by Jenna Black
Which brought Carolyn back to the question she really wished she could stop obsessing over: what was Gray’s relationship with this woman? Carolyn hadn’t seen any more kisses, but they did sometimes walk together in what seemed like friendly camaraderie, the woman’s arm linked with his. If she and her cohorts were antagonists of some sort—which they surely had to be—why was Gray so chummy with this chick? And if they were so chummy, why was she tailing him? All very strange.
Tonight’s watcher was the auburn-haired hunk. Carolyn had seen him three times now, and each time he’d been wearing a different expensive coat and a rakish hat. She’d parked her car on Gray’s side of the street so that she could keep her eye both on Gray’s doorway and on the guy who was watching him. As before, he was sitting in a booth by the window of the coffee shop, paying little or no attention to his coffee. Carolyn wondered why either one of them bothered to watch on a night when any sane person would remain indoors.
By eleven-thirty, Carolyn was so cold her teeth were chattering. Her choices were either to give up for the night or retire to the warmth of the coffee shop. She chewed her badly chapped lips. The snappy dresser hadn’t been in the coffee shop the last time she’d used it for cover, so chances were she could go in without attracting his notice. But she would have to keep a careful eye on him to make sure he wasn’t getting suspicious. She’d probably never get the information she wanted if the mysterious threesome knew about her.
Carolyn snagged her umbrella and slipped out of the car. Her breath misted, and the damp chill seeped through every opening in her coat. God, that cup of coffee would taste good right now! She hurried across the street, heedless of the puddles, yearning for the warmth of the coffee shop.
The bells on the door jingled when she opened it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the hunk glance up. She pretended not to notice the long, hard look he gave her, but it made her wonder if she’d just been made. No matter, it was too late now. She slid gratefully into another booth by the window and could have kissed the waitress’s feet for offering coffee. Cupping her hands around its warmth, she took a sip and sighed in contentment.
She put the cup down, and her heart leapt into her throat when Gray’s tail for the evening slid into the booth across from her. He piled a beautiful cashmere coat and his black felt hat on the seat beside him, then folded his hands on the table and smiled at her.
It was quite a smile, and he was certainly a treat to the eyes. His hair fell in gleaming waves around his face, tousled in a manner meant to look casual, but was no doubt carefully cultivated. Eyes the color of cinnamon peeked out from under lashes long enough to make a woman jealous. His smile held the self-assurance of a man who knew he was good-looking and made no apologies for it.
Carolyn blinked at him, wondering what on earth she should say in the face of his boldness.
“I thought it might be best to introduce myself,” he said, still smiling as he held out his hand across the table. “I’m Jules.” He pronounced his name with a sexy French accent—zhule—although there was no hint of an accent in his other words.
Carolyn reflexively shook his hand. Who the hell was this guy? Was this some kind of a come-on, or had he noticed her watching Gray just as she’d noticed him?
“Carolyn,” she said, extricating her hand from his. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
He laughed at the stilted formality of her speech. “Mostly I’m just trying to piss Gray off. He’ll have quite a temper tantrum if he looks out the window and sees me talking to you.”
Well, so much for the come-on idea. Carolyn considered playing dumb for a moment, then decided against it. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
His eyes widened in feigned innocence. “Why, I’m just having a cup of coffee. And I already told you who I am.”
The waitress stopped by to refill Carolyn’s coffee cup, and she took the moment of distraction to try to settle her thoughts. Jules declined the offer of a fresh cup and waited for the waitress to move out of earshot.
“I’m curious why you’re out on such a dreadful night, staking out Gray’s home,” he said.
Carolyn snorted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just having a cup of coffee.”
He laughed briefly at her sarcasm, then dispensed with the banter. The smile left his face, replaced by a look of grave concern. “Let him go, Carolyn. Whatever he may have been to you once, he’s changed and he can’t ever go back.”
