Freaky by Nature (21 page)

the side of her face. “Claire, y ou’re no less of a wom an because of

y our cry stal ball.”

A sm ile slipped past her pain. Som ehow Shadow alway s

m anaged to com fort her with his dry hum or.

She laid her hand gently against his, absorbing his strength.

“Thank y ou, Shadow.”

For a brief m om ent she felt he m ight open up and let her in.

His fingers resum ed their journey through her hair. His dark,

dangerous ey es flashed with an em otion ev en she couldn’t read.

Then he dropped his hand and his shields resurrected.

“I think I can sleep now,” she said softly .

Shadow untangled his fingers and she sat up.

He stood and ran a hand across the top of his head. “I’m going

back to bed.” He gav e her a sexy wink. “Do m e a fav or and stay out

of m y dream s.”

A m ischiev ous sm ile split her lips when she heard the click of

his bedroom door. Once he fell asleep, he couldn’t escape her. She

could walk the recesses of his m ind to cause hav oc all night long

and he would just hav e to lay there and take it.

Satisfaction pushed her to her own bedroom , lulling her into a

peaceful sleep.

Sm oke, thick and m urky , surrounded Claire. She rubbed her

ey es, hoping the m otion would help her focus. Instead, needles of

pain stabbed each ey eball until she was forced to close her ey es for

good. Instinct caused her to drop to her hands and knees to search

for the door. Heat scalded her skin as she crawled; ev ery inch

becam e a m ile. Her breath now cam e in labored gulps, not enough

to fill her needy airway . Her lungs scream ed for oxy gen.

Claire stopped suddenly when her arm brushed what felt like a

m etal object. She allowed her fingers to trav el the surface, the

heat m aking it alm ost im possible. Claire pushed past the pain

until she realized it was a m etal bar. She traced the length and felt

the rubber on one end. A barbell. Where did that com e from ? Brett

didn’t keep weights in the bedroom .

With curiosity still poking her, she crawled further in the

direction of the door. In a few short inches, she whacked her head

on som ething solid. Claire forced her ey es to open and ignored the

burning pain. The bedroom door. Oxy gen saturated her lungs

from a crack underneath. Just as her fingers wrapped the

scalding-hot surface, flam es forced the door open and crackled a

sinister laugh.

“Claire.”

Claire forced her ey es open and waited for the pain. When

none cam e, she released a sigh and rolled her head to the side.

Relief blanketed her body when she realized she was in bed. Not a

flam e in sight. Just Shadow perched on the side of the bed next to

her, his brow furrowed.

“Shadow?” She sat up and sm oothed her hair from her dam p

forehead. “What tim e is it?”

“04:3 0.”

She lifted an ey ebrow.

“4:3 0 a.m .”

“Did y ou need som ething?”

“Your blood-curdling scream woke m e up. You okay ?”

Claire glanced down at the twisted sheets and realization

attacked her.

“Oh God, no.” She fought the sheets to stand. “Holly ’s gy m . It’s

on fire.” She grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand and

tossed it at Shadow. “Call 91 1 .”

She pushed past Shadow as he dialed, cram m ed a pair of shoes

on her feet and lunged for the door.

“Dam n, Claire, wait!” Shadow said a few m ore words into the

phone then disconnected. “You can’t go like that.”

Claire glanced down at her black silk nightgown and then

back at Shadow, still bare-chested but this tim e wearing only a

pair of black silk boxers. Tented at the fly .

She swallowed hard. “Neither can y ou.”

He stood silent, apparently unapologetic for his state of

arousal.

Desperate, she y anked the gown from her body and grabbed a

tank top from the nearby dresser. “Shadow! He’s still there.”

Claire knew Shadow’s lack of m ov em ent m ay hav e had

som ething to do with her haste to dress, but they couldn’t afford to

wait.

“In approxim ately thirty m inutes Holly will go to the gy m …

alone.”

That m ov ed him . “Giv e m e ten seconds.”

Claire pulled on a pair of shorts and m et him at the front door.

“I’ll call Brett on the way ,” he said as he shuffled her out the

door and into the truck.

