a Touch of Intrigue (3 page)

Her phone was already in her hand. I wrenched it free from her grasp and hit the off button. “No. This is something I have to do, and I’m absolutely positive a military health care facility is the wrong place to go.”

Pale green eyes pinned me with unspoken questions.

I handed her phone back. “It’s a gut feeling. I don’t think this is a medical issue, it’s more…wrong than that. I’ve thought about it a lot, and I’m sure the pain is connected to my memories, or lack thereof.”

“I’ll buy that,” she said. “I’m even willing to scratch seeing an MD off your to-to list, but I’m replacing it with a promise that you’ll talk to Kahuna Aukele about it.”

I’d thought about doing just that. A lot. It gave me hives. “His knowledge is scary.” I waved my hand in an arc that took in the surrounding property. “Plus he’s subversive. He kept this from me. And much as I love and respect him, I’m simply not willing to trust him with whatever is triggering the pain in my neck. Besides, you said it earlier. He’s unsettling, and this thing going on with me doesn’t need any kahuna mysticism added to it.”

Annie frowned. “But isn’t that exactly why he’s the best person to talk to? He has the ability to understand the unusual,
and
if it weren’t for his sharing his vast healing knowledge with you I’d be dead now.”

My sigh weighed a ton. “I hate it when you’re right about something I don’t want to do. How about I promise to give it serious thought?”

“I’ll give you twenty-four hours.” Her tone carried the bite of a threat.

Still, it was enough of a reprieve to have me breathing easier. “I’ll take it. And now can we get on with exploring this gorgeous land?”

Annie motioned me forward. “What did you expect your fingers to discover when you touched the ground?”

“Memories. I hoped I could connect with my early childhood.” It rankled that my ESP fingers had failed to produce an image when I needed it, and a tight knot of discomfort lodged under my ribs. If my fingers weren’t working normally, it probably meant there was something I wasn’t supposed to know about. It took another five minutes before impatience took over. “Nothing feels off out here. Let’s go inside the house.”

Annie scanned the path ahead of us, then quirked an eyebrow. “I’m good with that plan. Besides, I really want to see what the inside is like.”

We hustled back to the house, our excitement so tangible it filled the air around us. There wasn’t a moment of hesitation until I reached for the doorknob, jerked my hand back, and scrubbed my palm against my thigh. “No lock, but it’s radiating energy.”

“Something you’re very familiar with so why the panic?”

A finger of trepidation slithered along my spine. “A bigger question is why doesn’t the lack of an insert-key-here slot bother you? You’re a cop. Well, sort of a cop, and considering your security system, you should be all about the need for keys.”

Déjà vu was scrambling my brains. This scene was too reminiscent of the witchy wards I’d slammed into when I faced the woman who murdered my parents, and yes, it unnerved me. More than I wanted to admit, even to myself.

Annie’s squint clearly labeled me a basket case.

“Okay. The deal is I’m not comfortable with energetic wards. I’ve been studying them, and all sorts of other witchy things, but—”

“Before you even started to study witchcraft, you were able to unravel those kind of locks with your healing gifts.” Annie sighed. “I’m not seeing the problem here. Aukele probably created this as a safeguard, not that a lock, any lock, is needed since, at the risk of repeating myself, no one who isn’t supposed to be here could get through the maze.”

She had a point. I curled my hand around the doorknob and turned. The door swung open with the barest whisper of sound, and I sucked in some air. Surely the easy-open was proof we were welcome here.

Annie’s hand clamped around my arm. Hard. “Someone is in there.”

TWO

ADRENALINE FLASHED. I BACK-STEPPED
, then shot Annie a silent question.

She eased in front of me, slipping a Sig .380 from her shoulder bag. Two could play this game. I carried an identical weapon, and it was in my hand before Annie nudged the door open.

An empty foyer greeted us, but there was a palpable presence clinging to the air. One I recognized. “Pierce.” Damn it. I hated when my voice shook.

