What Happens in Vegas...After Dark (13 page)

Alex snorted and sipped from his glass. “Mango smoothie. Want one?”

She nodded and after a brief interchange with the server, a tall glass of frothy orangey-yellow goodness appeared before her. “Holy crap, that’s good,” she moaned. “It’s, like, eight hundred degrees outside today. What is with the heat? It’s still, like, a hundred at 2:00 a.m. I live in Seattle to avoid the heat.”

“Pussy.” He pushed a file toward her. “Here. One of my people saw your little friend out with some of the high rollers over at Mandalay Bay. Don’t know if she’s working them or if she’s just on holiday.”

Nell rifled through the pictures and the attached notes. “This is excellent work. Why Lucas doesn’t have you working for him anymore, I don’t know.”

“Puhleeze. Lucas’s current paramour is not okay with our past history. She’s jealous. So he’s pretending and keeping all manner of temptation away.”

“Well, that’s a very pretty picture. And you are very tempting.” Nell took another drink of the smoothie and let herself imagine Lucas’s long dreadlocks trailing over Alex’s tatted belly. “Sorry, I was in my happy place for a moment. But I don’t believe it. You two have been friends since your breakup.” A breakup she couldn’t really understand because they’d always seemed good together.

Alex shrugged. “Moving along. You want to come back to my place? If I remember,”

he leaned forward and drew two fingers down her thigh, “you like it in the middle of the day.”

“Tempting. Truly. But Galen is expecting me for a conference cal to the full council in less than half an hour. If I recall correctly, you like to take your time.” Alex was a very inventive guy between the sheets. Stil , despite her general sexual frustratedness, and hello, Las Vegas was fil ed with pretty, nearly naked people, she sensed Alex was looking for something to fill the emptiness hinting at the corner of his smile. A lovely afternoon fucking wasn’t going to do it.

“You know my number if you change your mind. You can bring Galen.” He winked.

“Ha.” She stood and tossed down some money. Holding up the file a moment, she hugged Alex briefly. “Thank you for this. You should come visit. I keep telling you, you need to see Seattle. My friend Meriel is single, you know.”

“I’ve heard all about Meriel Owen. And the last thing I need is that kind of business. I keep my partners away from full council, remember? Too complicated otherwise.”

He walked her out and they separated at the crosswalk. “Say hello to Lucas.” She waved and jogged across Las Vegas Boulevard toward the Liege on the other side where she’d meet up with Galen.

They would catch Leah Mathers or someone would die trying.

During the phone conference, or rather as they waited for what felt like years to be heard by the full council, Nell thought about Wil iam Emery.

How could she not?

He got to her and she liked it. What was it about a cocky, arrogant and slightly cold man that made her all sweaty? In William’s case, she didn’t sense his coldness as something natural, but more of a defensive behavior.

She didn’t need to have special gifts to have felt the pain radiating from him when the subject of Leah Mathers came up. Nell saw the shock on his face when she handed him the picture of his ex-fiancée, heard the slight hesitation in his voice and then the anger that flattened out the upper-class Boston accent he’d had only moments before. But he’d recovered quickly, his cocky veneer sliding back into place. She liked that sort of resilience.

Still waiting, she returned to musing over his mouth. The man had a very nice mouth.

He tried to be hard, but his mouth said otherwise. His mouth said he could kiss a woman for hours until she was drunk with his lips, until his taste led her into all sorts of delicious trouble.

Galen caught her eye and raised a brow in her direction. She shrugged with a smile.

He’d caught her, no use denying it. She’d tell him later—he’d pester her until she did anyway, so it was useless to resist him when he wanted to know something.

Finally they were able to report on the status of the investigation and ring off. Nell hated the politics of the job, hated having to think about every word and movement, always being careful about who you addressed when. Witches had crazy hierarchy and if you didn’t follow it, people got miffed.

Now that they’d finished up and had disconnected, Galen turned to her and simply made a get on with it motion with his hand.

“We’re walking and talking. I need to squeeze into some ridiculous dress for the club Alex’s spotter saw Leah in. You need a tie. Hmm. Suddenly I’m feeling better. Knowing you’ll be as uncomfortable as me makes me happy. I’m petty that way.”

