by Ann Charles
He turned away, his gaze hooded. “You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it to me.” I framed his face and tried to force him to look back at me, but he wouldn’t. I wasn’t going to let this go until he shared whatever was making him avoid my stare.
“Ever since my parents died,” he said, playing with a button on my coat, “I’ve kept everyone at arm’s length.”
“What about your grandfather?”
“Even him. I loved him, but I kept waiting for him to die, too.” His focus settled on my throat. “Then he did die, and I shut down the rest of the way.”
“What about the guy who let you fix up your car in his garage?”
“I had friends here and there, but I didn’t let any of them get close because I knew I’d lose them, too, eventually.” He shrugged, more to himself than me. “I floated from town to town for a long time after that while I tried to make the ghosts go away.” His eyes lifted to mine, finally, and he smiled. “Then I met you.”
I grimaced. “Falling at your feet was not one of my finer moments.”
He traced the line of my jaw. “You were perfect, terrifyingly so.”
“Not perfect.” I thought of how many times I put my foot in my mouth. “You’re forgetting what a hot mess I was—still am, for that matter.”
His thumb grazed my cheekbone. “I tried to keep my distance.”
I gave him my best mock glare, putting my hands on my hips. “You left town for almost two weeks without telling me where you went or when you were coming back.”
His fingers trailed down the side of my neck. “But I couldn’t stay away.”
Batting my eyelashes at him, I said in my best sex-kitten voice, “That’s because you’re a sucker for curvy blondes.”
“I was falling in love with you.”
My heart swooned at his smoldering gaze. “It was all part of my plan to make you my love slave for all eternity.”
His palm slid over my shoulder and down my arm. “And now I’m miserable without you.”
I shrugged. “I’m addictive, like hard-core drugs. It’s part of the package deal that comes with me. Just ask Natalie.”
“I think about you when I shouldn’t be,” he said, catching my hand.
“That’s a side effect of the love potion I pour into your coffee each morning.”
He lifted my hand, kissing one knuckle at a time. “I can’t imagine my life now without you in it.”
I thought of how my kids and I had thrown his bachelor life a curveball. “It would certainly be less sticky.”
He lowered my hand, his expression sobering. “When I saw you writhing in pain with that bastard tearing you up inside and I couldn’t do anything to help …” He stopped, his face tight with pain.
I gripped his hand, squeezing. “But you did help.”
“I haven’t been so afraid of being alone since my parents died.”
I placed my other hand on his chest, wanting to erase his anguish. “Doc, if anything happens to me, you know I’m going to come back to haunt your ass until the day you die.”
My attempt at levity fell flat. His gaze held mine. “I can’t lose you, Violet. I’m in way too deep now.”
I wanted to assure him that I wasn’t going anywhere, but I couldn’t give that guarantee, not with the monsters filling out my hit list and my trips to dark places full of hellish creatures. Instead, I leaned in and kissed him, putting my heart and soul into it.
He kissed me back, his mouth hungry, his hands spanning my hips and pulling me tighter against him.
With all of the emotion in the air between us, everything quickly spun out of control. My kisses mixed with gasps and heated moans, and his body hardened under my touch. I wrestled his coat off his shoulders and tossed it aside. He unbuttoned mine, nipping at my neck as I shrugged out of the warm cashmere. I unbuttoned and tugged off my shirt while I was at it.
“See,” he said, ogling my lace-and-satin-covered chest. “Perfect.”
“Not perfect.” I frowned down at the girls. “And a little lopsided after having twins.”
“So beautifully perfect that I can’t stop thinking about you.” He shifted under me, unbuttoning his jeans. “Now help me with my pants.”
I took care of his zipper, slipping my hand inside his boxer briefs for a moment. “Like this?”
My touch made him groan. Then his mouth was heating me through my bra, his tongue making me tingle and ache for more of him. I ran my hands up his chest, over his shoulders, and then sank my fingers into his hair so I could hold him even closer. He slid his hands inside my waistband, palming my hips while he rubbed against me.
