Supernaturally Kissed (Frostbite, Book One)

by Stacey Kennedy

  Two nights had passed in a blur. We narrowed down the list of suspects to one, Cole Moody. Since the others turned out to be straight-up cops with no hint of trouble within their marriages, Zach and Kipp concluded they weren’t viable suspects.

  “He’s married, two kids—one and five.” I read Cole’s file aloud as I sat in the front seat of Zach’s navy-blue Dodge Ram.

  “Any reprimands?” Zach asked.

  I glanced away from the file and looked at him. “Would you like to tell me where I can find that information?” He kept assuming I knew how to help him. Sure, I’d gotten a little quicker at finding the basics within the papers, but still, they were thirty pages deep with tons of information on them.

  “Flip the page—halfway down.” Zach grinned.

  I skimmed the pages and read for a moment. “No, nothing at all.” I sighed, glancing up at the two-story yellow brick home with a tulip garden lining the pathway to the front door. “Is Kipp ever going to come out of there?”

  It’d been eight hours since we had started surveillance on Cole Moody. Kipp had gone into the home the moment we arrived and still hadn’t come out. Not to say I wasn’t opposed to Kipp’s leaving, it’d been the good part.

  The past days had been a strain. At first I ignored him and returned his anger tenfold, but my resolve didn’t last long. Not only did my mind spin about my feelings for him, but he continued to give me the silent treatment and only answered Zach’s questions. He made little eye contact with me and I didn’t know what hurt me more, his lack of interest or my own interest in him.

  The one ghost I didn’t want to ignore me did and the weight of everything had begun to take its toll on me. I was physically, emotionally and undeniably exhausted.

  I dropped my head into my hands and rubbed my eyes. When I lowered my hands, I glanced over at Zach. He studied me intently.

  “We haven’t had a chance to talk yet and I know something has been going on.” His gaze got all serious-like. “You need to give Kipp a break.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “If you try to defend him for one second, I’ll castrate you.”

  “That’s not what I’m saying.” He laughed. “It’s just, try to understand what he’s been through. I take it from the way you’ve been acting the past couple days, he’s being a little harsh with you?”

  “Harsh is too mild of a statement.” A complete jackass would’ve been more appropriate. “He’s barely said a word to me and I have no idea what I’ve done.”

  Zach looked at the house before he returned his gaze to mine. “It’s not like Kipp to be petulant. If he’s behaving so harshly, something is bothering him.” His expression softened, as did his tone. “He’s been through a lot, try to remember that.”

  Why did Zach have to be a voice of reason? Kipp had been killed, had earned the right to lash out because of it and be rip-roaring mad that he’d been stripped of his life.

  So lay the problem, I kept forgetting he was a ghost. Something I needed to remind myself more and more as the hours trickled by.

  I’d seen ghosts before who became angry about what happened to them, but the way he acted seemed personal. His anger appeared directed at me and after I confronted him, he didn’t deny the accusation. Not like it should have mattered since his ignoring me had been for the best anyway. You asked for this distance, remember?

  “Fine, I’ll take his grumpiness, but if he says one nasty word to me, I’m outta here.” Zach nodded in understanding. I focused back on the file and forced myself to not think about the utterly irritating—simply delectable—ghost.

  Another hour passed before Kipp melted through the chocolate-brown front door and strode toward the truck. I looked at the glove compartment and didn’t dare glance toward him. “He’s coming.”

  “About damn time,” Zach exclaimed.

  Kipp swept through the door and settled into the backseat. “I watched a wicked UFC fight in there.”

  I repeated the line, not even wanting to acknowledge his presence, but my beating heart and sweaty palms were enough to tell me I couldn’t keep it up.

  “You’ve been in there for eight hours,” Zach said. “What else did you do?”

  “Cole slept, played with the kids, worked out, jerked off and made plans for tonight.”

  “He did guy stuff,” I responded, still focused on the navy plastic in front of me. Kipp’s lax tone told me he remained in the mood he’d been in for days—nice to everyone else but me. I suspected if I looked back, I’d see the same pissed-off eyes staring back at me.

