Spirits, Rock Stars, and a Midnight Chocolate Bar (Pyper Rayne Book 2)

by Deanna Chase

  He studied me for a moment, then nodded as his shoulders relaxed. “I always did like smart women.”

  Damn. “Flirting will get you everywhere.”

  He chuckled. “I can hardly wait.” That urge to tug him to our room came roaring back, but he pushed the muffin toward me and said, “Now finish your breakfast so I can hear that sexy little noise you make.”

  Heat shot from my belly to my nether regions. Hell. What had I started with that muffin? Something delicious that had nothing to do with chocolate. Holding his gaze, I bit once again into the still-warm muffin, and without conscious thought, another tiny moan escaped from my lips. Cripes. The muffin and whatever they put in it should be illegal.

  His eyes glinted and the hungry look on his face had me swallowing hard.

  I stood, grabbing the muffin with one hand and holding the other out to Julius. “We need to go. What I have planned requires privacy.”

  He didn’t hesitate, and the next thing I knew, it was Julius who was tugging me back to our room.

  13

  The elevator doors shut, and as soon as we started to descend, Julius reached over and slid his hand into mine. His thumb traced small circles over the inside of my wrist, sending a ripple of pleasure through me.

  The gentleness of his touch always had a way of making me feel treasured, something I hadn’t had much experience with. At least not with a significant other. My mother had her moments, and I knew Kane would do anything for me. But this was different. Special.

  I glanced down at our connected hands, watching him trace those little circles. The small gesture was more intimate than anything in recent memory. And suddenly, despite the innuendo and the flirting at breakfast, I was nervous.

  And vulnerable.

  Once we took the next step, we wouldn’t be able to erase it. We’d either be closer, or everything would go to hell. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that.

  But when the elevator doors opened and Julius wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close, I knew I was a goner. He smelled of sunshine and faint, manly musk.

  Heaven

  Neither of us were in a hurry now as we took our time working our way to the room.

  “Julius?” I asked, my head tilted up.

  He glanced down, his eyes soft. “Hmm?”

  I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to say. All I knew was that I wanted to be closer to this man. To connect with him on a deeper plane. Instead of answering, I pressed my palm to his cheek and rose up, brushing my lips over his. The kiss was brief, tender, and full of promise as his arms tightened around me.

  He didn’t move for a moment as he searched my eyes. Then he nodded and bent his head, covering my mouth with his.

  I melted into him. He was warm and tasted faintly of sugar and coffee. The world faded away, leaving me wrapped up in the slow, intoxicating kiss that had my pulse racing. My fingers curled in his button-down shirt as he slid his hand to my hip, holding me there.

  “I’m not sure I deserve you,” Julius said, nuzzling my neck.

  I let out a small startled laugh. “Deserve?”

  “Yeah.” He lifted his head and in a throaty voice said, “But I also don’t think I give a damn if I don’t.”

  My smile widened. “Thank the goddess for that. Because right now, the only one I want is you.”

  His hand tightened around mine, and without another word, he tugged me down the hall to our room. When we were finally inside, I stood at the end of the bed, waiting as he dropped the keycard on the small nightstand.

  Of all the ways I’d imagined our first time together, it hadn’t been at ten in the morning with me wearing a ponytail and cutoff jean shorts. I looked like a walking advertisement for some trendy apparel store, not a sexy temptress ready to seduce her man.

  Why hadn’t I thought to at least wear a sundress? Probably because I didn’t own any. I had plenty of dresses, but they were on the sexy side, good for nightlife, not daywear. No, mostly I wore jeans, shorts, and tank tops.

  At least I had a nice bra and panty set on. I always did. Black demicup lace with a rich red bow.

  I crooked a finger at him, indicating I wanted him to come closer.

  He didn’t disappoint. In three swift steps, he was standing in front of me, one hand cupping my neck and the other brushing the bright-pink strip of my hair back. “You do things to me, Pyper.”

