Flirting With Fate (23 page)

“Armstrong,” she muttered.

She heard a deep chuckle and looked down to see a
man she didn’t recognize studying the veins in her arm. “His Majesty takes many
forms,” the man said.

When the doors to the room opened, Josie knew
she’d see Mallory rolled in, yet upon confirming it, her heart dropped. Even
knowing how to kill an immortal, how was she supposed to do it while strapped
to this table?

“Let me tell you how this will work,” the man
said, nearly giddy. “I’ll hook you up to this machine, then His Majesty will
come in and begin the process. It will begin taking your blood in perfect
measure and feeding it into our ruler. His destined power will finally be
unlocked.”

Josie looked to Mallory, who hadn’t said a word
but was staring at the man with big eyes.

The doors at the front of the room swung open
again and a handsome young man appeared.

He approached Josie and leaned over her stomach,
putting a hand flat against her belly and sighing. “I’ve taken to collecting
talents, but the ability to detect human life this new, that has to be my favorite.”

He stood and smiled at her, then cocked his head.
“Oh, perhaps you don’t know me as anything but Lieutenant Armstrong,” he said,
shifting to that form.

Josie refused to close her eyes, refused to give
in to the self pity bubbling inside her. She had another life to protect. She
had millions of lives to protect. She would find a way to stop this.

He shifted back into his handsome young form and
turned to Mallory.

When he leaned over her stomach, Josie felt the
first of her bonds release.

“What’s this?” the Keeper said, leaning closer and
pressing his hand against Mallory’s stomach. “But I’d been assured.”

The rest of Josie’s bonds released.

Tanner is here.
Not only was it the most
logical explanation, she felt it in her bones.

“You’re not pregnant,” the man said to Mallory,
but Mallory suddenly shifted into a much larger, stronger man who busted
through the bonds and dove for the Keeper.

The Keeper sprinted to the doors, but they were
slammed shut before he could get there.

Josie slid off her table, and while the Hulk
Shifter struggled to contain the Keeper and an invisible Tanner fought off his
guard, she examined the machine.

Commotion sounded in the hallway and Josie hoped
like hell she didn’t have to worry about someone else coming through those doors.

She smiled. Two switches. Simple enough.

She cast a glance over her shoulder. The guard was
out cold on the floor. “Bring the Keeper over here and strap him down,” she
said.

“I’m going to rule the whole world,” he screamed.
“How can you betray your own people like this? You can’t do this to me.”

“Apparently, we can,” Josie said, taking the
biggest needle from the machine and sticking it right in his jugular before
flipping the switch to suck him dry.

Their friends met them out in the hallway, and
judging from the numbers of passed-out bodies Josie saw as they left the
mansion, they’d done their fair share of ass-kicking.

When they reached the front steps, their Hulk
helper shifted into a very pale-faced, wide-eyed Tara.

Paige stopped in her tracks when she saw her.

Tara shook her head. “Please, don’t start.”

Paige pulled her sister to her chest and stroked
her hair. “I’m just so glad you’re okay.”

“Does this mean you’re going to let me be a
Stiletto Girl?” Tara said.

Chrissie laughed and Josie said, “I think she
earned it.”

Paige sighed. “Fine, but can we ease your big
sister into it by starting with some smaller cases?”

“That depends.” Tara craned her head, looking at
Paige’s feet. “Black combat boots?”

“What about them?”

Tara shrugged. “I want to be a Stiletto Girl, but
I’m not real big on the dress code. Those, however, I’d be cool with.”

Paige nuzzled her sister’s hair. “Deal.”

Josie looked to Tara. “Where’s the real Mallory?”

“Safe,” Tara said. “Dr. Martin helped us and he’s
taking care of her.”

“Her boyfriend’s pretty worried about her,” Tanner
said. “Could you let her know she needs to give him a call?”

They walked out to the parking lot where Collin
and Rider waited by their cars.

“They helped, too,” Tanner whispered to Josie,
gesturing to the twins. “We’re a pretty decent team when we all work together.”

