Her gaze roamed over the well-toned body hiding under Kiernan’s clothing. Maybe…no, not any man. Besides, a woman could still look sexy as hell without resorting to flossing her backside all day long. She may not get dolled up much, but she had the perfect dress at home for the trendy new nightclub.
“I’ve got it covered. Just meet me at my place at ten.” She stood, moving to toss her now-empty cup in the trashcan. Kiernan stood along with her.
“Where are you going?”
“Home. To get some sleep. Some jackass woke me up at an ungodly hour this morning, and I’m tired.”
He stepped in front of her as she headed toward the door. “I’ll walk you back.”
“No, thanks.” She tried to move around him, but he blocked her. Huffing out an exasperated sigh, she rocked back on her heels. “I’m stopping by the shelter to check out a few things first.”
Cool blue eyes stared at her.
“Kiernan, I swear if you don’t move, I am going to hurt you.”
The look he gave her said he doubted the threat. Let him think what he wanted. Men usually did, no matter what species they were. Her hand rose to strike a very sensitive spot, but he was faster. He grabbed her wrist before it made contact, pulling her close until their bodies were centimeters away from touching. Heat rose in her at the nearness. She damned her stupid body for reacting, but it never listened when Kiernan was around. Stupid body.
“Not in front of Jay.” He breathed the words into her ear, tickling her cheek slightly with the stubble on his jaw. “We’re supposed to be friends remember?”
She swallowed, trying to wet her very dry mouth. Stupid mouth.
“Coworkers,” she corrected him snidely, although it came out as more of a breathy whisper. Great, now she sounded like a horny repressed schoolgirl trying to get the captain of the football team in bed.
Kiernan grinned, almost like he knew her exact thoughts. She caught her breath, then exhaled. No, it wasn’t possible, she was too careful. Kiernan was just smug. No way she let her secret out. If she had…well, this Kako thing would be the least of her problems.
Chapter 10
Kiernan ended up letting Tabitha leave. After which, he promptly followed her. They couldn’t do anything about Stryden until night, and he was curious about his little Tabby Cat. She’d acted strange ever since they talked to Selena last night. He could tell she didn’t like him snooping in her personal life. Hell, he didn’t even know Tabitha had a personal life. The woman was all work and no play. Or so he thought. It seemed she did have a life outside the council. She even had a few friends, or close acquaintances at least.
So why didn’t she want him to see any of them? Or have any of them meet him? If he didn’t know any better, he would think she hid something. But Tabitha Culver was honest to a fault. The woman played so by the book, he would be surprised if she even knew how to lie. Well, except for the one she continued to tell herself daily. Denying the attraction between them. The desire was there, and by the gods, he would make her face it someday soon.
The shelter, his ass. He followed Tabitha from the coffee shop because he had a sneaking suspicion she was up to something. His instincts proved dead on. She walked toward the animal shelter she volunteered for, but at the corner, she turned and headed back the way she came, toward The Basement. What was the woman up to?
He followed her from a distance, so as not to be seen. She snuck back into the alley they had been in earlier that morning. It’d only been a few hours since they left. He had no idea what she was doing there. Knowing Tabitha, probably something dangerous and far out of her skill range. The woman was too dedicated to her job at times.
She moved past the dumpster he’d hidden behind earlier, making her way toward the back dock. Hal was no longer there. No one in sight. No light shone from the small windows, no sound escaping through the crack at the door. The club appeared closed. She must have had the same thought, because she silently made her way up the dock to the back door, peering intently through the small window there. She was going to get herself killed one day, he thought with irritation. And damned if he would stand around and watch her do it.
Silently, he made his way to her. Her body language gave no indication she heard his approach as he climbed the few short steps up to the loading dock where she stood, face in the window, back to him. Her gaze flicked up at the last moment, catching his reflection in the dark glass, before his hand clamped over her mouth and he pulled her away from the door.
