Deadly Desire (Riley Jenson Guardian #7)(34)

Fuck.
I stopped, and just as I did, Hanna looked around. Kye reacted before I could, his speed almost that of a vampire as he crushed me against the wall and began kissing me.
And oh, what a kiss.
It was urgent and hungry and filled with everything he hadn't been showing, and I reacted as fiercely as I would have had the full moon been nearing completion.
For several seconds, there was nothing else in my world but this kiss and the fierce heat of his body against mine. Then sanity returned, and along with it sound, and I became aware of voices talking.
I broke away, then said, Listen.
I am. He kissed my neck, my ear, then wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me into a hug that was as close as two people could get without being naked.
“But what does the job entail?” the younger woman asked.
“Nothing more than sleeping with a vampire for one night.” Hanna's voice sounded a lot tinnier than it had before. Maybe she was wearing some sort of cheap modulator.
I shifted my head slightly on Kye's shoulder so I could get a better look at Hanna's target. Like the other women who'd been found dead, this one was slender in build. Unlike the others, she had large breasts and a wine-colored birthmark covering part of her cheek and running down her neck.
The younger woman raised an eyebrow. “Ten grand for sleeping with one bloodsucker for one night? That seems like an awfully good deal. What's the fucking catch?”
“The catch is you have to come to Meinhardt's to meet him.”
“Isn't that a strip joint?”
“A men's club is the term we prefer,” Hanna said, voice holding an edge, “and you won't be expected to strip for anyone except my client. He has a fetish for unusual body markings and I think you would be to his tastes.”
“So I have to do him there?”
“No. You accept an invitation to go home with him.”
“And then what?” There was still doubt evident in her tones, but even I could see the glint of anticipation in her eyes. Though not, I suspected, for the sex, but rather for the cash. “I just leave in the morning?”
“With ten grand in your hand, yes. And that's more than enough money to take that course you were talking to the employment office about.”
I had no idea what course Hanna might have been talking about, but I knew for sure the young woman would never live to do it.
The slender woman made a clicking sound with her tongue, then said, “Make it twelve, and I'm yours.” 
“Twelve it is then.” Even from where we stood, Hanna's satisfaction was evident. “Here's my business card in case you need to contact me. Be in the lane behind Meinhardt's at seven, and we'll hustle you into the club.”
The woman took the card and shoved it in her pocket, then turned and walked back up Flinders Lane. Hanna watched her for a little while, then spun around and headed back in our direction.
Kye kissed me again.
It was even more electrifying than before, and it took me several seconds to register the fact that Hanna had walked past us.
“Looks like we have a tough decision,” he said, his breath fast and heated on my lips. “Follow the witch, or follow her target?”
“She's a sorcerer,” I corrected, and ducked under his arms, forcing some air and distance between us. “And you know as well as I do that my next quarry is her target.”
He reached out and touched a finger lightly to my cheek. “I enjoyed our little encounter tonight, but it's going to make the lap dance tomorrow night all that much harder to ignore.”
He wouldn't be ignoring anything on my shift. Which was not entirely a sane thought given my resolve to have as little as possible to do with this man. But then, maybe I wasn't entirely sane. After all, I was a guardian. “Don't kill the blonde.”
“I gave you my word not to kill her tonight, Riley. I am a man of my word, if nothing else.”
“Good. See you tomorrow night.”
“If you can find me,” he said, a trace of amusement in his voice again.
It was a challenge, and we both knew it. I didn't answer, simply turned and ran after the young woman before she disappeared.
ortunately for me, she didn't catch a cab, but rather the nightrider bus. I climbed on after her and made my way down to the back of the bus, my wet and clingy outfit catching several appreciative glances from the male passengers. The teenager had settled about halfway down. I sat two seats behind but across from her, and tried to ignore the reek of alcohol coming from the snoring woman in the seat behind me.
The driver had classical music playing softly and with the blue interior lighting of the bus, it was a peaceful trip. Even the drunk stopped smelling as bad—either that, or my nose had become accustomed to her.
