by Deanna Chase
“Yes.”
“No way!” I stood again and winced when another dart of pain shot down my thigh. Grabbing it, I stifled a whimper.
A second later Vaughn was by my side, giving me a shoulder to lean on. “Come on. You need to relax.”
Because the throb in my leg wasn’t going away and he’d dropped the interrogator act to help me, I let him lead me into the next room and then into his bedroom. I came to an abrupt stop the moment we stepped through the door. What we’d done the night before was too fresh in my mind. We’d been two strangers using each other. Tonight we were something else. Friends? Enemies? Certainly not lovers. And being there was making it hard for me to breathe.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, concern lacing his tone.
I shook my head, totally out of my element. “Uh, nothing. What are we doing in here?”
“You need to lie down and the bed is a thousand times more comfortable than that old couch.” He tugged on my hand. When I didn’t budge, he swept me up in his arms, and despite my protest, he carried me to the bed and gently laid me on top of his comforter.
The gesture was far too considerate and sweet for me to continue to be pissed at him. He was an enigma. One moment he was acting the insensitive a-hole and the next he was taking care of me even when I was being stubborn.
My heart fluttered. Crap on toast. This was going to get messy.
Vaughn walked around to the other side of the bed and sat next to me, leaning against his headboard.
“Okay. I’ll talk if you will,” I said somewhat reluctantly. The work I did for Chessa was classified, but if I was being investigated by the Witches’ Council, it was better they knew I was working from orders. Not to mention Vaughn had been caught up in a demon fight. If there were any more coming after me tonight, he deserved to know he was in danger.
“Deal.”
We stared at each other, both of us obviously expecting the other to go first.
I chuckled. “All right. No, I wasn’t trying to open a portal. I was trying to seal one. And before you go thinking that’s the sort of thing I do for fun, it isn’t. I work for the high angel and that particular task is something she’s had me working on. I do not get off on dealing with demons.”
“The high angel?” He raised a curious eyebrow. “Isn’t it a little unusual for a college student to be working for the Angel Council?”
“Yes. It would be.” It sounded so absurd when he put it like that. “Except the high angel is my sister and this isn’t exactly sanctioned by the Angel Council.” Oh, oops! I bit down on my tongue, realizing I probably shouldn’t have added that last part.
“Really? So why is she so bent on sealing it up?” He seemed curious, not judgmental this time, which I appreciated. But I was still skeptical. He hadn’t told me anything yet. Not that Chessa’s reason was top secret or anything. “An angel she was close to was taken through the portal and fell. Chessa will do anything to seal it up.”
“I see.” He rubbed his five-o’clock shadow. I wanted to reach out and run my fingers over the stubble, but I refrained. Now wasn’t the time. “That’s rough.”
His voice was so full of compassion that I had a sudden change of heart. Now seemed like the perfect time. I reached over and lightly trailed the back of my fingers down his cheek to his jawline. We both froze, staring at each other for an intense moment.
When I dropped my hand, he cleared his throat. “Can’t say I blame her. Is that what you were doing today on the west bank? In the Pointe, right? Near the river?”
I turned to watch him. “How did you know that?”
He shrugged. “That’s what I do. I’m a bounty hunter—”
“What?” My spine went completely rigid and then I rolled off the bed, fuming. “Is that why you took me home last night?”
“Huh?” He looked up at me in confusion. “I didn’t… Oh shit. No, no. That’s not at all what happened.” He leaped off the bed and landed next to me. “Please. Sit back down and I’ll start at the beginning. I swear, I absolutely had no idea who you were last night when I brought you home. You were just too damn sexy to pass up. And that’s God’s honest truth.”
Too damn sexy. Well, I could live with that, I guess. Most men thought that about me anyway. It was the sex magic. Still, I sat on the very edge of the bed, ready to bolt if I suspected he was lying. Though I had no reason to believe he was. Except for the fact he was a bounty hunter and apparently I was on his radar. And that sort of pissed me off, too. I mean, he was the one guy I’d liked well enough to see twice and he’d been hired to hunt me. Eff balls. “Okay. Start at the beginning.”
“My brother is a witch, and he works for the Witches’ Council, keeping an eye on unusual supernatural activity. I moonlight as a bounty hunter, tracking down leads for him and others who do his sort of work. I wasn’t working on any case at all yesterday. I got the call to track you down today and the only information I had was GPS coordinates. But when I got there, for some reason I could sense you but not see you.” He cast me a sidelong glance. “Why is that, by the way?”
My shadow-walking ability wasn’t exactly a secret, but it wasn’t public knowledge either. I wasn’t sure how much of myself I wanted to reveal to this guy, especially if he was somehow working for the Witches’ Council. They didn’t really care for my particular coven. The old prudes weren’t real tolerant of sex witches. I met his questioning glance. “How is it you knew I was there if you couldn’t see me?”
He chuckled. “I knew you weren’t going to let that pass. While I don’t have any real magical abilities, I can sense when someone is using magic. And then there’s this.” He pulled his laptop from the nightstand and powered it up. After opening a file, pictures of the levee on the west bank filled the screen. In every single one of them was a brilliant flash of light on the deserted waterfront. It was the same spot Chessa and I had been standing when we’d stepped into the Shadow world. The pictures had to be me casting the spell to close the portal.
