A Fae in Fort Worth (3 page)

Even through the leathers the rider wore, I could tell he had a strong, powerful body that looked lean and solid, full of muscle. After switching off the bike, he leaned it on its kick rest, took off his helmet and shook out his thick, dark brown hair. He scanned the parking lot then his head turned slowly and the sexiest chocolate brown eyes I’d ever seen came to rest on me.

Holy crap, he was hot. No, scratch that, he was
smoking
hot. His gaze raked over my body and I felt the look as deeply as if it was a physical caress. Instantly my nipples hardened to firm peaks and a delightful shiver ran down my spine. I pulled in a few deep breaths in an effort to slow my racing heart. The biker grinned and the expression dazzled me, knocking all the air out of my lungs.

“Well, hello, beautiful,” he drawled, giving me another once-over. When he zeroed in on my slim thighs I couldn’t decide if I was happy I’d chosen to wear my favourite faded denim mini skirt and black cowboy boots or completely mortified. His voice was a deep rumble and I imagined him growling out my name as he thrust between my legs with wild abandon.

Shaking the thought from my mind, I swallowed then opened my mouth to reply, but he hadn’t finished speaking.

“Name’s Mitch. I sure wish I had time to stop and shoot the shit, sweet cheeks, but I’m heading out of town and I’ll be gone a while. How about you give me your number and I’ll give you a call when I get back?”

A few things occurred to me at once.
This
was Mitch Rakowski, the hunter I was going to have to spend time with in Fort Worth. That in itself was a disaster waiting to happen. How could I concentrate on the job with someone like him driving me to distraction? The second thing I realised was that he was riding a motorcycle and if he thought I was getting on the back of that thing and travelling all the way up to Fort Worth on it, he was sorely mistaken. Thirdly, how could he be so presumptuous? I was standing outside a diner alone, but I could have been waiting for my boyfriend or husband to come out after paying our check. I hadn’t been
that
obvious when I’d checked him out. Lastly, I realised, he obviously didn’t know who I was. I stared at him a beat, letting his words permeate then my anger began to set in.

“Did you just call me
sweet cheeks
?”

A low rumbling chuckle escaped his throat and he swung his leg over the bike and stepped off, placing his helmet on the seat. When he stood up to his full height, I almost swallowed my tongue. Jesus, he was huge. Okay he wasn’t abnormally large, but he was at least six feet and compared to my five foot five frame, that was tall. He opened his mouth to say something, but this time
I
wasn’t done.

I glared at him. “
Mitch
as in Mitch Rakowski, Raven’s friend?” When his eyes widened in surprise I knew my presumption was spot on.

His eyes narrowed. “You’re shitting me.
You’re
the hunter?” His eyes travelled the length of my short, petite frame again and when his scowl deepened, I could feel my fury build.

“And a damn good one,” I bit out. I looked over my shoulder to ensure no one was listening then I let rip. “Listen up,
Mitch,
because I’m only going to say this once. I hunt alone, always. Agreeing to let you tag along was purely to placate Raven because I didn’t want her to worry that she was leaving me high and dry.” Well, that was mostly true. I decided to leave out the part in which I thought I might be in over my head. “I might be shorter than other hunters, but I assure you I’m equally as lethal. If you want to test out that theory then please, by all means, call me
sweet cheeks
one more time.”

Mitch’s glare softened and then he did something that pissed me off even more. He threw his head back and let out a loud guffaw, the mirth shaking his tall, annoyingly impressive frame. I stared at him, eyes wide. The frosty, bitchy tone I’d always used as a defence mechanism usually did the trick. It had zero effect on Mitch.

“I can see this is going to be interesting,” he remarked after his humour had subsided.

I folded my arms over my chest then quickly uncrossed them when I realised the action made my boobs look twice their size and forced them to spill out of my vest, something Mitch ‘eagle eyes’ Rakowski didn’t fail to notice and home in on. He might be hot, but he was clearly a dick, therefore I chose to dislike him on principle. I’d be the first to admit that confidence was sexy, but arrogance? Oh, hell no.

I tapped my boot-clad foot on the ground and balled my hands into fists as I intensified my glare. “And there’s something else you need to get straight before I go anywhere with you.”