  Zach shifted in his seat to look at the backseat. “Anything else stick out?”

  “Nope.” Kipp rested his feet on the console next to me. “Cole seems like a straight-up guy.”

  I scowled at his feet, and if I could’ve pushed them off, I would’ve. What was he trying to do, ensure I remembered he was there? As if I could forget. Not responding to whatever he was attempting to do, I said to Zach, “Cole’s a good guy.”

  Zach shook his head slowly, buckled his seat belt and started the truck. “The nice ones are always the worst type of killers.” He glanced back at Kipp again. “Are we calling it a night?”

  “No,” Kipp responded. “Tess is going to seduce him.”

  I spun around to face Kipp, uncertain if I had heard him right and more than horrified if I did. “I’m what?”

  “What’s wrong?” Zach asked.

  “I’m not seducing anyone.” I glanced back at him and as I suspected, the hardness in his eyes remained. As cold as a winter’s morning and the hard look sent a shiver of unhappiness straight through me.

  “You will,” Kipp responded in a curt tone.

  “Seduce someone?” Zach repeated in blatant confusion and he turned in his seat to look at me better.

  “Cole has made plans with a buddy to go to Coyote Ugly tonight. We need you to try to pick him up.”

  I couldn’t believe what he suggested. He had to be out of his damn mind. “You want me to flirt with a killer?”

  “Will someone tell me what is going on?” Zach sighed, clearly frustrated.

  Kipp shook his head. “I doubt he’s the killer.”

  Sure, he appeared confident, but it did nothing to reassure me. “And how can you be so sure?”

  “I’m a detective.” Kipp shrugged. “Intuition tells me Cole isn’t our guy, but you can never take chances. We have to test him and see how loyal he is to his family.”

  Insanity at its finest. “So what, you want me to go to a club and throw myself at him?”

  “Ahh…” Zach drawled in understanding. “Now I see.”

  Kipp’s eyebrow arched in the most arrogant of ways. “That’s the idea.”

  Zach nodded. “Might just work.”

  They weren’t thinking straight. The situation might have been normal for them, but I wasn’t a cop. I had never been brave and I definitely wanted no part of conversing with a killer. “But, but, but, what if he gets me alone, then guts me?”

  Kipp’s eyes wavered in their harshness and amusement swam through their depths as the side of his mouth curved. “I’ll be with you to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

  “Kipp will go with you,” Zach said in the exact moment.

  Their determined expressions said my choices were limited and being backed into a corner wasn’t where I liked to be. My aggravation over the past days had reached its limit. “And just tell me, why should I do this for you?”

  Kipp shrugged. “You did agree to help.”

  “I never agreed to get involved and put myself in danger. Besides, you’ve been nothing but a total ass to me for days and I still have no idea what I’ve done.”

  Zach opened the door in a jiffy. “Oh look, an elderly woman needs help crossing the road. Best I go help her.” He was out with the door closed behind him in a second flat.

  I didn’t have to look to see there wasn’t a woman there. Zach just didn’t want to face the impending conversation—the one that had been hanging over us sin
ce the day at the police station.

  “About that.” Kipp gave a sweet-as-sugar smile. “I guess I should apologize.”

  “Apologize?” I shouted. “You’re fucking kidding, right? You think that if you just say sorry it’s going to make up for it all. Oh buddy, you don’t know me well, but you’ll need to do better.”

  “I’m not sure there’s anything I can say to explain the way I’ve been acting.” He paused. “The only thing I can tell you is that I realize I was wrong to take out my frustrations on you. I apologize if I’ve caused you any trouble.”

  I inhaled deeply through my nose. “Not good enough, pal. What the hell has been wrong with you?”

  “If you missed what I just told you,” he said with a bite to each word, “I guess I need to spell it out for you. I don’t want to tell you what has been wrong with me.”

  Was he born stupid?

  “In fact, I didn’t miss it, I heard you clearly, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let it go. I deserve to know what I did to upset you so much. You’ve barely said one word to me and I’m the living person in this equation. I should be ignoring you, not the other way around. So you have to own up to it and tell me what the hell has been going on.”

