Sin of Fury (40 page)

“
Don’t worry! You look so
pretty, I’m sure he won’t think of anything except getting
you
out
of those
clothes –“

Jamie groaned, reaching up to smudge
the eyeliner better. “That’s not what I want, though.”

“
Well, either way, you look
amazing! And the clothes are on the company, so don’t worry about
them getting shredded and torn up,” Jessica said casually, acting
like her comment was completely normal. Jamie’s face
heated.

“
They won’t get torn up,”
she said defensively, not completely truthful.

“
Yeah, right. My cousin
Jamil said the same thing when she met her boyfriend? And you want
to know what happened to those clothes?” Even though Jamie was
shaking her head, Jessica still talked. “They found them outside of
their windows. Torn up. Like an animal had ripped them from her
body. But it wasn’t an animal, it was her boyfriend!”

When she started laughing as if she
had just told the best joke, Jamie glared at her and moved to the
door, opening it and pointing.

Jessica stopped laughing, covering her
hand with her mouth. Her brow twisting, she looked behind her and
also froze.

There, in a black jacket with dark
jeans, was Talon. Looking straight at her as if he were going to
shove her against the wall and take her right there. His brows were
drawn over his dark eyes, and the hunger in them kindled a fire in
between her legs.

She swallowed.

“
Jessica, you can go now,”
he said roughly, grabbing Jamie’s hand and pulling her to him. She
flattened her hands on his chest, staring up at him as invisible
tendrils of desire wove them together. Why did this feel so
different? Her face started to turn pink, while all he did was
stare at her with eyes that only got darker.

Her friend left. Talon kept his hold
on her, cupping her cheek and bringing his head down. “You look
gorgeous,” he said quietly, before lowering his lips to hers and
kissing the daylights out of her.

Jamie brought her hands up, digging
her nails into his shoulders. They were so strong, so big. And yet
he was as gentle with her as he would be with the rarest gem. Her
breath left her body, and then he was kissing her deeper, consuming
her, opening her mouth with his and taking control of
her.

He crushed her body to his, walking
them slowly into the wall. Before she knew it, though, he was
pulling back.

Jamie reached up for him, licking her
lips.

His head shook while he pulled back
from her. “If we keep going, your pants are going to be around your
ankles and everyone who walks by will get a look at what’s mine.
Today we’re going out…and not going to act like teenagers about it.
Okay?”

Flushing, Jamie nodded and settled for
holding his hand. He gave her a heated look before reaching around
her and closing the door. They walked in silence through the
hallway before a sudden thought struck her.

“
Are we taking that metal
death trap?” she asked, not faking the strain in her
voice.

Talon’s baritone laugh wrapped around
her senses and pulled her in deep. She moved closer to him, praying
that they wouldn’t be. He looked down at her with a soft look in
his eyes, shaking his head. “No, we aren’t taking ‘the metal death
trap’. I have a Benz that I like to drive. Comfy seats, dark
interior, just me and you alone.”

She liked the thought of that. A lot.
Them being out in public, sharing each other’s time other than at
night, and being a normal couple. It was exactly what she wanted,
she only prayed it went well. Talon was still a heartless bastard
on occasions, but he had never directed it at her. Jessica and her
had walked in on him and a thinner man with a receding hairline and
a greasy face. Talon had said some harsh things, but he hadn’t
apologized to Jamie for it.

She didn’t want him to. Whatever the
man had one, he deserved it. Talon wouldn’t go off on the innocent
like that; she was positive of it.

They passed Jessica, who gave her an
over exaggerated wink.

Jamie had to keep from gritting her
teeth. The woman was going to make her go insane, she thought.
Talon squeezed her hand, drawing her attention back to
him.

It was mid-noon, very bright out, and
the snow was almost completely melted from the ground. When they
got to a thick piece of ice, Jamie hesitated. She was in heels and
even though she had worn them enough, she didn’t trust herself on
–

Talon sung her into his arms, carrying
her all the way to the car. She laughed, wrapping her arms around
his neck. “You’re going to mess up my hair, Tally.”

He growled, spanking her butt lightly.
“What have I told you about calling me that?”

“
Nothing at all, Tally,”
she said innocently, looking up at him with wide eyes. She loved
the look of annoyance on his face. It had first slipped out as a
joke, and his reaction had been more than hilarious. That had been
a couple of days ago, and now she was calling him the name every
chance she got.

“
I’m pretty sure I did,
angel. It was something along the lines of me kicking your butt if
you say it again,” he growled, tightening his arms around her. He
stopped in front of a shining black Benz, and opened the passenger
door one handed.

“
I don’t remember that,
though!” She couldn’t help but laugh as he set inside the car and
closed the door, striding around to the other side of the car. When
he got in, he turned on the car and glared at her.

“
You just want to be
punished,” he teased, tugging on a lock of her hair.

Jamie nodded honestly, grabbing his
hand. “Punish me, master.”

He visibly tensed before his growl
resounded through the car. “You little tease.”

She grinned, and he fell silent while
rubbing a thumb over her knuckles and driving. She stared at him,
thinking. What would it have been like for them, if they had met
under normal circumstances? No violence or threat of death? Maybe
their passion for each other wouldn’t be as strong, she
thought.

The books she read, where people fell
madly in love under the direst situations, came to her mind. It had
always been a ‘what if’ to her, about whether it was the situation
pulling them together, or their feelings. With Talon, she felt like
it was both.

Uncertainty warred in her. He was
different around her. That meant something, right? Jamie prayed
that it was, and dropped her eyes from his profile. He had on the
most relaxed expression she had seen on him, except from their
love-making aftermath. Was it because of her?