The teenager climbed off at the Dimboola Road stop in Broadmeadows and began walking down the hill. I followed, keeping far enough back so that even if headlights tore the cover of shadows away from me, she wouldn't realize she was being tailed. Not that she appeared to be really aware of anything else but getting home. I couldn't blame her—it was a miserable night.
She turned left into a street then crossed the road and ran into a house. I waited on the corner, watching as the lights came on inside, then touched the com-link lightly. “You still there, boss?”
“I'm afraid so. What's happened?”
“Hanna Mein, the co-owner of Meinhardt's, has just made contact with another teenage girl, and has employed her to sleep with a vampire for one night. I suspect we really have found our killers.”
“And it undoubtedly means she's about to do another robbery-murder. Any hints as to who?”
“Yep. A vamp with a taste for unusual body markings. This girl has a wine-colored stain on her face and neck.”
“That narrows the field considerably. I'll get Sal onto it straightaway,” he said. “I'm guessing you tracked the girl?”
He said that like it was a bad thing. “Any reason why I shouldn't have?”
He hesitated. “No. I just want these bitches stopped, Riley, that's all.”
“And I'm working on it. In the meantime, we take away her tools, and maybe frustrate them into making a mistake.”He grunted. “Did you see the other owner at the club tonight?”
“Certainly did.” I paused to swipe at the drips of rain rolling down my cheeks. “Maybe I was reading her wrong, but she seemed awfully uptight to me, boss.”
“Well, they'd have to know these murders would be attracting Directorate attention. Where does the teenager live?”
I gave him the address. “She's got one of those magic business cards, so you're going to have to make sure Marg provides her with protection before you move her.”
“I do realize that, Riley. I'm not a novice at this job, you know.”
I grinned at his dry tone. “Sorry, boss. It's late and I'm tired. If you don't need me for anything else, I'm off home.”
“Don't be late for your new job tomorrow night.”
“Like I would.”
He snorted his disbelief—a sound I cut off by flicking off the com-link. I turned and headed back down Dimboola Road, wondering if I had the energy to fly home, or if I should catch a cab.
In the end, flying won, simply because there were no cabs at the rail station and I couldn't be bothered waiting for one to turn up. So I was as close to exhaustion as I'd ever been when I finally fell face-first into my bed.
When I woke many hours later, it was to the scent of roses, coffee, sandalwood, and man. One smell was definitely more alluring than the others, and I forced a bleary eye open. To discover a pale pink rose sitting on the pillow.
I reached out and carefully touched it. It was real, not a figment of my overtired brain. “Thank you,” I mumbled.
“You're welcome,” said Quinn. “Now sit up so I can feed you some breakfast. Although technically it could be lunch, considering it's well after one in the afternoon.”
I scooted up in the bed and gave him a grin. He looked totally divine in faded denims that emphasized the lean strength of his legs, and a white shirt that was roughly rolled up at the sleeves, showing off his arms and shoulders. His hair, usually so neat, had that mussed, just-out-of-bed look, and when combined with a sexy smile—which he did so well—it was just about deadly. Luckily for me, there were no other females around, because he looked so hot I'd definitely be fighting them off.
“So to what do I owe this honor?” I said, reaching for the coffee on the tray.
He pulled it out of the way. “Sorry, kisses first.”
“Oh, if I must,” I muttered crossly, then grinned and caught his face between my hands, kissing him gently. It might not have been as explosive as the kiss I'd shared with Kye last night, but in many ways, it was far, far better.
“Now you have earned the coffee,” he said, dark eyes shining with bedevilment. 
I took the cup from the tray and inhaled the scent. Hazelnut. I sighed contentedly and took a sip, then eyed the bacon and eggs still on the tray.
“And what am I going to have to do to get the food?”
“Nothing. For now, anyway.” He grinned as he sat down beside me then put the tray over my lap. “So how was last night?”
“Well, if I ever gave up being a guardian, I could make a ton of money as a dancer at a men's club.”
“That doesn't surprise me.”
He shifted a little so that his legs were touching mine. It felt good in a way that wasn't merely sexual, but more a safe, “right” kind of sensation. Like he and I had been designed to fit together like this.