Sweet Seduction Shadow (22 page)

"He will be," Pierce said, reaching into a bag at his feet and retrieving a gun and holster. He handed it back to Ben, who attached it to his lower right leg. He'd still appear unarmed.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Andrews bit out, thumping the steering wheel with his fist. "This is so going to fucking backfire."

"Shit!" I exclaimed. "You are the whingiest bloody cop I have ever met. We get it, all right? Your whole operation hinges on getting Kasey to cooperate, so that any innocents can get pulled out of the Compound before Roan has a chance to set off an alarm. Don't you think that a little positive pep talk or, I don't know, maybe constructive advice, would be better than constantly bitching and moaning about how fucking shitty this whole situation is? Do you think we want to be here? Do you think I want to face a girl who got hurt because Roan wanted to teach
me
a lesson? Do you think I need to go there ever again? Are you that fucking self-centred you can't see that this is the last place on earth I ever want to be?"

Pierce made a low whistling sound and Ben squeezed my fingers in support. Andrews just looked at me, from out of the rear vision mirror, in what I assumed was a little shock.

"So," I muttered. "We'll take a look at the place and enter when Ben says we can, and not before. Then we'll do what we can to help you out." Silence. "And Detective Andrews?" I waited for his eyes to meet mine in the mirror again. "I trust Ben Tamati more than I will ever trust you. You're what my father used to call twitchy. Twitchy gets people killed."

"Speaking from experience there, Abi?" Pierce asked casually. I wasn't sure if he was trying to change the direction of the conversation or just lighten the mood. Although the topic could hardly be called humorous.

"As I've told you, Detective Pierce," I said, looking out the window and pretending I was somewhere else, "I was often in the wrong place at the wrong time."

No one said anything else until we made it to the CBD. Kasey's café wasn't in the Cuba Street Mall itself, but just down the street towards Jervois Quay. We parked up a block and a half away and all climbed out of the now uncomfortably silent car. Ben had wrapped an arm around my shoulders after that last outburst, but he hadn't said a word. Just showed his support in the warmth of his embrace. Cosseted again.

A few last minute instructions and directions on how to find Kasey's shop were given, but I remained tight-lipped. I'd definitely said enough for one day. Detective Andrews kept giving me strange little looks from under his eyelashes, as though he couldn't quite work me out. I could hardly blame him. I'd verbally attacked the guy in that car, but he had deserved it. That was no way to behave with a nervous civilian who was meant to be aiding in your little sting operation. How not to bolster the crew. Still, I was pretty sure he wasn't going to mouth off about how this would all backfire any time soon. That just meant we'd have to make this work, and right then, as Ben and I walked away from the two cops, I was not at all sure it would.

"Sorry about that," I muttered under my breath. Ben squeezed my fingers, which were still entwined with his, in reply.

"It was fuckin' hot," he rumbled next to me.

My face turned towards him. "Hot?" I asked.

"Red," Ben murmured. "You shot his arse down. I was about to jump on in there and defend your honour, but babe, you had it. All I had to do was sit back and enjoy the show." He stopped walking, gently guided my back over to a blank wall between two stores and leaned in to whisper, "And it was a fuckin' hot show."

His hand came out and rested on the wall above my head, and his other hand wrapped around my waist, as he pressed his frame into mine; pinning me between him and the wall. His head bent so his eyes could hold mine. I felt his hot breath wash over my lips as he spoke.

"Never thought I'd find someone who could be my equal," he murmured, deep chocolate drawing me in. "Never thought I deserved to have somethin' so special in my life. You fill the shadows with your light, red. You make everythin' seem bright and clear. Your strength of character. Your depth of heart. Your will to survive."

He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply for a moment. When his lids lifted I thought I would drown in all that delicious melted brown.

"You make me want to be a better person," he said in a low, husky voice. Rough around the edges, but somehow making me dissolve inside. "I am... in awe of you."

