Covert Craving (4 page)

Chloe sucked in a deep breath as she exited the
building. While being engulfed in the gravity and charisma that surrounded her
roommate tended to overwhelm her, perhaps in this case it wasn’t such a bad
thing. She’d been ready to rip off Greiff’s pants and ride him right there in
the elevator.

Girl with freaky-deaky powers she might be, but
she didn’t have sex with strangers. Hell, she didn’t kiss strangers. What was
it about Greiff that allowed him to sneak past her defenses and make a bee-line
for her danger zone? Actually, what was it about him that made her lead him
there? Laying all the blame at his feet was tempting, but unfair.

The shopping cart remained where she’d left it.
Grasping the handle and turning it around to head back to Frank’s, the front
wheel clattered from side to side and she groaned. The weight of the groceries
had held it to the ground; now that the articles were removed the wheel was
free to bounce around and sent vibrations through the entire cart.

Thank God she only had to walk a few blocks to
reach the store. Any longer and she’d abandon the cart in an alley and call it
a day.

Greiff paced beside her, a tall, solid presence
she told her hormones to ignore. The task proved impossible to do. In the
ocean, Greiff would swim with whale sharks and the huge mammals would take
notice. He exuded energy in an undeniable aura. Now that she’d stepped inside
it, been covered in it, she felt it dancing over her skin like invisible
appendages.

She cleared her throat and imagined what her
mother would say about her recent behavior. Nothing good. A lot of lecturing
about popsicles and milk and giving them away for free, followed by an extra
trip to church.

“Your roommate is something else.” He scrubbed the
hair on the back of his head with one hand and then rubbed at his nose.

“Yeah, she’s a big personality. Never a dull
moment with Daisy around.” The cart hit a bump in the sidewalk, and it jammed
the wheel into one position for three steps before the wheel released and
rattled louder than ever. “Thanks for saving me from manicure hell.”

“It wasn’t exactly an act of charity,” he replied.

She gave him a questioning look.

He raised an eyebrow and smoothed an errant strand
of hair behind her ear. The brush of his finger caused a line of heat to skim
down her neck straight to her breasts. “You have to buy me dinner, remember?”

The look on his face captivated her so; she
stubbed her toe on the sidewalk and stumbled.

“Ouch! Biscuits! That hurts.” She hopped up and
down on one foot.

Greiff grasped her by the waist with his large
hands and held her still. “Let me see.” Kneeling down in front of her, he took
her foot in his hands and rubbed his thumb over her left big toe. “Didn’t
anyone ever tell you flip-flops are dangerous? My kid sister broke her ankle
running in these things when she was three.”

He tilted his head up, blue eyes taking in every
thought displayed on her face.

The thumb continued to stroke her, soothing away
the sting of the scrape and forming bruise. She gulped for air and pulled her
foot back. “Greiff, have you ever felt…I mean, have you ever been this
attracted to someone this fast?”

“Pure physical lust, sure. But no, not… There’s
something different here.” His legs flexed, and he surged up until he towered
over her. She craned her neck back and met his eyes. He cradled her cheek with
his palm and burrowed his fingers into her hair. “Toe feel better?”

“Yeah.” Nerves bundled in her belly, and she wet
her lips. “Are you going to kiss me again?”

The scrape of his thick masculine nails over her
scalp sent a shiver coursing down her torso. “Do you want a kiss?”

Gentle pressure on the back of her head caused her
to lean into him, stretching her hands across his chest.

“Yeah.” The hard muscles under her palms begged to
be explored without the hindrance of fabric between them. She picked at a
button, the desire to bite it off crowding out the rest of her thoughts.

“Come here.” He cupped her ass with his free hand and
applied upward pressure until she rose to her toes, the hard length of his
erection against her stomach sending pulsations of warmth to her clit. He met
her halfway, leaning down to take her earlobe between his teeth and sucked on
it. He released the bud of flesh and whispered, “I don’t know what this is, and
honey, I don’t care. The only thing stopping me from ripping your pants off is
the fact that we’re in the middle of the sidewalk.”

The statement caused a gush of liquid heat to
flood her pussy, and she let out a shuddery breath.

Gulping, she said, “Too bad you can’t go
invisible, like me. We could mosey on up to the wall in the alley over there
and get—”

He licked her neck from her ear to her jaw,
dragged the hand on her ass up her side, over her waist to palm her right
breast, and caressed her nipple. His cock twitched against her abdomen and she
hooked her fingers into his belt loops and tugged at him. The firm body behind
the mismatched suit stoked her sexual excitement even higher.