Josie nodded, but grief pulled at her. They’d won
today, and for that she was grateful. But she was also ready to go home and
grieve privately for the life and future she’d lost when she’d learned her
emotions weren’t her own. “Of course we are,” she managed.

“I want to get you out of here. Share a back seat
with me?” Tanner asked, opening the door to a black sedan.

Josie nodded and climbed in, but she stayed to her
side and didn’t offer her hand, though she knew he wanted to touch her.

Fernandez climbed into the driver’s seat, and they
were on the highway before Tanner spoke.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

She closed her eyes. She wished she could have the
life she’d had so many visions of. “Everything I feel about you, everything I
want to be and have with you, has been programmed into me.”

Tanner turned to look out his window where the
dawn was spreading its fingers across the horizon. “You really think that’s all
this is between us? It’s just you and me carrying out some actions you’ve been
programmed to want to do?”

“Tanner?” Her voice was soft. “I saw this—us. I
saw our happiness as we make a family. And part of me wants it so badly that
I’d take it, even if it is artificial.”

“What you feel—”

“What I feel is unreliable and that wouldn’t be
fair to either of us.”

He shook his head. “Do you even hear yourself?
You’re Miss Free Will. You’re the one who believes nothing is fated, nothing is
set in stone. This is no different. The dreams? Maybe those were planted in
you. The attraction? Same thing. But this—” He fisted a hand over her heart.
“Not your surface emotions, but this. Deep down where you can’t deny it. What
do you feel?”

“It doesn’t matter what I feel, Tanner. It’s not
really me.”

He took her hands and held them so her wrists were
against his chest. “What do you feel? Right now. Do you love me?”

Her eyes filled. “Why are you making me do this?”
Tears slipped down her cheeks. “Don’t make me do this. It’s not fair.”

“Tell me. Do you love me?”

“Right now, I love you, Tanner. I love you so
much, I ache with it. I love you and I want you and can’t imagine spending my
life without you.”

He let out a sharp breath and closed his eyes.
“Jesus, I was hoping you’d say that.”

She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to
hurt him more—but then he was turning up her wrist and—

She pushed closer to the door to get a better look
at it in the light. There was no scar. Nothing.

“It’s gone.”

“The Controller died tonight,” Tanner said softly.
“She told me you wouldn’t love me anymore once the mark had faded. I don’t
think she considered that you might actually have fallen in love with me on
your own.”

Josie met his eyes. “I do love you. I do.” She
smiled. “And that feeling is all my own.”

If Josie Bovard ever decided to retire her
stilettos and leave professional ass-kicking behind, she had a promising future
as a wedding planner. Not that this had been much of a challenge.

Perfect couple, perfect wedding, perfect
evening.

The full moon reflected in the waves whose melody
mingled with the chatter of wedding guests and the lilting melody of the band.
As far as anyone knew, Paige’s and Darian’s was the first wedding on the
island, but judging from the enchanted looks on the guests’ faces, it wouldn’t
be the last.

Everything seemed to have fallen into its natural
place.

At the bar, Chrissie was pretending to be annoyed
with Fernandez. Mallory and Quinton were glued together on the dance floor.
Even Tara was blushing at some attention from some young, new SIA recruits.

“Everything is beautiful,” someone said behind
her.

Josie turned to see Tanner smiling down at her. A
little sigh escaped her lips.
Perfect guy.
“I think so, too.” She leaned
into him and turned to watch the waves dance in the moonlight.

“I suppose it helps that the wedding planner can
see the future.” He lifted his gaze to the sky. “Not a single cloud in sight.”

“It’s never a sure thing, but I did the best I
could.”

“Never a sure thing,” he agreed. “That’s part of
the fun.”

“If a butterfly flaps its wings,” she murmured.

But in the light of the full moon and goaded on by
the lulling melody of the waves, she suddenly felt very ready for some time in
their private suite.

“Do you want to dance?”

He slipped his hand into hers before she could
reply.

The dance floor was fifty yards away, but it
seemed right that they should find their own rhythm here, on a semi-secluded
piece of beach.