His mouth curved up into the sexiest damn grin I’d ever set eyes on and he nodded for me to continue. I had to get this out so that he was under no illusions about what was going to happen between us in Fort Worth, namely nothing.

“If you think you are going to ‘tap this’, or whatever the hell expression men like you use for hooking up, then you’ll be waiting a long damn time. We’re going to Fort Worth and we’re going to bring back the book, hopefully quickly and painlessly. When we get back, it’s game over. This is a working arrangement. Nothing more. Are we clear?”

Mitch stalked forward a few paces, his dark brown gaze intent. He stopped just inches away from me and I tried to ignore the heady scent of him as he leaned farther into my personal space.

“I saw the way you were checking me out,
sweet cheeks,
and I can’t say as I blame you. Bet you’ve never had a man like me in your bed, but get this. I’ll give it two days before you
are
in fact crawling under my sheets and when you get there, you are gonna be begging me to ‘tap that’. And only after you’ve begged me
repeatedly
will I finally give you what you want, are we clear?”

I ignored the all-over shiver and opened my mouth so wide I was surprised my jaw didn’t lock. “You did
not
just say that.”

“Babe,” he drawled. “We both know it’s gonna happen.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “You’re unbelievable!”

“I know,” he said around another sexy, but annoying-as-all-get-out grin. “But, baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” He nodded to his Harley. “You ready?”

“I’m not going all the way to Fort Worth on that thing.” I squared my shoulders and jutted out my chin.

Mitch’s eyebrows rose. “You got something against bikes?” He shook his head then raked his gaze over my face, his grin broadening. “Don’t tell me you don’t like having all that power between your legs, sweet cheeks, because that wouldn’t bode well for all the things I’m gonna do to you after you’ve begged me to take you.”

I was stunned into silence and I was
never
at a loss for words. In defiance, I picked up my backpack, threw it over my shoulder then strode to the Harley. I thrust out my chin as I straddled the bike and warned him again, “Do not call me sweet cheeks!”

His low, rumbling chuckle started up again as he came back to his bike. “As sexy and inviting as those perfect fucking legs of yours look, baby, I’m gonna have to ask you to change your clothes. I might be a safe rider, but I’m not the only person on the road. I’d feel a whole hell of a lot better if you were wearing the right gear. I know somewhere we can kit you out before we hit the highway.” He took off his jacket and tossed it at me.

“Put that on.” He grabbed his helmet then shoved it unceremoniously on my head before sliding smoothly onto the seat in front of me. “Might wanna put your arms around me and hold on tight. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”

I growled.

Mitch laughed harder.

This job was sure to be agony of the highest order. Getting glamoured, tortured and possibly killed by Fae didn’t seem like such a bad thing anymore.

* * * *

No sooner had we pulled away from the diner parking lot than we were cruising into the compound of a bike shop which sold everything a biker could possibly need and then some. Inside I was indeed ‘kitted out’. I got a helmet, a cool black leather jacket complete with back and elbow armour which fit like it had been custom-made for me and a pair of faded, low-slung jeans which were totally hot and too good to pass up. After trying them on in the fitting room, I kept them on.

Mitch insisted on paying for everything. I thought about arguing, but seeing as he was the one who wanted to travel up to Fort Worth on his Harley, I relented and let him pay. Besides, it wasn’t like I was going to use all the stuff when we got back from Fort Worth, apart from the jeans which I was going to wear at every given opportunity—hell, I’d sleep in them if I could. I knew I’d been right about the jeans when I stepped out of the fitting room and Mitch couldn’t keep his eyes off my ass.

As soon as we were done with the bike shop, I figured we’d hit the road, but Mitch insisted we stop by his condo to discuss what I knew about the grimoire. He was doing a lot of insisting and we hadn’t even made it out of Austin. This didn’t bode well for our working relationship, but I decided to bite my tongue and save arguing for something that mattered. I did glare at him when he told me we were going to his place, convinced it was some sort of ploy to get in my pants. As it turned out, I shouldn’t have worried. When we arrived, someone was waiting for us outside Mitch’s front door. The man turned as we neared and a groan slipped free from my lips.

“Malaki,” Mitch greeted tersely.