  He shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

  My irritation set my blood on fire. “Nothing? So, you have been Mr. Nice Guy to everyone else except me, but I’ve done nothing wrong?”

  He folded his arms over his chest and looked at me with pure arrogance. “That’s right.”

  The staring contest lasted minutes and neither of us had moved an inch. We were getting nowhere, and whatever it had been, clearly he’d gotten over his issue. He did apologize and I’d learned from Caley long ago to let go—to know when defeat was inevitable and to stop pushing. Instead of continuing and beating my head against the wall of Kipp McGowen, I snorted. “And you call me difficult.”

  He grinned, apparently pleased over his win. “You can’t have it both ways, you know.”

  The look deserved a slap in the face, but since I couldn’t hit him, I clenched my fist as a substitute. I should have left it alone, but of course, my curiosity always did get the better of me. “What do you mean both ways?”

  “You can’t hide from yourself and expect people won’t hide from you.”

  This ghost was about to be hell bound. “Don’t you dare go there! I mean it. Don’t try to turn this shit around on me. You’re the one who has had a stick up his ass for days. The problem is yours, not mine. Got it?”

  His jaw clenched before he answered, insolently. “Heard loud and clear.”

  Silence fell between us as we glared daggers at each other. Zach obviously took the lack of conversation as a sign to return to the truck. He opened the door, slid back in his seat and looked at me.

  I sighed in either resignation or annoyance—both were equally strong. “I do this, then what?”

  “We rule Cole out,” Zach answered. “Kipp’s got a nose for these things. If he’s sending you in, he doesn’t think Cole’s the killer. But without testing him first, there’s no way to know for sure.”

  That sounded good and all, but there had been one little fact they had yet to consider. “How do you know he’ll like what he sees?”

  Kipp laughed with no amusement to it and he glanced out the side window. “Trust me, he’ll like you.”

  The gentle look in Kipp’s eyes before he turned his head, plus the softness of his voice, all said one thing—longing. It simply confused me. Moments ago, he’d been tough, arrogant, blaming me for his past petulance—none of that showed now.

  “So, are you in?” Zach asked, drawing my focus away from Kipp.

  As much as I’d been confused by Kipp’s reaction, I still had enough sense to remember to find a way out. I wouldn’t give in so easily. “Are there no undercover cops you can call in?”

  “There are, but we’re under time constraints.”

  Dammit! “Isn’t there…can’t you find…what about…” I hit a dead end. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

  “Good.” Kipp sounded thoroughly pleased with himself. “Tell Zach to take you home.”

  I scowled. “And just why do I have to go home?”

  “You need to change…” Kipp’s earlier expression washed away into haughty smile, showing he enjoyed my apprehension, “into the woman no man could refuse.”

  Before I could form a solid way out, I’d been home, whored up and was heading back downtown. Even though the drive was quick, I felt Kipp’s gaze on the back of my head, and that made it feel like a lifetime. My thoughts remained on the longing I’d seen earlier and the yearning look in his eyes.

  I’d been so lost in my own feelings, I didn’t realize we had arrived at Coyote Ugly Saloon until Zach turned off the ignition. Memories of the last time I’d been there and Kipp’s dirty words swept through my mind, but as quickly as they surfaced, I stuffed them away. I had enough to think about it without bringing my unstable emotional state into the mix.

  Tonight, no line of people awaited entry and I cursed, then I could’ve found a reason to not go in. I focused back on the door handle, willing myself to open the door. “How did you talk me into this?”

  “It’ll be fine,” Kipp responded, already standing outside the passenger-side window. “Do what you have to do and get out.”

  “You’ll do great.” Zach said, encouragingly.

  “Easy for y’all to say, you don’t have to act like some slut.” I joined Kipp outside, pulled on the jeans presently riding up my crack. “I haven’t worn these pants since high school.”

  It was nearly impossible to breathe, and that was definitely a good thing, since it forced me to suck in my stomach, which became necessary considering the black lace skintight shirt that stopped just below my breasts. The choice of clothing hadn’t been my idea.