“Oh my God! Get a room you two!” Daisy Mae clacked
her way over to where they mauled each other. In public. She took a photo with
her phone and waved it around dramatically before shoving it into an oversized
shoulder bag. Daisy stuck one arm out to hail a cab, and Chloe burned with mortification.
“Evidence. For later. See if you don’t do my next manicure.”

She backed away from Greiff and put the width of
the shopping cart between them. Lust burned through her veins in an unimpeded
rush; her skin overly sensitive and almost raw. His chest heaved, Adam’s apple
bobbing as he swallowed and scratched at his beard stubble.

“Ah, I need to return this to Frank.” Her flip-flops
cracked the soles of her feet as she high-tailed it to the tiny bodega on the
corner.

He fell in step beside her and rooted around in
the inside pocket of his suit jacket for something. Now that they no longer
touched, the boiling in her veins lessened enough for her to think about what
she’d been doing. Making out. With the cop who’d chased her into the subway
this morning. She should have been on a bus to Nowhere, U.S.A. hours ago. The
Professor was going to send his goons after her for sure.

He cleared his throat and put an unlit cigarette
to his lips.

She snatched it and threw it on the ground over
her shoulder. “You’re quitting, remember?”

From the corner of her eye, she saw him roll his
eyes. Wrinkles marred his forehead. “That was my last one.”

“Poor baby.”

They walked a few more feet in silence.

“So, you really believe you can turn invisible.”

The tone of his statement told Chloe all she
needed to know. The spell was broken. Greiff thought she should be in a padded
cell receiving injections in the ass on a semi-regular basis. Damn, she’d
really been into him too.

“Don’t just believe it. I can do it.”

“So, let’s say you can. Wanna tell me why you like
hanging around my crime scenes?” The shopping cart hit a nasty bump in the sidewalk,
and he grabbed the push bar to steady it, brushing her hand. A lightning bolt
of lust zinged through her body straight to her core. She jerked back.

Now that they weren’t making out, entangled in the
web of desire, her body’s reactions made her confused and angry. And, okay,
frustrated. The throbbing pulse centered between her thighs seemed to have no
intention of lessening.

“Because I caught the jerks, that’s why. I figure
if I have this ability, why not use it for something worthwhile? I like watching
the cops load them into the car and take them away.”

Greiff relinquished his side of the shopping cart
and she took control of it again. Frank’s store was across the intersection in
front of them.

She shoved the cart to cross the street and he
closed his fingers around her wrist. Liquid heat pooled in her breasts and
spread. He held her wrist until she looked up and met his eyes.

“So what, you’re some kind of naked superhero? You
weigh, what, a hundred pounds? You could be killed. Or end up in jail yourself
for assault. You’re playing a dangerous game, lying to me.”

“I’m not lying.” Her teeth gritted together. “I
hit that jerk this morning over the head with a frying pan.”

“Wearing what? You said it only works if you’re
naked. If you held that pan, your prints would be on it, on something in that
apartment.”

“I don’t have fingerprints. And my foot prints are
weird. They don’t look human.” She waved her free hand in front of his face and
jerked the other from his grip.

He squeezed the bridge of his nose, walked in a
tight circle, and extended his right hand, palm up. “May I see your hand?
Please.”

“Fine.” The reply came out as a sulk, but she
didn’t care. She observed him as he traced over her palm and each finger,
looking for lines and whorls that didn’t exist. Anger, disbelief, wonder, and
maybe even a little fear chased each other over his beautiful masculine
features.

“I’m not lying.” The light caresses strengthened
the fire she’d thought to be mostly extinguished and she took a half step
forward, closer to his tall, muscular form.

“No, I guess you’re not. About the finger prints…
Were you born without them, or did you have them removed somehow?” His eyes
flicked up and met her gaze, then back down.

Hurt closed its fist around her chest. “How can
you ask me something like that? Not five minutes ago, you told me you didn’t
care the hows and whys of this…thing…between us. You were all over me. And now
you’re acting like a jerk cop.”

“I am a jerk cop.”

God, the look on her face. Greiff wished he could
erase it. Even though he’d known she was there at his scene, hearing her admit
it didn’t fill him with the normal satisfaction a confession garnered. Instead,
it started an entire new line of questions for him.

