Warrior's Angel (The Lost Angels Book 4) (11 page)

“That was a shaving accident,” she said coolly, even while her heart hammered away at light speed.

The detective smiled a very small smile that lit up his eyes with mirth – and something like admiration. “If I were you, I would consider switching to an electric.”

Salvatore
popped the lid of the laundry basket with his boot, dropped the jeans into it, and strode toward her. She froze as he closed in. “You look like you could use a laundry service,” he told her, stopping less than a foot away and towering over her. She felt him take the gun from her hands, but she couldn’t look away from his eyes. They held her as if by chains. She was drowning, happily, in an impossible sea of blue.

“If you don’t mind, I will borrow this for a night or two, have forensics run some tests on it, and bring it back when I’ve finished.”

Rhiannon still couldn’t move. The truth was, she could barely breathe. His presence was wrapping around her, teasing her senses in every possible fashion, from the scent of him to the height of him to the sound of his deep, sensuous voice. Her nipples were so hard against her shirt now, they almost hurt, and she was fairly sure she was trembling underneath the thin layer of clothing she wore.

His smile slowly grew, turning outright killer. “I’ll leave you my card
, Miss Dante,” he said so softly, it was nearly a whisper. “And if you can think of anything… anything at all you would like to share with me,” he paused, letting his words sink in, “please give me a call. You can reach me any time.”

He moved, brushing past her to leave the laundry room and enter the hallway. His upper arm and torso slid momentarily against her shoulder, hard and unyielding and… tempting.

There were stars in her vision as she numbly turned to see him place a card on her kitchen bar before crossing the living room and opening her apartment’s front door. A very late afternoon sun kissed golden highlights in his hair, reminding her of her dream.

He stepped through the doorway, then paused
and turned to glance back at her over his shoulder.

Again, just like he had in her dream.

“See you around, Miss Dante,” he said.

Rhiannon
, she thought.
My name is Rhiannon.
Call me Rhiannon….

He smiled again,
what could only have been a
knowing
smile, and stepped outside. “Lock the door behind me, Rhiannon.”

T
hen Detective Michael Salvatore closed the door, leaving her standing in her hallway, stunned, silent, terrified, and burning with an inexplicable desire for the cop who was probably going to destroy her.

Chapter Ten

Rhiannon sat in the corner of the coffee shop and kept a sharp eye on the customers who came and went through the rest of the store. She’d chosen a Starbucks inside a Target this time in order to be surrounded with a bit more movement and noise, hence giving herself both the cover and the privacy she needed.

The phone she was holding to her ear stopped ringing and her employer picked up.

“Mr. Verdigri, I believe we may have a problem,” she informed him right off the bat, choosing not to beat around the bush.

“I would agree, my dear, if what Alexander has told me is true.”

Of course. Alexander had already filled him in. She should have known. She
would
have known except that she wasn’t really herself at the moment. She was discombobulated. There were beautiful men messing with her head.

“The handsome detective seems to have taken an interest in you.”

That was putting it mildly. He’d all but told her that he knew she was guilty. And when he’d seen the marks on her jeans, she’d figured it was over.

“Come to think of it, Mr. Verdigri, I can’t understand why he hasn’t already arrested me.”

“Oh? Then he has proof?”

“Well….” Not in so many words. She hadn’t admitted anything, she had an alibi that she knew woul
d check out, and her gun had been professionally cleaned – he wouldn’t get anything off it. Plus, even if he was telling the truth about the video footage he claimed to have, videos like that were
usually
fuzzy messes. All he had to go on was most likely a person dressed in black with red hair. She hoped.

“I guess not,” she finally admitted.

“You need to relax. He’s trying to rattle you. As long as you firmly believe that he can’t do so, he won’t be able to. Come by and see me. I want to talk to you about your next assignment.”

Rhiannon’s eyes widened. It took her a moment to process that last bit. “What?” she asked. He couldn’t be serious.
She had already decided it wasn’t safe to return to Verdigri’s building any time soon, and even calling him at that moment felt dangerous. She’d purchased a new phone under a new name in order to do it. But, she was nervous. Something wasn’t right.

“
As I said, we continue as we always have, Rhiannon,” he told her gently. “We make no changes whatsoever. I have a new job for you. You aren’t going to keep me waiting, are you?”

