Aphrodite's Kiss (32 page)

“That’s what I thought.” He drummed his fingers on the gear shift, trying to get a handle on the little oddities that had been niggling at him. “But there’s some color there, too.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t get it. The girl’s a magnet for weirdness. The first time I met her, I swear she was psychic—how else could she have heard me pawing through Emily’s desk? And that stunt when she landed on the hood of my car— I mean, those kind of gymnastics would put Dorothy Hamill to shame.”

“Hamill’s an ice skater.”

“Whatever. And I swear the guy in the Ferrari just disappeared. But she kept on talking to him.”

“What guy?”

“Never mind. Not important. There’s just all that, plus the cretins at the party, and the fake cop—who shimmered, by the way—”

“Shimmered?”

“—and on top of all that, man-oh-man, that woman can run!” He took a breath, realizing he was falling over his words. “And it’s all incredibly odd stuff, but none of it bothers me in the least. It’s
her
I’m interested in. And, Hoop, I am so very, very interested.”

“So then just forget about the rest. Trust me. The weird stuff isn’t what’s important. My best friend married a cat and it didn’t mess his life up any.”

“Say again? There must have been static. I thought you said
cat
.”

“Nothing. My point is that even normal people have quirks. I mean, hey, look at me.”

Taylor laughed. “Now you’re making me nervous.”

“So? You want me to order chocolates?”

“Nah. I’ll figure something out. Thanks for the free advice.”

“You get what you pay for.”

He hung up, grinning, as his fingers tapped a rhythm on the steering wheel. A few miles later, he realized he was smiling. Well, why not? He’d just spent the best night of his life with the most fascinating woman he’d ever met—warm and sweet and genuine.

He smiled again, remembering the fond way she looked at her mother, gently enduring Tessa’s not-so subtle attempts at matchmaking. The woman was special.

And she made him feel special, too.

The car phone rang and he punched the button for the speaker. “Taylor,” he said, expecting Hoop.

“Well, hello, Taylor.”

He grinned. Speak of the devil. “Hi, Tessa.”

“I got your number from information and dialed your office. Where do you work? In a wind tunnel?”

“Sorry. Did Hoop patch you through?” He frowned, suddenly worried. “Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know,” she answered lightly. “Is there? Or is everything okay?”

He laughed, understanding dawning. He’d arrived at the post-first date checkpoint. “Everything’s excellent.”

“Is Zoë with you?” she asked hopefully.

He tried not to smile at the eager tone in her voice. “Just left her.”

“And you’ll be seeing her again when?”

Well, that was the tricky question. He imagined Tessa tapping her foot impatiently, standing in front of a calendar, and wondered what the appropriate premarital interval was. “I’m working a somewhat dangerous case. I don’t want to accidentally get Zoë involved.”

“I see.”

“Well, the truth is I’m going to stop by later today.” The thought of being away from her had chilled him, and he’d latched onto his forgotten jacket as an excuse. He didn’t need the jacket, but he did need to see Zoë. Just one quick visit. There was some risk, true, but he could make sure he wasn’t followed. Spotting and losing a tail were easy enough tasks, if you knew what you were doing.

“But after that, we’re not going to see each other until this case is wrapped up.” That was more to remind himself than for Tessa’s benefit.

Silence.

“I want to see her. Believe me, Tessa, I want to.”

More silence.

“Tessa?”

“Tomorrow,” she said.

“Excuse me?”

“Zoë’s birthday. You can take a break from your case and come, can’t you?”

Pass up her birthday? Not in a million years. “I’d love to come,” he said, realizing that he was now scheduled to see Zoë twice in the next twenty-four hours, despite having promised himself he’d stay far, far away.

So much for all his good intentions.

She gave him her address, “One o’clock sharp, then. And Taylor,” she added. “Don’t give up on her.”

He frowned. “What?”

“
Zoë,”
she said. “She’s not your average girl.”

“Believe me, I figured that out.”

“Promise me.”

“I’d sooner rip out my heart than give up on your daughter,” Taylor said, absolutely certain it was true.

He could almost hear her smile from across the phone connection. “Well, then. That’s all I wanted to know.”

“This ugly retro belt?” Deena raised an eyebrow, the belt dangling between two fingers. “No way. If it were some ancient artifact with mystical powers, surely it wouldn’t be so ... well...
tacky.”
She gave Zoë a confident look as she dropped it into her tote bag. “I think your brother is pulling your leg.”