He grumbled as they headed toward their bedrooms from the main area where they’d been on the phone call.

She left the door open as she dressed and called out to Galen. Somehow tel ing him about her crush on William Emery was easier that way.

“Hang on,” he said as he entered the room, already dressed and looking handsome.

“Just as I thought. You’re hopeless, Nell.”

He reached into the neckline of her dress and adjusted her bra.

“Hey!”

“You have nice breasts, use them. We’re going into this club filled with singles and you need to sex it up a bit. You’re wearing makeup, right?”

“What? Why? Come on, my boobs are hanging out and everyone’s gonna stare at them as it is. What difference does lipstick make?”

He just stared at her until she sighed and pointed toward her overnight bag.

“This stuff is stil in the original packaging.” Galen struggled to open up the plastic.

“Yeah, Meriel gave it to me before I left. She’s always on me to girl up a little.” It partly amused, but also rankled. She wasn’t horrible to look at just because she didn’t have her best friend’s elegant beauty and perfect hair. It wasn’t that she never ever wore makeup or dressed up, but when she was in the field or doing research she didn’t have much call to get dol ed up.

She sat stil while Galen primped, brushed, lined and generally worked some everyday cosmetic magic on her face.

When he finished she opened her eyes and inspected his work. She couldn’t help but smile at her ref lection. “Nice work. I suppose it’s a testament to how many women you bed when you can turn a pumpkin into the princess’s carriage.”

“Why, yes, I’ve learned much from the lovely women I encounter. Also doesn’t hurt when your mom did theater for thirty-five years. But cut the crap. You’re a naturally beautiful woman, Nell.” Galen looked into her face as he inspected his work. “All I did was shine you up a bit. Meriel thinks so, too. She just likes to give you things.”

She stood and kissed his cheek, careful not to smear. “Thank you. Goodness, you look pretty delish.” She looked him up and down as they headed out to the hall and toward the elevators. “It’s a shame you’re practically my brother or I’d jump on you every chance I got.”

A fter a rather illuminating few hours at the nightclub Alex had sent them to, they’d headed straight to the Liege. They needed to stop by the Dollhouse to see if Emery was there.

“You know, I didn’t say much about it back in the room, but from what you said, this Emery guy is totally wrong for you. Which means you can’t get enough, I’m sure. Just watch yourself.” Galen said it without judgment, but it rankled that he was right anyway.

“I’m a big girl, thank you very much.” She paused and turned toward him. “This is just business. I need to follow up with Emery with what we learned at Club Indigo.”

They’d heard a few things from some of the staff at the nightclub and Nell thought it would be wise to see if Wil iam could add anything. It wasn’t that she wanted to see him or anything. Not like she’d been thinking of him pretty much nonstop in the two days since she’d seen him last. Not at al .

Light strobed from the entrance. There was a line of people, but Galen just rolled his eyes and she straightened her spine and thrust out her boobs. Together with a subtle persuasion spell and her cleavage, the doorman seemed to find a way to fit two more people inside and let them pass.

“You stay here. I’m going to talk to him alone.” The woman checking coats and bags informed her William was either in his office or at the VIP table.

Galen shrugged. “I’ve got your back. Be careful, Nell. Not just about this guy, but these mages are too serious to ignore.”

William looked around the lounge area. The dancers were between sets so the lights were up a bit and slow, throbbing electronica fil ed the air.

He missed a woman he’d met two days before and had been with for a grand total of perhaps half an hour.

His vision snagged on a pair of long-as-sin legs and his gaze traveled up lean thighs to the hem of a very short black dress. He took his time when he arrived at some stellar breasts, up the long line of exposed neck to a lovely face punctuated by glossy lips and big eyes. Looking right back at him.

One of her brows rose and he realized it was her. “Excuse me, everyone. I’ve got some business to attend to.” He stood and made his way toward Nell with every intention of killing anyone who got in his way.

Taking advantage of the noise, he leaned in close, placing his arm around her waist.