Rhiannon removed the phone from her ear and stared down at it as if it was something completely foreign to her. Then she put it back. “I believe that would be
a very bad idea at this point,” she told her employer. “There are eyes on me. I am not going to point them in your direction.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. This was the first time Rhiannon had ever said “no” to her boss.
She wondered how it tasted in his mouth. It was sour as hell in her own.

“
I’m afraid it’s too late for you to argue the point, Miss Dante,” he finally said, using her last name and signaling a very definite change in mood. “Alex has already pulled the car up outside the store. And if you don’t come and see Mimi soon, she’s going to drive me insane. Get in the car.”

*****

When Rhiannon exited the building, it was to find a black Lincoln Town Car pulled up near the curb, and Alex standing near the back door, a shit-eating grin on his face. He shook his head in wonder as she approached him. “You really got under his skin this time.”

“
What would you have done if I hadn’t come out?” she asked, truly curious.

He shrugged and looked around as if casually perusing the parking lot and store entrance. She knew he was actually taking every single detail in and processing it with utmost precision. “Some questions are better left unanswered, Miss Dante.”

“Our employer is crazy,” she muttered back while he opened the door.

“
I cannot disagree,” he replied.

She ducked her head and got inside.
Much to her chagrin, Alex got in after her and sat down across from her. With a raised brow, Rhiannon looked from him to the driver, who glanced at her in his rear-view mirror. He smiled.

“Good morning, Frank.”

“Miss Dante,” he greeted her congenially. “How are you enjoying your new place?”

Rhiannon looked from him to Alex, who shrugged as if to say,
Don’t blame me for this. Our crazy boss is just worried about you.

“It’s nice,” she replied plainly. “
I’ve got a laundry room and everything.”

Frank chuckled and
pulled away from the curb. Twenty minutes later, he was parking in the garage beneath the Swallowtail Foundation building. Alex opened the door first, climbing out before she did. Ever the bodyguard.

Rhiannon exited the car and headed to the elevator that would take her to the atrium where she always met up with Verdigri.
As if his soul purpose in life were to grate on her nerves, Alex accompanied her the whole way.

“You don’t have to stay with me.”

“Yes, I do.”

Rhiannon tried not to roll her eyes. “I
t’s not like I’m going to bolt.”

“Don’t I know it,” Alex said, trying to hide the beginn
ings of what could actually be the first smile she’d ever seen on him. “I almost wish you would.” He shook his head. “You aren’t nearly enough trouble for what I’m getting paid.”

The elevator dinged and Alex gestured, allowing her to go first.
He finally left her alone when she entered the atrium and walked down the path that would take her to the gazebo where her employer waited.

She had made it past the cacao trees and was ducking under the bananas of another tree when Mimi jumped out in front of her on the path.

“Mimi!” Rhiannon placed her hand over her heart. She must have been lost in her head and a little on edge; Mimi had never managed to sneak up on her before, and most certainly had never managed to surprise her.

“Nope!” Mimi exclaimed deceptively. “Guess again!”

Rhiannon took a step back and frowned, blinking confusedly. “
Not
Mimi?”

“Nope! You get two more guesses,” Mimi said, her
hazel eyes sparkling with secrets. She began to dance around Rhiannon, skipping with glee. Her bobbed, shoulder-length strawberry red hair bounced and shimmered as she moved, and the small smattering of freckles along her nose and cheeks began to disappear behind a rosy hue of excitement.

Mimi
was wearing a white tee-shirt with bloused sleeves and a pair of denim overall shorts. Rhiannon could just make out the top of a picture of
Wolverine
over the front of the overalls. On her feet were black lace-up combat boots by Steve Madden. The boots were a constant. She rarely went anywhere without them on her feet. “And I’m timing you!” she exclaimed. “Tick-tock, tick-tock!”

Rhiannon scratched her head
, fully slipping into guessing mode. “Give me a hint?”

“
I’m a purple fox when I’m not wearing a child’s socks!”

Rhiannon’s eyes got very wide.
“Umm….”

“Oh come on!
” Mimi scolded playfully. “Do you need me to give you another hint? Time’s almost up, you know.”

“Yes,
another hint please.”

“Well, obviously I’m a
Pokémon. And I like to cause
mischief!
” She said this last word with much vigor, drawing it out with a Cheshire cat grin. “Especially in my favorite form!”

“Which is….”

“No more hints,” Mimi said, and she stopped, put her hands on her hips and began tapping her booted foot impatiently.

