Hot Trick (A Detective Shelley Caldwell Novel) (10 page)

At his drawing board sketching ideas for his next escape, some new hip-hop group blaring in the background, Sebastian tried to keep himself busy so he wouldn’t have to think about another failure.

Patience, he told himself. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

But the irony got to him, the fact that he hadn’t been the one to enjoy the fruits of his own labor.

He stopped drawing for a moment and picked up the clip he’d taken from Shelley’s hair.

She might be a tough nut to crack while awake—well, okay, awake she’d been uncrackable—but asleep, she let down her guard. Perfect. Having used the hair clip for a little personal mojo, he’d been well on his way to seducing her through dreams when she’d awakened.

Frustration made him tremble with repressed energy.

Back to the drawing board. Literally.

Sebastian set down the clip and began sketching, concentrating on the new escape. His pencil pulled an owl from the page. And another. The winged ornamentations came not from his imagination but from the building where he would next perform.

“Ooh, I like it.”

Sebastian had been so intent on his work that he hadn’t realized he wasn’t alone until Oriel Leger spoke.

Whirling around to block her view of the drawing board, he knew it was too late. She’d seen. Maybe she wouldn’t figure it out, though.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was bored.” Oriel stepped closer and ran inviting fingers over his chest. “I thought maybe you would have something interesting for me to work on. I’d like to be more than a showpiece for your act.”

“It’s barely light out. I haven’t been to bed yet.”

Oriel moved right up against him and gave him a suggestive look out of her kohl-rimmed eyes. “Me, neither,” she murmured, her lips nearly touching his.

As if she could replace the woman continually on his mind. Sebastian stepped away from her. “How did you get inside?”

“I followed some guy into the vestibule. When I got up here, I knocked but you must not have heard me. I figured the music was too loud.”

“That doesn’t explain how you got through the door.”

“I turned the handle. You must have forgotten to lock it, silly.”

Perhaps he had forgotten to latch the door, but he always protected his living space. When he’d moved in, he’d put No Entrance spells on the doors and windows. Had they weakened or was Oriel somehow exempt?

“So…isn’t there anything I can do for you?” she asked, giving him a good view of her considerable cleavage.

Suspecting she wanted something more than sex, Sebastian was tempted to take her up on her blatant offer if only to find out what. But truth be told, frustrated or not, he simply wasn’t interested. He’d always preferred a challenge over a sure thing.

“I’ve never had an assistant quite like you before,” he said truthfully. She was intuitive, so much so that she seemed to know what he wanted of her before he asked. “What you can do is go home and get a good sleep so you’ll be at your usual best when you perform.”

“Tonight?” Sounding excited, she glanced around him at the drawing board. “So you’re going to what? Fly?”

“All in good time,” he said, hiding his annoyance. She was the best assistant he’d ever had, but nothing more. He wasn’t about to let her in on his plans before he had to. If at all. “Now go. I have work to do.”

Oriel pouted, making the most of her bee-stung, red-glossed lips. When he didn’t react, she backed away slowly, swinging her hips.

“If you change your mind…”

“Just go.”

Sebastian waited until she was out the door.

If only she knew the scheme of things.

His plans were brilliant, really. One down and three to go. With each step he took, he would gain more power. Soon he would be undefeatable.

Then he would meet Jake head on and destroy him.

I woke up with a cat wrapped around my head and another across my feet.

“Morning, Sarge,” I mumbled, raising my arm to pat him.

My sore shoulder brought last night’s events rushing back.

Suddenly I was ticked. Not at Jake. I wanted to wring Sebastian’s neck.

I sat up and rubbed my shoulder, then did some light stretches to ease the stiffness. The joint and muscles felt better than before.

I would live.

“Hey, kitties, are you hungry? Want to eat?”

As if she understood, Cadet jumped from the foot of the bed and raced me to the kitchen. Sarge yawned and gave a leisurely stretch, content to let me lead the way.

My thoughts wandered back to Sebastian.

What had he been thinking, trying to seduce me in my sleep? Past believing I’d conjured him, I suspected he was a sensitive like Silke and me. He’d tried to get into my head when I was awake.

But waiting until my guard was down and I couldn’t defend myself…

That was just frickin’ ballsy.