His lips brushed softly against mine. Once, twice. Then he pulled back.

"Don't ever change, red," he whispered. "Stay you. 'Cause," he said so low, so raspy, as he reached up and tugged on the beads in my hair, "I'm fallin' in love with the woman behind the disguise."

I blinked several times, but failed to suck in any air.

"I'm fallin' in love with
you
."

Everything that had happened in the car with Detective Andrews vanished. All the fear and guilt and building panic that had invaded my body, once that plane began its decent into Wellington airport, simply disappeared. I stared up into Ben's beautiful dark chocolate brown eyes and felt like I'd finally come home. Which was ironic, considering we were in Wellington, the place of my upbringing. But this feeling of familiar, of just right, was not due to a location, but a man.

Ben Tamati was my home and I'd found him.

My breath stuttered out of my chest, my lips felt dried by the wash of air across them. I licked them, trying to moisten the skin and watched Ben's eyes dart down to the movement. Then heard a low growl come up from the back of his throat.

"Timing sucks," he murmured. I just nodded.

I had to agree with him. If only we were somewhere else right now, doing something else. But we weren't. We had a job to do.

"Rain check?" Ben asked, making me smile.

"Rain check," I confirmed.

"Come on, sunshine," he muttered, grasping my hand and leading me away from our spot against the wall. "We got some shadows to find."

"What?"

"Gonna take a look at your girl's place of work," Ben explained, not slowing down, but heading with purpose towards Cuba Street Mall and the multitude of shoppers there. "Don't wanna be seen," he added.

"Oh, OK," I said, understanding dawning.

"Lesson number one," Ben said in an almost upbeat voice.

Despite what we were doing, the reason why we were here, Ben sounded pretty chipper. I was thinking that had something to do with his confession just now. I couldn't help but be sucked into his good mood too.

"Not that you need it," he added. "But in order to watch, you gotta find the shadows."

"Hide in plain sight," I offered.

"Exactly." He flashed me a smile. Again I couldn't help but be sucked into it too. I smiled back. I think I might have been beaming. "But we don't even want them to know we're there. You're good at not standin' out; being seen, but not seen, yeah?"

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Well, we don't even want them to see us. So, shadows."

"Okaay," I said slowly.

"Now Detectives Pierce and Fucktard are watchin' us," he said, leading me across the pedestrian mall to where a large group of people were milling around a record store, listening to a DJ over speakers. It sounded like some sort of competition or promotion. Twenty to thirty people were crowded around the entrance to the store, yelling and screaming. "Not to mention, we don't want any guard on Kasey to twig to our presence. So, we've gotta lose 'em all."

I glanced towards all the people and smiled.

"In the crowd," I suggested.

"Absolutely. Now, grasshopper, how're we gonna lose ourselves in there?" He nodded towards the crowd. "And then get out again without being spotted?"

I flicked my gaze over the heads of the people, trying to see where the mass ended and the pedestrian mall began again. All I could see was the DJ on top of a stepladder, the over sized speakers on tall poles, and the waving arms and hands of the people getting riled up by whatever was on offer. Even the double doors to the store were covered with so many bodies I couldn't see what was inside. But the crowd stopped just past the record shop. Once we reached the other side, we'd be seen.

"I have no idea," I admitted, after a few seconds had passed.

Ben chuckled and leaned over to whisper in my ears, "Watch. I'll make a PI out of you yet."

My smile widened as he tugged me into the centre of that bustling, lively, excitable crowd. I've done a lot of things over the past few years. Some not so challenging, some a bit of a blast. But I have never truly done anything that I really wanted to do with all my heart.

What am I good at? Hiding in plain sight. Being seen, but not seen, just as Ben said. I've worked retail, I've done labouring jobs. I've even been a receptionist/office worker. And none of those jobs would be what I would have picked for myself. Maybe I would have wanted something different if my life hadn't gone the way it had. Maybe at eighteen years old I would have moved away from my Dad and gone to University. Made something of myself. But I didn't and here I am at twenty-eight years old with a resume that doesn't exactly scream: my dream jobs.

