Secret Eyes (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Marie Jermy

  “I remember Jessica saying the same thing when we first met.” Placing her hand over his thumping heart, Scott said, “Do you feel that, Leia? Would a dead man have a beating heart?”

  What she’d been about to say was lost as his mouth enclosed over hers. Leia melted into Scott. Lip-locked and still holding hands, her free one drifted up to around his neck while his went to her ass. He began walking backward until he dropped over the arm of one of his large brown leather sofas.

  She uttered a blissful moan as he positioned her to lie fully on top of him, every soft inch of her body pressing against his harder one. His knees nudged against hers, and she voluntarily spread her legs, her whole body igniting with liquid fire at the simultaneous contact of the hot rigid length of his cock grinding against her own heat at the apex of her thighs. The iciness of his hand, which had been on her ass, worked its way up her spine under her blouse.

  “Leia,” Scott murmured thickly, dotting tiny kisses across her cheek to her ear. He twirled his tongue over her lobe and gently nibbled it. “I want you. Now.”

  An image of her naked and tangled with Scott in his super king-sized bed entered her head. Within the confines of her bra, her nipples peaked painfully, and her pussy contracted and oozed. She’d never wanted a man as much as she wanted Scott. But it wasn’t just about his body, to feel naked flesh and hard muscles or about him touching her, tasting her, pleasuring her every desire. There was definitely more there—had been from the moment of his first touch after showering her with his coffee. “Take me to bed, Scott. Make love to me. Now.”

  He immediately stilled, and Leia knew she’d said the wrong thing. She didn’t even need him to explain that the last woman who’d shared his bed had been Laura. Okay, yes, he’d opened up, but strangely enough, the closer she got to him, the further he pulled away from her. He also might have made all the moves, but the sense he wasn’t ready for the next one—to go from having sex to making love—was as evident as the tension now knotting his body.

  Leia squeezed the hand she still held. “I think it’s time for me to return the favor and show you around my place.”

  Chapter 5

  Scott mentally kicked his ass during the entire drive to Leia’s brownstone in Queens. He had quickly realized that Leia thought his emotional turmoil was because of Laura, but that hadn’t been the case at all. He’d really wanted Leia in his bed, naked, writhing and gasping at everything he wanted to do to her, with his hands, his mouth, his cock, but that would mean he’d also have to be naked.

  And that meant he’d have to face a problem that his lust-clouded brain had completely forgotten about—his scars. Laid bare to Leia’s touch and, no doubt, her questions. Only that morning he had no intention of telling her about them, but now he realized he may not have that option. He couldn’t exactly keep his shirt on when bedding her in the Liberty Penthouse Suite at the Manhattan Heights, now could he?

  However, Scott did have a get-out-of-jail-free card with his scars. Since they were linked to the Federation, he would lie about what caused them, although the thought of deliberately deceiving Leia preyed on his mind and left a nasty taste in his mouth.

  As he parked outside Leia’s brownstone, he glanced at her and felt a pang of conscience. He should never have asked her to help with the Rogers’ case, but being a man and one who’d recently rediscovered the joys of sex, he’d thought with his cock, not his brain.

  “You can’t back out now, Scott,” Leia said suddenly. “I’m helping you with this case. No arguments!” The decisive removal of her seatbelt and the slamming of the car door behind her told him “discussion closed.”

  Despite himself, Scott found his cock stirring as he followed Leia and Archie into the building. A pissed Leia was one big turn-on. At the front door to a ground-floor apartment, she suddenly turned and planted a hand on his chest. The heat from her palm soaked through his shirt and made his scars tingle.

  “Close your eyes. Or better still, wrap that tie around your head so you can’t see.”

  He frowned, for a second puzzled about what she had planned. Only for a second, though, but still, he had to ask. “Why?”

  “I would have thought that was obvious.” She tugged at the tie he was already loosening. “Let Archie guide you. Trust him. He’ll be your eyes.”

  “And what about you?” he asked as he blindfolded himself.

  “I know my apartment like the back of my ass! Worry about yourself, Scott, ’cause it’s gonna be you paying for any damage caused.”

