Heart of the Incubus (11 page)

“I’m sure he is.” Maya blinked and her gaze grew appraising. “Do you want to know how we met?”

Oh God, did Maya think she was interested in Cresso? She hoped to hell not.

Genevieve folded one of the letters and slid it back in its envelope. “It’s not important, is it?”

“We met through my fiancé.”

“Your…fiancé?” The envelope in Genevieve’s hand fell to the ground. Flustered, she bent to retrieve it, but Maya beat her to it. When she snatched up the envelope with her left hand, Genevieve saw the ring on her finger. A platinum band, with a fiery red stone in the place of a diamond. Heat flaming her cheeks, she accepted the object from Maya. “Thank you.”

Maya nodded with a grin. “Got a pen and paper? I think we should make a shortlist of potential suspects—people who make you the most uncomfortable.”

“Good idea.”

Genevieve snatched a pad from her desk. They spent the next several minutes going over all of the employees in the lab. By the time Cresso arrived with his friend, a handsome demon named Taeg who had terrible taste in T-shirts, she’d found she liked the assertive, confident Maya.

After the introductions had been made, Taeg said, “We cased the place. Definitely a lot of weirdoes here, but no one stood out.”

Cresso clapped him on the back. “I still appreciate the help, man.”

“Anytime, bro. We’ll be around. Call if you need anything.” Taeg glanced at his watch. “We need to head out. Got a meeting with my contact in an hour.”

“You guys head downstairs,” Maya said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Once Cresso and Taeg had left, Maya turned to Genevieve. “Cresso’s a great guy. A girl could do worse than to have someone like him in her life.”

Genevieve’s mouth fell open at her less-than-subtle inference. “Me? I…no, I’m not interested in him that way.”

“Really?” Maya cocked her head. “Why not?”

To Genevieve’s surprise, her chest grew tight. She turned away with a hollow laugh. “I… I’ve been burned before. No more playboys for me.”

“Ah.” Maya was quiet for a moment before saying, “Let me just say, I was burned once, too. Not in the same way, but in a way that made me distrust all demons. If I hadn’t gotten over that, I would’ve missed out on the best thing in my life.”

A lump clogged Genevieve’s throat, and she cleared it before meeting Maya’s gaze again. “He could never commit, and I could never accept that.”

“You know, he might just surprise you.”

With those words, Maya left. Genevieve numbly took a seat.

He might just surprise you.

Could Maya be right?

The problem was, Genevieve didn’t know if she had the courage to find out.

…

At close to eight o’clock in the evening, Cresso gave up on his fruitless attempt to identify the stalker. Mac had stopped by several hours before and cased the building with him, but the detective hadn’t picked up on any odd scents around, or from the letters Genevieve had in her possession. Bottom line, they didn’t have enough clues to support solid suspects.

When he sought out Genevieve, she sat at her desk, staring at something written on a notepad. The forlorn look on her face practically broke his heart. Perhaps she wasn’t holding up quite as well as he’d thought.

Part of him longed to stalk inside and sweep her into his arms, no matter how much she protested. To hold her until she felt safe and protected. Loved.

But no…that was a bad idea. For so many reasons.

He knocked on her door before sticking his head inside. “Ready to go?”

“I suppose. Not getting much work done anyway.” She let out a sigh and tore the top sheet of paper off her notepad, then stuck it in her purse. He held the door open for her and then matched her pace down the hall. She looked worn around the edges, and now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen her eat lunch.

They stopped in front of the lift, which Tom was wiping clean with a rag. Cresso nodded at him and the maintenance man pressed the down button.

“Thanks, Tom,” Genevieve said.

The man flashed her a brilliant smile. “No problem, Doc.”

Though she sounded the same as always, her shoulders were slumped over. Cresso gave in to the urge to rub his hand along the small of her back. “Why don’t we grab a bite to eat before we go back to my place?”

When her back stiffened and her eyes widened, he followed her gaze to the lift. He’d been so caught up in how exhausted she looked that they’d opened without him even noticing. A crowd of about eight people stood inside, and all of them stared out at Genevieve and Cresso with undisguised interest.

Genevieve shrugged out from under his hand and stepped into the lift. Dr. Summers, who stood next to Dr. Benedict and the scholarly Dr. Jessup, shot her an angry glare. With a heavy heart, Cresso realized they’d all heard his words and had assumed the worst. And why wouldn’t they? After all, he was an incubus. He had a reputation, which he’d never bothered to fight. What had been the point in denying it?

Shit. You stupid fuck.

Cresso entered the lift and tried his hardest to quell his guilty expression. He snuck a peek at Genevieve, who held her head high, even though she had to feel Dr. Summers’s livid gaze boring into her back. Dr. Summers must be upset about his earlier rebuff of her, and she was taking it out on Genevieve.

The ride was the longest of his life. When the doors finally opened, Genevieve calmly slid out and walked toward the exit. Cresso fell into step beside her, and they quietly headed to his car. He waited until they were inside before speaking. “Sorry about that. I’ll tell them it wasn’t what they thought.”

“Don’t bother. They’ll only assume we’re trying to cover it up. Best to ignore them and let it blow over.”

Damn it, she was right.

“Sorry,” he said again.

