“Because from what I hear you are a very bad bet… and I know I am.”
Nate raised an eyebrow in query, whiskey eyes twinkling. “We’ll come back to you, let’s start with why I’m a bad bet?”
“The Superflirt? Schmoozing women for over a hundred years? Please.”
“I appreciate women, since when is that a crime? I don’t make promises. I don’t break hearts. Most importantly I set expectations from the get go, so no one gets hurt.”
“Okay then Sheriff, what can I expect from you?”
“Everything. Anything. You name it Cyd and it’s yours.” There was no teasing in his eyes now, only real promise and intent.
Charisse took a big gulp of her drink, determined to make light of his words even though her pulse was suddenly racing and hot shivers of anticipation were dancing up and down her spine. “Oh yes, and just how many lovely ladies have you used that line on?”
“In a hundred years? Not a one.”
“Goddess.” She turned to look at the storm, better than Nate’s intense sincere handsome face. “You don’t play fair do you?”
“I play to win. Now tell me Cyd, what makes you think you’re a bad bet?”
Charisse chewed on her lip, watching lightning arc across the sky. Goddess, how had this conversation gotten so far out of hand?
“No, let me guess.” Nate rubbed his hand along the side of his jaw thoughtfully. “You’re a former nun still grappling with your decision to leave the convent?”
Charisse bit back a laugh.
“Just tell me you kept the outfit?” He beseeched with a sexy smile. “No? Former kick ass spy now retired? Am I getting warmer?”
“Absolutely spot on, so rare to find such an intuitive man. So obviously you’ll respect my need for privacy and anonymity and stop…”
Nate laughed softly under his breath. “Stop what exactly? We’ve danced together once, you asked me, remember? We’ve kissed twice, the second time as I very fondly recall was initiated by you.”
Charisse forced her tone to remain even. “That was to keep Vamperella focused on us.”
Nate shrugged. “Cyd, when are you going to stop lying to yourself? That kiss was the stuff of legends… and think… it was only a simple kiss, imagine… imagine Cyd if we were to do more than kiss.”
Even in this dim light Charisse could see solar flares of light flash and jump in his whiskey eyes. Goddess, her palms felt damp, her skin tight and there was a slow steady throb pulsing deep in her very core. She was suddenly picturing them naked, his golden flesh hot and glistening with sweat under her touch as she writhed beneath him. Oh Goddess. She was almost grateful to Bettina as she-bitch grappled and squeezed demandingly on their bond. She clenched her jaw, determined to be led by her Goddess given common sense and not her hormones. She could not have a relationship with Nate. He was too smart, too tenacious. He’d find out about Bettina, their link and he’d be horrified by her… or worse, pitying.
Nate got to his feet, picking up the nearest lantern. “Time to get dinner organised.”
“Nate?” Charisse scooped up the remaining lantern following him to the kitchen. “I’m not trying to be… high-maintenance. I’m just telling you here and now, that you and I… together…” She stopped talking, realising that she had Nate’s full, an undivided attention, as he leaned back against the kitchen bench, watching her intently, waiting for her to finish her rambling sentence. “…. Er.”
“Don’t stop now.” He folded his arms, cocking his head to the side slightly. “It almost sounded like you were about to stop with all the half-truths and tell me something important.”
“Nate.” She took a deep breath in frustration. “I’m…” The words practically hurt to say but she forced them out. “… not like other girls.”
“No you’re not Cyd.” He nodded solemnly in agreement.
“What do you mean by that crack?” She folded her own arms across her body, now glaring at him.
“You can’t get upset when I agree with you… come on, spit it out, the rest of what you need to say, I’m getting hungry.”
“This is not a joke Nate.” She felt tears begin to gather, determinedly pushing them away. He had no idea how hard, how isolating it was to be her, to be a Siren.
“And I’m not laughing. I get that things are complicated for you Cyd. Knew that the moment I laid eyes on you. And I know that whatever you’re dealing with, you have to face it on your own terms. That it’s your fight to win or lose. But that doesn’t mean you have to push everyone away, keep them at a distance, be alone, does it?”
