Veilers - Veiled Target Part 11

"Maybe I should stick around for that."

"You shouldn't. But..." He didn't like what he was thinking, but it was time to turn the tables. "Have you got any duct tape left over from the patch job you did on the air duct at the main house?"

Confusion clouded Dane's face. "I think so. It's in the car."

"Great. Go get it for me." Excitement coursed through him, the pain in his chest and stomach lessened. He wasn't sure what the h.e.l.l he was doing, but he and Tess were going to get a few things straight.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Dane jogged to his car and Hugh gave Tess the minute signal with his finger. "Here you go," Dane said.

"Thanks. You can take off now." He put the tape in his jacket pocket, waited for Dane to leave, then headed straight for the woman who quite possibly could be the death of him regardless of her intentions. The fact that she might be an eliminator did nothing to squelch his desire for her.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, genuine concern in her voice.

She straightened her posture and ran her palms down the side of her thighs. Was she nervous? Did she guess he might be on to her?

"It's fine. Thanks for waiting." He positioned himself on her left and leaned back against the sporty vehicle. A pretty expensive automobile. One he was hard pressed to believe the average private investigator could afford.

They stood in silence for a few moments, as if neither of them knew what to say. He guessed her inquisitive nature was because of the job. A job she'd been cleverly honest about. In return, he'd supplied her with more information than he'd ever told anyone else, so maybe his first step should be to get more information on her. Even the playing field.

"How long have you been a PI?" he asked.

She cast a quizzical glance at him. "Why do you ask?"

"I like to get to know the person I'm thinking about helping before making a decision." That ought to be vague enough to keep her gullible.

"A long time."

Touche, he thought. "And being at it so long, you haven't been able to find this person you're desperate to locate?" He had a feeling her needing his help was a ploy to stay in contact with him.

"I never said I was desperate." She rubbed her hands up and down her arms like she was cold.

He wanted to warm her up. Give her his jacket. Take her in his arms. He didn't.

"You know what? Forget I even asked." She moved to open the car door.

"Hang on." He caught her by the shoulder. "I didn't mean to sound so callous. I'm just surprised you need help. After what I've seen tonight, I imagine you can do pretty much anything."

"It would serve you well to remember that." She released the door handle and shrugged his hand off her shoulder.

For the first time all night, her voice turned lethally businesslike. It startled him. She wasn't a woman to be taken lightly. He couldn't help but be further intrigued.

"What agency do you work for?" No more beating around the bush. Considering the late hour, he planned to...he didn't know what he planned to do beyond interrogating her until something slipped.

"None of your business." She squirmed then recovered without so much as a beat. "Unless of course you want to hire me. I was willing to do this trade-off without a contract, but if you insist on making it a more formal agreement, that's fine by me. However, I was under the impression you wanted to keep Trey's disappearance off the radar."

"Tell me about who you're looking for." If he could get her to drop the att.i.tude and relax, he was sure he'd be able to tell if she was lying about needing to find someone.

"Have we got a deal?" She bent over while speaking, pulling something out of her shoe.

"Talk and I'll let you know."

The sound of voices wafted in their direction again. More people left the bar. Headlights slanted across the road as a car turned the corner and drove past them. A man and woman holding hands crossed the small side street and got into a convertible parked a few automobiles up the road. The guy leaned over and kissed the girl before starting the ignition.

Tess took in the visuals around them just as he was. She was waiting, he a.s.sumed, until the coast was clear to start talking. He also imagined she was deciding how much, if any, truth to tell him. Letting the silence continue, he took the opportunity to focus in on her body rhythm. Her breathing was even, her heart rate normal. That all too pleasing scent of hers touched his nose and he knew he'd forever remember it.

"I'm looking for a wolfen," she breathed, her gaze straight ahead, eyes searching past the bar and parking lot.

"Can you be a little more specific?" He stared at her beautiful profile.

"Not really."

He sensed her unease, that what was on her mind was difficult to share, so he bit back his snappy comeback. He let the sentient part of him rise to the surface, just enough to detect she told the truth.