What was the point? Was he so attracted to me he couldn’t resist? I wasn’t egocentric enough to believe that. More than likely, he was trying to distract me, to throw me off the scent. Did he really think sex would keep me from putting his butt in jail if my investigation proved he was the murderer?

Keeping
him in jail would be another problem.

Ignoring the part of me not horrified that Sebastian wanted to sleep with me, I fed the cats and grabbed a cup of the coffee Jake had made. Weird that he hadn’t awakened me for a kiss goodbye.

I closed my eyes and faced the emotions flitting through me. Feelings for Jake that sometimes felt good, and other times terrified me. He had my back. Good…and bad. What if I couldn’t manage a tough case without him anymore? What if he stopped
wanting
to watch my back?

Maybe that was the problem. Worrying about whether or not he would be there when I needed him. Look at what had happened to Mom. Dad had gotten himself killed, leaving her with two small girls to raise on her own. Love was no guarantee that you wouldn’t end up alone and heartbroken in the end.

I checked the clock. The city was coming alive and so was I. Satisfying sex followed by five hours or so of uninterrupted sleep had made a new woman of me.

I jumped in and out of the shower and was dressing when I heard the front door open.

“Breakfast,” Jake called.

“Bless you.” A thrill shot through me and I told myself it was because I was starving. Zipping up my pants, I padded out to the kitchen. “You meet all my needs.”

Lightly dusting my mouth with his, Jake said, “I try my best.”

He’d gone to a local diner for a couple of take-away meals. I inhaled the welcome fragrance.

“Bacon…be still my heart.”

“Hmm, is that what it takes to win your heart? You should have told me.”

Laughing, I gave him a loud smack of a kiss, then grabbed a fork and my food and began devouring it like I hadn’t eaten in days.

“I was going to put breakfast on plates.”

“Okay,” I said with a sigh. I grabbed two plates and set them on the table.

“I was hoping we could celebrate.”

I stopped halfway through dishing out the food. “Celebrate what?”

“The gallery sold two of my photographs.”

Setting down the container, I threw my arms around his neck. “Jake, that’s wonderful.”

His smile made me melt inside.

“The gallery owner asked if I had any photos of Chicago, so I decided to start shooting again tonight.”

I grinned. “This is good, Jake. Really good.”

“Gets me off your back, huh.”

“I didn’t mean that. Everyone needs something they love.”

“I have something I love. You.”

My breath caught in my throat. He’d said the L-word. He undoubtedly expected me to say it in return. Just thinking about it made it hard to breathe.

Trying not to panic, I said instead, “I’m glad I didn’t drive you away.”

“Never.”

“And I’m glad you’re a bigger person than I am.”

I really was glad. I would have felt horrible if Sebastian had fully had his way with me. I already hated the fact that I’d been unable to resist the dream.

What the heck was wrong with me? How had I let the supernatural seduce me?

Whether or not I had courted an affair with another man—whether or not it was in my head rather than in the flesh—I wouldn’t have been able to hide it. It would have ruined what Jake and I had together.

The last thing in the world I wanted to happen even if I wasn’t ready to say the L-word.

Jake watched Shelley clean her plate with enthusiasm. Unlike other women he’d dated, she didn’t pick at her food but ate with gusto. That’s what he loved about her. No matter what she did, she put her whole being into it. Sometimes he couldn’t believe she was his.

Which made him ask, “So how is the case going?”

“In too many directions. There are so many pieces of the puzzle, I’m still trying to figure out how they fit together.”

Then he zeroed in on what he really wanted to know. “Do you think this Sebastian is guilty?”

“He’s a person of interest.”

To both of them. Jake couldn’t forget that Sebastian had a photo of him. He didn’t like it. And Shelley’s answer sounded strained, as if she had more than a cop’s interest in the magician. He didn’t like that, either.

“Is that all? You don’t have anything on him?”

“Not yet. But I’m not counting him out.” She dropped her gaze to her empty plate. “We’ll see how things play out.”

Jake’s gut clenched. The way she was acting made him think there was more. Things she wasn’t sharing.

After she’d left the magician’s loft, Sebastian had worn a self-satisfied expression. Like he was after Shelley and thought he could get her?

