That Old Black Magic (3 page)

A soft metallic
clink
was her only warning. Cool metal encircled one wrist and the
handcuffs rattled as he slapped the other end around the pipe behind
the sink.

Shock crashed over her, erasing the
last vestiges of lazy satisfaction curling through her limbs. “What
the hell are you doing?”

Polly twisted around in time to see
him tuck her gun into the back of his waistband. He grinned and held
up the charm she’d stashed in her pocket before he’d
crowded her into the closet, the charm she’d forgotten was
there. “Sorry, sweetheart, but I can’t let you sell this
to anyone.”

Max smiled at her as he tucked the
charm into his pocket and pulled out a set of lock picks. “But,
so you know there’s no hard feelings...” He tossed them
down, just out of reach, and stepped back to break the perimeter
she’d laid down. A quick twist of his wrist opened the closet
door, and he winked. “Hope to see you again soon, Polly
Cassidy.”

With that he was gone.

“
Fucked and fucked.” She
cursed, scuffed the floor and cursed again.
It’s
your own goddamned fault, Polly. You should have kept your pants on.

But no. Instead, she’d had sex
with a stranger. The hell of it was, if they’d had more time—or
room to maneuver—she’d have been begging him to do all
kinds of naughty, orgasm-inducing things to her.

Give it up. You
still
would.

She growled and tugged her hand out
of the cuff, wincing when the sharp steel edges scraped her flesh.
Fucking men and their fucking bedroom eyes and manly sweat and
talented hands...

Polly dragged her fingers through
her hair and fixed her clothing. The lock picks lay on the floor, a
Siren call of comeuppance. Of revenge.

She bent and picked them up. The
case was well-used, creased and worn thin around the corners. “You’re
hot as hell, Max,” she whispered, tapping the soft plastic case
against her palm. “But you underestimate me.”

She tucked the case into her pocket,
then turned to the sink and washed her face and hands. Chasing him
was useless; he’d be long gone already. Her best bet was to
have Gertie track him down using the energy signature from the lock
picks.

Then
she could kill him.

Max breezed through the front door
of Lena’s shop, feeling sunnily pleased with the world and
everyone in it. By now pretty little Polly Cassidy should have found
someone to do a locater spell using his lock picks, which meant he
had a few hours to prepare himself for a gorgeous, angry thief
busting down his door.

If there was anything hotter than a
furious, talented woman who wasn’t sure if she wanted to fuck
him or kill him, he’d yet to come across it.
And
the sex is going to be
good
...

Lena greeted his cheerful appearance
with one delicately arched eyebrow. “You can’t have
possibly gone to Louisiana, broken into a wizard’s house,
stolen the charm and gotten back to Texas in forty-eight hours. Even
you aren’t
that
good, Max.”

He grinned and tossed her the
plastic bag he’d shoved the charm into. “I’m the
best, sweetheart. Next time Blake Kendrick comes around, you tell him
so.”

She upended the bag and spilled the
charm out into her hand. The other eyebrow rose, and she glanced up
at him. “This is the wrong charm.”

“
Bullshit.” It
had
to be the right charm. He’d fucked a notorious thief in a
closet
while his target puttered around the living room, which was as clear
a sign of the absolute annihilation of inhibitions as he’d ever
seen. Not that he wouldn’t take fierce pleasure in getting his
hands on Polly again, but
not
during a job. Work was work, and play was something else. He never
mixed them.

Or he never
had
.

Lena laughed at his expression and
dangled the tiny, elaborate disk from its chain. “I know my own
work, and this isn’t it. It’s not even the same type.”

Max ground his teeth together. “Yes,
it is. It has to be.”

“
Why?”

He swore. “Because it sure the
hell did a number on
my
inhibitions.”

She just shook her head and laughed
again as she dropped the charm to the table. “Max, the only
thing that charm will do is let you walk through magical wards. It
didn’t touch your inhibitions.”

“
Oh yeah?” He fixed his
meanest glare on her. “Then why the hell did I have frantic sex
in a closet with the thief who was trying to steal it?”

“
Because you’re a horny
bastard?” Lena smiled at him, completely unfazed by his
mean-alpha-shapeshifter routine. “Your dick and what you do
with it is really not my business. You can keep the charm if you
want, though. It would probably be useful in your line of work.”

He swore again and spun on his heel
before stalking for the door. “Save it. I’m going to go
find that damn thing. Now.”

He pretended he didn’t hear
her laughter as he stormed out of her shop and across the road. His
Jeep sat across the street, and he swung into it and curled his
fingers around the steering wheel.

She’d played him. It was the
only explanation. Polly Cassidy had played him from the start, and
made a fool out of him in the process. She probably had the damn
charm now, and was laughing her ass off somewhere as she waited for
some jackass to hand over a huge bag of money for it. She wouldn’t
care about the massive chaos the thing could cause in the wrong
hands, and he’d be chasing it all over the country again,
trying to find it before someone did something terrible with it.