  My breath caught at the intensity in his tone. I swallowed and gave him my flirty smile. “Not yet, but I will.”

  Heat flashed in his eyes as he stared at my mouth.

  I darted my tongue over my lower lip just to see his reaction.

  His body tensed, and then without warning, he lifted me up and turned to sit on the edge of the bed with me on top of him, my legs wrapped around his waist. “Do that again,” he said, his voice husky.

  “Do what,” I asked, totally distracted by the feel of his chest rippling beneath his shirt.

  Running his fingers down my spine, he said, “I want to see you lick your lip again.”

  “Oh,” I breathed, reveling in his touch and the small tingles of pleasure sparking through my body.

  He had his gaze locked on my mouth as he waited.

  I wondered how long he’d stare at me like that if I just waited him out, but his other hand came up and brushed my cheek, and without even thinking about it, I wetted my lips in anticipation.

  “Perfect. Utterly perfect,” he whispered and leaned in, claiming me with a heated kiss. Burying my fingers into his thick hair, I sank into him, my body instantly coming alive. I wanted him. More than I’d ever wanted anyone.

  But Julius seemed content to take his time. He had one hand on my thigh and the other on the back of my neck and neither were moving. But his lips were. He’d turned his attention to my neck and was working his way down to my shoulder.

  “You’re going to torture me, aren’t you,” I teased, sliding my hands down until I found the top button of his shirt.

  He glanced up, an amused, wry grin in place. “Isn’t that the goal?”

  I chuckled. “I suppose so, just as long as there’s a payoff in the end.”

  “Oh, there’s gonna be a payoff. Or two.”

  “Two?” I raised both eyebrows, my smile widening.

  “At least.” He dipped his head again, and this time ghosted his lips over my rapidly beating pulse.

  That was more than I could take, and I made quick work of the rest of his buttons. When I pressed my hands to his bare chest, he glanced down as if he hadn’t realized what I’d been doing.

  “This has to go,” I whispered, pushing the shirt over his shoulders.

  “Gladly.” He stripped the garment off and twisted as he turned to toss it on the floor. And as he did, I caught sight of something I hadn’t seen before on the back of his shoulder.

  Running my fingers over the faint outline, I studied what appeared to be a dragon. “When did you start this?”

  “Start what?” He glanced at his shoulder and stiffened. Then next thing I knew, he was picking me up and placing me on my feet as he stood.

  “Julius?” I stood completely still, acutely aware something had just happened, but I had no idea what. “What’s wrong?”

  He twisted in front of the mirror and craned his neck. When he got a good look at the tattoo, he let out a low hiss. “Dammit!”

  I moved to stand beside him.

  He poked at his shoulder and back, stretching sideways in order to inspect the design. Then he dropped his hands, straightened, and stared himself in the eye.

  After a few moments, I placed a soft hand on his forearm and asked, “Want to tell me what’s happening here?”

  He turned haunted eyes on me. “I’ve never gotten a tattoo.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, because clearly he did have one, but I closed it, understanding that he believed he’d never had one done. Frowning, I shifted to stand behind him, inspecting the faded outline. It wasn’t fresh, so there was no way someone had
inked it on him the night before while he’d been blacked out. That left memory loss or some sort of—what the hell? The tattoo started to darken, and then the scales started to shimmer silver.

  I gasped and blinked rapidly, not believing my eyes.

  “What?” Julius twisted again just in time to see the silver fade.

  Our eyes met in the mirror and then, as if on cue, we both said, “Magic.”

  “She said something about heading to the spa today,” I said to Julius as we strode down the hallway toward Jade and Kane’s room. “If she’s not in her room, we can either wait her out, or I can go find her.”

  “We’ll wait,” Julius said.

  I pressed my lips together in a thin line. Julius hadn’t been able to pinpoint any specific spell that had been cast on him. All he could say was that ever since the night before, he’d been unsettled. Anxious. And short on patience. I’d been aware of the unsettled part, but he’d done a fine job of hiding the other two. Still, I wasn’t nearly as content to sit around while Jade got her massage and her toes painted. Someone had spelled him.