Charisse hugged herself tighter as Bettina clamped down hard on their bond, sending a timely reminder that she loomed ever large in her life. Thinking dagger like thoughts back she was pleased when Bettina retreated. Now where was she with Nate? Nowhere it seems, he had already turned his back on her and moved over to start laying out plates and cutlery. Then he was grabbing a couple of tea towels, lifting something divine smelling out of the ancient oven.
“Grab a couple of wine glasses would you? Oh, and the salad from the fridge, I’ll serve up the lasagna. We can eat in the kitchen tonight.”
Five minutes later Charisse was sipping a lovely glass of merlot and contemplating Nate across the rickety oval kitchen table as he dug into his meal. “I don’t push people away.” She couldn’t let the conversation drop, Goddess damn her.
“Sure you do.” Nate picked up his own glass, savouring the ruby red liquid. “You think you’re protecting them. It must have been hard growing up in this community, surrounded by all this magic. By all these people with amazing powers and yet still be apart from them.”
Double damn him and his intuition. Blinking furiously as lightning lit up the room, she concentrated on shovelling food into her mouth. She’d need fuel to fight Bettina now that the rock was almost back to her normal level of power. Wondering what sneaky trick the bitch-rock would come up with next to try and bring her back into line? Hurt Nate again?
She couldn’t let that happen but nor would she be able to ignore Bettina’s pull soon. Grrr, how had her life swerved so dramatically out of her control so darn quickly? Before Nate she’d been perfectly… well not happy… and not particularly content, living with the not so metaphorical gigantic rock on her shoulder, but she’d been…? Enduring? Coasting? Existing?
Goddess, when had she stopped fighting Bettina and started managing her? Placating her? Avoiding confrontations? Shit, exactly at what moment, in the last fifteen years, had she become so fucking complacent with her situation?
It had taken Nate to shake up her world. A man just as likely to scowl at her as he was to gift her with a sexy taunting smile. Either expression made her sex damp and her heart race. He was so damn compelling with those whiskey coloured eyes of his, where bolts of sunlight danced and flared. Full of intent, of promise, of wicked take no prisoners (unless you had a penchant for being tied up) heat.
Goddess he tempted her. To take chances. To abandon her responsibilities. She wanted to take him to the floor, kiss, lick and taste him. Spend hours exploring all that lean golden muscular flesh until they were both boneless with fatigue and sated. Then she would whisper in his ear, confide all her secrets, her link to Bettina, her burden, her shame.
For Goddess sake, the man would run a mile, who wouldn’t?
Suddenly she couldn’t eat another bite, her stomach churning. She’d managed to force down half of what she’d been served, that would have to be enough. Wiping her mouth with her napkin she pushed away her plate before picking up her glass of wine. Outside the lightning and thunder had eased off but the rain continued a steady distant drum on the roof three storeys above their heads.
“You okay there Cyd?”
She forced a rueful smile. “Just thinking of all the responsibilities I have on the back burner right now, commitments, deadlines, that sort of thing. What about you? Don’t you have a weekly TV show to film?”
Nate shrugged, finishing the last o
f his lasagna. “You know the show is just a smoke and mirrors cover for our real missions?”
“Yes, Hadleigh has mentioned more than once that the segments you film for the show are meant to be nothing more than… distractions.”
Nate laughed. “Knowing Hadleigh she probably said they were a waste of time, but they’re not. It’s a great way to generate tips for one thing. Even with all our resources we can only monitor so much. You’d be shocked at the number of people, who not wanting to be labelled kooky by the mainstream law enforcement arms, reach out to us instead. Credible threats we can deal with off-camera, discreetly and efficiently.”
Charisse nodded. “And if you’re seen out and about in combat gear swinging an axe or shooting off a flamethrower, you tell people it’s all just part of the show?”