The angel gave a manly jerk of his chin then turned his gaze on me. “Ashley. How lovely to see you again.” His eyes roamed over my attire. “Like the jeans,” he commented, his lips lifting into a smirk which was so darn effective I’m sure it would have made most women fall at his feet and offer to have his babies. I, fortunately, wasn’t most women.

Malaki had black, spiky hair with neon pink tips. His ears were adorned with a collection of studs and loops. On his right earlobe was a silver cuff in the shape of a skull. He wore a black fitted T-shirt and skin-tight black leather pants. A chain hung from one of the belt loops and disappeared into a back pocket of the pants. He had leather cuffs on each wrist and a pair of kick-ass heavy boots on his feet. His face was handsome, chiselled with angular features and full, pink lips. And I kid you not, he was wearing eyeliner. He looked like a rock sex God. Unfortunately, I’d had the experience of meeting him once before. It hadn’t been pleasant.

“Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any worse,” I mumbled.

Mitch grinned and shouldered past Malaki, unlocking the door to his condo. “Take it you two have already met.”

I followed on Mitch’s heels. “It was an experience I’d prefer to forget.”

Malaki laughed huskily as he trailed in behind us. “Ouch. And I thought we’d gotten along splendidly.”

“We did,” I threw over my shoulder. “That is until you left me alone to fight a handful of vampires and made it to the top of my ‘people I hate most in the world’ list.”

“He did
what
?” Mitch spun around and stalked forward, glaring at Malaki. The air became so thick with menace you could have sliced through it with a knife.

“Relax, Romeo,” Malaki shot back, holding out his hands in a placating gesture. “She’s alive, isn’t she?”

When my mouth fell open, Malaki turned to me and said, “I did offer you a choice, the vamps or the demon.”

Mitch growled and took another step forward. When I noticed the dangerous glint in Malaki’s eyes, I thought it best to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. Besides, I didn’t need Mitch to fight in my corner. I could take care of myself.

“Whatever.” I shrugged. “It’s ancient history. Can we hurry this little reunion along? Mitch and I have a book to find.”

My words seemed to do the trick. Mitch backed down, but he shot another glare at Malaki before turning to me.

“What do you know about the location of the grimoire?”

I told them what I knew, which wasn’t a lot. “My handler said the prince of the Seelie Court is in possession of the book. He didn’t know a lot about him other than he spends half of his time in the Fairy Realm and the other half in the Fae sanctuary in Fort Worth.”

Mitch’s brow creased. “The prince of the Seelie Court? You mean Avery?”

I nodded. “Yeah. You know him?”

“Who doesn’t?” Malaki interjected.

Mitch ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Fuck.”

I didn’t like where this was heading. “Is there something about Avery that I should know? I thought the Fae of the Seelie Court were the good guys.”

Malaki snorted. “They’re Fae. The lines blur.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

“Avery isn’t your garden-variety Fae,” Mitch explained. “The only reason he spends so much time in the Fae sanctuary in Fort Worth is because his mother keeps tossing him out of the Seelie Court. He’s trouble with a capital T. I’ve had a run-in with him before.”

“Great,” I moaned. “What are our chances of getting the book?”

Mitch met my gaze and held it, his expression stoic. “Slim to none.”

Malaki grinned. “My kind of odds.”

I put my hands on my hips and turned to stare down the annoyingly smug angel. “Then why don’t you go and get the book?”

“Can’t. I’ve got my own grimoire to locate. In Puerto Rico.”

“What?” I spluttered. “How come you get to go to Puerto Rico and I get lumbered with Fort Worth?”

Malaki’s lips twitched. “Uh, luck of the draw? Call out my name when you find the book and I’ll come by and collect it. Must dash. There’s a piña colada with my name on it waiting for me at the Caribe Hilton. Toodles.” He wiggled his fingers, grinning wickedly, then disappeared from the room—literally.

Mouth agape, I stared at the spot where he’d been standing, cursing my string of bad luck. I turned my gaze to Mitch.

“Did I mention how much I hate that freaking angel?”

Mitch shook his head then picked up a small leather saddle bag from beside the sofa. “Let’s make a move. I wanna hit Fort Worth before it gets dark and I know how anxious you are to be pressed up against me on the back of my bike. It’d be a travesty to keep a beautiful lady like you waiting.” He winked then headed for the front door, leaving me staring after him, speechless for the second time in as many hours.