Maybe he'd let his imagination run away with him, and she wasn't an eliminator after all. Or maybe she was, and the kiss they'd shared had tilted her axis as much as his. He knew it meant something to her. There was no faking the pa.s.sion that pa.s.sed between them.

Why the h.e.l.l had she saved his life?

Because she really did need his help?

"How long have you been looking?" he asked, an involuntary shiver racing down his spine.

"Five years." Her soft voice nearly wrenched his heart out of his chest. She cast her eyes downward.

"With a track record like that, I'm not sure you can help me find Trey. No deal."

His callous retort had the desired effect. She turned on him with the speed and dexterity of a professional killer. With legs on either side of his, she pushed him up against the car and had his throat in a chokehold that reminded him of how strong she'd been when they'd arm-wrestled. Anger flamed in her blue eyes; her lips were pressed tight.

She'd just convinced him she was a pretty P.I.E. player. And he needed to stop looking at her lips, because G.o.d help him, he wanted to kiss his eliminator senseless.

"f.u.c.k you. You've got no idea what I can do." Her mouth was mere inches from his. "I could drop you right here if I wanted to."

He arched an eyebrow. Took in her heated breath. Then reached up and, with little effort, took her wrist and removed it from his throat. "Do you?" he choked out.

"Do I what?" she snarled back.

"Want to drop me." He took his other arm, wrapped it around her waist and pulled her against him. "Because I'm kind of liking this position."

She tried to push away to no avail. "Let go of me."

Her squirming sent feel-good pulses straight to his c.o.c.k, threatening his composed disposition. Focus, dude. He couldn't give her the upper hand. She may very well land him on his a.s.s.

Holding tight to her wrist, he brought her arm behind her back, then the other, so that both her hands were locked at the base of her spine. Her small wrists were easy to grip with his large hand.

"I don't think so," he said.

"You're going to be sorry." She wriggled and writhed, looking more and more fl.u.s.tered by the second.

The dress shifted around her chest in a most provocative manner as she fought him. He dipped his eyes down, glimpsed the top of a lacy black bra, and gulped down the desire to arch her back and pull the material away with his teeth.

"What are you doing?" she barked. "Do not look down my dress."

His gaze shot back to her scowl. "Sorry. Couldn't help myself."

She stopped her protestation and relaxed. Probably realized she couldn't get out of his hold with force. "Will you please release me now?"

"That depends on what you plan to do next. You see I'm a little confused. You kissed me and saved my life, and yet I think you're supposed to kill me." He watched her face register little emotion. However, the hitch in her breath, and the skipped beat of her heart that rang in his ears said volumes.

"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?"

"Tess. I'm not stupid. Your being here tonight is no coincidence, is it?"

"Whatever the h.e.l.l you think you know, you're wrong. I was supposed to go on a blind date tonight with some guy named Trey. My friends set me up. It wasn't something I wanted to do. End of story. All the other s.h.i.t that's happened tonight was accidental. With the exception of my saving your a.s.s. And I must say, if this is how you repay me for showing you kindness, I'm going to have to remember not to do you any more favors."

And with that she kneed him in the groin, effectively getting him to release her. She stepped back and smiled. "For the record," she added, "I saved you because I needed your help. No other reason."

"Not out of the kindness of your heart, huh?" The pain in his c.o.c.k was no match for the pain she'd just flung at his ego.

"I'm not a kind person."

"Yeah, I think you already mentioned that. Guess I'm having a hard time getting it through my thick skull."

The wind picked up, carrying the smell of car exhaust and greasy food. She took a step closer, and he'd bet she never wavered or cowered from a fight. She needed things to be on her terms, and if the tables turned, she turned them right back around.

He needed the duct tape. Slipped his hand inside his pocket.

"I'd really like to be on my way. Do we have a deal or not?"

He didn't like what he was about to do, but she left him no choice. She certainly wouldn't cooperate with him when she discovered what he was up to. With so much on the line-Trey's life, the pack's future, his life-this was the only way he could think of with time ticking to get himself out of her line of fire. He'd make a deal with her, and then all bets were off.