  Scott knew Leia’s ass well, too. He contained the laugh but not the grin, which she must have sensed because he received another dig in the chest. Archie’s harness was placed into his right hand, and he heard the front door opening.

  The first thing he did upon crossing the threshold was to fall flat on his face. Leia snickered. And was it Scott’s imagination but did Archie also snicker, one that was reminiscent of Mutley from the cartoon.

  “I keep meaning to fix that carpet.”

  “Funny.” He picked himself up and was guided through a door to his right.

  “This is the living room,” Leia announced in a tourist guide tone.

  She stood right behind him, her warm breath tickling his nape. His nostrils flared as her sweet scent enveloped him. Despite the blindfold, Scott closed his eyes anyway, wondering if he would find her lips the first time if he turned around. “I was hoping you’d show me your bedroom first.”

  She ignored him. “It’s painted in a warm apricot shade. Beige carpet. Pine furniture. The sofa and two chairs have removable covers, which is a good thing as they’re cream in color. And before you ask, Scott, Anakin does all my decorating.”

  “Otherwise it could get real messy,” he said, laughing and reopening his eyes behind the blindfold. “Archie? Does your mistress have a bookcase?” One woof was accompanied by a slight tug to his left. Hesitantly stepping in the direction that Archie guided him, Scott negotiated his way around the room until his hand touched a waist-high shelving unit. “Do you read a lot?” he asked as he hunched down. “Braille books, I mean.”

  “Occasionally, but I mostly listen to audio books.”

  He ran his fingers over the many CD cases. “How do know what titles they are? Ah, I know! I can feel raised dots down each case. You’ve labeled them.” He gave himself a congratulatory mental slap on the back. “So what type of books do you listen to?”

  “Don’t you know?”

  Under the blindfold, Scott rolled his eyes. “You might be able to understand Braille, but I don’t.” He pushed his tie up onto his forehead and felt the breath he’d inhaled whooshing out at Leia’s taste in literature. Vampires. Werewolves. The paranormal. Witchcraft. Fiction and fact. Most of the authors of those factual books he actually knew because they themselves were Federation members.

  He stared at Leia, casually perched on the arm of one of the chairs. Of course he’d realized that she’d sensed those two ghosts in his office, but she actually believed in them! Exactly the kind of person he’d consider as a Federation recruit. And even though Leia was blind, it was as he’d told her earlier, it didn’t matter, she used her brain, and her four other senses, including a sixth sense, were honed to perfection.

  “What are you thinking, Scott?”

  He absently placed a hand over his chest. “Er, now I know why you chose werewolf for your laptop password.” Her delicate brows drew together as if contemplating a burning question, probably one relating to the Federation and one that he had no intention of answering. Fortunately, before she asked, something sitting next to the CD player on a nearby sideboard caught his eye. “You own a TV?” he asked in surprise, going over to a portable-sized flat-screen television.

  She laughed. “No, it’s one of Anakin’s. He recently stayed with me while his house underwent a complete re-wire. And speak of the devil,” she said at the opening of her front door and a man’s voice calling out, “Only me, sis!”

  A man then appeared in the
doorway. Casually dressed, a sports bag slung over his right shoulder, taller and stockier, his short hair the same burnt umber shade, and with the same brown eyes only shrewder, Scott definitely saw the family resemblance. With an excited woof, Archie jumped up and almost knocked Howard back out into the hallway.

  “Hey, boy!” Howard greeted, but his shrewd eyes were on Scott, who in a flash of self-consciousness whipped his tie completely off his head and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. “I thought you’d be at work,” he said to Leia, yet the eyes never strayed.

  “Day off.”

  Her tone along with the wave of her hand was airy, giving Scott the impression she wasn’t intent on explaining what they were doing any time soon, which suited him just fine. He didn’t have any intentions of explaining, either. This was between him and Leia, and nobody else.

  “So soon? You only started two days ago.” Howard stepped over and linked his arm through Leia’s. “And I presume you’re the owner of the James Bond car parked outside?”