And he’d given her his damn
lock picks. She could find him now, whenever she wanted. The thought
had been amusing when she’d been a hot piece of ass who was
almost
as good as him. Now that she’d proved herself smarter than
him...
I am royally
fucked.

Or not. When he tracked her sweet
little ass down again, sex would be the last thing on his mind. Well,
it would be the first thing on his mind, but he’d ignore it. No
woman was worth destroying everything he’d worked for. Not even
smoking hot Polly Cassidy.

Fuck.

Polly gritted her teeth and stomped
toward the door. “I
said
just a minute, damn it!” She pulled open the door and snorted.
“Oh, you’ve
got
to be fucking kidding
me.”

Max shouldered past her, wrenching
the door out of her hand. He stalked into the room before spinning to
pin her with a glare. “So. You made a fool of me, huh? Did you
get off on that as much as you got off on me?”

“
Excuse me?” She
couldn’t begin to wrap her head around his bizarre logic.
“You’re the one who picked my pocket and left me
handcuffed to a sink.
I’m
not the asshole here.”

He turned again and prowled deeper
into the hotel room. “Whatever. Where the fuck is it? The
actual charm. The inhibition one? I assume you have it somewhere.”

Polly gaped at him, then crossed her
arms over her chest. “Fuck you. You can’t have it.”

“
I am
done
playing, little girl. That thing is seriously fucking dangerous, and
it needs to be destroyed. The woman who made it did it in a weak
moment, and she wants to fix the mistake. And I am damn well going to
see it done.”

Ice settled in the pit of her
stomach. “Good luck with that.” Polly crossed the room
and yanked open a dresser drawer. She untied the knotted belt of her
robe and dropped the terrycloth to the floor. “Better get ready
for some serious travel, though. Benton sold it last week. I tracked
the funds to a shell corporation in Malaysia, but the damn thing
could be anywhere. Now get the fuck out.”

He spun around again, and his eyes
widened when his gaze settled on her naked form. He opened his mouth
as if to say something, then snapped it shut again. His hands curled
into fists as he drew in a breath. “Shit. You play dirty. Guess
I earned it, though.”

Polly leveled her stoniest glare on
Max as she pulled on a pair of panties and snatched a camisole from
the drawer. “Go on and take the lead. I’ll stay out of
it. The money’s not worth having to run into you again.”

He stepped closer, his eyes
narrowing. “So if you weren’t high on magic, why’d
you fuck me?”

She didn’t know what was more
horrifying—having to admit she’d taken one look at him
and wanted to get her hands on him, or the fact that he’d
chalked the entire thing up to magical interference.
Pretty
much a damn toss-up.

She put on the camisole and flashed
him a defiant look. “I wanted to. But I’m over it, trust
me.”

“
Over it?” Another step,
and he crowded into her personal space. “That’s a shame.
The thought that you’d double-crossed me turned me the fuck
on.”

The admission drew a startled laugh
from her, and she shook her head. “Jesus Christ.” A sharp
inhalation filled her nose with his scent, and she bit her lip. She
couldn’t be this damn attracted to a crazy man. “That’s
messed up, Max. Professional help might be in order.”

“
Because I’m attracted
to smart women?” A quick shift to the left and he had her
caged, cornered against the dresser. “What can I say? I love a
challenge.”

Polly exhaled and reached up,
curling her fingers into the front of his shirt. “I told you
the truth. Now it’s your turn. What do you
want
?”

His hand came up and his fingers
traced across the bruise he’d left on her neck. “You.
Begging for it while I make you come.”

Even that bare, tiny touch
elicited a shiver, and her nipples hardened instantly. She could keep
wondering, analyzing, trying to figure out how and why Max commanded
her body so easily.

Or I could just enjoy it, and see
if it goes both ways.

“
I won’t beg.” She
smiled slowly, then reached down and hooked her fingers under his
belt, drawing him closer. “I mean, you can
try
to make me...but I’m not going to be as easy as I was down in
Louisiana.”

“
Like I said...” He bent
his head and dragged his tongue over the mark left by his teeth. “I
love a challenge.”

She lifted her leg and rubbed it
along the outside of his, the scratchy denim of his jeans rough
against her inner thigh. His shirt yielded to her hands as she tugged
it free and touched the bare skin of his stomach. “This time,
you
have
to take this off.”

He tugged the shirt over his head in
an impressive flex of muscles, revealing a hard chest that was every
bit as sexy as she’d imagined. Polly moaned, torn between
excitement and dismay. “
Why
do you have to be so fucking
hot
?”

Without waiting for his answer, she
stroked his chest and touched her tongue to his skin. “I should
kick you out,” she whispered, then licked his nipple. “I
shouldn’t reward your terrible behavior with mind-blowing sex.”