Fury flushed her face, and she had to bite back an instant, scathing reply. If one more person told her to “let him go” she was going to scream! Where did this stranger get off, giving her personal advice? And how much did he know about her past with Gray? Keeping a tight rein on her temper, knowing the man sitting before her might be a key to learning the truth, she responded in an almost reasonable tone. “That’s none of your business. Now, tell me why you and your cronies are watching Gray’s house.”
“That information is not mine to share.”
Oh, but Carolyn was going to convince him to share it! She just had to figure out how. She was still thinking about how to frame her next question when Jules suddenly laughed.
“Here it comes,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “This ought to be fun.”
Carolyn followed his gaze and saw Gray, crossing the street with murder in his eyes.
GRAY TRIED TO CONTROL his rage, knowing he was overreacting, but had little success calming his temper.
He’d noticed Carolyn following him two days ago, and had been debating with himself ever since how to handle the situation. He should have known that Jules would push his hand. Gray shoved the coffee shop door open. The bells jangled harshly. Jules lounged in Carolyn’s booth, an infuriating smirk on his face. Carolyn looked back and forth between the two of them and said nothing.
Gray came to a stop at the edge of their booth. He hadn’t bothered with an umbrella or raincoat when crossing the street, and a rivulet of cold water trickled down the side of his face. He fixed Jules with a steely stare.
“Leave her alone,” he growled as his hands clenched into fists.
“It’s a free country, Galahad. I’m allowed to talk to anyone I want.”
Gray wanted to smash that goading smile from his face. “Not to her. Go away.”
Jules dropped the smile. “Make me.”
Carolyn rolled her eyes. “I feel like I’m surrounded by five-year-olds.”
Blood pumped loudly in Gray’s ears. There’d been a time when he’d had such good control of his temper he almost never raised his voice. Now, it was all he could do to keep from resorting to violence, even when he knew he’d come out the worse in any altercation with the older, stronger vampire.
“I mean it, asshole. Harass me all you want, but leave her out of it.”
Jules slid slowly out of the booth, rising to his feet. His menace was a palpable force, sucking the oxygen from the air. Gray was momentarily amazed that the waitress and the two other customers in the coffee shop didn’t sense the danger.
“You’re in no position to make demands,” Jules said, leaning forward slightly in his eagerness to begin the fray.
Carolyn cleared her throat. “Gentlemen, can you do your snake and mongoose act some other time? This isn’t a good place for a brawl.”
Gray wondered how she could speak so casually. Didn’t she feel the danger in the air? “You should get out of here, Carolyn.”
She snorted. “Yeah, right. Need I remind you that I’m armed?” She pulled her blazer open just enough to give him a glimpse of the shoulder holster concealed within. “Now knock it off!”
Armed she might be, but her gun offered little protection against the likes of Jules. She’d have to put the shot through his heart or his brain, and it would have to be instantly fatal or else the wound would heal itself. However, Jules held up his hands in a conciliatory gesture, his menacing glower replaced with a charming smile. He turned to Carolyn, ignoring Gray lik
e he would an annoying child.
“There’s no need for your weapon,” he said. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds in peace.” He picked up his coat and hat, then headed toward the door, giving Gray a hard bump with his shoulder on the way.
The sensible thing to do would be to ignore the provocation and let the bastard go. But Gray’s nerves were strung too tight, his temper on a hair trigger. He reached out and grabbed Jules’s arm, his other hand clenching into a fist again. Jules whirled, and Gray made the mistake of meeting his eyes. The glamour hit Gray before he could look away.
“Veux-tu savoir comment tu pèses sans tes dents?” Jules asked in a low growl.
Gray couldn’t have answered him even if he’d understood the question. He could barely move, trapped in the glamour. Damn it, would he never learn? The macho stare-down was a really bad idea when faced with an older, more powerful vampire.
“Let him go, Gray,” Carolyn commanded.
