What’s New Pussycat(44)
“And the other night when you disappeared?”
“I can’t explain that either. I don’t know what happened to me from the time I left your bed until I woke up in the middle of the woods where Jerry found me.” And the fire. Don’t forget the fire, Martine.
“So Jerry did know what happened to you,” Derrick said, his mouth now tight.
“Please don’t be angry with him. I asked him not to tell, and he only agreed with a promise that I’d tell you. Eventually, anyway.”
“And when you woke up naked in the middle of the forest, what next?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “It was the same as it was when I used to wake up at Escobar’s. I woke up with a belly full of magic.”
Derrick scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “And the magic is where…?”
She winced, remembering the amazing display of light and sound. “I expelled it when I remembered the words Escobar used to use to take it from me.”
“Don’t make me pull teeth here, Martine. I want to help. I really do, but you have to tell me everything. Where did the magic go?”
“I set some trees and shrubs on fire with it, but I swear I didn’t know what would happen when I actually expelled it. I…don’t know what I thought. I just knew I had to get it out.”
“Because?”
“Because it’s not like Escobar uses it for good if he’s stealing it, right? So I have to go with the assumption that he’s collecting it for some evil deed he’s planned, like the fruition of his immortality. I don’t want it if it’s going to hurt someone. I just wanted it gone.”
“So we have to assume he knows where you are? I mean, if he sent you to get him more magic.”
“That’s where I’m iffy. Escobar didn’t have to be in close proximity to me in order to ship me off to the realm. One minute I’d be in my catio, as he called it, not having seen him in some cases for days, the next I’d be in the realm. Then I’d end up right back where I started and he’d extract the magic. What worries me is the extraction. He’s going to want what he sent me to the realm for, Derrick. I don’t want to be in Cedar Glen if he’s going to come looking for it. He took out an entire club when he snatched me up, wiped everyone’s memory of it happening, and restored order to it before anyone was the wiser. Do you want that to happen to Cedar Glen? To the people who live here?”
She shivered all over again, but Derrick rubbed her arm, soothing her. “So we have a magic-stealing, kidnapping warlock on our hands.”
“My hands,” Martine stressed, a tear threatening to fall, her eyes and throat burning. “This is all mine.”
Derrick shook his dark head, running a finger over her cheek. “No. You’re here because of me. This is ours, Martine. If not for my curse, you’d still be at Escobar’s.”
“So you don’t want me to go?” She was astonished. She’d want her to go.
“Um, no. And before you say it, it isn’t just because you hold the key to me breathing.”
Looking into his eyes, she asked before she had the chance to temper her words with caution. “Then what is it? Why would you want me to stay if there’s a possibility I could put everyone around me in danger?”
He looked right back at her. “I like you. People I like, I don’t want to see in danger.”
Martine’s heart clenched and relaxed. “Thank you.”
“Aren’t you going to say you like me, too?”
“Is your self-esteem account running low today?” she joked, still warm from his admission.
“Nope. But if you don’t like me, too, I’m dumping you back at the 7-Eleven.”
Her head fell back on her shoulders when she laughed, light and easy. “Oh, all right. I like you, too.”
“Good. That settled, there’s something I need to tell you, too. But let’s do it over dessert. I have some cheesecake and I’m pretty sure I have a bottle of wine that’ll work with it somewhere. You in?” he asked, his eyes lighter now.
She took the hand he offered, the tingle running up her arm making her shiver. “Cheesecake and wine? Are you kidding? I’m in.”
So in.
And it wasn’t just because of the allure of dessert and booze.
Chapter Eleven
Over cheesecake and wine, Derrick told Martine what happened with the guy in his bar, forcing himself to pay attention to the conversation rather than the press of her tempting breasts against her flimsy nightgown.
An odd protective feeling crept over him as she’d told him about Escobar, followed swiftly by sharp rage that someone had dare touch his life mate…er, guest with benefits.