“Exactly. We’ve deliberately created a show that has just enough action, tension and wobbly - blink and you might have missed it - camera shots that mean half our audience think it’s all real and the other half believe it’s all staged.”
Charisse laughed. “So the very real scary monster can be explained away as an actor dressed in a rubber suit?”
“Sure why not, we deal with the bad guy, then hand out business cards and tell people to tune into the show.”
“Then shouldn’t you be filming or something?”
Nate shook his head, finishing the last of his wine. “The grommets who run the tech will add in some audio I’ve done from previous shows as well as some shots of me running down an anonymous dark corridor. Smoke and mirrors. Between the bad lighting, intentional blips and wobbly camera angles no one will notice.” Nate grinned broadly. “Trying to get rid of me Cyd?”
“Just checking you’re really up there on that roof as you claim rather than out partying.”
“Tell you what, tomorrow I’ll put you in a harness and take you up there.”
“Then who would finish sanding back the bannister? No thanks.”
“You realise that’s only the ground to first floor bannister you’ve started working on? You have two other floors to do if you’re setting yourself a goal.”
Goddess, did he really expect she’d be here that long? It was a matter of a day or two before Bettina was back at full strength and demanding her presence, wanting to be fed. “Have you thought of tracking Destiny and her gang back to their daytime lair? They can’t be too far away.”
“Destiny may be crazy but she’s not dumb. I’ve seen her travel miles in a matter of seconds when she gets motivated. I’ve already asked Drum if he’d be able to track her but he thinks the ocean spray and all the levels of salt in the air around here would block his abilities.”
Damn, damn, damn. She grabbed her plate and his. “You got the meal together; it’s only fair that I clean up.”
“You sure you’re okay Cyd? If I’ve said something out of line? If I’ve offended you?”
Charisse concentrated on filling the sink with water to clean the dishes. “I’m fine, just tired. Unused to all this physical exertion. Once I finish in here I think I’ll head to bed.” She held her breath, praying that he wouldn’t push her further.
Nate studied her bent head, her hair glinting with red lights thanks to the glow of the lanterns. He wanted answers from this frustrating woman. More than that, he wanted her to stop fighting her attraction to him. But suddenly she seemed fragile and she did look tired. Coming to a decision he stood up, he wouldn’t push for more from her right now, no matter how frustrated he was.
Maat, he needed something to take his mind off her. “Well if you need me for anything, I’ll be in the library, pulling up floorboards.”
Charisse gripped a slippery plate with two hands… need him for anything? Of course she didn’t, she was an independent, take charge, had everything under control, Siren. Need him for anything? She scoffed mentally. The man was full of it… and he was taking his t-shirt off. Why was he doing that?
His ripped abs and chest displayed to golden perfection for just a moment before he turned to exit the room whistling. That bastard. Why couldn’t he keep a shirt on? She’d be lucky to sleep a wink tonight.
Then she smiled, well at least she had a soft bed on which to rest. Mr - I haven’t met a shirt I couldn’t get out of in two point one seconds - would be sleeping on the hard floor tonight… served that taunting devil right.
Chapter Fourteen
“There’s something wrong with Charisse.”
Nate was already running before Surly Dave’s words fully penetrated his consciousness. The crowbar he’d been using to pry away the panelling of a section of wall on the third floor still gripped in his hand. Thank the Sands and last night’s storm he’d been working inside this morning. He hit the stairs at Mach two, not caring he’d long left Dave behind. He needed…. had, to get to Cyd.
He was barely aware of Trevor and Colin parting to let him through, his pace slowing as Charisse came into view. She was seated about half-way up the staircase, between the ground and first floor, all her focus on sanding one of the bannister spindles.
At first glance nothing appeared out of the norm, Cyd was wearing black shorts, smeared with dust, an olive green V-necked t-shirt and bright red sneakers on her feet. Her hair was back in a bouncy pony-tail, swaying gently as she moved.
He glanced back at Trevor and Colin. Had he got it wrong? Was this some silly trick? No, the brothers looked genuinely concerned, Colin actually wringing his hands in worry.