****
Tabitha saw fury in Kiernan’s eyes a moment before his hand came down over her mouth to stop her scream or muffle her indignation, she guessed. She didn’t scream though. Not a big surprise he followed her. Stupid Daemon. Ugh, he did not need to be on this assignment. She didn’t want him on this assignment. She could handle things fine on her own. In all fairness, he had a right to be angry. It was pretty risky going back to the club so soon after this morning. It looked suspicious. If she was caught. But she really wanted to catch this Stryden guy. The sooner the better, before he found another victim or more followers.
Kiernan pulled her down the dock steps and back into the alley. He pushed her against the wall, not painfully, but forcefully. His hand remained in place as he glared down at her. The ice-blue eyes full of heated fire.
“Just what in the hell did you think you are doing, Tabitha?”
Uh-oh, her real name. He was pissed.
“How were you going to explain yourself if someone caught you? I don’t think Hal would buy the flirting act twice.”
She glared at the dig, lips opening to snap at the hand still covering her mouth, but biting someone’s hand while cupped over your mouth was not an easy task. Instead, she went for licking. It had always gotten her sister to remove her hand when they fought as kids. On Kiernan, however, it seemed to have the opposite effect. His eyes shuttered, lids lowered. His lips twitched into a crooked grin.
“If you want a taste, Tabby Cat, I can think of a much nicer place for you to lick.”
Her eyes widened as her heart picked up speed. It simply wasn’t fair. The man oozed sex from every pore. She didn’t even like him, and yet he could make her core tighten and pulse with a simple word. She didn’t like him, didn’t like him, didn’t like him. A mantra she had to keep repeating to herself, because every minute it sounded less believable.
“Now, exactly what did you hope to accomplish by coming back here? Alone.” He put extra emphasis on the last word.
Eyebrow arching, she glanced down at the hand covering her mouth. He removed it, somewhat reluctantly. He placed his hands on either side of her head, hemming her in between the hard brick building and his rock-hard body. She tried to breathe deeply, to calm her heartbeat, but that just made it worse. With each deep breath, she took in more and more of Kiernan’s scent. A heady concentration of musk and man. Heaven help her, she was doomed.
She cleared her throat before answering. “I wanted to see if I could get inside.”
Red seeped up his face as he held in his rage. His palms curled into fists on the wall beside her head. She wasn’t sure if they were going to connect with the hard brick or her head. Not that she really thought Kiernan would ever hurt her, but she had never seen him this angry. At least, not at her.
“Why?” he growled through clenched teeth.
“I like to know the layout of a place before I…” She trailed off. It sounded like a good idea in her head. Go back to the club, sneak around, find a way in, and make a mental map. She wanted to know the location of the exits at all times. Now her plan sounded kind of stupid. Considering Kiernan’s barely contained fury, she guessed he had the same conclusion.
He lowered his head, shaking it slightly. “We can go to city hall and get the plans for the building. They’re open to the public.”
“Oh,” she said quietly. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Probably because her mind was too distracted by the sexy infuriating Daemon she had been working with all day. Damn!
Get your head in the game, Tabitha. Mistakes like this cost lives. She took risks, sure, but they were usually thought out better than this one. Great, now she was going to have to admit Kiernan was right. She hated doing that. “You’re right.”
His head snapped up, eyes wide with shock. She huffed in disgust.
“I can admit when I’m wrong, Kiernan.”
He smirked. “Yeah, but you never admit I’m right.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
He chuckled, the sound vibrating off his chest hitting her low in the gut.
“Let’s just go.”
“Sure, Tabby Cat.”
Well, at least he wasn’t mad at her anymore. A pissed off Daemon, even a Euadaemon, was not something a human wanted on their hands. Not that Kiernan would ever hurt her. Even without the council rules forbidding harm to humans, Tabitha knew deep in her soul he would never harm her. A thought that caused conflicting emotions. Emotions she didn’t want to deal with at the moment, perhaps ever.