“Still too many clothes,” I complained and tipped his head back. I covered his mouth with mine, flirting with his tongue as I unbuttoned his shirt and shoved it partway down his arms. He pulled away to drag his arms free of the sleeves and tug off the T-shirt he wore underneath, too.
His lips returned to mine, and I rocked my hips against him. Groaning, he unfastened my bra, bringing his hands around to palm and squeeze me.
“Boots,” he said in the midst of kissing his way down to my cleavage. His beard tickled, lighting fires deep inside of me. The heady smell of his cologne on his skin had me licking my lips, wanting to taste and feel so much more of him.
I closed my eyes as his thumbs worked their magic. “What?”
He pushed me slightly away. “Pants off now.”
I wasn’t sure if he meant mine or his, but I leaned to the side to slide one leg out of my pants and underwear. That was good enough. He’d made fast work of his own pants during my struggles. I sank back down onto him, rubbing flesh on flesh now, teasing, holding just out of reach.
“Vixen,” he growled, his face tight with a mixture of pleasure and pain. “Let me inside.”
“Doc?” I whispered, sliding over him again.
“What?” He gripped my hips.
“I’m here to stay.” I gave in, taking him all of the way.
“Oh, my God,” he breathed, holding me still for a moment as his head tipped back and his eyes closed.
I leaned forward and kissed him, taking his bottom lip between my teeth and pulling on it playfully. “Are you just going to sit there, old man?” I teased.
He growled and then started to move under me, holding me tight. He licked my neck, whispering praises as he sent me higher and higher. Between his compliments and touches, it wasn’t long before I spiraled out of control, my body tightening with pleasure around him as I told him how much I loved him in between heated cries.
With a curse, he shifted and laid me out on my back on the seat. He slid between my legs, filling me again and again. I pushed against the door to hold my own as his muscles clenched and strained over me. Then he called out my name in a harsh, guttural voice that warmed my heart and he collapsed on top of me while his body shuddered and quaked.
We lay there without talking, our breath slowing. My heart thudded against his. The song on the radio had changed at some point, and now Christine McVie was singing “Everywhere.”
He lifted off of me a little, grinning down at me. “So, was that what you wanted to talk about?”
“Yeah.” I chuckled. “And a crazy notion about killing a lidérc.”
His grin dimmed. A quiet sigh followed. “Okay.”
I stilled under him. “You mean, ‘Okay, you’ll help me’?”
“I mean, okay let’s finish off that bastard for good.”
I smiled. “I love you.”
His gaze narrowed. “It’s not fair, you know.”
“What’s that?”
“Using your body to change my mind. I’ll lose that battle every time, Boots.”
I moved my hips under his, making his breath catch. “All’s fair in love and war, Candy Cane.”
“I’ll remember that,” he whispered and kissed me long and slow, warming me up all over again.
My phone pinged from the front seat.
We both groaned, pulling
apart.
“That’s probably Harvey,” I said.
“We need to go home.” He stared down at my lips.
“Yeah.” I traced his cheekbone. “Are you still hungry?”
“Ravenous.” His grin was positively sinful. “Oh, wait, did you mean for food?” He gave me one last hard kiss and sat up. “Come on, Boots. Let’s go see the kids and tell your aunt what you did to that Hungarian devil.”
“You mean what we did.”
He helped me upright, adjusted his pants, and then helped me dress in our tight quarters, giving me his T-shirt to wear since my blouse had dried blood on it.
Ten minutes later we were on the road heading to Aunt Zoe’s. I was back in the passenger seat, resting my head against the cold window. The smell of his cologne surrounded me, thanks to his T-shirt, making the thoughts in my head much less chilling.
“You okay?” he asked, reaching over and squeezing my knee.
“I’m just thinking.”
“About what?”