  It was really the only explanation for the tattoo. He hadn’t had it last week. I knew. I’d spent a considerable amount of time admiring him while he’d been shirtless in my kitchen after a workout with Kane. A dragon that spanned three-quarters of his back didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Nor did the silver scales that came and went, sometimes glowing and sometimes barely visible.

  Glowing tattoos weren’t something a girl missed. Especially when they were fire-breathing dragons.

  If Jade wasn’t in her room, it would take an act of Congress to keep me from tracking her down. Julius had been spelled. And he hadn’t even realized it. That took serious skill. If it had happened the night before, there was another very powerful witch onboard.

  A chill crawled up my spine.

  I should’ve known the Witches’ Council wouldn’t have sent Julius on a simple mission. If it was just a matter of cleansing one room of a spell, they could’ve done that while the ship was in port. There was something much more sinister happening on the high seas.

  Julius rapped three times on Jade’s door. Heavy footsteps sounded from inside just before Kane swung the door open. He was disheveled, his shirt on inside out, and his hair was mussed as if he’d just gotten out of bed.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” I said as I moved past him, not waiting for an invitation.

  “Sure, come right on in. Don’t mind us,” Kane muttered, running his hand over his head, trying to tame his dark locks.

  The water was running in the bathroom and a light shone under the door. The rumpled bedcovers told me more than I cared to know.

  “Sorry, man,” Julius said. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.”

  The irritation lining his face vanished. “What’s going on?”

  The bathroom door swung open and Jade hurried into the room, her cheeks flushed as she tightened the knot of her robe. Obviously Julius and I hadn’t been the only ones taking advantage of the at-sea day by spending it in bed. Only they appeared to have had more success than we had.

  Lucky bastards.

  “What’s wrong?” Jade asked, peering at me. “Your anxiety is off the charts.”

  I sighed. It was pointless to ask her to stop reading me. Not when I was this worked up. She could block emotions, but when someone close to her was upset, it was nearly impossible.

  “Julius has been spelled,” I blurted.

  Jade spun to stare at him. “How?”

  He shrugged. “No idea. But I bear the marks.” Then he turned and stripped his shirt off.

  I moved to stand next to Kane, leaving room for Jade to inspect the now almost invisible tattoo. The lines had all but vanished, but if I squinted, I could still make out the dragon shape.

  “What in the world?” she said under her breath as she frowned. Then she raised her hand as if to touch him but paused and asked, “Do you mind?”

  “Go ahead.” Julius stood perfectly still and silent as she traced her fingers over the tattoo. But after a moment, her frown deepened.

  “What makes you think this is a spell?” she asked.

  Julius’s brows furrowed. “It wasn’t there before and I have no memory of getting a tattoo. What else could it be?”

  Before she could answer, I added, “It changes in intensity as well. Earlier the scales were glowing silver and the outline was a lot more defined. This acts almost like an illusion.”

  Jade whipped her long strawberry-blond hair up into a haphazard bun and tilted her head as she continued to examine the tattoo. As we stood there, it all but faded from his skin. She blew out a breath. “This is very odd.”

  “That’s one way of putting it,” I said dryly.

  Kane slipped his arm over my shoulders and squeezed my arm, a silent gesture of support.

  “Do you mind if I use a little magic to see if I can get it to reappear?” Jade asked Julius. “I want to see if I can sense anything from it.”

  “Sense what?” I asked, confused. “You mean you want to see if whoever did it left some sort of energy behind?”

  Jade nodded. “Exactly. Sometimes I can get traces from objects if it’s fresh, especially when the piece is handmade. There’s an emotional element there, you know?”

  “Sure.” I brushed a dark lock of hair out of my eyes. “But this isn’t an object. It’s Julius’s skin.”

  “I know.” Jade turned and gave me a small reassuring smile. “But it was done by hand. I just want to see if there was magic left behind in the ink. It should be easy enough to do.”