  “Just be happy you still fit into them,” Kipp stated matter-of-factly. “Most women would be pleased by that.”

  “Well, if these pants split open,” I stepped away from the truck and approached the bar, “I’ll send you to hell myself.”

  “I think I’m already there,” Kipp whispered, so soft that if I hadn’t been paying attention, I wouldn’t have heard him.

  I parted my lips to respond when the bouncer said, “Identification?” I glanced away from Kipp to find a burly fellow with a shaved head and dark goatee.

  “Right.” I handed the bouncer my driver’s license, but discomfort filled me. What had Kipp meant? Did the funk he’d been in lately haunt him that much?

  The bouncer looked over the identification for only a quick second before handing it back. “Go on in.”

  “Thanks.” I stuffed my license into the back pocket of my jeans and stepped past him as I strode into the bar. Loud country music blared through the speakers while drunken women, who undoubtedly fit the description of cougars, paraded around the dance floor.

  God, I hope I don’t look like one of them. Who was I kidding, I had a big red flashing sign over my head declaring, “I’m easy”. I needed to get this over with and quick. I never picked up random guys and certainly never did the seducing woman bit. Kipp seemed so confident in me, but I suspected he’d soon learn that support was misplaced.

  “Cole’s over at the bar,” Kipp said.

  I glanced to my left to see Cole seated at a table directly in front of the bar. Luckily, the Coyotes weren’t dancing on top and I couldn’t have been more grateful. At least the crowd wouldn’t watch me. I took a big, deep, brave breath, pushed all insecurity from my mind and put a little zing into my step as I approached the bar.

  Once there, I leaned against the wooden table and the bartender ran her cloth along the top to clean up a spilled drink. “What’s your sin for tonight, sugar?”

  “Two shots of tequila.” Alcohol would save me from the embarrassing display.

  The bartender grinned as she grabbed two shot glasses and placed them in front of me. “A rough night?”

  I nodded. “Like rug
ged terrain.”

  She smiled, headed down toward the far end of the bar and grabbed a bottle of tequila while a man chatted her up. She returned and poured the shots. “Hope your night gets better, luv. Consider these on the house.” She gestured to the man she’d been talking to. “Boss’s treat.”

  I followed her gaze to see the man, in his early forties, handsome if an older guy was my thing, which it wasn’t. I remembered my manners and held up the first shot in thanks. He tipped his cowboy hat and grinned.

  “Told you the look works.” Kipp laughed self-righteously.

  Not about to give fuel to his maddening statement, I downed the shot to soothe my tension. Of course the look worked, I looked like a complete slut. What man wouldn’t approach me in this outfit? Anyone with a dick would know I was a sure thing. I grimaced as the shot burned down my throat, but scooped up the next one and drank it back.

  “Might want to take it easy on those.” Kipp pressed his back against the bar and leaned his arms up on the railing.

  I nearly laughed at how comfortable he looked there. If people were aware while they were getting their drink on they were also in the presence of a ghost, I bet most of them would run out of here screaming for their lives. “I’ll drink as many as I damn well please,” I retorted. “Go away.”

  “I hope that wasn’t meant for me?” a smooth voice said from beside me as a warm arm brushed against mine.

  I glanced next to me to find a simple dream of a man. A stylish cut framed his face and his brown eyes twinkled with interest at me. “Hello there,” he said with pure intent to make me his for the night.

  Kipp stepped away from the bar, moving in behind the man, and he looked at me. “He’s with Cole, so be nice to him.”

  “Hi yourself,” I responded, flicking my hair back over my shoulder.

  The man ran his gaze along my now-bare shoulder, across to my breasts and down my stomach, where he licked his lips and looked back at my eyes. “I’m Mark.”

  I released my inner slut, spun around to lean against the bar and pulled my elbows back to shoot my chest out for all to see. “Hi, Mark,” I all but purred. “I’m Tess.”

  He hadn’t missed the move and his eyes stayed glued on my breasts for a moment before he gulped. “Well, Tess, would you like to join me for a drink?”