Annie didn’t so much as glance at me, nor did she stow her Sig, but continued moving forward, clearing the hallway and into the great room like the professional she was.

I followed, but had slipped my weapon into my messenger bag. I’d done some dumb things, but I wasn’t about to add pointing a gun at Tynan Pierce to the list. That would not only be a stupid thing to do, but hell, I loved the man, and shooting him would seriously interfere with the activities I had planned for us.

He was sitting in the middle of a white leather sofa, arms draped along the back, legs spread, and a “gotcha” grin aimed right at me. Broad shoulders. Muscular thighs. A burst of tight, hot desire hit me in the gut.

“Took you long enough, Everly Gray.” Pierce’s words were casual, but the heat in his gaze rippled under my skin. Way too hot. Spots danced in front of me.

Annie’s “Ahem,” interrupted the awareness flashing between Pierce and me. She calmly dropped her Sig into her shoulder bag. “It would have been a kill shot.”

Pierce’s attention settled on Annie. “Yes.” With a single, fluid motion he stood and held his arms out. “But since your IQ outweighs your training, come here.”

What? A hug? What in the ever-lovin’ freaking hell was going on here? Sure Annie and Pierce had hugged before, not often, but it had happened. Maybe once. Max, twice. Never like this though. I backed away to get a better perspective on the situation. Jealousy? No, definitely not. Confusion? Of course, because wasn’t he supposed to hug
me
first? And then there was the doubt that crept in around my heart, smothering my ability to breathe—until he winked at me over Annie’s shoulder.

“Congratulations on the pregnancy, A.J.”

She backed out of their hug. “Sean has a big mouth.”

“I stopped by the firehouse. He couldn’t stop grinning.” Pierce rocked back on his heels. Bare feet. Sexy bare feet.

“We just found out for sure last night. I’m contending with the beginnings of morning sickness, so my grins are slightly askew.” She beamed. “Sean sounded happy, then?”

It was a lame question excused only by pregnancy hormones, but I understood her underlying fear. After Maddie’s birth no one thought she’d be able to conceive and carry another child, and this had to be stirring all kinds of emotion for both Annie and Sean.

Pierce didn’t comment. His attention was riveted on me.

Right on cue
my
hormones stepped up to the plate. I dropped my shoulder, slid my messenger bag to the floor, took three steps and a flying leap. I landed exactly as planned—in Pierce’s arms with my legs wrapped firmly around his waist.

A satisfied grunt escaped my man’s luscious mouth, and the flutter of his warm breath against my cheek was almost my undoing. Tiny beads of sweat broke out on my back. Lips. His lips. I wanted them on mine. Craved them. I tilted my head and focused on my goal, only to be sidetracked when he nipped the vulnerable spot beneath my ear. His words came rough and gravelly against my neck. “We have company, Belisama.”

I bit down on my raging desire to strip his clothes off, turned my head away from the sweetness of his mouth, and glared at Annie.

Her laughter was a like a rush of cool water. “You’ll have to hold off on coming-home sex until I see the rest of this house. No way am I leaving without the grand tour, so Pierce, you might as well put her down and explain how you found your way through the maze.”

Good question. I probably would have thought of asking it myself after he gave me a few mind-blowing, and way overdue orgasms. Pierce released his hold on my butt cheeks, and then slid me down the front of his body leaving every one of my nerve endings on high alert. And leaving no doubt that his hunger for me equaled mine for him.

He laced his fingers with mine. I shivered. There was something about the way he held my hand that fired a spark of trepidation deep into my core. I wasn’t going to like his answer to Annie’s question. Not one little bit.

Still holding my hand, he tugged me close to his side and his eyebrows twitched. How was that even possible? I nudged his arm with my chin. “Just answer the question.” Patience had never been a strong part of my personality.

“You’re not gonna like it, Hot Shot.”

“Got that.” I did a quick scan of his aura, searching for a clue to prepare myself for whatever he said, but there was nothing that stood out from the usual gold and silver strands woven through the reds and purples. Wait a minute. That purple was richer, deeper than usual, and the vibration had upped a notch.

