The Touch (3 page)

Was that an innocent question, or one she
already knew the answer to? His Glock dug into his spine through
his over-shirt and T-shirt as he shifted and eased back in the
booth. He wondered just exactly what she carried in her backpack.
“Does it matter?”

A shadow crossed Chandra’s face. “Of course
not,” she said in a nonchalant manner then bit into another French
fry.

Despite his feelings that she might be
working for Psion, he wanted this woman. He had to stop thinking
with his dick, but damn he wanted her.

As they were finishing eating ice cream
sundaes for dessert, he lightly stroked her bare skin from the
sleeve of her T-shirt to her elbow. Beneath his fingers, goose
bumps rose on her arm. Chandra’s gaze met his and her spoon
clattered in her almost empty sundae glass.

He leaned closer, so that their mouths were
inches away. He waited for her to draw back, but her eyes darkened
and there was no doubt about the desire in their depths.

Just when he was going to bring his mouth to
hers, Chandra reached up and kissed him.

Mild shock coursed through Wade and bolted to
his groin at her aggressiveness. She slipped her tongue into his
mouth and gave a soft moan. He let her take control, following her
lead and kept the kiss slow and sensuous.

Chandra tasted like hot fudge, ice cream and
pure, sweet woman. She surprised him again when her kiss turned
hungry and intense. She placed her palms on his chest and clenched
the material in her fists. He felt the heat of her touch right
through his T-shirt to his skin.

He brought his hands to hers and clasped
them. Immediately she tore away from the kiss and slipped her hands
from beneath his. She had a wild look to her eyes, her breathing
was hard and deep, and he couldn’t tell if it was fear or desire he
saw.

Or something else.

He rubbed his thumb along her arm and she
shivered beneath his touch. “What’s wrong?”

She clenched her hands in her lap and shook
her head. He couldn’t tell if it was an answer to his question or
from something deeper. “I’m okay. Please don’t touch my hands, all
right?”

What the hell?
Wade drew back and
narrowed his eyes. Was it possible she had the sixth sense? Why
else would she act so skittish when he touched her hands? Why her
entire body had trembled when he’d touched her? After being with
the PIA for well over a decade he was more than familiar with the
Touch, as he was aware of all known and catalogued paranormal
abilities.

Damn that would be dangerous in an operative
for Psion. But wouldn’t she
want
to touch him, then?

“Why not?” he finally asked.

Her chest rose and fell as she took a deep
breath and raised her chin. “Just don’t.”

He studied her. “For now. Then you
will
tell me.”

Chandra’s eyes flashed. “Kiss my ass.”

With a grin, Wade said, “I’d love to.”

***

After lunch, Chandra told Wade she had to
leave to meet one of her cousins, which he figured was a lie. He
made her nervous. He could tell by the way she bit her lower lip
and avoided his direct gaze at times.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” he said as they
exited the pub into the sunshine-bright street.

“Thanks, but no.” She slipped her hand out of
her pocket to gesture in the general direction of Mill Street. “I
need to stop by the bookstore before I leave, anyway.”

He just studied her for a moment. “Dinner.
Tomorrow. Here.”

Chandra cocked her head. She studied him for
a long moment before she said, “Okay. Seven.”

He caught her chin with his thumb and
forefinger and brushed his mouth over hers. “Seven it is,” he
murmured.

Chandra gave a sigh that sent warm breath
over his mouth and he almost groaned at his need for her. When he
drew away, her eyes were dark, but she said, “I’ve got to go.
Thanks for lunch, Wade.”

Before he could say another word, she turned
away and started down the sidewalk, back toward the festival. Her
rounded bottom swayed as she walked and her brown hair gleamed with
auburn highlights in the sunlight. She kept her hands tucked into
her pants pockets, her backpack hitched over one shoulder and
didn’t look back.

Wade watched her for a moment before he
glanced around to make sure no one was watching—and shadow
shifted.