Zoë closed her eyes and leaned back against the lounge chair—they were sitting out on the deck near the apartment complex’s pool—wishing Deena was right. But the truth was inescapable. She twirled a quarter between her fingers like a magician readying for a trick. With a sigh, she pitched the coin into the pool. “It’s been missing for a while, and somehow that thrift store ended up with it.”

Deena stood up. “Well, I’m going to go give him a piece of my mind. How the heck does he know what Taylor was feeling?”

Zoë grabbed the hem of her skirt and tugged her back. “Don’t,” she pleaded. “Hale isn’t in the best of moods.”

“Because you slept with a mortal?”

Zoë shrugged. “Well, yeah.”

“That’s the goofiest—”

“He’s just trying to protect me.”

“From what? Mortalitis? Is it catching? Are we not worthy?”

“It’s not that.” Actually, with Hale, it was. There were mortals, and there were Protectors, and never the twain should meet. “Mostly it’s my parents.”

Deena squinted at her. “Tessa?”

“She left my dad before I was born. He told her his secret, and she told him to get out.” Zoë shrugged, blinking back tears as she tried to act nonchalant. “It’s pretty common, actually. Throughout our history, I mean. Mortals don’t stay.”

“But Taylor’s not like that. He adores you. I saw how he was looking at you.”

“But that’s just it,” Zoë said, wiping away a renegade tear with the back of her hand. “He doesn’t really. It’s the belt. I like him, and so the belt made him want me, too. But it’s not real. And if he knew the truth—the real truth—he’d run so far so fast.” The damn tears were flowing now, and she turned away. “Just like my mom ran from my dad.”

“Hey, come on.” Deena took Zoë’s hand between hers. “You don’t know that. And I don’t believe it. Taylor’s a good guy. Hoop trusts him, and Hoop’s one of the best judges of character I’ve ever met.”

“He’s a normal guy, Deena. He lives a pretty normal life. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not normal.” No matter how much she sometimes wished she were. “You should have seen him playing knight in shining armor when we were attacked at the party. I don’t think he’ll be too cool with the whole truth.”

Deena’s jaw tensed. “He’ll get over it. Chivalry’s cute and all, but
please
. This is the new millennium.”

She swallowed. “But what if he’s not cool? My mom wasn’t, and that didn’t have anything to do with chivalry. And the thing is, I don’t want to give up the council. I want to make a difference.”

“Then tell him. You shouldn’t have to give anything up. Take a risk and tell him. He might surprise you.”

Zoë wished like heck it were true, wished she had the strength to try. Not that it mattered anyway. Most everything he felt for her was a girdle-induced fake.

“I mean, even if he is a little weirded out that you can beat the crap out of him, it’s not like he’s gonna expect you to stay home barefoot and pregnant,” Deena added.

Zoë grinned, idly wondering what NOW’s position would be with regard to her little dilemma.

“Hey, look at the puppy.”

Zoë followed the line of Deena’s finger to the far side of the pool area. A gargantuan black Lab was sniffing around. “That’s not a puppy. That dog’s bigger than a Humvee.”

“Hey, baby,” Deena said. “You want a snack?” She rummaged around in her tote bag and came up with a bag of kitty treats.

“You carry cat food?”

“Long story.”

Then Deena crossed over to the puppy. “Here you go, guy,” she said, dropping a few treats in front of the dog.

It ignored the food, instead sniffing around Deena— all over her, actually. Zoë watched, frowning. Something about that dog .. .

She looked over the rims of her glasses, and the deep brown doggie eyes suddenly appeared a vivid green.

Uh-oh.

Deena bent over the dog, then whispered puppy nonsense in its pointy little ear. “Isn’t it precious?”

“Why don’t we go inside?” Why the devil was Mordi sniffing around Deena? It didn’t make any sense. But the one thing she knew for certain was that she didn’t want Mordi to know she was on to him. “I think I’ve got some leftover roast in the fridge,” she said, edging toward the stairs and hoping Deena would follow. “Let’s go get it and give him a snack.”

“I think he likes me,” Deena said.

“Now, Deena. Let’s go.”

Reluctantly, Deena stood up. “We’ll be right back,” she said. “You stay.”

The Mordi-dog’s ears twitched, as if he were trying to decide if she really was coming right back.

