Ripper (15 page)

Gray’s satisfaction was practically tactile as he put a protective arm around my shoulders. “I’ll take care of her, Jamie. I promised you that. I mean to keep that promise.”

“You know what he is?” Jamie asked shortly. He obviously didn’t want to go into it. I could tell it was a hard subject for him but he needed to make sure I was up to date.

“He told me,” I replied.

Jamie shook his head and smoothed back his fashionably shaggy hair. “All right. You’re an adult. If you know what you’re getting into, I’ll back off.” He walked over and kissed me on the forehead. “I love you, little sister. You call me if he steps out of line.” He strode to the door. “And Kels, I’m neglecting to mention this incident to Nate since it involved actual drugs. I don’t want to know where his paranoid brain would go. See that you keep your mouth shut.”

I nodded because I didn’t want to think about Nathan riding herd on me. That would be embarrassing. The door closed and I was alone with Gray and wearing nothing but a thin hospital nightgown and a pair of zebra striped cotton underwear.

Gray sat down on the bed beside me. “Are you really feeling all right? You can stay here tonight if you feel the slightest bit weak. I’ll stay with you.”

“No way.” I got to my feet. I wanted to be ready when the nurse had the paperwork done. “I’m sure this place charges by the hour and I don’t have insurance. I need to run before they figure that out.”

I had my clothes in my hands when Gray pulled me back. “I already took care of the bill, Kelsey. You don’t have to worry about it.”

His eyes registered surprise so I was pretty sure my face was a decent reflection of the rage I felt at that statement. “I can handle my own bills.”

“Okay,” he allowed, calmly proving he wanted to live. “I know you can but…” His brain was working a mile a minute and I watched as he selected and discarded several scenarios in which I would reasonably accept his financial assistance. I waited patiently and a pleased smile finally came over his face. “It’s a work related expense. You’ve been on the clock since I picked you up earlier tonight. Don’t you normally bill your clients for stuff like this?”

Smooth bastard. I had to give it to him. He was smart. “Fine. But if we’re partners, I need to know everything.” My smile was sweet since it felt a little like victory.

Gray was intelligent enough to know when he’d lost. “I’ll go over everything with you in the morning. Now, let me help you get dressed.”

I laughed as I opened the bathroom door. “Not on your life, mister.”

His blue eyes were hot as he looked at me and he had the confidence of a man who was sure of the woman he was with. “I’ll just see it later, sweetheart. I mean to have you naked soon.”

“Good luck with that.” Even after everything that had happened, I could feel the heat building between us. It scared me more than the magician.

He invaded my space, his big hands on my waist, and he hauled me close. His lips hovered above mine. “Luck has nothing to do with it.”

He lowered his head and there was nothing of the previous gentleness in his kiss. He plundered. His tongue mated with mine, showing me exactly what he wanted our private parts to be doing later on tonight. He was rapacious. He was sultry. He was very persuasive.

When he finally let me go, I was ready to do him on the hospital bed and damn any nurse who walked in for the show. No man I’d ever met could get me as hot as fast as Grayson Sloane could. My knees were weak and it had nothing to do with my previous tangle with horse sedatives.

“Go get dressed, sweetheart,” Gray said, amused at the look on my face. “I’ve decide to wait until I can do something about your nudity. Otherwise, it’s too damn tempting.”

I let out a deep breath and cleared my head. I walked into the bathroom and started to untie the gown. I needed to get this relationship back to somewhere safe.

“So, Sloane,” I said through the door. I hooked my bra and went to work on the jeans. “Why have you been so scared to bring me into this case? Are you afraid I’ll screw it up?”

“I’m not afraid of you. I believe Jamie when he says you’re good.”

“I’m damn good.” I smoothed the T-shirt down. I wished I’d brought in my bag so I could gloss up. I settled for finger combing my hair. “So what’s the trouble?”

“It isn’t you.” His face was grim as I opened the door between us, and I knew I was finally getting somewhere with him. “I don’t know many men who would want the woman they love involved in a case with Jack the Ripper.”

Chapter Seven

I woke up alone in the middle of Gray’s enormous four-poster bed, the light of day forcing its way through cracks in the curtains and sending filmy light through the room.

The night before came back to me in a totally embarrassing flash.

I’d fallen asleep in the cab of Gray’s big black pickup. The hum of the road had sort of lulled me to sleep after all the stress of the night. I vaguely remembered Gray lifting me from the cab and carrying me inside his house. I snuggled against his warm body and hadn’t bothered to try to hold on. I’d been so tired I’d woken, saw it was Gray carrying me, and went back to sleep.

I sat up in bed and shook my head at the thought of it. I was a loner. I liked being alone. Except that now I had to accept the fact that it wasn’t preference that kept me alone. It was fear and habit. I’d pulled back so harshly after that night when I was sixteen that I’d convinced myself I didn’t need anything from a man but a quick, occasional lay. I trusted Gray on a fundamental level and I didn’t really know him.

I had to consider something I never had before. Maybe this was what they meant by finding “the one.” Maybe there actually was a “one.” I liked Gray. I really liked Gray—like super liked, maybe-one-day-would-think-about-the-other-four-letter-L-word like.

I grinned goofily and then forced the dippy smile off my face. Liv would be beside herself at the thought of me even thinking the words true and love in the same sentence. Which I wasn’t, but even thinking I liked a guy was kind of a big freaking deal.

Of course my potential soul mate wasn’t here now. I touched the indentation in the bed where his body had lain against mine. I didn’t remember it, but I instinctively knew it was true. Gray would have cuddled me, pulling me into his arms. He might have been somewhat happy I was unconscious and unable to fight him, but I was going to prove less stubborn than he imagined. The night before had been enough to make me rethink the whole playing hard to get thing. Life was really freaking short and you never know when some weird magician/witch is going to try to kill you by running some crazy test that ends with horse tranqs.