One with the shadows, he made his way after
Chandra. He was no longer form or flesh, but a moving shadow and
could take a size and shape of his choosing as long as it was a
shadow. He wasn’t invisible, no, he was a shadow shifter.

The ironic thing was that he worked for the
government intent on harnessing and using paranormal activity and
beings with certain powers, yet they didn’t know he was a shadow
shifter. If they knew—suffice it to say, he’d have to fight for his
freedom. As it was he could protect others of his kind and help to
take down those with paranormal powers who worked for Psion. If he
wasn’t in shadow form he would have smiled. A few of his people had
been discovered by the government that had found a way to control
them. But Wade had made sure each of his people had escaped. As a
shadow shifter he could do damn near anything.

Unless the government discovered what he was
and used the special chemical called Exposal to harness him. That
same chemical could control him so that he could be used by the
government.

It was simple to follow Chandra through the
crowd, easily sliding between people in the throng. His senses were
high as he followed her light citrus scent.

When she crossed the street toward the large
chain bookstore, she didn’t enter it like she’d said she would.
Instead she continued to walk down the sidewalk to the lower level
of the parking garage beneath the store. He melded easily with the
lower lighting of the garage as she strode up to a cherry red BMW
convertible coupe. Well, well. If she owned that pricey vehicle,
she wasn’t hurting for money, that was certain.

A chirp, chirp sound came from the car after
she dug her keys out of her backpack and pressed the remote. The
garage smelled of oil and exhaust. When he slipped inside the BMW
with Chandra, to rest on the floorboard of the backseats, those
smells were replaced by a new-car scent. By the pristine condition
and the scent, it was obvious the coupe was new.

Did a publicity agent make that much?

When she slammed the door she went very
still. Slowly she turned her head just enough to look over her
shoulder. Her gaze quickly raked the bench seat and the
floorboards.

She gave an audible sigh of relief before
turning back to grip the steering wheel and saying, “Jeez, girl.
What’s got you spooked?”

She thrust her keyless remote into a slot and
pressed a
start
button on the dashboard, and immediately
rock music poured from the Surround Sound system. Interesting way
to start a car, he thought. He drove a truck, used a key, and
turned the ignition. Nice and simple.

Her car purred as she drove it out of the
garage and onto the back streets away from the arts festival.

When they finally parked and she opened the
car door, he slid out in shadow form. The car chirped again as she
locked it. He shifted along the ground behind her until he came to
the sidewalk in front of a modest taupe-colored townhouse with
white trim. He wanted to know where she lived for insurance
purposes, he told himself, in case she wasn’t just as a publicity
agent with Psion. But he wouldn’t invade her space.

After she jogged up the short flight of
stairs, she tucked the key into the lock and let herself into the
townhouse. She mumbled something under her breath he couldn’t quite
make out. For a long time he watched her home, remaining in shadow
form on the sidewalk. God the woman made him hot. He could almost
feel his shadow form steaming from just the thought of taking
her.

But was she working for Psion in some other
capacity? Or was she as innocent as she seemed?

He’d find out soon enough.

#

Chandra had wanted to stay with Wade so badly
she could feel it on her tongue. But she hadn’t thought she could
handle being in his intoxicating presence much longer. If she’d
stayed, she’d likely end up going home with the man.

And that’s a problem because…?
her
oversexed subconscious whispered as she unlocked the front door to
her townhouse.

“Just shut up,” she grumbled under her breath
as she let herself in and shut the door behind her.

For a moment she leaned back against the door
and closed her eyes. She pictured his dark hair, dark eyes, and all
those yummy muscles. It would feel so incredibly good to be in his
strong embrace.

The memory of the visions she’d had of the
two of them exploded in her mind and her eyelids flew open. No, she
couldn’t go there. Not now. But tomorrow…

Still something nagged at her. She’d seen
shifting shadows in her vision where there shouldn’t have been. A
cloudless sunny sky, no buildings or anything else close enough to
cast shadows.