Her fingers were completely devoid of any kind of
line at all. Smooth, soft. No scars, no whorls or lines on them anywhere. She
tugged, and he released her. His heart pounded in his chest, a mixture of lust
from her touch, and a thread of fear clenching in his gut.

He didn’t like to be afraid. The best way for him
to get rid of the fear was to find its root and dig it out. What scared him in
that moment was not knowing what was going on or why. This connection between
them and the strange abilities they possessed. Him, the color-blind cop with a
suped-up nose, and her, a self-professed vigilante with the power to turn
invisible and no finger or foot prints. He’d find answers, and the fear would
go away.

Now that he knew she wasn’t lying about the
prints, it wasn’t as easy to dismiss her claims about the other ability. But
he’d seen her in the subway. Every exposed, curvaceous inch.

Had anyone else? They’d passed her by without a
sideways glance.

Doubt crept in and added to the jangling warning
his instincts gave off. Despite the nudges about danger from his intuition, he
craved the feel of her mouth and tongue on his again, of having her body
plastered tight to his. The warmth of her waist under his palm brought him
slamming back to reality. They’d moved closer together once more, and neither of
them was aware of doing it.

Shit.

“Let’s go and take the cart back. We’ll work the
rest out later.” He swallowed hard, cheeks sticking to his teeth in his parched
mouth. What he wouldn’t give for a cigarette. The second he tucked it between
his lips she’d toss it for sure.

She snorted, looked both ways, and jaywalked, pushing
the cart with its clanging wheel off the curb and out into the street. “Give me
a ticket, and I’ll kick your ass.”

The black spandex pants she had on clung to every
flexing muscle in her bottom, and he fell back a step to observe the show. He’d
never get enough of her ass.

They approached the double glass doors of the
little shop her friend owned. Chloe stepped to the front of the cart to open
the door and stopped with her hand on the metal handle.

He caught up and looked inside. A man with a
stocking cap over his face brandished a gun at Frank, and threw an old black
book bag at the shorter man, shouting for him to empty the register.

Instinct took over.

Greiff yanked her back and shoved her against the
wall where stray bullets wouldn’t hit her.

“Get down,” he hissed, jerking his radio off his
belt to call dispatch.

“I have to help him.” She shucked her flip-flops
and stood. “If that’s the same guy who’s been robbing the other stores in the
area, you know as well as I do he’s going to kill Frank. You wanted to see me
naked again, remember? Now’s your chance.”

The pants skimmed over her thighs, and she kicked
them to the side. The top followed and she bundled it all into a ball.

“Damn it, Chloe.” Shit. He warred with indecision.
If he stayed with her to ensure she didn’t go inside, Frank might die. And if
he left her, she was sure to go inside the second he wasn’t there to stop her. A
glimpse through the door revealed Frank stuffing the back pack with cartons of
cigarettes. “You can’t go in there. He’ll shoot you. We’ve got to wait here for
back up. What are you going to do, flash him into submission?”

“No, I’m going to walk in there and crack him over
the head with the fire extinguisher. Wish me luck.” She attempted to creep
away, one hand on the brick wall, and he wrenched her back. No way he’d allow
her to put herself in danger that way. “Let me go, you jerk! If Frank dies,
I’ll never forgive you.”

“Stay here. Please.” She was right. This fit the
M.O. of an armed robbery suspect who had been hitting small stores all summer.
Recently he’d taken to shooting his victims. The lack of people on the street
probably made the asshole think he could get away with the job in the middle of
the afternoon.

Greiff drew his weapon and took position next to
the door. A mixture of scents hit his nose, and he concentrated on separating
them. The older, stale smells had to be filtered out from the newer ones. It
took longer than he would have liked; he was out of practice. The ability to
pick up trace scents and catalogue them like a bloodhound had been a part of
his life for quite a few years. But it didn’t mean he had to like it.

Chloe’s unique fragrance and his own were blended
into other, older ones. He looked for the freshest one. He took another deep
breath and caught it. Mint, coffee, and apples. That had to be the perp. If the
guy got away, he’d be able to track him down later.

He steadied himself and burst through the door
with the gun in a classic shooter’s stance. God, he didn’t want to kill
this dickwad, but the guy had a firearm leveled at Frank’s head. He had to
remove the danger before someone got killed.

“Freeze!”

The gunman turned to him, then back to Frank,
who’d taken the opportunity to duck down behind the counter and hide. Smart
man.

Greiff advanced two steps, turning his body
sideways to create a smaller profile. “Drop the weapon. Now.”