But I have successfully hidden from Roan McLaren for half a decade now. I am good at what I have had to do to survive. You'd think I'd want nothing more to do with hiding, and in many ways I don't. But that doesn't mean I haven't developed keen skills that could become useful.

I glanced across at Ben. His face was set in determined, focused lines. His eyes darted from person to person in the crowd and then beyond. He was taking everything in. The current situation and two steps ahead, such as when we left the shelter of this crowd and disappeared. You couldn't help being impressed by him. By his skills. By his level of concentration. By the fact that I
knew
he'd have us out of here and hiding in shadows before the DJ could shout,
"We've got a winner, folks!"

I could do this. I could use what I have learned and do something good with it. Change my history. Change my story, but not change me. Just like Ben asked.

Within moments we'd pushed through the crowd into the music store itself. The lights were low, so it was darker inside than out. I'm not sure if Ben planned that, or just took advantage of it. But we couldn't be seen from out on the Mall, as we wended our way to the back of the shop. We spent half a minute pretending to browse CDs by the counter, then when the assistant wasn't watching slipped through the hanging beads at the rear door into the depths of the staff area.

Two minutes later we'd emerged onto a small lane which turned out to be called Eva Street. Ben kept us to the buildings, his eyes darting from side to side. Every now and then he'd pull us into the darkened area of a building's rear doorway, completely out of sight.

"Are we being followed?" I asked, in one of these stoops.

"Nah. Just takin' in the lay of the land."

Ben moved swiftly and silently. Before he left one spot, he already had another hiding place worked out. He timed each shift to perfection. Sometimes taking longer to make his move than at other times, all dependent on what sort of foot traffic was around us at the time. We also stuck to the back roads, ending up approaching the café where Kasey worked, from the back.

The rear door was open, covered by a security screen, but we could see the kitchen staff through the mesh grille.

"Do we go in here?" I asked.

"No. We'll enter as customers, but only after we're sure no one is watching your girl." I nodded, flicking my gaze around the alley we were in. "What do you see, Abi?" Ben asked, voice low so we couldn't be heard.

I felt like I was being tested, which only made my palms sweat and my mouth go dry. I took a deep breath in to still my rapidly beating heart, then closed my eyes for a moment to let my mind go blank. This was no different from when I thought I'd been made in the past, and needed to get out of there without being followed. I'd done this many times before. It was second nature.

You didn't just run blindly away from the threat, you took a moment to assess the scene, to determine your best route for escape. My eyes opened and the alleyway became crystal clear. Bins off to the side where a cat was sifting through the garbage. Someone could hide behind there. A car parked down the other end, blocking our vision of the corner of the alley. I crouched down and looked beneath the vehicle. No shadows lurking, no feet shuffling or body hiding there. I lifted my gaze to above the shop and scanned the parapet. No indication of anyone looking over the rim of the roof, but I took my time to make sure. It would be hard to tell if our roof, directly above us, was compromised. The rest of the alleyway, including the rear door stoops of other shops, was clear.

"The garbage bin. I can't see behind it, but the cat would be spooked if it thought someone was there," I said softly. "The car's clean, so's the roof across from us, but I can't be sure of our roof from here."

Ben nodded, his face a blank mask.

"How do we check our roof?" he asked, voice low and intimate sounding in the shadows where we hid. How could he make such an ordinary question seem so deliciously sensual? It had to be a combination of him and what we were doing. I liked this, I realised. I liked working with him.

"Head down towards the car, cross over when the cat distracts any potential eyes on the roof. Then from the shadows there, survey the parapet on this side of the alley."

Ben's head turned slowly to look down at me.

"How's the cat gonna distract?" he asked, seemingly genuinely puzzled.