I met his curious stare. “You saw me?”
He nodded. “But I didn’t know it was you.”
“I had no idea my magic was visible while I was… Shit, you said you could sense me?”
That gleam was back and my stomach all but fell to my feet. Did that mean he’d known I was using some sort of magic to prime the pump, so to speak, at the club last night? Jeezus. How freakin’ humiliating.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said quietly.
I swallowed, horrified. He’d known the whole time. “Worry about what?”
“About the magic you used last night. Whatever it was, it didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to.”
Now his expression was completely stoic. Could I trust him? I wanted to. There’d never been a member of the opposite sex I could talk to about these things. It was new and entirely too comfortable. I shrugged. “It’s not much. A suggestion really. In order for it to work, the person has to be interested already. It’s not like I can control someone’s will.”
“Just their willpower.” He grinned.
There wasn’t any of that previous judgment behind his words, and that made all the difference. I shook my head, suppressing a smile. “You could say that.”
“At no point did I contemplate resisting. Does that make you feel better?”
I smirked. “I wasn’t feeling bad about it.”
He nodded. “I see. Well then, I guess we can move on.”
“Okay.” I shifted to stretch my sore leg. It was feeling better already. “Then tell me why the Council thinks I was opening a demon portal.”
“Nope. Not until you tell me how come I couldn’t see you. Do you have some sort of invisibility cloak à la Harry Potter or something?”
“Goddess, no. But that would be really cool.” I clasped my hand over his arm and leaned in. “Can you imagine how useful that would be? Especially in your line of work?”
“Nice try, Matisse. But stop deflecting the question.”
Damn him. I lifted my hands, palms up. “You can’t blame a girl for trying. Still, you have to admit it would be a cool tool.”
His body had relaxed as he leaned against his headboard and his face was set in a small smile. He was thoroughly enjoying this. And the realization made me warm all over. I wasn’t sending any pheromones out into the atmosphere. In fact, if anything, I was trying to keep myself pretty guarded at the moment. I didn’t really like exposing details about myself. And the fact that he was enjoying our time together made me ridiculously happy. Is this what it’s like to be in a relationship? The idea of being impossibly attracted to someone and being able to enjoy a good debate, to trust them with important matters, was terrifying. I’d never realized I wanted that before. But dammit if I didn’t crave it now.
Something must have shifted in my expression, because he reached out and caressed my neck just below my ear. The action sent a small tremor through my tired body and made me want to curl up next to him with his arms around me.
Again, totally new territory for me. Sex witches usually weren’t needy like that. Or were we? If we never got close to anyone, how would we know? Before I could act on my impulse, he pulled his hand away.
“If not a cloak, how does it work?” he asked, bringing me back to the conversation.
Oh hell. Might as well just get it all out there. What would it hurt if he knew anyway? “I’m a shadow walker.”
He frowned. “A what?”
“There is a world between ours and Hell, where spirits sometimes get trapped. I can walk in that world. There’s an open demon portal there. Chessa and I were trying to seal it so demons can’t reach New Orleans anymore.”
His gorgeous eyes widened as his expression morphed into one of awe. “That’s a lofty goal. I take it it didn’t work?”
I shook my head. “No. In fact, it brought attention to the portal and Chessa had to fight one of them off. It’s not like we were looking for trouble. Chessa had to do what she did. She had no choice. It was either him or us.”
He furrowed his brow, clearly thinking. “I wonder why the Council thought you were trying to summon a demon.”
“I have no idea. I work for the Angel Council, not the Witches’ Council. I can’t even venture a guess as to what they were thinking. But I should let Chessa know we’re on their radar. She should be able to clear everything up.”
Vaughn got up from the bed. “I’ll let Mitch know it’s taken care of.”
“No!” I lunged and grabbed his hand to stop him.
He gave me a stunned look.
I let go. “Sorry. It’s just that I’d like Chessa to talk to the Council first before you involve anyone else. The stuff I just told you, it’s confidential. If it gets out, I’m going to be in a heap of shit.”
He appeared dubious, but after a moment, he nodded. “Sure.”
“I’ll pay whatever your bounty-hunting fee is so you’re not out a job. Let me know how much and I’m sure Chessa will take care of it.” I slipped my phone from my jeans and started punching in Chessa’s private number. She’d banned me from even programming it. That’s how private it was.
But Vaughn snatched the phone from my hand and stood over me, a stormy expression on his face.
“Hey!” I stared up at him, irritated. “Give me my phone back.”
He shoved it in his pocket and shook his head. “Not until we get this straight.”
“Get what straight?” I got to my feet, not at all pleased with the way he was standing over me.
He took a step closer, invading the last inches of my personal space. “Under no circumstances am I going to let you pay my bounty-hunting fee. Not only is that unethical, but it’s offensive. I’m not here with you now because of the money. Got that?”
“I never—”
“I’m here because I want to spend time with the sexy witch who seduced the shit out of me last night and left me hungry for more.”