But Gray couldn’t have let go if he’d wanted to. Jules pulled his lips away from his teeth, displaying a hint of fang. Then he laughed and let up on the glamour suddenly enough that Gray almost fell. Jules twitched his arm out of Gray’s grasp and sauntered out into the rainy night. No doubt he wouldn’t go far, but for the moment Gray wrenched his attention back to Carolyn. Anger still simmered in his veins, and his voice came out far sharper than he intended.
“What are you doing here, Carolyn?” He slid into the booth across from her.
“What do you think I’m doing here?” was her infuriating response.
He ran a hand through his damp hair, wishing he knew the magic words to make her see sense. “You have a perfectly good life going for you. Don’t fuck it up by poking your nose where it doesn’t belong.” Carolyn looked shocked by his vulgarity, but he didn’t dare take the words back. If she thought she could “save” him somehow, there was no telling what kind of danger she’d put herself in. He had to convince her he was beyond her reach.
“I’m a private investigator. It’s my job to poke my nose where it doesn’t belong. And you have to know I’m not the kind of woman who gives up when things get tough.”
“This has nothing to do with your job.” His voice rose, and he noticed he’d drawn the attention of the other customers. He doubted his glamour was powerful enough to divert them, and the last thing he needed was more mortal interference in his life. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill, flinging it on the table. Then he slid out of the booth. “Come on, we’re going.”
Carolyn looked up at him with a slack jaw. “You Tarzan, me Jane?”
“If we’re going to argue about this, I’d rather not have an audience.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, her chin jutting out stubbornly. “Are you going to manhandle me like you did last time?”
“Honey, I’d drag you by the hair if I thought I could get away with it. Now come on.”
“I haven’t finished my coffee.”
There looked to be maybe two swallows left in her cup, and they were no doubt cold. Gray tried to remember why he had once admired her mulishness. “Please,” he growled in a voice that could not have been more insincere.
She sniffed. “Well, since you asked nicely.” She slid out of the booth and headed for the door, leaving Gray to follow behind.
It sure would be nice if I had a plan here, Gray thought as he dashed across the street toward his house. He honestly had no clue how he was going to persuade Carolyn to leave well enough alone. All he knew was he had to try. The Guardians might not be killers, but Gray would feel a lot more comfortable if Carolyn had nothing to do with them. Or with him, for that matter.
Once inside, they squared off in the parlor, neither one of them sitting down. Carolyn eyed him with an infuriating blend of stubbornness and hostility, and he tried to think what he could say to hammer his point home.
“Why are you under surveillance, and who is it who’s staking you out?” she asked.
“I’m not answering any of your questions, so you might as well forget it. You don’t know what you’re dealing with here, and—”
She threw up her hands. “Then tell me, damn it! I’m not some delicate little flower who has to be kept in the dark. Whatever it is you’re mixed up in, I’m sure I’ve seen it before.”
He almost laughed, but stifled the impulse and covered it with a feigned cough. Maybe if he made up a story and fed it to her, that would satisfy her curiosity and get her to leave it alone. Trouble was, it was hard to think of a story that would explain things to her satisfaction. Especially on the spur of the moment.
Gray moved over to the sofa, buying himself time as he racked his brain for a creative, convincing lie. Carolyn sat on the very edge of the sofa beside him. The force of her eyes boring into him, willing him to divulge his secrets, was almost as powerful as glamour. For one moment, he ached to tell her everything, to pour out his anguish and his remorse in an unstemmed tide of bitterness. But he didn’t. Carolyn would never believe him. Besides, the last thing he wanted to do was burden her with the knowledge that vampires really did exist. The revelation had set his own world firmly on its ear, and he had no wish to do the same to the woman he still loved.
Carolyn moved closer to him on the sofa, laying her hand on his shoulder. “You can trust me with the truth, Gray,” she murmured in a low, coaxing voice. “Even if you’re into something illegal, you know I’d never turn you in. Maybe I can even help you.”