His chest filled with an inhalation, the movement mesmerizing.
Get a grip, Everly. Serious stuff now, sex later.

“I’ve been studying with Kahuna Aukele.” Pierce set me away from him, looking deep into my eyes. “This is important to me, Everly. To us. I want to understand your gifts, and this was the only way to learn about them short of being born to it.”

My brain did a short-circuit into hurt, then holy-hell awe that he cared that much about our relationship, and finally popped back into normal functioning mode. “But you
were
born to it. Your Circle of Nine vision is proof of that.”

He opened his mouth. I held up my hand. “Don’t even try and deny it. I saw it with my own eyes when we were in Ireland. You could see things no normal person ever does.” I paused for a quick breath and slight change of subject. “Why didn’t you tell me about Aukele?”

“I wanted to surprise you.” It was a statement that sounded suspiciously like a question.

I shook my head.

He pushed out a sigh. “The odds were in favor of failure.”

My heart stuttered. I cradled his cheek in my hand, stretched to tiptoes, and kissed him with a rush of love that was tightly condensed into a gentle brush of my lips against his.

Silence stretched between us, both of us breathing in the moment, sharing the depth of our love for each other. It was in that sacred space I learned the most profound communication happens without words. The knowledge left me with an indefinable joy and weak knees.

Annie shifted position, and I jolted back to mute awareness. When I made an attempt to create words, they came out a garbled, incoherent mess that I shrugged off. No point trying to force lucid thoughts from a hormone soaked brain.

Pierce had the good sense to keep his mouth shut, but a fine tremor ran through his arms, the shivers an exact match with my own quivering muscles.

Annie shifted her position again, then waved her hand in the general direction of the hallway. “I’m just going to take a quick self-guided tour, then let myself out when I’ve satisfied my curiosity. Won’t be around more than a few more minutes.” Her lips twitched, tightly controlled, in what surely would have been a huge grin before she disappeared down a hallway.

Discomfort slipped into Pierce’s energy field, and it demanded my full attention. I brushed my fingertips over his lips, caught the wariness, and looked deeper for the reason behind the change. “What is it really?”

His eyes dilated to soft black. “I’ve watched a lot of crazy situations explode into murder, some of it around you. Psychic gifts can turn on a person.”

Panic bottomed-out in my stomach, and must have shown on my face because Pierce rubbed the tension from my cheeks. “Not you. Not because of you. I’ve watched my mother struggle with her gifts, known I inherited the genetic possibility for more than enhanced vision, and being with you brings them to the surface.”

Relief spun through me. “I get that. Touching things and not knowing what I’ll see is scary. Not the images so much, although they can be ugly. It’s more about not knowing how deeply I’ll drop into that other dimension, and whether I can make my way back to my body, to reality, or not. And yes, being around me, sensing my vibration, especially when I’m using my ESP fingers, probably affects you.” Heat traveled up my neck. “We’re connected and our energy fields tend to…intermingle.”

I was treated to a full-out Pierce grin. “Is that what you call it?”

We turned in unison when the front door opened. Annie waved. “There’s a great screened porch right through that archway. I think I can find my way back through the maze, but if not I’ll text you, so pay attention. And call me when you come up for air.” She didn’t wait for an answer, just closed the door with a distinct snap.

Pierce and I were alone.

Really alone. For the first time since we acknowledged our feelings for each other. Since before Ireland. Before I met his family. Before my revenge was complete. My body tingled with intense awareness.

He drew the tip of his index finger over my cheek. “Everly.” His breath brushed my lips, and I tasted mint, awareness, and need.

Shivers blossomed over my skin, an earthquake of sensitivity that wouldn’t stop. Every defense I’d been building since childhood crumbled at my feet, no longer important, no longer needed. “I love you, Tynan Ailill Pierce.”

His eyes danced with love and curiosity. “How did you find out?”