"Whoever stays behind here, throws a pebble at the bin, makes the cat hiss and run. Distraction."

Ben just stared at me for a long moment, then muttered, "Fuck." He shook his head, eyes still boring into mine. "Fuckin' hot, red." I smiled up at him.

"OK, who goes, who stays?" I asked.

He just kept staring at me. Then suddenly I was in his arms and his lips were melded to mine. I sighed as his heat engulfed me, then when my lips parted his tongue slipped in. Ben. His taste was all him, I had never tasted anything like it. A slight minty residue left over from brushing his teeth that morning, a hint of coffee from on the plane, then a combination of flavours; savoury, smooth, rich and dark.

I groaned, I hadn't meant to, but it was enough to bring Ben back to the moment and make him pull away from my lips. His eyes sparkled in the dimly lit shadow, a hunger that matched my own staring back at me.

He smiled. It was a little wicked. It was everything I had come to think of as Ben. Dangerous, delicious, mysterious... home. I don't think I could live a normal life once this is all over. I'm no longer a normal woman. Ben was my equal, perfect for who I had become. And I was starting to get a handle on her. She wasn't Abi Merchant. She wasn't Sarah Monaghan. But she was all me.

Strong. Capable. A survivor with a big heart and an adventurous streak. It was that last that made her special, made her unique. None of my previous disguises had been adventurous. But with Ben at my side I craved that adrenaline rush he seemed to draw out of me. I craved the sensation of being alive, being free.

"You or me?" I whispered, trying to bring us back on target for surveying the café where Kasey worked.

"I'll go, you stay," he murmured, then in the blink of an eye had moved several feet down the alley toward the car. If I didn't know he was there, he would have been hard to spot. He didn't make a sound and he hardly stirred the air around him at all. He was magnificent.

When he paused across from the car, I reached down and grabbed a pebble, then threw it toward the bin. It clattered delicately against the tin siding, but the cat's hiss and scratch of claws on metal soon replaced the sound. It even drew my attention, so when I turned back to see Ben, he was no longer there. I had to crouch down and look for his shadow beneath the car. I couldn't see him, though I knew he must have been on the other side of the car.

Several tense moments passed, then his shadowy figure crossed the alley and slunk along the wall back towards me.

"We're clear, red," he said softly. "A quick look around the front to make sure Pierce's team is correct, and then you're on. Ready?"

I wasn't and I was. I couldn't believe that I was actually enjoying myself, but the reason why we were here never truly left my mind. This was not going to be a walk in the park, even if the cloak and dagger stuff did it for me. I straightened my back and followed Ben out of the alley. He still clung to the shadows. We'd cleared the rear of the building, but that didn't give us the go-ahead to reveal ourselves just yet.

Before we took a slightly widened path to the other side of Cuba Street, we surveyed the buildings opposite the café to spot any watchers. Ben found Pierce and Andrews before I did, but I was sure I would have found them in a minute or two. They were hidden, but nowhere near as well as they should have been.

"Amateurs," Ben muttered, shaking his head.

We made our way to the other side of the street, using the cover of a bus stopped down the end of Cuba to get to the other side unseen. Then worked our way back up through the shadows until we could see Kasey's workplace and those buildings on either side. It took a couple of minutes before Ben was satisfied that Andrews had been telling the truth. No one was watching over Kasey. She obviously hadn't made the detective the other day, so chances were still high we could pull this off.

"Do you know what you're gonna say once we're in there?" Ben asked.

"Not really," I replied, my throat suddenly dry, as though I'd swallowed a mouthful of dust.

"She might freak when she recognises you," he suggested.

"I'm pretty freaked about seeing her and I've had warning," I pointed out.

Ben swore under his breath. "This isn't gonna be pretty, is it?"

"I'm picking not."

He let a harsh breath of air out. "I wanna take you away from here. I wanna throw you over my shoulder and run as fast as I can. Put space between you and this shit. Once and for all."