"Yes. We have a deal." Using his wolf speed and strength, he turned her, crossed her arms behind her back, and duct taped her wrists together. It happened so fast there was nothing she could do about it. "But there's a few details we need to work out."

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing?" she shouted, wiggling her shoulders to try and loosen the tape. He spun her back around to face him. She eyed the offensive binding dangling from his finger and kicked him in the shin. Hard. "Untie me!"

He jumped out of the way before she got another kick in. Moving to the side, he put an arm around her waist and opened the car door. "Get in." He pushed her head down and goosed her into climbing into the pa.s.senger seat.

"Hey! Keep your hands to yourself. And I asked what the h.e.l.l you're doing." After a few humpfs, she settled into the seat, her hands nicely trapped behind her back.

With difficulty, he shook away how her backside had looked as she'd climbed into the car. He situated himself behind the steering wheel and shut the door. "Where's the key?"

She gave him the silent treatment along with a wish-you-were-dead stare.

"Tell me where the G.o.dd.a.m.n key is, Tess. Otherwise I'll duct tape your mouth too."

"Side of the door," she mumbled.

The engine hummed. He leaned over and buckled her seatbelt before doing his own. Anger poured off her in tsunami-sized waves that sucked the air out of the small interior. He rolled down the window. "How fast can this baby go?"

Tess shot him the now I'm really going to kill you look.

"I'll just see for myself." He shifted into gear and took off. "Hang on."

Chapter Eight.

Hugh drove Tess's Beemer through the streets of Los Angeles, speeding through yellow lights and only reluctantly stopping for red. He slammed on the breaks when a white Ferrari crossed into his lane to avoid a limousine stopped illegally in front of a club. G.o.d, he hated Sunset Boulevard on weekend nights.

Tess didn't flinch at the sudden movement. In fact, she'd remained eerily still and quiet since he'd hijacked her car. Every attempt to engage her in conversation had met with cold, hard silence. Her head was turned to the side, relaxed against the headrest of the pa.s.senger seat, but he could hear the blood rushing through her veins. She wasn't calm. Not by a long shot.

Since her attention stayed on the pa.s.sing scenery, he snuck glances at her legs. They were tan, lean, muscular. Smooth and silky. He pictured them wrapped around his waist before forcing his eyes back to the road. His grip tightened on the steering wheel, he did multiplication problems in his head. He had to get the f.u.c.k over the desire she stirred in him and get her talking about eliminating him. That ought to cure his idiotic attraction to her.

"How about we're honest with each other?" He tossed a sideways glance and smile her way.

"You're an a.s.shole," she said without moving a muscle.

"Okay. That's a start. You're"-he hung on to the "rrrr"-"a b.i.t.c.h."

She whipped her head in his direction and shot daggers at him, then just as quickly turned away so she looked out the pa.s.senger window again.

"I thought we were being honest," he added.

Silence.

"You know, a b.i.t.c.h isn't all bad. Especially coming from a wolfen."

Silence.

"You started it, Tess. So why don't you finish it? Come on. I know there are things going on in that head of yours. Let's hear it. Give it to me straight."

Silence.

The road grew more congested so he made a turn down a less crowded street. They were only a couple of miles away from his hideout now. Up the canyon and they'd be there. He didn't plan on telling anyone where he was, at least for tonight. The place was well equipped with food and necessities for occasions like this, so even if they needed to stay a few days, it wouldn't be a problem.

He turned on the radio.

She turned off the radio. By lifting her leg and slamming the bottom of her shoe into the k.n.o.b.

Yeah, that did nice things for his viewing pleasure. She wiggled, trying to get the dress to cover a little more skin. Didn't work.

"Want to try again?" He needed confirmation she was an eliminator, and if so, who hired her and how it related to Trey's disappearance. "I'll start. You're the most confusing woman I've ever laid eyes on." There were a few other adjectives he could use-compelling, beautiful, impressive-but he needed to keep those to himself.