Zoë inched toward the stairs to her apartment, silently urging Deena along. With a flip of her skirt, Deena followed.
Thank goodness.
Zoë turned and was just about to head up when—

“Shit!”

At Deena’s cry, she whipped around, and there was Mordi, doggie fangs bared, practically standing on Deena’s chest as she struggled underneath him. Zoë lunged, flying off the stairs, and landed a good solid kick to Mordi’s snout.

He jumped back, his head shaking like a cartoon dog’s, the effect exacerbated by the shimmer of his change. In a blink of an eye he’d changed from doggie to gangmember, complete with baggy pants and attitude.

“What the—” Deena whispered.

“That’s really not your best look,” Zoë said, circling him, wary of the length of chain coiled in his hand.

“Cousin, you don’t know me at all.”

“
Cousin
?” Deena scooted further back, her voice raspy. “Okay. You really do win the dysfunctional family of the year award.”

“Don’t I know it,” Zoë said, keeping a wary eye on Mordi. “What the heck are you doing, anyway?”

“That’s the trouble with spending so much time with mortals, isn’t it?” Mordi asked. “Like all that quality time you spend with your mother. And yet you never really know what’s happening, do you?”

Zoë opened her mouth, then shut it again. What he said was true. Tessa didn’t know about what went on with the council, the treaty between mortals and Protectors, anything. “Just being with my mom’s important. She loves me.”

“She won’t when she finds out the truth.” He sneered. “She’ll dump you; they all do. But you already know that, don’t you? Otherwise you would have already told her. Time’s running out, after all. Just one more day.”

“Tessa won’t care,” Deena said from behind Zoë. “Why the hell would she?”

Mordi whipped around, a ball of fire flying from his fingers. “What the hell do you know about it?” The fire exploded in front of Deena, and she jumped backward toward the swimming pool, unscathed but gasping.

He turned back to Zoë. “Mortals don’t stay with us. You know it, even if you won’t believe it.” His eyes burned like green fire. “And Zeus knows I’ve seen enough to know it’s true. Your mother won’t, your Mr. Taylor won’t—”

Zoë gasped. “What do you know about him?”

A sly smiled tugged at the corner of Mordi’s mouth. “Trust me. I know plenty.”

“You’re wrong. Your—”

He held up a hand, his cold green eyes softening. “Wish I had time to chat, cousin. Maybe when this is all over we can have tea.”

“When
what
is all over?”

“I’m sorry,” he said, then leaped over her before she realized what was going on.

Deena’s scream ripped the air, and Zoë whipped around, to see Mordi grabbing Deena by the back of her dress. Zoë launched herself, jumping onto his back and kicking like crazy.

“What are you doing?” she yelled. Her cousin had a hold of Deena’s arm, but Zoë managed to pull him off, then kicked him in the gut with her heel. He went flying back, landing with a splat against the staircase.

When he got up, any hint of kindness in his eyes had vanished. They were cold. Cold and cruel and definitely not those of the little boy she’d grown up with.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he whispered. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then don’t hurt my friends,” she said, dropping into a crouch. If he tried to go for Deena again, he’d have to go through Zoë.

“I’m not interested in your friend,” he said. “Just in what she has.” With that, he lunged. Zoë leaped, catching him by the ankles as he pulled her over and over again. He landed on top of her, straddling her so that she couldn’t get any leverage, his weight pressing down so she couldn’t breathe.

And then she realized that his fingers were clamped viselike around her throat. She gasped, trying to suck in air, her lungs burning.

He was going to win again. Somehow Mordi always managed to win their tests. Too bad she didn’t even know what this test was about.

The world spun. Thoughts darted about like minnows.
Deena, Hale, the belt, Taylor
.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard her name, and then there was air—cool, crisp air.

Coughing and confused, she sat up. Where was Mordi?

And then she saw him—and Taylor.

“No!” she screamed. She was on her feet, running to help Taylor, who was dodging the whip of ruffian Mordichai’s steel chain.

“Stay out of this, Zoë!”

“But—”

“Dammit, Zo, let me handle this.”

Her eyes darted to Deena, who mouthed the words,
Tell him
, and then, “Get in there and kick some butt.”

Tell him? No way. And certainly not now
. As for the butt-kicking, that she itched to do even though it might show off her powers. For half a second she considered; then she took a breath and made the leap.