“How to kill a lidérc.” I covered his hand with mine. “I think it needed help when it was on that other plane. That’s why it had those other two freaky creeps at the ready.” I shifted in my seat to face him. “I forgot to tell you that tonight, when it was on this plane, it hesitated.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I dared it to come and get me, it rushed up to me but then paused, like it was hesitating, assessing maybe.” I stared out the windshield at the road, but my mind was back in the courthouse, replaying the moment. “I saw a silver light swirling in the center of it. I think that’s where I need to aim.”
“Aim with what?”
I looked at him. “My mace. You and Cornelius are going to get me onto that other plane with my mace in hand.” I was tired of not having a worthy weapon in hand when I faced off with obnoxious monsters.
He frowned at the road for a moment before turning back to me. “And then what?”
I smiled. “I’m going to take out the trash.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
I stared out the passenger side window as Doc weaved back down into Deadwood. Stevie Nicks was still on the radio along with the rest of Fleetwood Mac, singing about a “Gold Dust Woman.” Thick clouds hovered overhead, blocking out the moon. At least there’d be no werewolves out howling tonight. As nutty as that sounded, these days I had to count my blessings where I could find them.
Nothing made much sense anymore. Certainly not healing so quickly from that knife cut; nor how Prudence had not only known I was in trouble in that basement room, but also possessed Harvey in order to help me trap the lidérc. Was “possession” the right word for it? Or was what she’d done more of a haunting? No, that didn’t sound right. Was it another example of astral projection? I sighed. All of this paranormal crap made me want to bang my head against a wall.
Then there was the lidérc itself. Where in the hell did a Hungarian devil even come from? Was there a mother devil somewhere birthing more of these assholes? Or was some Kyrkozz-like entity creating these suckers out of thin air?
Shuzzbutt. I barely recognized my life anymore. The woman who’d moved to Deadwood to raise her two kids while trying to eke out a living selling real estate was long gone, leaving a killer in her place. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d checked my bank account. Had I even paid my car insurance this month?
We were less than a mile from Aunt Zoe’s when my cell phone rang. I looked at the screen, figuring Harvey was calling again to tell us to get our tail feathers home for supper.
I figured wrong.
“It’s Masterson,” I told Doc, hesitating to answer it.
He glanced my way. “You might as well see what he has to say.”
I took the call via speakerphone so Doc could hear. “Hello, Dominick.”
“Where are you?” He didn’t bother with pleasantries.
Doc and I exchanged raised brows. “On the road. Where are you?”
“Standing on your aunt’s front porch.”
“You’re where?”
Doc growled next to me.
“You heard me, Scharfrichter.” Dominick’s voice was too smooth for comfort, like black ice. “I have something of yours. Tell me, did you carve these alchemy markings on the frame? Or is this the lovely Zoe’s handiwork at play?”
I cringed. Dominick had found my lidérc trap. Did he know a magic mirror when he saw one? “You might want to be careful with that, Dominick. Breaking a mirror will bring you seven years of bad luck.”
“Careful with the looking glass itself? Or careful with what lurks on the other side of the gateway?”
There was my answer. I ignored his questions, wary of him tricking a truth out of me that he might not know yet. “Out of curiosity, can you see your reflection in the mirror, and is blood your favorite party drink?”
He laughed low and velvety. “I assure you I am no vampire, Violet, nor a Nachzehrer or a draug or any other member of the undead population for that matter. My flesh is still very much alive.”
Uhhh … There was a whole population of undead? That couldn’t be good.
Doc took a right into our neighborhood.
“So, Scharfrichter, shall I go inside and visit with your lovely aunt while I wait for you to arrive?”
No! “Stay away from my aunt, Dominick. I’ll be there in less than a minute.” I hung up and frowned at Doc. “What did he mean by the ‘undead population’?”
“I’m afraid to find out.” Doc slowed as we turned onto Aunt Zoe’s street. “What was that other name he mentioned? The one after Nachzehrer?”
“It sounded like ‘drowg.’ ” I shuddered at the idea of dealing with undead creatures of any sort. “I wonder if either one of those two creepy freaksters I saw the first time I went through the Hellhole is part of the undead population.”