She sighed as he pulled her against him. Images
flooded her. His mouth descending to hers, his solid body hot and bare above
hers. As often as she’d cursed her gift, she had a new perspective on it now.
These images were her own, and that was reason enough to respect them.

“I don’t know if you noticed,” he said softly,
tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, “but I’ve had a bit of a crush on you
since we met.”

“Oh, I noticed,” she said, smiling up at him.

He took her hand and turned her in a circle.

“Aren’t you charming?”

He pulled her back against his chest and smiled
down at her. “And now you’re having my baby.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“I suppose you know what I’m going to ask next?”

“I can see the future,” she murmured, “but that
doesn’t mean I don’t like to experience it firsthand.”

“Josie Bovard,” he said, running a finger along
her jaw line, “I would be honored if you would marry me, love me, and make me
all kinds of babies.”

Joy expanded in her chest. “Yes, Tanner, I would
love to be the woman who gives you the family you’ve always deserved.”

If you enjoyed this book and would like to be
notified when I release a new book, please sign up for my newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/qymaH

Coming January 2013…

Chapter One

“Do you consider yourself a Sex Goddess?”

Reese Regan pulled her hand from the grip of one
of the most influential women in Chicago and said, “Excuse me?”

Halie McCormack tucked a lock of platinum hair
behind her ear. “Do you consider yourself a Sex Goddess?”

Was that a trick question?

Reese chewed on her lip. Was there a
right
way to answer that question when it was asked by the president and founder of
Sex Goddess, Inc.? “I—I don’t know.”

Halie smirked. “Try it on for size.” 

“What?”

She tapped the brochure in Reese’s hand. “The
first step of my program is the only step that is the same for everyone. Say it
out loud.”

Reese squirmed.
Do I have to?
Probably, if
she didn’t want to alienate the woman who held in her manicured hands the
success of the WJRK Charity Masquerade Ball.

“I am a Sex Goddess,” Reese said. Wouldn’t it
being nice if
saying
something like that made it true?
I am a Sex
Goddess
or
I am a size six.
Or, heck, how about
I am a size six
Sex Goddess heiress with an inheritance the size of Texas.
 

“Say it like you mean it,” Halie said. “Saying it
doesn’t help if you don’t
believe
it. Try again.”

Halie’s office grew twenty degrees warmer. Heat
crept into Reese’s cheeks, and a drop of perspiration trickled down her leg. Oh
yeah, she was feeling super sexy.

The programs at Sex Goddess, Inc. were the latest
“It Girl” trend in the Chicago area, and it was Reese’s job to get the company
involved in WJRK’s next big event—even if it meant doing a pole dance in the
middle of a business meeting.

“Sorry. I wasn’t expecting—” She wasn’t expecting
this business meeting to become Sex Goddess Bootcamp.

Halie grinned. “It makes you uncomfortable to say
it out loud, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, no.” Why would it make her uncomfortable? It
was only completely awkward. “You just surprised me. I mean, I’m here
professionally, and it didn’t seem very professional to—” She stopped at
Halie’s eyebrow raise. “Yes,” she admitted with a sigh, “it made me uncomfortable.
Sorry.”

Halie shook her head as she walked behind her
desk. At nearly six feet tall—five foot nine of which was leg—she moved with the
grace of a dancer as she lowered herself into her chair. “Do you realize you’ve
apologized twice in the last sixty seconds?”

“I’m sor—”
Crap on a cracker
.

Halie chuckled. “You have nothing to apologize
for. It’s my job to point that out. Most women have had their inner Sex
Goddesses drowned by society and the pressure of being everything to everyone.”

Reese nodded. Probably better that than explain
she’d never had an inner Sex Goddess to drown. If she had, it had been a
suicide drowning. The note left behind probably read,
“Too inconsequential
to go on...”

“Tell me about your goals, Reese,” Halie said.

Reese forced a smile and took a seat. She was
going to be here awhile. This was supposed to be easy—have a quick chat and
iron out an agreement between Sex Goddess, Inc. and the radio station. But no.
Back to square one.