Oh, I wasn’t saying anything yet about love or commitment. I was still too wary to put myself out there like that, but I hadn’t felt this way about anyone before and it felt good. If Gray really wanted a partner, I was willing to give it all a try. Liv was right. It was far past time to move forward. What had Dan said to me? He told me he’d embraced possibilities and he’d seemed ridiculously happy to have done so. Was I really so less deserving? Stretched out in the warmth of Gray’s bed, smelling the glorious evidence of bacon frying, I had to wonder if I didn’t deserve a little happiness.

I didn’t bother with my clothes from the night before. At some point in time, Gray had undressed me and slipped one of his T-shirts over my head. It hung to my knees and covered everything I needed it to. More than that, it was comfy and I liked being comfy. I got out of bed and let my bare feet find the hardwood floors. I wandered into the bathroom. Gray hadn’t been kidding about his family’s money. Most of my house could fit in his bathroom, and I was pretty sure he hadn’t been forced to buy his sinks and faucets when Lowe’s had a sale. And that tub…I was already thinking about what we could do in that tub. It was built for two or more.

I cleaned up and then went looking for Gray. I crept almost silently through the house that seemed far too big for one person. It was elegantly decorated, but it didn’t seem much like Gray. It had been done in tasteful neutrals and I figured a designer had furnished this place.

Except for the den. I walked through the small room that was obviously used for entertainment and I smiled. Everything else about the house was designed with a nod to exquisite taste, but this room was all about comfort. There was a large screen TV that dominated the room and a big leather couch with a La-Z-Boy. I could see Gray there yelling at a Cowboys game on a Sunday afternoon, beer in one hand.

“I’m in the kitchen, sweetheart,” I heard him yell across the house.

“Okay,” I said more to myself than him because he shouldn’t have been able to hear me. Demonic hearing is pretty sharp. I shrugged and followed the sound of his voice.

The kitchen was as well designed as the rest of the house. The cabinets were a deep rich cherry and the countertops were marble. Gray worked efficiently over a top-of-the-line stove. Pancakes were already stacked neatly on the small breakfast table. There was a carafe of orange juice and two place settings. It was intimate and I realized I had zero experience with relationships. I had never in my twenty-six years had breakfast with a man. I hadn’t really slept with one either, not in the sleeping close, arms wrapped around each other sense.
What the hell was I doing here?
I asked myself with a sense of panic.

“Drink some coffee,” Gray ordered with a knowing frown. “It’s only breakfast. It’s not an engagement ring.”

But that would come if Gray had his way. He thought we would get married and fulfill his little psychic flash. I couldn’t see myself in a fluffy white dress walking down the aisle of a church.

Gray laughed and I saw the utter ridiculousness of my panic. I didn’t care what his vision said. I had control of whether or not I got married. This was just breakfast and I was freaking hungry. I took a drink of coffee and forced myself to relax. “Sorry. I’ve never done the whole breakfast thing with a man before.”

“Of course you have,” Gray pointed out in his calm Texas drawl. “We had breakfast yesterday.”

I shook my head and took a seat on one of the barstools so I could talk to him as he cracked open a couple of eggs. “That was different. My brothers were there and I was recovering.”

“Not so different. Your brothers are blissfully absent today, but you’re still recovering. How do you feel this morning?”

“Surprisingly good.” I didn’t seem to have any ill effects from the drugs that Goth asshole had pumped into me. “How are you?”

“Beyond my heinous sexual frustration, I’m fine,” he said with a wink.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” It probably didn’t bode well for the relationship that I fell asleep on our first night together.

Gray reached across the bar to tenderly brush the hair out of my face. “You needed rest more than me last night. I’m glad you could sleep. I was happy you were willing to come home with me. After I failed you with the wolves, I thought you might want to go home with your brother.”

“He doesn’t cook like you do.” Jamie microwaved everything.

“Well, breakfast is about the limit of my talents,” Gray admitted. “Get used to bacon and eggs.”

“And you didn’t fail me. You couldn’t see through the illusion. I couldn’t for a while. Whoever that witch was he was damn good.”

Gray didn’t seem to agree with me, but he moved on. “I already put out some feelers. I’ll figure out who the fucker is. I didn’t get a great look at him. He was running away when I made it to the scene. Do you remember what he looked like? I could bring in a sketch artist.”

I tried. I really did, but all I could get was black hair and a pale face. I could remember a lot about that night. I remembered the wolves and the men who chased me back into the alley, but when I tried to picture his face, my mind went a little fuzzy. It was likely one of his powers. “I think his eyes were dark. Can we ask some of your underworld contacts? A guy with talent like that wouldn’t go unnoticed.”

Gray sighed as he plated the rest of the food and I followed him to the table. He held the chair out for me and I sat. “We should talk about that, actually. I don’t have a lot of contacts. I’m not…well liked.”

I frowned as I stabbed one pancake and then another, dragging them onto my plate. “Why? Because you’re half demon? That seems a little hypocritical. You can’t help who your father is.”

He laughed, but it was hollow. “No, I think my father is the least of my worries in this case. I’m law enforcement.”

I dug into the excellent pancakes. “So? The king is supposedly looking for his own law enforcement. Shouldn’t you all work together?”

Gray laughed at my naiveté. “It can be hard for supes to function in the real world. An awful lot of them are criminals. Don’t get me wrong. There are supes in the police department, of course. I’m just different. I don’t discriminate. If a supe steps out of line, I don’t send him to the Council for a slap on the wrist. I bring them to trial if I can and I put them down if I have to.”

That sounded reasonable to me. “And the king doesn’t think that supes should have to follow the laws of the regular world?”