Then there was always that sense of danger
that squeezed her heart. She shouldn’t even be thinking about going
out with this man. But she was.

There’s no changing fate.

She was thankful her cousin, Valerie, hadn’t
come home yet, because Chandra didn’t think she could come up with
any coherent conversation. Valerie had borrowed Chandra’s Chevy
truck, leaving Chandra with her beautiful BMW to drive. Not a
hardship.

When she made her way to her bedroom, she
remembered the chip she’d stuck to the back of her pendant. Her
cheeks heated at the thought of what she’d done. She’d stolen
something.

After she kicked off her sandals, she padded
across the soft carpet to her bed and plopped on the end of it. She
slipped the necklace over her head and held the penny in her palm
so that the chip was right side up. It looked innocent enough, but
as a publicity agent for a semiconductor company, she knew it could
be anything but. What kind of information did it hold? It had to be
something vital for her to have had a vision that she’d taken
it.

Chandra sighed. Okay,
stolen
it.

She touched the microchip with the pad of her
finger and almost dropped the charm.

An image slammed into her mind so hard her
stomach heaved.

The chip had something to do with Wade.

She saw his face—enraged. Not at her, no. At
a man who was pointing a gun directly at him.

Chandra’s heart beat faster and she had to
fight the urge to throw up. Something was wrong, desperately wrong.
And something told her she was destined to help Wade in whatever
way she could.

#

Throughout the rest of the afternoon and well
into the evening the last vision continued to spin through her
mind. What was going to happen? How could she help him? Could her
sixth sense be what he needed to aid him with something?

She couldn’t stop thinking of the man
himself. The way his big hand had felt wrapped around hers. His
dark eyes, dark looks and powerful build. The images that continued
to race through her mind about the two of them having sex. The
thought of the feel of his big body against hers. She aching for
Wade by the time she went to bed that it nearly chased every other
thought from her mind.

She kept reliving that mind-blowing kiss in
the restaurant. He’d been poised to kiss her and hell if she hadn’t
kissed him instead. She could still taste him on her tongue and she
groaned. It had been so good. Too good. The sensations that had
shot through her body had been crazy, wild.

Until he’d touched her hands. Once again
she’d been assaulted by images of the two of them. Not to mention
shadows and danger. What did it all mean?

After she climbed into her four-poster bed
and under the covers, Chandra stared up at the ceiling of her
bedroom in the five-room townhouse. A streetlight’s glow peeked
through the slats of her wooden blinds and made a striped pattern
across her white comforter. As turned on as she was she didn’t
think she could sleep.

She pushed the comforter down to her waist.
Without hesitation she unbuttoned the top of her silk pajamas and
completely freed her large breasts to the cool air. She inched her
panties and pajama bottoms down until she was bare from her breasts
to mid-thigh.

Her heart pounded a little harder as she
imagined she was alone with Wade and he had stripped her bare. She
slipped one hand down her belly, slowly, imagining it was his big
hand easing between her thighs and into her folds. A light moan
passed through her lips as her fingers slipped into her slick folds
and she pushed her fingers into her wet core before withdrawing
them to circle her clit.

The images she’d seen earlier when he’d
touched her made her fantasy more intense. She brought her free
hand up to her large breast and cupped it and pinched her nipple
while continuing to stroke her clit with her other hand.

How would it feel with his mouth on her,
licking her, sucking her? And then his kisses as he took her up
against the wall. Hard and deep. She’d glanced down and noticed his
erection during lunch and it sent another thrill through her belly
to know he wanted her just as badly.

While she touched herself, she could almost
feel his big body pressed up against her as he drove into her again
and again. Harder and harder.

Her entire body heated up. The pajamas and
comforter settled at her knees felt too hot. A light sheen of
perspiration broke out on her skin and her body began to tremble. A
spiraling sensation swirled throughout her as she came closer to
climax.

She imagined Wade’s hot mouth was on her
increasingly sensitive nub. Her fingers moved faster on her clit.
She could barely breathe as she came closer and closer—