So Tempting (6 page)

Chapter Four

Cassie kicked the dirt at her feet, watching rocks and small chunks of dirt tumble down the slope in Fort Marcy Park. The vista before her lay bare to the golden sunlight, yet behind her shadows still clasped traces of cool night air. She breathed in the scent of freedom, hearing the bird calls, the soughing of the wind, the preternatural stillness.

Dante thought she was picking up Melinda to go shopping; he didn't watch her that closely in the daytime. It was nighttime when the drawbridge went up and her jailer's eyes sharpened.

But Cassie didn't want to shop or to see Melinda, at least not yet. She needed to get away, to think. She was no closer to The Club after last night.

She sighed and kicked the dirt again.

"You mad at the world or someone in particular?"

Heart pounding, Cassie whirled to face the intruder.

"Whoa there." Hands raised, he smiled, hazel eyes sparkling. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Curly auburn hair framed his friendly face. Cassie guessed he was in his early twenties, around six feet tall, his build lean and wiry.

"I can leave you alone, if you'd prefer." His voice was warm, a teasing note making her ashamed that she'd been so ready to run.

Cassie shrugged. "It's a free country." Lowering her voice, she muttered, "For some people, at least."

He chuckled and extended a hand. "Jimmy Carroll. Sorry someone's making you unhappy."

His smile was infectious. "I'm Cassie—" Her last name always screwed things up. "Just...Cassie."

Jimmy nodded as though names didn't matter. "So who's got your goat?"

The corners of her mouth turned down. "My brother."

"What's he doing? Not that it's any of my business."

Suddenly she wanted to talk to someone who had nothing to fear from Dante, no reason to bow and scrape to him. "He's a lot older and thinks he's my father."

"What's your father say?"

"He and my mother are dead."

"So this brother's your guardian?"

She stuck out her chin. "I'm—" She glanced sideways, deciding that he might think she was a kid if she told her age. "I'm twenty—but he controls all my money."

Jimmy shrugged. "So get a job. Move out."

Cassie frowned. "You don't understand."

"Don't want to lose that shiny new convertible, that it? The expensive lifestyle that provides that five thousand dollar watch?" A sneer tinged his voice.

She grew quiet. She wanted her freedom, but... Looking at Jimmy's shabby clothes, she knew he wouldn't understand. "I don't care about luxuries."

"Sure you do."

A sharp retort sprang to her lips, but she stifled it. He confused her. What
was
preventing her from running away, making her own life? Then she thought about living on what she could make. What skills did she have? How would— Cassie shook her head. She already had enough to think about. "It's not that simple."

"Oh, but it is." He swept an arm toward the trees nearby.

Cassie saw a sleeping bag open, a knapsack at the head. "You slept here?"

His eyes scanned the horizon. "Great view from my bedroom, don't you agree? See, you don't need a fancy house with big windows to see vistas when you wake up. A little dodging the cops is the only price required."

"But where do you clean up?" Cassie eyed his dirty clothes with distaste.

"Truck stops, the Y." He shrugged. "Here and there."

"You're like, a drifter?"

Her fascinated horror must have shown.

Jimmy laughed. "Lots of people have done it before me. Ever heard of Jack Kerouac? Hey, even Jesus wandered the roads."

"What about your family?"

His eyes clouded. "They don't care."

"Must be nice to be so free." Cassie sighed in envy.

"Sometimes."

"You don't have anyone telling you what to do."

"What's stopping you?"

His look challenged her. Unsettled her. "But I don't want—"
This.

"What do you want?"

She frowned. Being all alone, no rules at all? It sounded good, yet sort of scary.

Cassie retreated from the cliff of that great unknown. She could name one thing. He probably couldn't help, but she had to start somewhere. "I want to go to The Club."

His head turned swiftly in her direction. "What club?"

He didn't know. She sighed. "Never mind. Listen, I have to leave." She turned to go.

"You want an invitation?"

Cassie's heart beat madly. "I might already have one."

"If you did, you wouldn't be standing here, talking to someone like me."

"I'm no snob."