“Well, that’s flattering,” I said with heavy sarcasm.
“You should be flattered.” His voice was rough as his desire-filled eyes bored into me. “It takes someone special to catch my attention and keep it.” He let out a low, ironic chuckle. “And don’t be giving me that offended glare. You’re exactly the same way. I can sense it all over you. The way you left all those men wanting you back at the club. The subtle magic you use to attract whoever catches your eye. And then the way you flee after you’ve gotten what you want. Don’t for a minute stand there and act like what I said is any different from the way you operate. Because I can see right through you.”
And even though my head said I should slap him and walk away, or at the very least tell him what a piece of shit he was for his crass assessment of me after knowing me for less than twenty-four hours, I did neither of those things. Because he was right. And the fact that he had called me on it only made me want him all the more.
“Matisse?” he said, dropping his gaze to my lips.
“Vaughn?” I breathed.
“It’s going to be a while before you can make that phone call.”
My pulse quickened and something fluttered in my stomach. “And why is that?” I managed to force out.
“Because, my gorgeous witch, I’m going to take you to bed now and make you ache with need until you beg me to make love to you.”
Chapter 11
Matisse
Vaughn dipped his head and moved in to claim my lips. His words kept repeating in a loop in my head.
I’m going to take you to bed and make you ache with need.
I was already there. Just his words had ignited a passion so fierce, so lustful, that every part of me begged to be touched. My fingers curled into his shirt, fisting the fabric as our tongues met and tangled together.
The kiss was hot, full of pent-up tension, but the frenzy was offset by his slow, gentle caress of my neck. His fingers trailed lightly from the base of my skull down to my nape and circled the love bite he’d given me the night before. Once again as soon as he touched me there, electric heat shot from the mark straight to my center, causing me to gasp with the delightful sensation.
His chest rumbled with a light chuckle.
“What did you do to me?” I asked, my lips pressed against his.
He pulled away slightly to gaze into my eyes. “You’ve been marked.”
But before I could ask what he meant, he lifted me off my feet and covered my mouth with his. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me into his bathroom. Then the shower was on and he was peeling me out of my soiled clothes.
I stood there letting him do what he would, completely turned on by the intimacy of the moment. Every thought of the day’s events flew out of my head as each garment was stripped from my body, followed by his gentle touch over my bare skin. It wasn’t until his hand brushed over my neck and the tingling started again that I remembered what he’d said. Standing naked in his bathroom, I touched his hand, stopping his careful exploration. “What did you mean, I’ve been marked?”
His eyes focused on my neck and then he placed his fingers over the area, carefully tracing the faint bruise. “Only that I’d left a mark on you. It’ll fade.”
Why did I like the fact that he had marked me? The feminist in me wasn’t amused. But the woman in me thought it was hot as hell. I hooked a finger in one of his belt loops and tugged him the last few inches toward me. And as I undid his belt, he bent his head to my neck and went to work on loving that spot on my neck. My knees turned to jelly as heat flooded my body. “Oh, that’s nice.”
I felt him smile against my skin, and with a gentle tug, I relieved him of his jeans and boxer briefs. Then I traced my hands over his abs, exploring every toned dip and ridge. Eff me. His body was outrageous. I could’ve spent all night just touching him. That is until he tugged his shirt off and pulled me into the hot stream of water. He turned me so I was standing in front of him and then he went to work on washing every part of my body. The warmth and slippery touch of his soapy fingers soo
thed me.
He took his time washing my back, my limbs, and even took care to massage my fingers. The total luxury of giving myself over to someone else was tantalizing, and for once, I didn’t feel threatened by my own vulnerability. I loved it. Loved giving up the control and trusting this man to give me what I needed.
After carefully washing and conditioning my hair, he handed me the shower gel and stood before me, silently asking me to do the same for him. I was all too willing. My fingers were eager to touch, to explore, and to know all the ridges and angles of his tall frame. I took my time washing his hair, gratified when he tilted his head back with his eyes closed, clearly enjoying my touch. Once I was done, I grazed my fingers along the indent of his narrow waist, smiling when I reached around and ran my hand along the silky plane of his arousal.
A small, strangled moan escaped his lips as he grew harder under my touch.
Kissing his shoulder, I palmed him and slowly slid my hand up and down and then repeated the motion.
“Matisse,” he said, placing his hand over mine to stop the torment.
I squeezed gently, sending a small shiver through him. “Yes, Vaughn?”
“Maybe it’s better for both of us if we put the pause button on that activity for a moment.” He turned and flattened his hands against the tile, trapping me between him and the wall. “Because there’s a lot more I have planned before this evening is over.”
I raised my hands in surrender. “I’m all yours.”
His dark eyes sparked with intensity, and I bit my lip as I realized I’d just given up all control. But it was so freeing and so damned alluring that I stood there, waiting for him to make another move.
He dipped his head, gently kissing one of my fingers, and curled his right hand around my left. The gesture was so sweet and tender it nearly brought tears to my eyes. But then he slipped another one of my fingers into his mouth and sucked, sending a bolt of lightning that heated me from the inside out. A moan of pleasure tore from the back of my throat.