Shadows fingers shook as he dialed Brett’s num ber, but not

from adrenaline. From sheer lust. Dam n, when Claire lifted that

nightgown and bared herself to him , he alm ost cam e undone right

then and there. Thanks to the m oonlight stream ing through the

bedroom window, he m anaged to see her full, rounded breasts, the

nipples peaked and ready for his touch. And those dam n panties.

Black silk to m atch the gown. All he had to do was loop a finger

through one side and they would slide down those long, shapely

legs until they pooled on the floor.

“Shadow!”

Steele’s v oice finally caught his attention.

“What?”

“Hell, I don’t know. You called m e.”

Shadow shook the lustiness from his brain. “Is Holly there with

y ou?”

“Yeah, she’s in the shower. Why ?”

“Don’t let her leav e alone. Claire say s the gy m is on fire and

our perp is still there.”

Steele cursed under his breath. “We’ll m eet y ou there.”

Shadow disconnected and slid the phone back into his pocket.

“Holly ’s still at hom e. Safe.” He reached across the seat and

squeezed Claire’s hand. “She and Steele will m eet us at the gy m .”

Shadow held tight to Claire’s hand, her skin still ice-cold.

Dam n the consequences. He needed the phy sical contact with her

to sav e his own sanity . This whole situation pissed him off. She was

about to be thrown into the m iddle of an insane lunatic’s m adness.

And if som ebody got hurt or ev en killed, he’d nev er forgiv e

him self.

She gav e his hand a squeeze. “That won’t happen.”

Shadow opened his m outh to argue but then stopped him self.

He had nev er once doubted Claire and he wouldn’t start now.

Instead, he grinned. “You stopped Holly .”

She returned his grin. “You helped, ev en if y ou were half

naked when y ou did.”

Shadow shook his head. Now was not the tim e to discuss
naked
.

“Look who’s talking.”

Claire shrugged. “I was desperate. You wouldn’t m ov e.”

Shadow floored the accelerator and blazed through a red light.

Claire had no idea just how desperate he felt around her.

Or m ay be she did.

As soon as Shadow parked, Holly raced to m eet them with

Brett hot on her heels. Before Shadow could get the door open,

Claire pushed on him . “Get out! Shadow, he’s still here.”

Shadow eased him self to the ground, picked Claire up and then

set her on the ground next to Holly . “You think I’m going to let y ou

go in there? No can do, sweetheart. Ev en the firem en are outside.”

Holly squeezed the top of Claire’s shoulder. “It’s too hot for

any one in there.”

“I know. He’s not inside. He’s out here som ewhere, watching.”

“Sick bastard,” Brett m um bled.

Holly widened her ey es and looked around the area. “Ev ery one

I see is in uniform .”

Shadow tucked Claire next to him .

Brett glanced at Claire. “Well?”

Claire gav e a weak sm ile. “You and Shadow hav e m e blocked.”

Brett kicked at the cem ent. “Dam n it.”

Claire turned to Holly . “Take m y hand and close y our ey es.”

Holly cleared her m ind behind closed ey es. Blackness loom ed

and threatened to suck her in. Then she felt Claire’s energy .

Im m ediately , the swirling ebony faded and she saw a figure of a

m an am idst the flam es.

“Claire, I see him .”

“I see him too, Holly . He’s a firem an, but he’s not.”

Holly shook her head. “He’s in uniform , but I can’t see his

face.”

Claire dropped Holly ’s hand. “Me either.”

Holly opened her ey es. “There are firem en ev ery where.”

Shadow gestured to a crowd of uniform s. “I’ll be right back.”

Holly sm iled when Brett pulled her against his left side and

Claire to his right. Nestled in the crook of his arm , warm , soft

shades of blue and turquoise env eloped her. Content, healing

qualities.

Claire released a soft sigh. “He’s gone. I don’t feel him

any m ore.”

Holly tried not to appear too disappointed. “What a disaster.”

Brett grazed the top of her head with a kiss. “We’ll get him .”

Shadow returned and stuck his hands in the front pockets of

his jeans. “Definitely arson. Forensics will be here in a few hours.

Sterling called. Cam eron insists Claire and Holly stay with her for

awhile. She wants to see for herself that ev ery one’s okay .”

