you want to tell me what the hell is going on here?” He shook now that it was over, whatever it was.
She sighed, putting her gun away, and then loaded him into the low-slung passenger seat. She got into the driver’s side and closed the door.
“I’m not going anywhere with you right now.”
She turned to him and pressed a bottle of water into his hand. It was warm from being in the car, but it felt damned good as he drank it down in giant gulps.
“I’m not taking you anywhere without your permission. Why don’t you go back to the club? Or can I get you home?” Her voice was soft, calm.
“Tell. Me. What. Is. Happening!”
“I’m a witch.” She shrugged. “The one man was a mage, which is sort of like a witch, only they’re not bound by the same principles we are and they get their magic differently.” She paused at his look and smiled sheepishly. “Not that you care much about that or need to know anyway. Your ex helped them steal a great deal of money for the Clan I serve. Sort of an, um, city-state government of witches. They know I’m here, obviously, and they came to take care of me. But I took care of them first.”
He just stared at her as the sounds of night, which he only then noticed had been totally silenced during the fight, sounded around them.
“Am I on one of those practical-joke shows? Did Nash put you up to this?”
She sneered a moment. “Do you honestly think I’d fuck you for a television show? Did what happened out there seem like just special effects to you?”
“Don’t get bitchy with me. You, well, stuff came out of you and it knocked the other guy down and he’s not there anymore. Where did they go? What did you do?”
“They don’t exist. Best to think of it in those terms.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face. “So this is, like, Wicca? But with, like, death shock fingers?”
She sighed. “It’s not like that. A few of us are Wiccan, some are other types of pagan, some are Christian, Jews, Muslims, even a Zen Buddhist here and there. Wicca is different than what we are. We’re born with our magic. It’s inherent. It doesn’t need to be invoked or brought by ritual. It’s just there. I don’t know how to explain it to you. But I can tell you I took a risk just now by confiding in you. What we are, who we are is not common knowledge.”
“What did you do to them?”
“Do you really want to know?”
He nodded.
“I set off a chain reaction in his DNA. It unraveled until he was nothing.”
“Like one of those curses that kid warlock did in those books?”
“Wizard, and sort of. I mean, not really, but it’s the closest you need to get just now.”
His brain could sort of grasp it, but he didn’t want to. “This is fucking crazy. You murdered those men!”
“One of them shot energy at me and the other used an automatic weapon. They wanted me dead, I defended myself. This isn’t some shiny television show, William. The members of this Camarilla have shown a predilection for extreme violence and what they’re doing with this money is a big concern. They’re bad people and if it’s between me and them, it’s going to be them.”
“All I wanted was to fuck you. Just some hot sex to get you out of my head. I want a normal life. Normal women. Plural. How did it get to this?” He opened the car door and stepped out. “I want you out of here. I’m going to have the hotel management get your things and send them elsewhere. I’ll have them secure you rooms at Bellagio. I won’t tell anyone. Who’d believe me anyway? But you need to get the fuck out of my hotel and my life right now.”
He walked quickly back toward the doors and tried to ignore the way it felt when he heard her start the engine and pull away.
Nell hated the slice of pain at his words. Hated the empty spot in her gut as he’d told her to get out. She didn’t know what she expected. She never dated human men, not wanting to hide her life from anyone. But he’d appeared repulsed, horrified by her admission.
She pulled into the lot at Bellagio—nice coincidence since they were apparently staying there now—and headed inside to meet Galen and Alex.
“What the hell happened to you?” Galen rose as she approached their table in the bar.
“It’s taken care of. We’ve been kicked out of the Liege. Emery saw more than he could deal with apparently. Our things are being sent here. We should check shortly to be sure he didn’t just toss our stuff into the street.” She sat and Alex handed her his drink.
“You look like you need it more than I do.”
If she talked about it she’d cry. Cry like a fucking girl, and she wasn’t going to indulge just then, couldn’t afford to.
“I don’t want to talk about it. Tell me what’s going on.” As she said it, she pushed out a dampening spell to cover what they were saying.
“Word on the street is the mages know you’re here and they’ve taken out a contract on you.” Alex’s pretty face was serious.
“They have indeed. I just took care of that problem in the parking garage at the Liege. Well, two problems. It’s cleaned up. I really don’t like being shot at, even more than I don’t like being stolen from by some human con artist. Makes me shirty. Alex, I want you to put out the word that I’m gunning for these mages and that human bitch Leah.
I’m coming for them and they can’t hide.” It might even make her feel a bit better to scare someone after the night she’d had.
Alex nodded. “Okay. That should shake things up a bit. You may want to hang out at Darkness a bit more. All kinds of info floats around in there.” He paused and touched her hand. “You sure you’re okay?”
She shrugged. “Nothing some sleep won’t cure. Thank you.”
After she and Galen checked into their rooms, she sat on her bed and looked out over the Strip. The rooms at Bellagio were nice, she gave them that, and the view kicked ass, but even that couldn’t make her feel better, damn it.
She knew William Emery was meant for her. He was meant to be in her life. Fate brought him to her, or her to him. It didn’t matter how they met, it was that they did meet. She also understood this wasn’t something William could understand and accept at the same level she did.
It wasn’t like she expected him to be all, “Whoo, jim dandy, you’re a witch!” or anything, but his revulsion and fear hurt. Yes, it wasn’t every day you saw a witch essentially dissolve another person and all, but she’d done it to save their lives. He had no idea just what these mages were capable of. Which, she admitted, was part of why he was probably so freaked out.
How she’d get him to come around on the point she didn’t know, but she would. And then she’d make his ass pay for being a twit. Hmpf.
It was too late to call Meriel and bounce the whole thing off her. The sun would be rising in a few hours anyway. She finished off her chamomile tea and snuggled under the fluffy comforter. The air-conditioning was set to extra chilly, just how she liked it. She willed sleep to come so the look on William’s face would just go away.
Chapter Seven
Three days later, Nash opened the door to his house and took William in with a raised eyebrow.
“I can’t believe I’m even here,” William mumbled.
What Happens in Vegas…After Dark Page 12