  The protective brother bit wasn’t lost on Scott. Howard had nothing to worry about though as Scott was protective of Leia, too. “You presume correctly,” he said with a nod and a friendly smile.

  “Anakin, meet Scott Rafferty,” Leia said. “Scott meet Anakin, my brother.”

  The two men shook hands, and as Scott anticipated, Howard winced and pulled away sharply. “Sorry. Circulation problem.”

  “I’d say.” Howard rubbed his hand down his jeans as if to warm it. He then spoke to Leia. “You lied to me. You said you weren’t going to see that schmuck.”

  “I didn’t have a choice. Scott’s my boss.”

  “At Magnum Investigations? I thought Jessica was.”

  “She is. But so is Scott.”

  “Well, what a small world we live in,” Howard grunted.

  Scott merely nodded, his mind firmly on that “schmuck” comment. And the moment Howard left, his TV tucked under his arm, he said to Leia, “Does he possess the same telepathic ability as you?”

  “I don’t think so. If he does, he’s never demonstrated it. Why?”

  “Did you tell him I threw coffee over you?”

  “Not in so many words. I didn’t know it was you then.”

  “And Jessica and Ross? I know you said you visited the office more or less soon afterward.”

  “Likewise. I still haven’t said anything.”

  “Let’s keep it that way.”

  “Our little secret,” Leia said with a smile.

  Scott decided not to comment and instead picked up one of a collection of photo frames. From the family resemblance, he guessed the smiling elderly couple were Leia’s parents. He wondered if she would be able to tell him that by touch alone, just as she did with his photo of him and Laura. “Can you catch ‘vibes’ from any photos?”

  “Mostly, why?”

  “I’ve got a little test for you. I’ve just picked up one of yours. Can you tell me who it’s of?” Leia easily made her way over to him and, placing one hand over his forearm, ran the index finger of her other hand down the glass.

  “My parents.”

  He shook his head, completely at awe. “Your mother’s very beautiful,” he remarked. “Just like her daughter.”

  She beamed. “Mom would love you.”

  “Do they live close by?”

  “They retired to Rhode Island about five years ago.”

  Leia’s sweet scent was causing his ability to concentrate to sink south. Scott stared at her hand still on his arm and instantly wanted her warm touch on another part of his body, the one rapidly rising to attention. “Can I see your bedroom now?”

  “Go out into the hallway, and it’s the door opposite. The second door is to the spare bedroom, and down the far end is the bathroom. Kitchen’s next to here. That’s where you’ll find me. Are you hungry?”

  Her tourist guide manner was also a definite turn-on as his cock now stood fully erect. His shark-like grin turned wolfish. “Starving. That’s why I’d rather you show me your bedroom.”

  “You’ve got a one-track mind, Scott.”

  “I know. You.” Was it his imagination, or were her nipples puckering beneath her blouse?

  “Well, I’m sorry, but tough. The boss will have to wait until we get to the Manhattan Heights.”

  “Jessica’s also your boss,” he reminded her, removing his jacket and his holster and draping both over the back of the sofa. “Would you make her wait, too?” Her response was to purse her lips into a pissy line. Hearty laughter rumbled from his chest. Not amused and with an unerring sense of direction, Leia pointed an equally pissy finger out the door.

  Still laughing, Scott toured the remainder of Leia’s apartment on his own. Her bedroom was pink—girly pink. With its white wicker furniture, cotton candy pink bed linen decorated with tiny embroidered rosebuds, matching floor-length drapes, and sheer blinds at the window it also had a romantic quality.

  He stared at the queen-sized bed and for some strange reason could imagine himself in it. He went over and smelled the pillows. Leia’s vanilla scent had his heart beating a little faster. A maelstrom of familiar intense emotions spread through his entire body.

  Oh, yeah, he could definitely imagine himself in the bed with Leia in his arms, a pink diamond solitaire ring, and a gold band adorning her left ring finger. Her warm, willing body melting into his, and moans of pleasured surrender falling from her beautiful mouth as he made love to her.