Claire grinned. “Well, that’s half the truth any way .”

“Oh hell,” Brett m um bled.

Claire nudged Shadow with a hip. “What else, Shadow?”

“We’re supposed to play poker at Hawke’s tom orrow night.”

“To discuss the case without us,” Claire finished. She winked at

Shadow. “I’m too good for y ou.”

Holly fought the urge to shade her ey es from the ey e-gouging

flashes of v iolet and fuchsia that surged around Shadow and

Claire. May be she should explain what that m eant.

“Rem em ber that, Shadow,” Brett warned.

Holly lifted an ey ebrow. Not a good tim e to talk about the

obv ious attraction between Claire and Shadow.

***

He chuckled as he stood behind the ladder truck and watched the

four of them. Idiots. They didn’t know who they were looking for, and

even if they did, they wouldn’t know him dressed like this. He slipped

off the heavy coat and out of the fire retardant pants, realizing his

victory was bittersweet. While he outsmarted the cocky SEALs, his

search for the formula was unsuccessful.

He pulled the helmet from his head and smoothed his hair. If

Holly didn’t take him seriously now, things would have to get even

uglier. With one last look over his shoulder, he hurried to the car

where his associate waited. She wouldn’t be happy he returned

empty handed, but once again he managed to come away squeaky

clean
.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The next m orning, Holly stood outside the gy m and gathered

courage to go inside. It had taken som e sm ooth negotiation on

Shadow’s part, but the Fire Departm ent finally gav e her

perm ission to enter.

“Com e on, Holly .” Claire looped her arm though Holly ’s and

prodded her through the open front door.

Holly felt a little better when she discov ered the front lobby

and weight room s were untouched. It wasn’t until they entered

the v ery back, hidden room that the sm ell of charred wood filled

her senses. Shadow shouldered open the door.

“You can’t touch any thing,” he rem inded them . “It’s still a

crim e scene.”

Holly took a good hard look at the room that norm ally hosted

sensual dance class. The gauzy curtains ov er the dressing room

were now strips of fray ed rem nants. Poles no longer stood proud;

they lay m elted in puddles on the floor. Thick soot cov ered the

walls like wallpaper. Pieces of the m irror that once lined the back

of the classroom now stuck to the floor like glue.

“Holy hell,” Shadow m urm ured.

Claire glanced at Shadow and squinted. “Shadow, this is not

the tim e.”

His brow furrowed. “For what?”

“You know what.”

“Shut up, Claire.”

Despite her m elancholy , Holly giggled. “Don’t worry , Brett

reacted the sam e. I guess it’s just m ore real to im agine what goes

on in here when y ou see the equipm ent.”

“May be I should giv e it a whirl. Is it true the pole builds pretty

good m uscle tone?”

Holly glanced at Shadow’s dark features and intercepted a

lightning bolt of interest at Claire’s question. “Um , y eah.” She bit

her lip. “It’s great for the abs and glutes.”

Shadow released a heav y sigh. “What about the fire, ladies?”

Claire rolled her ey es and grabbed Holly ’s hand. “Close y our

ey es and tell m e what y ou see.”

Holly took a deep breath and followed Claire’s instructions.

Once again, her v ision was pitch black. Not another color in sight.

“Sorry , Claire, black again.”

Claire squeezed Holly ’s hand. “Giv e it a m inute.”

Holly pushed the frustration from her m ind and let Claire’s

warm strength flow through her. Suddenly the blackness opened

like a pair of draperies and sunshine y ellow stream ed through. A

fam iliar struggle for control. Then a m uddy forest green haze spun

like a tornado until it opened in the m iddle. Clear as day , Holly

saw a figure. A m an.

Claire spoke soft and steady . “Now do y ou see him ?”

“Yes! Oh wow, Claire, he’s so clear. The patch on his uniform

say s
Diablo Fire Department
. Except, I can’t see his face through the

helm et shield.”

“He knows y ou,” Claire continued. “He wants y ou to suffer.

Can y ou sm ell the gasoline?”

Holly sniffed the air and the scent assaulted her senses. “I do!

Wait, I sm ell perfum e too.”