Kiernan moved away from her, his hands leaving the wall, when voices came from the opening of the alley. Heads turning in unison, they saw two men approaching from the street, heading straight toward them. Kiernan let out a very colorful four-letter word, which she echoed in her mind. How were they going to explain their presence? It’s not like they could say they were walking and got lost. They stood in an alley. Who wandered down an alley without a reason?
As the men drew closer, she ran through excuses in her head. Each one sounded stupider than the next. No hiding places in sight. Why couldn’t back alleys be like in the movies with lots of boxes and large crates to hide behind? Even the garbage bin from earlier had been moved, emptied since their earlier visit, and now sat across the alley from them. If they ran to hide behind it now, the men would surely see them.
Maybe they would get lucky and the men weren’t going to the club. Hope died as she recognized one of the men as Hal, the dockworker she talked to earlier. He would recognize her for sure, and she wasn’t a good enough actress to pull off the “I came back to see you cause I’m so into you” lie. Right when she admitted to herself they would be caught, Kiernan spoke.
“I knew leaving your hair down would come in handy.”
“Wha—” She barely got out the confused question before he thrust his hands into her hair, grasped the back of her head, and pulled her toward him.
The air left her lungs as Kiernan’s lips pressed against her own. The initial surprise wore off as his kiss sent shock waves through her body. On edge already from spending the entire morning with him, she threw caution to the wind and kissed him back.
Pure heaven. The only way to describe the feeling of his mouth on hers. Delicious and dangerous at the same time. Tingles of awareness spread throughout her entire being, waking every bit of woman she thought long buried. She knew she should stop, but when his tongue came out to gently graze her bottom lip, she couldn’t stop herself from opening to him.
Kiernan growled, deepening the kiss, running his tongue along the seam of her lips. She opened for him willingly and he delved into her mouth, exploring like Ponce de Leon looking for the Fountain of Youth. Better than she ever dreamed. She moaned softly, thinking she would lose it right there. Leaving their place in her soft silky strands, his hands traveled down her body, brushing gently on the sides of her breast—eliciting another, louder moan from her—to rest on her hips. He pulled her closer until fully flush, every inch of their bodies touching, every nerve on fire.
She felt the hard proof of his excitement as he pulled her closer. It should have cleared her head, made her think about what they were doing. Instead, it made her crazy. She pushed back, rubbing herself shamelessly against him. His hands slid from her hips to her backside. Gripping tightly, he lifted. She complied with his unspoken request, wrapping her legs around him, the contact between them now direct and oh, so good. Her mind turned to a puddle of mush as her body took over, telling her only to move and feel. And it felt so good, so she obeyed. She’d never been one for PDA, but in a few seconds she was going to rip off both of their clothes and have her way with Kiernan right there.
“Get a room!”
The crude yell finally broke the spell. She stopped moving and pulled back as the men, Hal and whoever his buddy was, went laughing up the stairs and through the back door of The Basement. Good thing he hadn’t recognized them. Embarrassment heated her face as she realized the position she was in. Dear lord, she had been dry humping Kiernan right out in public, ready to strip him down and—no, just an act, a cover for why they were in the alley. Then why did it feel so damn real?
She cleared her throat, a red flush stealing up her face. “Good cover, Kiernan.”
****
Kiernan frowned. That wasn’t a cover, okay it started as a cover, but it sure hadn’t ended that way.
“Um,” she said softly. “You can put me down now.”
Reluctantly, he set her on her feet; his hands remained on her hips, refusing to let the connection break. When she wouldn’t look at him, he placed one hand under her chin, tilting it up, forcing her to look at him. Apprehension filled those big brown eyes. He hated seeing it there.
“Tabitha—” he said, but she quickly interrupted him.
“We should go before they come back out.” She broke out of his grasp and started down the alley toward the street, calling over her shoulder, “Quick thinking back there.”
“Trust me, quick does not describe that.” Considering he’d been thinking about it ever since he met her years ago.