“To what do I owe the honor of this visit?”

“I’m sorry to bother you at work, but I found out some things about Leah and I needed to see if you could help.”

Even though she was speaking about Leah, William’s body, his brain all thrilled to see Nell, hear her velvet voice.

“Come on back.” He kept a hand at her back to guide her through the crowd and down the back hal where his office was located.

Once he’d closed the door after them, his hearing took a moment to adjust. He motioned her to the chairs bracketing a small table in the corner.

“Would you like a drink?” He sure needed one. Seeing her dressed up this way discomfited him. She was beautiful sitting there, poised but humming with energy. Still, oddly enough, while he couldn’t object to the amount of bare skin she showed, he apparently preferred her the way she’d been in his office before. Go figure.

“I’ve already had a few, but thanks. I’m not good with a lot of alcohol in me.”

He looked at her as he sat, sipping his Scotch and taking her measure. Bright green eyes met his, shooting right through him.

“Really now? Good for whom? Do you get wild and dance topless?” Wil iam really had no idea why he teased her—she was off his to-do list and everything.

She blushed, which, God help him, just made it worse. He hadn’t been around women who genuinely blushed in a long time. Unless you counted his sister-in-law who was one tough woman, despite those blushes she occasionally gave when Nash said something particularly racy.

“Stop that,” she said without any real heat. “You said before you didn’t know of any family Leah might have in the area. But how about friends named Jonah Cutler or Randy Bane?”

Right to the point. He sighed and thought. “I really don’t think so. Randy sounds sort of familiar, but not the last name. We’ve got a distributor here named Randy Johaness so I may be thinking about him. Why are you all dressed up?”

Her eyes widened a moment. “Is that your totally random question for the day or does it have a purpose?”

“I’m not trying to start a fight.” Although if she was mad she wouldn’t be so appealing maybe. Or at least she probably wouldn’t want to get naked with him. Which was a good thing. Absolutely. “It’s just you look so different tonight than you did the other day when you were here. Just curious. You look lovely.”

“So is patronizing your fal back personality? Can’t a woman dress up? The other day I was in the field, it would have been silly to wear something like this. But tonight I went out. It’s Las Vegas. I see women out there, including the one who was practically kissing your zipper, dressed in far less.”

“Patronizing? Because I complimented you? Is bitchy your fal back personality? And she wasn’t kissing my zipper.”

“Sure she wasn’t. I’m sure she was looking for her encyclopedia in your pants. Your cock must be taking a class or something. Oh! I know, she’s the cock whisperer, right?”

Nell knew she’d gone too far when she saw the light in his eyes. He was enjoying their little interplay as much as she was.

He stood and she did, as well, not knowing what he was up to. In quick work, he’d moved very close. She took a step back and then another and one more until her back was against the wal and he bracketed the front of her.

Her heart thundered as he moved so near she caught the flecks of gold in his eyes. His scent wrapped around her. She wasn’t afraid of him physically, but a jolt of awareness shot through her. He was meant to be someone important to her. She simply knew it as much as she knew her PIN number or that it was warm or cold or whatever when she went outside.

Everything stilled for a moment. Fate. Not like she could tell him that without him flipping out or thinking she was nuts.

“Damn, but you lure me,” he murmured softly before his lips touched hers.

Leaning his weight against her body, he held her in place with his body while he coaxed.

Seduced. Tantalized with his mouth on hers and she opened to him. Her hands, which she’d had fisted in his lapels, slid up and around his neck. Nel wanted him so badly she had to lock her knees to keep them from trembling. How had it come to this so fast?

She’d expected him to be a different kind of kisser. She knew he’d had those lips on a variety of other women, but he didn’t rush. He pul ed her in slowly so that when he finally drew his tongue over her bottom lip all she could do was groan and let him in.

Not that she regretted the choice. His tongue skil fully roamed into her mouth and darted out. He nipped her bottom lip once and then again.

With her heels, they stood nose to nose so he fit her perfectly—hard to soft. He rocked his hips, dragging the length of his cock over her pussy and she gasped when the head of him brushed against her clit.