Moving at a steady pace so as not to surprise her, Nate knelt on the staircase just below her. He yanked down the bandanna he’d been using to shield his nose and mouth. “Cyd?” He frowned. Damn, her colouring was weird. She was ghostly pale except for two bright spots of colour high on her cheeks as if she was running a fever. There was perspiration on her forehead and her breathing was too fast and slightly ragged. “Cyd?” He tried calling her name again. But all her attention was locked on the spindle she was sanding.
That was when he saw the blood dripping down the spindle, the piece of sandpaper she’d been using had rubbed away long ago. It was like she was sleep walking or caught in a fugue state. What the fuck?
He was tempted to grab her but something made him hesitate. He caught a sound, a low mutter and realised her lips were moving. What was she saying? He leaned in closer to hear her whisper ‘I don’t belong to you’ over and over again.
He caught a hint of movement just below her heart. Shit, that invisible to everyone but him black entity that all but encased her psyche was going crackerjack-box crazy. It had two rigid tentacles encircled around her waist and even as he watched a third came into view, sliding up between her breasts, headed in the direction of her throat. Without pausing to consider the ramifications, he enclosed his large hand around her slender throat a split second before the tentacle settled into place.
It appeared to flinch for a moment as it came into contact with his flesh before tightening abruptly. Nate resisted, flexing his hand outwards, no way was he letting this thing hurt Cyd. After a few seconds the entity seemed to realise squeezing was futile. It changed tactics, sending sharp, teeth-clenching pulses of electricity down its length. Nate grit his teeth, fighting the urge to clench his hand into a fist. It would be a poor showing indeed if by trying to protect Cyd; he accidently ended up throttling her.
A minute passed and then two. The electrical pulses came and went with varying degrees of intensity. As if the thing was testing him. He bought his other hand up to try and pry it free but couldn’t seem to get a purchase on it, shit.
“Ummm.”
Nate had forgotten about Dave and his sons. Glancing to the left he found Dave hovering there, his face white with concern and confusion. Dave’s hand instinctively reaching for the crowbar Nate had dropped. After all, to him and the boys, it probably looked like Nate was trying to choke Charisse. Great, just what he didn’t need, three wannabe white knights distracting him from the real problem. Nate didn’t let go of Cyd but he swung a leg around, slamming his bo
ot down on the crowbar.
He switched his focus back to the more immediate problem. The tentacle wrapped around his hand and by default Cyd’s throat, was growing bigger, thickening. He glanced down noting the two tentacles that had been wrapped around Cyd’s waist were receding, as if they were feeding all their strength into the one wrapped around his hand.
Abruptly Cyd blinked and stopped sanding, frozen in place she glanced down at Nate, surprise widening her green eyes. “Nate?” Her voice just above a whisper.
“I’ve got you Cyd. Just don’t move.”
Her eyes flicked down to his arm and the hand she couldn’t see but only feel around her throat. “Why…”
They both flinched as another pulse of electricity travelled through the tentacle.
“Charisse are you alright?” Dave demanded in her ear, causing her to flinch again.
“You need to tell them to leave Cyd.” Nate clenched out between gritted teeth.
Cyd was a little confused, last thing she remembered she’d been sanding when Bettina began to bite and chew at their bond with what seemed to border on rabid determination. Focusing on her breathing, on the rhythm of sanding she’d been successful in blocking bitch-rock’s demands when the attack had escalated and… nothing.
Next thing she knew, she was waking up to find Nate kneeling before her, for some reason his hand was wrapped around her throat and Bettina was far from happy with his interference.
“Charisse, should I call someone?” Dave tried again.
Nate shook his head, his concentration on keeping Cyd safe and that thing… whatever it was, at bay.
“Everything’s fine… Dave. You and the boys have been… great.” She hissed out a breath as Bettina shot another pulse through her… ouch. “I’ll…” She blinked back unshed tears. She would not give the bitch the satisfaction. “Call you… okay?”
To Seduce A Siren Page 13