Jake clenched and unclenched his fists. He tried to remain neutral as he asked, “What’s your next move?”

“Norelli’s in charge.”

“Of you?”

“No, but I’m trying to play nice.”

He brushed his lips over hers. “You play very nice.” When he looked into her eyes, he could see a spark of sexual interest that hit him where it counted. But that’s not what he wanted right now. “I have something I want you to see.”

“What?”

“A surprise.”

“Part of that celebration you mentioned before?”

“Part of it,” he agreed, taking the dishes to the sink. “We can leave right now.”

“I was about to head for work.”

“Did you call in?”

“No, not yet.”

“Did Norelli tell you when you had to be back?”

“He’s not the boss of me.”

“Then another hour away from the cop shop won’t hurt anything. Right?”

“Another hour?”

He could see she was interested enough to be swayed. “It would mean a lot to me if you would let me show you now.”

Shelley didn’t say anything right away, but when she parted those beautiful lips, she surprised him. “Okay. An hour. But I’ll take my car and follow you, so I can go straight to work from wherever it is.”

Putting on his sunglasses as they left the apartment, Jake bit back his disappointment. At least she’d agreed to come. A major concession from his crime-obsessed woman.

The drive was short, only ten minutes from her place, less from his. He parked in front of a narrow graffiti-marred industrial building straight west of the Loop. Not far, but just outside of the area being gentrified. He parked and she pulled up behind him. He was at her car door before she could alight.

Excited, he took her hand and pulled her toward a caged entrance. The building was locked up.

“What is this place?”

“You’ll see.”

The inside was definitely better looking than the outside. Though there was still a lot more work to do—the renovation had been stopped midway—the bones of the interior were promising.

“The original owner ran out of money to finish the place,” he said, bringing her up to the fourth floor in an elevator using a key. The doors opened directly into the apartment. A spiral metal staircase in the middle of the room led to the smaller top floor, which was meant to be a huge master suite. “But he finished this floor. It’s what sold me.”

“Sold you. You mean you bought it?”

“The deal’s not final. I wanted you to see it first. Get your approval.”

“If you like it, that’s all that matters.”

“
You
matter.” Jake wanted it to be their home, the start of their future together.

The floors were newly sanded, the back wall was exposed brick, and the others were painted a deep maroon to cut down on the reflection of light, the reason he didn’t remove the sunglasses. The big windows faced east with a spectacular city view at night. During the day, the place would need shades or curtains to soften the brightness for his eyes. But when he wasn’t there, Shelley could open them to have as much light as would make her happy. He wanted above all to make the woman he loved happy.

From behind, he wrapped his arms around her waist and murmured in her ear, “So what do you think?”

“It’s wonderful.”

He slid his hands up to cup her breasts. “Then you approve?”

Her breath caught in her throat and she gasped. “If it’s what you want—”

“I want
you
.” He flipped her around to face him, her lushness pressed up against his hardness.

“You have me, Jake.”

Not in the way he needed. He scooped the back of her head with one hand and plundered her mouth, piercing it with his tongue in a rhythm that made her breathe faster and squirm against him. Not letting up, he danced her back against the iron staircase and began stripping off her jacket.

“Jake…an hour…”

“It won’t take me that long.” He opened her shirt and unhooked her bra to free her breasts. “Not today.”

He pulled down her slacks and pushed her onto the third step. She unzipped his jeans and stopped him from entering her.

“Let me,” she whispered.

Shelley knew how to use her mouth for more than talking. Jake watched as she circled his head with her tongue and then drew him in, inch by inch. Grabbing the metal railings on both sides, he held himself up as she worked him.

Today he didn’t want to draw out the sex until he thought he would go mad.

Remembering Shelley had worn Sebastian’s scent, he wanted to bind her to him by leaving his scent on her. Make it so she wouldn’t even notice another man. He couldn’t let another man think she was available, not when he couldn’t live without her.

So he let himself go, let the tension climb fast and hard, and only when he was ready did he pull out of her mouth and spill himself over her breasts and belly.

Though he licked and suckled her, he knew that even when she washed up, his scent would linger on her skin.

Today he marked her as his.