“
What are you thinking
about?” he asked her, twining their fingers together as they pulled
into an alley, parking. She hid her mild confusion and tried to
smile at him.

“
Nothing much. Just about
our first ‘date’. Have you been on many?” she asked, trying to
change the subject. Feeling that she would be disappointed by his
response, Jamie was surprised when he shook his head and unlocked
the car, taking the keys giving her a solemn look.

“
I’ve been on dates, but
this is more than that. To me at least. Stay here while I go talk
to someone; I’ll be back in a second.” Then he was out of the car
and striding from it, from her. She fidgeted with her hands,
looking out of the window nervously.

It was dark, closed off, and very
ominous. Her gut tightened, waiting for Talon to come back. When it
turned to a minute of waiting, then five minutes, she got bored.
Bored enough that she was curious about his car. He would kill her
if she left the car and roamed into the dark alley after him, so
she settled with opening the center counsel and found it mostly
empty. A can of Axe -- she snickered -- a couple of papers, and a
silver pen.

Jamie closed it and reached forward,
to the glove box. It clicked open and a paper fell on the floor,
rolling under the seat. She reached down with a sigh, her forehead
resting on the airbag compartment as she reached under her seat for
the --

Smooth. Cold. Metallic. The breath
rushed out of her chest as her hands slid tentatively along the
smooth contours of the metal, knowing that with just the wrong
movement, it could slice her fingers. Shaking, she found a solid
handle with cold leather punched at the end.

She pulled it from under the seat,
staring at it.

Did he even know how to use
this? Did she even want to
know
? The intricate blade fell to her
lap with a barely audible thump. How many times had he used it?
Jamie’s back tingled and her hands fell away from her body, away
from the knife that laid with waiting danger.

She swallowed. He had never seemed
like the guy to know modern weapons, or to prefer them. She had no
doubt that he knew how to use them, but by the looks of the
knife... he obviously preferred the old-fashioned way of fighting.
He probably fought -- but with what?

Auro and Lyne? Lyne was dead but Auro
hadn’t seemed like such a long-term threat that he would have to
learn the arts of weapons. She grasped the knife by the handle,
curling her fingers around it. How many men -- or things? -- had
died by his hands because of this.

Her stomach turning, she shoved it
back under the seat just as the door to the car opened.

Talon had on a relaxed expression, not
telling her whether he had seen her with the knife or not. She
smoothed a hand over her jeans and tried to smile at him.
“Hey.”

“
We ready?” he asked,
reaching for her hand. Jamie let him help her from the car and
stood next to him awkwardly. Suddenly, she felt exposed in her
clothing. Her hands curled as she remembered the way the cool metal
had felt against them.

“
Yup,” she said, forcing
herself to get over it. Her hand curled around his.

He smiled down at her, and began
walking towards the entrance of the alley. “I was thinking we could
go to the movies, which is down the street. Or we can skip that,
find a hotel room, get some chocolate and take off your clothes
--”

She slapped a hand over his mouth,
gasping. “No! We’re on a date, okay? Not on some sexpedition.” She
felt the warm lick of his tongue on her palm before she yanked it
back, face red.

Talon laughed, a deep baritone that
only made her redder. “Calm down, love. I was planning on waiting
till after dinner to do that. Dessert comes last,” he murmured,
smiling at her now chagrined expression.

“
Pervert,” she hissed,
stalking away from him. He came after her, wrapping a hand around
her waist.

“
You like it, Jamie.” As
always, she shivered when he said her name. Too bad that he was
right, wasn’t it? She leaned into his side and walked with him,
entering the downtown streets. Couples of all ages milled around
them as they caught into the stream, passing sidewalk shops and
kiosks. When she smelled the sweet scent of funnel cake, her
stomach rumbled.

Talon must have heard, because he
steered them toward the kiosk. The elderly lady stared at him with
wide eyes before snapping to attention. “One funnel cake,” he said,
not even glancing at the woman. His eyes were trained on Jamie and
her ecstatic expression.

“
Please,” she finished for
him, watching as the old woman scooped up powder and sprinkled it
over the already fried bread. Jamie reached for into her back
pocket, pulling out a couple of ones to pay the woman.

“
I got it.” Talon took the
ones from her hands with an arrogant grap, shoving them into his
pockets. He took out a ten and handed it to the woman, raising a
brow at Jamie’s frustrated look. “What? We’re on a ‘date’. That
means, as the man, I have to pay. Not you.”

The woman handed him the funnel cake,
stopping any argument that she had. Jamie stared at it, mouth
watering. Talon tore off a piece and ate it, obviously trying not
to laugh.

She turned puppy eyes on
him.

It was almost as if the beautiful
powder was gleaming in the light, calling to her every need. Talon
didn’t hand her the plate, instead tearing off another piece. He
held it out to her, and she grinned. “Thanks, Tally!”

He started walking again, so she
followed. He would hand her pieces of the funnel cake, watching
with amusement when she licked her fingers, and making sure no one
else bumped into her except himself. Jamie was in heaven. It was
bright out, she was happy, and so was Talon. Every smile he sent
her had her stomach fluttering.

Maybe that was the funnel cake,
though. Either way, she was happy as could be.

“
So,” he said as they
passed a gaming room, still holding her hand. “What do you want to
do? We can pass on the movie if you have something else in
mind.”

Jamie smiled up at him, stealing his
piece of funnel cake and eating it. “We could just go to the park.
Or Barnes and Noble. Or,” she said, laughing, “we could find a
hotel room, get some chocolate, and...”

His large hand covered her mouth,
silencing her. Jamie couldn’t help but laugh, even as he stared at
her with heated eyes. “Not yet. I was serious about waiting till
after dinner. Why don’t we go...”