Fine, let her think the kiss was only a cover. He felt the passion when she kissed him back. She could only deny it for so long and then she would have to face it, and him.
Chapter 11
The sun slipped behind the Front Range over an hour ago, the breathtaking pinks and purples of sunset fading to a dark, inky black sky. Kiernan would arrive to pick her up soon. They had parted ways after checking the plans for the building currently occupied by the new hip club The Basement. It took a few minutes to gain access to the plans, making Tabitha feel all the more foolish about her earlier solo excursion.
She pulled at the hem of her dress, suddenly unsure of her choice. She bought this dress on a whim a few months ago. It had been displayed in the window of a shop she frequently passed on the way to the shelter, a trendy one-of-a-kind type boutique. She never would have entered, but a huge sale sign out front beckoned her and the dress caught her eye. She tried it on and found it fit perfectly, as if it made especially for her. The dress was fifty percent off and best of all, washing-machine safe.
She hated dry cleaning almost as much as she hated Kakodaemons. An annoying chore she saw as a waste of time. If she couldn’t throw clothes in the washer, she wasn’t going to wear them.
She slipped on her shoes, a pain in the ass to walk in, but made her five-foot-three stature closer to five-foot-eight. She never had a problem with her height, but she did have a weakness for shoes. Her one girly vice. She had to wear comfortable shoes when out to kick bad-guy ass, but on her own time, she loved a sexy pair of heels. Something about a sleek pair of high heels just made her feel womanly, and the taller the shoe, the better.
The five-inch red heels complemented her black dress nicely. A man once told her they were “fuck-me pumps.” Tabitha socked him in the gut. Maybe why she never got any dates.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. Her gut twisted. Suddenly, she felt very exposed, and not because of the short hemline of her dress. She knew Kiernan stood on the other side of the door, not just because she expected him. She sensed his presence. A scene rose in her mind of their earlier kiss. She swore she still felt his firm, delicious lips pressed against her own. Tasted his heady masculine flavor on her tongue. Her body flushed, temperature rising.
The kiss had been a ploy. A cover for why we were in the alley. It meant nothing. She kept telling herself.
So why did she feel like it meant something, so much someth
ing?
Another knock. She had to face the music sooner or later. Gathering her courage, she tugged on the hem one more time before going to the door. Maybe she’d get lucky and it was just a carrier delivering something. She hadn’t ordered anything recently, but a girl could hope.
“Hey, Tabby Cat, you in there?”
She was never lucky.
Resigned to her fate, Tabitha moved to answer the door. Blowing out a deep calming breath, she turned the knob and opened the door.
Kiernan, dressed in casual black slacks with a dark blue silk shirt that made his eyes even more impossibly blue. Why did the man have to look so damn good in everything he wore? It just wasn’t fair. How was she supposed to resist him when he looked so damn tempting?
She shifted nervously on her dangerously high shoes. Kiernan didn’t say a word. Was something wrong? Was she not dressed right? She thought the dress trendy enough for The Basement, but now she wasn’t so sure. It didn’t resemble a runway-style dress or anything, just a simple little black dress. Dammit, this was why she stuck to recon and kicking ass. Infiltrating and spying had never been her thing.
Kiernan still had yet to speak. In fact, he wasn’t even smiling. Which was odd. He always smiled. Even when getting his ass kicked, he smiled at his opponent, then proceeded to beat the shit out of them. But he wasn’t smiling now. He was…lusting. That was the only word Tabitha could think of. Kiernan stared at her, devouring every inch of her body with his gaze. All of a sudden, the room felt very warm despite her minimal clothing.
“Kiernan? Are you okay?”
She wasn’t sure he heard her, until he cleared his throat and spoke.
“Damn, Tabby Cat. You weren’t kidding when you said you had something to wear.”
His eyes roamed over her, sparks of heat burning in their blue depths causing tingles of awareness to shoot through her body. She felt the flush creeping up her cheeks and tried in vain to will it away. After all, they had a job to do tonight, and she despised Kiernan…right?
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