The Mech Who Loved Me(94)

"What do you intend to do with the Achilles?" she murmured, glancing up at him from beneath her lashes.

"Punch a dhampir in the teeth," he told her, "and hopefully survive. I haven't tested it yet, but it's better than nothing."

"You think we're going to come face-to-face with the dhampir again?"

He exhaled slowly. "One of them tried to kill you. It happened for a reason, and I think that reason is because we've discovered their precious poison. So yes. I expect we'll see them again."

Ava shifted, and he realized she meant to stand. Reaching down, he caught her bare fingers and hauled her to her feet. Ava balanced on the tips of her toes, trying not to fall against him, but to no avail. When she tried to take her fingers back from him, he resisted.

He wanted her.

And she wanted him.

It was painted across her face, displayed in the slight catch of breath that swelled her breasts. Ava was a picture of restraint, as hesitant as a hunted doe, and yet the look she gave him betrayed her curiosity.

And fuck the future. Fuck, Gemma. Fuck all of them.

Every little flicker of thought that went through her mind displayed itself on her expressive face. It was one of the things that intrigued him about Ava. He could never resist teasing her, when it was so easy to see the results of his words. Maybe the same vivid pictures weren't running through her head as they were through his, but she was clearly aware of him as a man. Aware of how close they stood. Of how his shirt unbuttoned just low enough to reveal a hint of his chest. He could follow the path of her gaze-and her thoughts-as clearly as his own. He could almost taste her on his tongue, hear the sweet mewls she made as he made her come.

What a picture the pair of them would make. She in her buttoned-down gray serge, with a froth of lace at the throat, and he in his coveralls, streaks of oil marring his skin.

Kincaid cleared his throat and let her fingers go. "Sorry. Didn't mean to get grease all over you."

She stepped back as if suddenly realizing the impropriety of the moment herself, and examined her fingers. A mere smudge darkened her index finger. "No harm done."

He produced a handkerchief, and she gingerly cleaned it off.

"Well," she said, handing him back the piece of fabric. "Everyone's home tonight, so I guess... I'll be sleeping alone."

He shouldn't do this.

But he wanted to.

"Would you like to go for a walk?" he finally asked, staring at her. "A walk?" she repeated, glancing toward the thin cellar window. "It's almost evening."



       
         
       
        

"I know." He started packing his welding gear away. "Give me time to wash up. I feel like I need to get out of here." Slowly he looked at her. "And I'd like it if you came with me."

A soft pink filled her cheeks. "Is there any particular reason you're trying to lure me somewhere private?"

Kincaid gave her a flash of his usual devil-may-care smile, capturing her fingers in his and dragging her hand down to cup the heated erection in his trousers. Jaysus. His balls tightened, blood flooding through his cock. "I need you to help me examine a crime scene."

"Has there been a crime?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yes." His voice turned guttural. "A certain gentleman made a promise he hasn't kept, and there are going to be dire consequences if he doesn't change that fact sometime soon."

She glanced up as the floorboards above her creaked. "You wash up," she said, removing her hand with one last lingering caress. "I'll go fetch my cloak."

"Ava," he called, as she turned to the stairs.

"Yes?" She rested one hand on the timber railing, and he almost smiled when he saw the look in her green eyes.

"Leave your drawers at home."



* * *

"Where are you taking me?" Ava demanded, her nerves on fire with anticipation. She'd expected a hotel, or some set of private rooms somewhere, but they were heading toward a section of the city she vaguely remembered, but couldn't quite place.

"Someplace you've been before," he said. "The place it all began."

The place it- She paused. "The Garden of Eden."

The place she'd stolen his coat. The place where he'd calmed her after her hysteria attack, and she'd thought about kissing him.

"Are you saying that's where we began?" she whispered.

Kincaid leaned back in the carriage lazily, his fingers laced with hers. "At least, it did for me. I thought you wanted my blood, but you were overcome with lust. You. Sweet Miss McLaren, who looked at me like she wanted to fuck me."