  A diamond solitaire ring, and a pink diamond at that? Gold band? Love? Scott shook his head to dispel the notion of domestic bliss he’d conjured because what he meant was, when he screwed her six ways to Sunday. And it was only Friday.

  “Lust, Rafferty, lust. Pure and simple,” he firmly reminded himself. Yet the maelstrom of familiar intense emotions wouldn’t go away. He thumped a fist against his chest, the punch causing a sharp pain to run the length of all five scars. He winced, which helped.

  After a quick inspection of the wicker wardrobe and not at all surprised to see labeled hangers—he didn’t need to understand Braille to know they denoted type of clothing and color, otherwise how would Leia know—he entered the spare bedroom. It was a boring neutral shade with equally nondescript furnishings. No doubt Leia’s, or rather Anakin’s, concentration and efforts had been applied to the décor in her bedroom.

  Next was the spacious bathroom. Tiled in contrasting black and white, it was fitted with an antique toilet and basin. The bathtub, however, was an ultra modern Jacuzzi. Suitably impressed and making the decision to share that bath with Leia, even though it would probably lead to the whole wedding-ring-on-finger scenario, Scott made his way to the kitchen.

  He stopped outside the door. Inside, over the clattering of pots and pans, Leia was conversing with Archie. Fascinating. He didn’t have a clue as to Archie’s answers, but he quickly deduced that it was one woof for yes and two for no.

  “If you’re not a ghost, Scott, why are you hovering by the door?”

  His brows arched in surprise. “How did—No, never mind. No doubt you sensed me. Or smelled me. Are you sure I don’t have BO?” He entered and took a seat on one of the chrome stools at the breakfast bar where two places of funky hexagonal plates and bowls were set.

  With melamine shiny bright red cabinets, black work surfaces, and black-and-white checked linoleum, the kitchen reminded him of a fifties diner. All that was missing was the jukebox. Each cupboard and drawer were labeled, and again, he didn’t need to understand Braille to know that they denoted what their contents were.

  “Quite sure,” Leia said, laughing. She turned away from the stove where something divine-smelling bubbled in a chrome pan. “So what do you think of my place?”

  “Yeah, nice. Homely. And I hope the Liberty Penthouse Suite has a bath like yours. What’s cooking?” he asked, taking another appreciative sniff.

  “Homemade chicken and vegetable soup. With…” She reached into a nearby breadbox and removed two small individual white loave
s, “… fresh this morning homemade bread.”

  “Only two? As if you had it all planned,” he remarked, half teasing, half serious.

  Her expression of innocence was outrageous. “I went to your apartment first, Scott.”

  “Only after I was gentleman enough to ask where you wanted to go.” Her innocent shrug was equally outrageous. He laughed. “I take it you like cooking then? Unlike me. I know I have the chef’s kitchen, but I tend to live on takeouts. So how do you shop for groceries?”

  “The staff at the local supermarket know me well. My message-writing skills extend to shopping lists. I take my list and my Braille labels, and while they get what I want for the cupboard and refrigerator, you know like tins and packets and milk, also Archie’s dog food, I go to the produce aisles, fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese. By touch and a keen sense of smell I always know what I’m buying and that it’s the freshest.”

  “What about personal items, such as sanitary pads?”

  Leia removed a wooden spoon from a nearby drawer. “One of my neighbors works at the pharmacy. She gets them for me.”

  “And if she didn’t?”

  “Then I would ask at the supermarket. What a woman uses for her menstrual cycle, whether it be pads or tampons, it’s nothing to feel embarrassed about. What about you, Scott? When buying condoms, would you be embarrassed to ask if you couldn’t find them on the shelf?”

  “No. Of course not.” Her smile was teasing. If she thought he’d blush for asking a personal question, then she would be waiting a long, long time. He’d never blushed in his entire life and wasn’t about to start now. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder at the heat crawling up beneath his collar at his next question. “When is your period? I mean, it’s not due this weekend, is it?”

  Her smile turned knowing. “No. I’m mid-cycle.”

  Seeing the soup was about to bubble over, Scott darted to his feet and went to turn the heat down, but Leia, and on unerring target, smacked his hand away with the wooden spoon.