He laughed, and something in it was infectious. "Sure you are." He threw one arm around her shoulders. "But hey, I don't discriminate in my friends. I'll take all kinds, even rich little snobs."

Cassie shook off his arm, temper rising. "I'm not like that, and I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"I can show you things you never even dreamed of in that castle of yours, Princess."

Delicious fear mingled with excitement. He was really cute, after all, and if he could get her into The Club... A tiny smile curved the edges of her mouth as she gave him a slow, sideways glance.

Dante would lock her away for the rest of her life if he caught her. But he wouldn't. She'd make sure of it.

Breathlessly, she leaned forward. "Tell me more."

* * *

The ache in her hip didn't do much for Jace's mood. The physical therapist she'd had after her accident had been right—it always acted up whenever she got too tired. Sandpaper grated inside her eyelids; her throat still rasped from the smoke-filled club. She'd left Gabriel sleeping and gone home to her own bed in the wee hours.

But sleep hadn't been in the picture. Every time she closed her eyes she saw
him
.

Entering the station, Jace tried to shake off her shitty mood. In the cold light of morning, her reaction seemed ridiculous. Whatever she'd thought she'd seen or felt had to have been a trick of the light...special effects or a hologram or something, that's what had happened. She'd fallen under the influence of the music, the hypnotic beat, the sex you could practically taste in the air.

The air.
Something in the smoke, maybe? She'd talk to the lab boys about that. Kneading one fist against her lower back, Jace stretched outside the door to the squad room, then settled her cop face firmly in place and pushed open the door.

Funny. It all looked just the way it had yesterday, phones beeping, metal desk drawers slamming, the smell of burnt coffee searing her nostrils. Controlled mayhem at its best.

She loved it. This was home. This was what defined Jace Carroll. She was a cop, and a good one. But today she felt...different. Out of sync.

She walked past Earl's desk. "Morning."

"Hey, Jace." He stopped, getting a look at her. "What happened last night? You all right?"

She shrugged it off, turning toward her desk. "I'm fine."

"You look like hell, and you're limping."

"High heels kill my back."

"You? In heels?"

Jace placed her hands on her hips. "What did you think I'd wear? High tops?"

Earl's look said he wouldn't have been surprised. "So what happened? Any trouble getting inside?"

"Nope. Went smooth as silk."

"Find out anything?"

She opened her mouth to answer just as Cardozo's voice drifted over her shoulder.

"Hey, baby, Halliday tells me you do a mean bump and grind."

Jace sighed.

Cardozo came to rest in front of Earl's desk, grinning, gaze sharp and taunting. "The kid says you about made his eyes fall out of his head. How come you don't ever dress up like that for us?"

Jace bared teeth, but Earl placed a restraining hand on her arm. "We're talking business here. Don't you have something better to do?"

Cardozo scanned her up and down slowly, lingering on her breasts and hips. "I'm volunteering to take duty next time. The kid's still got a hard-on from watching you."

Jace jerked from Earl's hold. "You—"

"Beat it, Cardozo," Earl intervened. He stood up and escorted Jace to an interview room. Once inside, he closed the door and leaned against it, arms folded patiently across his chest. "So tell me."

Jace rubbed her arm where his iron grip had clamped, refusing to look at him. "What?"

"I'm not the enemy, Jace."

He was right, but she really didn't want to talk about last night. When she couldn't explain it to herself, how could she describe it to him? Walking across the room to buy time, she peered through the window as the squad room door opened and almost groaned aloud.

Gabriel. Oh, not now. And he'd spotted her, already crossing the room, his eyes never leaving her.

Jace twisted the blinds closed. "I didn't find anything useful. Maybe it's a wild goose chase." She'd been so eager to get on this case, but right now tracking down burglars didn't seem so bad. "It was just...weird."

Earl merely nodded for her to continue.

"Dark, loud music, everyone masked and dancing like—" She so did not want to go into detail "—like more of a sex club, really. Normal rules of behavior don't apply."

"Anybody offer you anything?"

"Besides hooking up, you mean?" Jace gave a nervous laugh. Remembering those long moments when she'd been all but paralyzed in the grip of those eyes...scorched by the feel of hands that couldn't have—

"That what's got you rattled?"