Rhiannon nodded.
A child’s socks.
“Your favorite form is that of a child.”

“Yes
! So who am I?”

Rhiannon smiled when it hit her. She was
surprised it had taken her so long. She was out of practice and needed to hit that massive
Pokédex
she
sometimes studied just so she could kick Mimi’s ass at cards and keep her entertained on Saturdays. “You’re
Zorua
.”

Mimi’s grin got even bigger. Which was impressive. And even looked a little painful. “
Yes!” she exclaimed excitedly. She jumped up and down a few times in celebration, and then calmed down.

Rhiannon felt proud.

“Now, where have you been?” Mimi demanded, all pretense gone. “It’s been
days
since I last saw you!”

“Sorry,” Rhiannon said, meaning it. “
You know how it goes sometimes.” Rhiannon shrugged helplessly. “It got crazy.”

Mimi’s gaze narrowed thoughtfully.
As it did, a large, colorful butterfly landed on her shoulder. “That seems to happen to you a lot,” she said, ignoring the butterfly.

Rhiannon
nibbled at the inside of her bottom lip. Mimi was a precocious one. “Tell me about it,” she simply agreed, hoping that would be the end of it.

Mimi
unconsciously mimicked her behavior, chewing on her own lip for a moment before she finally said, “Okay,” and shrugged. “Mr. V is waiting for you. But you missed it – on Saturday I caught my
Yveltal
. I want to show him to you when you’re done.”

With that, the
butterfly lifted off, and the nine-year-old was running in the opposite direction down the path, her boots clomping loudly as she disappeared. Rhiannon watched her go for a moment then continued the other way until she reached the gazebo at the center of the massive, jungle-like atrium.

Verdigr
i was waiting for her, slowly sipping from a tall glass of iced lemonade. As she approached, he stood, ever the gentleman.

Rhiannon steeled herself and took the seat across from him.
They sat together. He looked up and smiled gently. “Mimi found you, I presume?”

She nodded. “
Or, rather,
Zorua
found me.”

Verdigri
slid a manila folder toward her across the table.

She looked down at it. “My next assignment?”

“Yes, however, you’ll be relieved to learn that this one will require just a touch less sneaking around through alleyways and ducking from gargoyle detection.’”

Rhiannon frowned.

“Open it.”

She opened the file to find several sheets detailing the necessities of television networks in the arena of special effects. “This is
Samuel Lambent’s work order,” she surmised.

“
Indeed. The Swallowtail Foundation does have a legitimate job to do, after all. And…” he added more softly, “what better time than now, when we could use the cover?”

Rhiannon took a deep breath and let it out with a whoosh. She hadn’t realized she’d been more or less holding her breath until the
new intake of oxygen refueled her bloodstream and cleared her head. “Okay, I admit I’m a little relieved.”

Verdigri chuckled. He took another sip of his lemonade, an
d the waiter came by the table. He deposited a tall glass of heavily iced tea in front of Rhiannon, as this was what she normally ordered, and she smiled her thanks before opening several packets of Splenda to mix them in. Then she grabbed the spoon from the utensil display beside her glass and began stirring.

“Rhiannon, I would like you to come b
ack to your home here,” Verdigri suddenly said. Rhiannon stopped mid-stir and looked up. He went on. “This police officer, Detective Salvatore….” He shook his head and sat back in his seat, his gaze becoming distant. “He troubles me.”

“But,
I thought we had come to an agreement that we needn’t worry too much about him.”

Verdigri met her gaze. “As far as him outing our organization? I’m frankly not worried at all. But I wasn’t completely honest with you before.”

Rhiannon steeled herself for the second time that day.

He took a deep breath and sighed. “Everything I said
about him posing a threat to Swallowtail was true. I believe he would not have the physical evidence needed to pin Thursday’s events on you or expose the Foundation for what it really is. However, I’m not fully convinced that this is the only thing we have to be wary of when it comes to Mr. Salvatore.”

“Oh?” Now she was listening.

“He seems to fit the description of the stranger in black remarkably well, does he not?”

Rhiannon blinked. Then
she blinked again. “Um….”

She
had most certainly noticed that, and the idea had definitely crossed
her
mind, but she hadn’t said anything to her employer at all about her observations. For the most part, she hadn’t said anything because as quickly as the idea had entered her mind, she’d dismissed it.

“Miss Dante,” said Verdigri, his voice a touch scolding, “when will you learn that not much gets past me?”