  “Go ahead,” Julius said, straightening his shoulders. “A little magical probing isn’t going to hurt anything.”

  “Famous last words,” I mumbled.

  Kane’s grip on my shoulder tightened as he leaned down to whisper, “She’ll be careful.”

  “I know,” I whispered back, swallowing my rising fear. If he had been spelled, it could literally mean anything. Even some sort of black-magic curse. Not too long ago, Jade had been cursed herself. And the only way to reverse it was to find the witch—or in her case, the angel—who did it.

  “Just relax,” Jade soothed as she pressed her palm to the back of his shoulder. A faint outline of white light shimmered over her skin, making her glow like an ethereal being. Then the light spread over Julius’s back, tracing the outline of the dragon, highlighting every scale, every curve of the creature’s body, every flicker of flame shooting from its open mouth.

  “Whoa.” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the dragon that now covered his entire back and right arm. But instead of the silver scales I’d seen before, they were now brilliant orange and red with hints of yellow. Its talons were obsidian, and its eyes brilliant green. Had it been an actual tattoo, it was the type of work done by a master that would’ve taken multiple sittings.

  Jade let out a tiny grunt of frustration. With her face scrunched up in concentration, her light brightened and took on a shimmering quality. “It’s not working—” she started, but then suddenly her magic broke free of the dragon and spread over his entire body, lighting him up like a human Christmas tree. “There. Got it.”

  Her eyes closed and her frown deepened almost to a scowl.

  Oh geez. Whatever she’d found was not good. Dread circled and crawled right into my heart.

  “What is it, Jade?” Julius asked softly.

  She dropped her hand and took a step back. Her magic vanished, leaving Julius standing in the shadows as he turned to face her. Jade turned to me, and the resigned expression on her face rooted me to the floor. “It’s not magic. It’s another soul.”

  14

  “What?” Julius and I said at the same time.

  Jade ran a hand across her brow and sank down into a blue polyester armchair. “It’s not a spell. But there is emotional energy there that isn’t yours,” she said to Julius. “And it’s active.”

  “That can’t be…” Julius turned to stare in the wall
mirror.

  Everything in me tensed at Jade’s words as ice crawled up my spine. The memory of feeling like a stranger in my own body came roaring back, and I wrapped my arms around myself, my nails digging into my skin. Last year I’d found myself sharing my body with another soul. A magical one who’d been a medium. It was why I could see and talk to ghosts now. The extra soul I’d carried had been extracted and inserted into a woman who’d lost hers. It had been unusual to say the least. My parting gift had been the ability to speak with the dead.

  “We have to get in touch with Lailah,” I said, already reaching for my phone. Angels were soul guardians, and Lailah was one we knew we could trust. If anyone could help Julius, it was her. “Crap! No signal.”

  Jade glanced at hers and shook her head, indicating she was in the same boat, so to speak. “There is nothing she can do from New Orleans right now anyway.”

  “How did this happen? Julius is a witch. He’d notice something like that, wouldn’t he?” I asked Jade.

  She bit down on her bottom lip. “I probably would, but only because of my empath abilities. But when you had another soul, you didn’t know at first, right?”

  “No, but—”

  “It happened last night,” Julius said, cutting me off. “When we were breaking the spell in room 1538.”

  Jade’s eyes widened. “You knew?”

  I sucked in a sharp breath. He knew he was carrying another soul and had still been willing to get naked with me? A surge of anger heated my face but dissipated as he shook his head.

  “No. I didn’t realize it until just now.” He sat down on the couch, his elbows propped on his knees as he held his head in his hands.

  I hurried across the room and sat next to him, placing my hand on his leg.

  He flinched and jerked his head up as if I’d burned him.

  “Whoa.” I pulled my hand back. “Sorry. I didn’t mean—”

  “No.” He shook his head, his eyes pinched with regret. “It’s not you. As soon as Jade said I have another soul on board, her words registered as true, and now I can feel the foreign energy and it’s making my skin crawl.”