"I'm not rattled." No way she'd admit she'd freaked out. "It wasn't easy to make connections, that's all." She rolled her eyes. "At least not the conversational kind." Earl grinned and she grinned back, feeling better. "People weren't there to chat. Halliday connected with a couple of girls, but they didn't know anything. It's my sense that it may take being around for a while to get someone knowledgeable to approach me, so I'll go back and try again." This time she'd be prepared for the impact of it.

"We're not loaded with overtime money. You really think it's worth a shot?"

She ignored the flutter of nerves, the dark pull of memory. "I can't be sure, but my gut tells me more's going on than just a party."
Understatement
of the year.

"I'll talk to the captain." He shambled toward the door. "Let me see your report when it's done." Jace nodded and followed him.

Gabriel stood outside, waiting. "I need a minute with Detective Carroll, Earl."

"Sure, no problem." Earl left.

Gabriel moved closer. "How are you?"

Jace backed away. "Fine."

"You don't look fine. Why didn't you stay?"

She couldn't help bristling. "It's not unusual for either of us to go home to sleep."

"Yeah, but something was different, and you look like hell. What happened?"

"Nothing, I tell you."

All gentleness fled from his voice. "This is me, Jace. I saw how you were when you came to me. I know you better than anyone."

She fell back on fury to push him away. "You don't know me, you just fuck me, Gabriel. Don't confuse the two."

Insult skipped over his features, quickly shuttered.

"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." He deserved better, but she wasn't ready to talk about last night to anyone, even Gabriel. Or—when she thought about her reaction to that man—
especially
Gabriel.

He grasped her shoulders. "Talk to me, Jace. You were rattled like I've never seen you, and I want to know what upset you."

For a moment, the temptation to lean on him was almost unbearable. Grasping at the frayed edges of her restraint, she pulled away. Just as in his courtroom demeanor, Gabriel was a bulldog with his teeth into a bone he wouldn't let go. If she were to escape more questioning, she had to sidetrack him somehow. She seized upon her brother. "I—I just thought I saw Jimmy there last night."

"And?"

"I'm worried about him."

"You can't change people, Jace. He'll do what he'll do."

She didn't like his dismissive tone. "So, what, I just forget I saw him? He might be in trouble."

"He's a big boy. He makes his own choices."

"He's not hopeless."

"Don't you think you've given him enough? You have to let him go or he'll drag you down with him."

"I just..." He was too pragmatic, too strong and self-assured. He couldn't begin to understand someone like her brother. "Forget it."

His eyes narrowed for a moment as if he wanted to challenge her, but finally he backed off. "You didn't talk to him?"

"I lost him in the crowd."

"Don't tell me you're planning to go back."

"I have to see what the captain says." But she'd have to go for Jimmy's sake, even if not for the job.

And despite every ounce of logic telling her to stay away, a small ripple of anticipation shot through the adventurer inside her.

"Jace?"

She blinked to attention. She had to get a grip on this somehow. "Yeah?"

"Come here." Gabriel's hands closed around her waist, and he drew her closer.

Pinpricks of discomfort danced on her skin. She pulled back. "Earl's waiting for me. I'd better go."

He exhaled. "Then I'll see you tonight."

Her stomach clenching, she shook her head, unable to meet his gaze. "I—I've got reports to write. And I promised Myra—" She opened the door. "I'll call you, okay?"

"Sure, Jace. You do that." He walked past her without another word.

* * *

"Explain to me how this happened."

The young man stood before the Priestess, head high in defiance of her disapproval. "She received only the Elixir, Priestess." With a little addition, but the girl shouldn't have died. The dosage was supposed to be right this time.

"The reports say the girl was raped."

"You know that's not true. She was honored to be chosen."

"You're very certain of yourself."

His gaze ranged over her lush body, wondering what she thought behind the ever-present black feathered mask. An elect few were sometimes chosen for private rituals with her. He had never been selected as one of them. It was said that the Priestess knew extraordinary sexual techniques learned from the
Magos
, but that was not his interest.