Doc pulled into Aunt Zoe’s drive, parking behind her pickup. Harvey’s rig was there as well, while Natalie’s truck sat on the street in front of the house.
I peered out the windshield. The porch light was on, but Dominick was nowhere to be seen. “That slick prick better not have gone inside the house.” I was out the door before Doc shut off the engine.
He caught up with me when I reached the front porch steps, catching my arm. “Easy, Killer,” he said under his breath.
“Where is he, damn it?” Shit, I’d left my mace in the back of my Honda.
As I crested the top step, Dominick stepped out of the shadows off to the side of the porch. “Good evening.”
He rounded the porch, stopping near the bottom step. My mirror was tucked under his arm. With his long black coat and hooded eyes, he looked more ominous than usual. I sniffed in the cold, catching a faint whiff of something sickly sweet in the air. My stomach did its usual song and dance, cramping and buckling, letting me know trouble with a capital T was near.
“Dominick,” I said warily, by way of greeting.
Doc didn’t say anything, but I could feel his tension in his grip on my arm.
“It appears you were successful on your hunt,” Dominick said. “Did you sustain any injuries?”
Nothing visible, but my welfare was not his concern. “I’m fine. How did you get the mirror out of the Sugarloaf Building while the lidérc was roaming around in there?”
I didn’t trust Dominick. Could he have somehow put the lidérc back in the mirror? Was this meeting a ruse to ensnare me in another one of his cunning deals?
“A well-trained pet does not bite its master.”
“Then why couldn’t you catch it yourself?” Doc’s tone was terse. “Why put Violet at risk?”
“I was curious,” he answered, his focus still on me.
I crossed my arms. “About what?”
“Your adeptness.” He patted the mirror frame. “I was unaware you had this at your disposal.”
Did he know that Prudence had helped me, too, or was she still my secret weapon?
“It’s a family heirloom.” I touc
hed Doc’s arm. “Would you mind grabbing that for me?” I didn’t want to get too close to Dominick and give away my other secret—that he set off my others alarm.
Dominick handed it over to Doc, measuring him with a steady gaze. “And what was your part in this, Mr. Nyce?”
“I just carry the mirror.” Doc returned to the steps, waiting on the one right below me. He would make a great offensive lineman.
“A humble knight-errant, I see.” A smirk surfaced on Dominick’s face. “Well, you have certainly found a suitable adventure to prove your chivalric merits. There will be plenty of perilous opportunities for you with a Scharfrichter in our midst.”
I rolled my eyes. Blah blah Violet stirs up a lot of trouble blah. Sheesh. Dominick and Cooper should start drinking together. They could toast to my next screwup.
A cold breeze rattled the old cottonwood tree in Aunt Zoe’s front yard before moving on to make the pines on the hillside next to us whisper. “All right, Masterson.” I was too hungry and cold to start a pissing contest. “I’ve fulfilled my part of the deal and the lidérc is back in its cage.”
“Yes. For now.”
I ignored the ominous undercurrent in his reply. “That means you will stay away from my aunt, agreed?”
“Of course.” His smile looked as cold and brittle as the icicles hanging off the porch awning. “You delivered as promised. Although you took longer than I’d have liked.”
My gaze narrowed. “Don’t dig up more snakes than you can kill, Masterson.” I stole one of Harvey’s lines.
His laughter filled the air. “How I’ve missed your kind, Violet. Worthy adversaries are few and far between in my line of work.” Dominick sighed loudly. “Truth be told, I was looking forward to many years of Zoe’s charms.”
“You can have Rex,” I offered. “He’s loaded with …” I paused, discarding the first few not-so-nice words that popped into my head, and settled on, “charms.”
Dominick stared at me for a moment, his eyes reflecting the porch light. “I will leave you to your family then.”
“You would be wise to steer clear of them from here on out,” I warned quietly.
“I’ll consider that.” He smiled. “I’ll see you again soon, Scharfrichter. Our work is only beginning.”