His throat tightened. After the way he’d deserted her, after his repeated, cruel attempts to chase her away again, she would still offer to help him? Oh, if only he could undo the past! If it hadn’t been for one fatal mistake, Carolyn would even now be his wife. Maybe they’d even have a baby on the way. A nice, normal life, with its normal ups and downs. His mind filled with memories of happier times, of Carolyn nestled in his arms, laughing at his jokes, kissing him, rolling with him in a tangle of sheets.
She was sitting too close. He could feel the heat of her body beside him. Her scent filled his senses, a blend of baby powder and apples flavored with her own unique warmth. He turned to her, and she was like a magnet pulling him inexorably toward her.
There was surprise in her eyes, and she licked her lips in apparent nervousness. Her scent changed, spiced by the faint musk of arousal. Gray leaned forward and brushed her lips with his. She gasped, but didn’t pull away.
One taste wasn’t enough. He stole another kiss, his lips feathering over hers, teasing her, teasing himself. Yearning squeezed his chest, yearning for the life he’d once had, yearning for Carolyn. He cupped his hand around the back of her head, his fingers threading through the softness of her hair as his mouth pressed down harder on hers.
Her kiss was every bit as sweet as he remembered, every bit as sweet as the dreams and memories that had haunted him since that dreadful night three years ago when he’d ruined his life. The desire that lit within raged out of his control. He dipped his tongue into her mouth, savoring her taste and texture as his erection swelled and hardened.
When Carolyn’s tongue brushed his lips, it was all he could do not to lay her back on the sofa and start ripping off her clothes. But that delicate lick reminded him of the danger he now faced, for in his arousal, his fangs had descended. He couldn’t let Carolyn see them or feel them with her tongue. But he couldn’t tear his lips away from her, either.
His kiss traveled along the line of her jaw, and she moaned in pleasure. He traced his tongue along the shell of her ear, then made his way down her outstretched throat. He felt the hammering of her heart under his lips. The skin of her throat was so fragile. Unconsciously, his lips had sought out the pulse that throbbed there and as he traced the vein with the tip of his tongue, reason and lust battled in his brain.
She’s willing, an insidious voice whispered in his mind. If he were to slip his hand between her legs, he would find her wet and ready for him. Her skin was flushed with desire, and her breathing hitched whenever she felt the
stroke of his tongue.
Glamour, the voice of reason countered. He wasn’t consciously trying to use glamour, but there was no way she’d have let him go this far if she were in her right mind. He’d given up his right to such privileges when he’d left her stranded at the altar.
The battle raged for what seemed an eternity. Then Gray realized that his mouth had remained over the vulnerable vein that pulsed in Carolyn’s throat, and that he was nibbling lightly on the spot. The realization brought his sense of reason back, and he jerked away, ignoring Carolyn’s whimper of protest. He buried his head in his hands and sucked in frantic breaths, willing himself to calm.
The beast within him hungered for something Gray could never let it taste again.
If he’d had any doubts before, they were extinguished now. Carolyn was not safe around him. He had to get rid of her, no matter what it took. He forced himself to raise his head and look at her, wondering what on earth she was making of all this. Surely she must be unsettled by the unnatural desire he had inflicted on her with his glamour.
A hint of pink still flushed her cheeks, and a faint furrow appeared between her brows, but she didn’t look like she was about to smack him for his nerve. Instead, she chewed her lower lip and cocked her head, regarding him with careful intensity.
“Why did you stop?” she asked.
Not exactly the reaction he’d been expecting under the circumstances. She should be furious with him for taking advantage! But of course, she couldn’t know he was solely responsible for what had just happened between them. She would think her own desire—inexplicable as it was—had been equally to blame.
Gray hesitated a long moment as he tried to find a good explanation for his about-face.
“Is it because of … that woman?”
For just a moment, Gray had no idea what she was talking about, and he almost uttered a quick denial. Luckily, his common sense took hold before he spoke.