The robber looked from side to side, then raised
his gun and pointed it at Greiff. “Fuck you.”

His blood pounded in his ears and he took a deep,
steadying breath. The air whistled through his nose—air filled with a unique
fragrance that belonged to only one person.

“Damn it, Chloe, get out of here!” He couldn’t
take the risk of turning to see where she was.

The gunman backed up a step and cocked his head to
the side. “Drop the gun or I’ll shoot. Who else is in here?”

Greiff ignored the question. “Backup is on the
way. Drop the weapon.”

A scraping noise behind him called his attention,
but he focused on the danger in front of him. The priority now centered on
disarming the perpetrator before something happened to Chloe.

And then he’d kick her ass for ignoring him.

The robber retreated more, indecision evident in
his faltering stance. He’d probably never had someone try to fight back.

Chloe stepped out of the aisle behind the perp
holding a small, kitchen-sized fire extinguisher.

His heart seized in his chest and the deepest
rooted panic he’d ever felt took hold. “No, Chloe! Get down!”

The perp turned his head to the right and flailed
at the metal canister headed straight for his head. The crack of a gunshot
sounded as he fired his nine millimeter pistol. Greiff returned fire, and
popped him in the left thigh. The fire extinguisher bashed the gunman in the
face as he crumpled from the wound in his leg.

Greiff rushed forward, kicked the fallen firearm
to the side, and hugged her, then leaned back to lecture her. His fear turned
into anger and exasperation. The sharp copper tang of blood mixed with spent
gunpowder in a noxious fragrance. “What the hell are you doing? You could have
been killed. I told you to wait outside. I can’t believe you did that.”

She flinched and gestured at the man on the
ground. “But I wasn’t. I’m fine. You better check him. He’s bleeding.”

Sirens sounded in the distance, growing louder by
the second. Frank popped up from behind the counter and rushed around it.

“Chloe, get out of here.” Greiff leaned down and
checked the unconscious gunman’s pulse, holstered his weapon, and took the rag
Frank held out to compress the gunshot wound. He showed his badge to Frank.
“That was so damn dangerous. This wasn’t an unarmed guy after junk jewelry and
a few dollars. This was a gunman. Go home. Now.”

Frank picked up the extinguisher and moved it a
few feet away.

“Yes, Chloe, you should go. I don’t know where you
came from or why you’re naked, but you need to get out of here.” The older man
stared at the floor.

Unshed tears shone in her eyes. “But—”

“No. You have to go. Now. Get dressed and go
home.” The hurt and confusion on her face struck a pang in his heart and he
softened his voice. Being reprimanded hurt, but he couldn’t let her get away
with being so reckless with her life. “Chloe, I’ll come by later. You can’t
stay here right now.”

She nodded and paced away with measured steps, one
hand clamped around her bicep. When she’d passed through a door into a back
storeroom, he switched his attention to the man in front of him. Damn, he
should be walking her home instead of staying to deal with reports and a gunshot
wound. “Frank, you got a security camera in here?”

The other man shook his head. “No, it’s broken.
The cameras are just a deterrent. But I guess I better get that fixed. Won’t
keep me from getting killed by some punk kid like this though. He came in through
the way Chloe just went out. Must have busted the lock off the door.”

Good. Chloe would be safe. Unless someone outside
saw her through the glass door. Although, if any of his fellow officers took a
statement about a naked woman at the store during a foiled robbery attempt,
they’d probably toss the report and chalk it up to a civilian playing games.

The sirens cut off as squad cars and emergency
vehicles squealed to a stop outside.

“Hey cop, when did Chloe get here? And why was she
naked?”

“She came here with me.” He wasn’t going to get
into why she’d been naked.

Frank looked at him over his shoulder and frowned.
“I didn’t see her come in. I saw the extinguisher on the floor, and you yelling
at her, but that’s all. And I watched everything. She wasn’t there—”

Greiff stood up, the compress on the perp’s leg
forgotten. He radioed the arriving squads that everything was clear. “Don’t say
it, Frank. You like Chloe, you don’t say anything.”

His partner, Spetrino, yanked the door open and
stuck his head in. Frank gave a single tight nod in response and went to stand
behind his counter again. Good idea. The store was tiny, and a flood of people
began to come inside.

Greiff compartmentalized his worries about Chloe
and tried to focus on Spetrino.

“Count on you to take a personal and end up
shooting someone.” Spetrino softened the statement with a tight smile.

“Yeah, I’ve got a gift.”