Her cheeks slowly returned to their normal color. “Where do you want to go for dinner?”

The knot of tension in his back loosened. If she could let it slide, then so could he. “Your choice.”

Forty-five minutes later, they were seated at a secluded table inside a popular Italian restaurant, with a feast laid out in front of them consisting of salad, roasted chicken and potatoes, and sautéed green beans. He tried his best to ignore the fact that what he hungered for wasn’t the food on the table, but the woman who sat on the other side of it. Her lush jasmine scent filled his nostrils, and his body reacted by throwing out waves of allure she surely must’ve picked up on. The female patrons at the neighboring tables certainly did, if their heated glances were any indication. When he lifted the fork in his hand, it shook. Inwardly cursing, he bit down hard on the utensil, ripping clear through his bite of chicken.

“Your friends seem nice.” Genevieve took a long gulp of wine. Her second glass already, which told him she wasn’t as calm and collected as she pretended to be.

“They’re great. We’ve been through a lot together.”

She nodded and speared a piece of lettuce with her fork before lifting it toward her mouth. “Maya is beautiful.”

Her tone indicated she was making a casual observation, so he replied truthfully. “Yes.”

“Must be hard to resist a woman like that. I mean, as an incubus and all.”

He paused in midchew and stared at her. Was she serious? Even though it didn’t sound like she intended to insult him, he couldn’t help but take it that way. “She’s my best friend’s girl.”

“I—I know.” Her eyes widened and she lowered her utensil. “I just…I didn’t mean to imply you would do anything about it.” She flushed and took another sip of wine.

Since she appeared embarrassed, Cresso tried to explain. “It’s true that I can’t help but notice things like that. My body is hardwired to see the opposite sex as a potential source of sustenance. But that doesn’t mean the desire to feed overtakes my brain.”

At least, not most of the time.

She kept her eyes firmly on her plate. “So, no matter how hungry you got, you would never…you know?”

“Not with someone who was unavailable.” He took a deep breath. Might as well put it all out there. “I would never cheat, either, if I were in a committed relationship.”

Genevieve’s gaze shot up at that. “You’re telling me that even though you can’t help but notice other women, you’d never fool around outside of a relationship?”

Her dubious tone made him instantly defensive. “Of course not. I’m not an animal. I take the bonds of commitment very seriously. So did my parents.”

Until his father had left his mother for another succubus, that was.

“I…” Her brows furrowed, and she remained silent for several long moments. “I’m sorry. I guess I just assumed…”

He relaxed at her apology, even while he recognized she still didn’t truly believe him. “That’s okay. I realize you don’t know a lot about my kind. You’re always welcome to ask.”

They continued eating in silence for some time before she scrunched her nose up as if she were contemplating something.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Have you ever…been in love before?”

Her unexpected question made his stomach clench. He dropped his fork and gave up all pretense of eating. “Yes. Once.”

She pushed her glasses back on her face and met his gaze. “What happened?”

Cresso debated how best to answer that question. He finally settled for the truth. “She didn’t return my feelings.”

Genevieve snorted out a laugh. “I find that hard to believe.”

Her innocent response sparked an answering
thrum
in his heart. The damn thing would never stop hoping, would it? But Genevieve had no way of knowing he was referring to her. If so, her answer would have been far different.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Genevieve placed her fork on her nearly empty plate and reached into her purse. “Maya and I compiled a list of possible suspects.”

Good—she’d saved him the trouble of changing the subject. Cresso’s shoulders relaxed as he took the paper from her. He pushed his plate aside before smoothing the list out in front of him. “This is good. Excellent. But you should add Will to the list.”

“Why? I haven’t seen anything to indicate—”

“Trust me.” He slid the paper back across the table. “Also Dr. Summers.”

She paused in the act of lifting her wineglass to her lips. “Dr. Summers?
Why
? I mean, she’s a woman, and I always got the impression she didn’t like me.”

“Didn’t you notice the way she was staring at you in the lift? Whatever the reason, I’d say she’s jealous of you. Maybe her attitude is the result of repressed feelings, and she’s expressing those emotions in the letters.”

“But she’s human, right?”

He shook his head. “No, she’s a banshee.”

Genevieve’s mouth dropped open. She plunked her glass on the table and sat back. “Banshee?”

“A harbinger of death. I thought you knew.”

“No.” She blinked. “You think she’s a viable suspect?”

“Being able to predict others’ deaths isn’t a fun gift. Many banshees have been known to lose their minds.”

She stared at him incredulously. “Then what the hell is she doing at Elcorp?”

“If she’s there, it means she’s brilliant at something. As far as the Council is concerned, that might outweigh any potential for mental instability.” When her mouth dropped open, he added, “I’m just throwing it out there as a possibility.”

Genevieve nodded and reached into her purse for her pen. Her hand shook as she wrote Dr. Summers’s name on the list.

“Gen.” He reached across the space and took her trembling hand in his. When his body quivered with hunger and his allure unfurled further, he tamped it back. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Promise.”

She took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

To his surprise, his words seemed to relax her. Or maybe the three glasses of wine she’d consumed throughout dinner had finally taken effect. Once they got in the car, she even laid her head back on the seat and closed her eyes.