“No, I don't trust that the delivery won't be compromised,” Katya said. “I'll go down to the kitchen to oversee the preparation and bring it back myself.”
“I'll go down with you. I'm going to check on the security.” Cal glanced toward Blaise. “Let me know if you two need backup.”
He nodded and held the door for them. “Hurry back.”
Alone in the sitting room of the suite with Blaise Michaels, Demi opened her suitcase and examined her clothing. Dragged through the rain, the case itself was wet, but most of the contents were dry. She unearthed a black candle and the packet of salt her sisters had insisted she bring should she need a little added protection and seasoning.
After the scare with the vampires, Demi lit the candle and sprinkled salt at the base of the door, whispering softly to the goddesses for protection and wishing she had her sisters there to make the spell more powerful.
All the while, Blaise remained silent, waiting for her to complete her ritual. She could feel the intensity of his gaze on her and the hair on the back of her neck prickled. When she'd finished, she met his gaze with a direct one of her own. “What's the relationship between you and Danske?”
“That was pretty direct.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why do you ask?”
“You're both part of the Paranormal Investigation Team, right?”
“
She
is. I'm more of a consultant.”
“Why just a consultant? Afraid to commit, or too expensive for the city budget?”
He spread his arms wide. “Completely gratis. I'm not here for the money.”
Demi frowned. “Don't tell me you have some altruistic sense of responsibility being a paranorm yourself.”
He shrugged. “Then I won't tell you.”
Demi stared at him for a long moment, before saying, “You care for her?”
“Very much so.”
“Do you ever resent the time she spends at work?”
“More than you can know.” He shook his head. “But it is who she is. She has a driving need to bring down the bad guys and to protect the innocent. I wouldn't love her as much as I do if she was any other way.”
Demi blew out the black candle. She touched her fingers to the wick to test its coolness before she tucked it away in a plastic bag in her suitcase.
Blaise's eyes narrowed. “You and Black have an understanding as well?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“Is he as dedicated to duty as my Katya?” Though he posed it as a question, it sounded more to Demi like a statement.
She nodded. “He would work twenty-four-seven, three hundred sixty-five days a year.”
“Not you?”
“I find it discouraging, all the evil out there. No matter how much we workâhours, days, months or yearsâwe will never clear it all from Chicago, or the world.”
“True.” Blaise dipped his head in acknowledgement. “Consider thisâ¦What if the bad guy you took out of commission was the one who might have killed a childâmaybe even
your
childâwould you think it all a waste of time then?”
No. She knew what they worked for was a safer place to live, a place where you could raise children free of fear. Only Cal lived and breathed it like a second skin. She was probably being selfish.
“I accept that I will always be second in the list of Katya's priorities, if even that high.” Blaise touched a finger beneath Demi's chin. “I'd rather have a part of her than nothing at all. Cherish the moments.”
Demi swallowed hard on his last comment. She wasn't sure she wanted to be Cal's number two priority. Why couldn't they live like regular people with regular jobs? Why did Cal have to be so dedicated protecting others?
Because that's who he is.
Blaise's words echoed in Demi's mind.
If everything went to hell back in Chicago while they were lounging around a posh hotel in the heart of Manhattan, wouldn't Cal be upset that he hadn't been there to help? For that matter, wouldn't she?
Rationalizing Cal's decisions and her own didn't help tamp down her frustrations. If anything, all the talk of Cal and his heroic desire to save the masses of innocents made Demi desire him more and more. Blaise was right. It was who he was that drew her to him. Not that he was a cop or human. But because when he saw a wrong, he wanted to make it right and eliminate those who preyed on the innocent.
The wind pressed against the picture window overlooking the neon lights and billboards of Times Square visible from their hotel window.
“Do you think the storm will knock out the power?”
“The weathermen predict a storm strong enough to do a lot of damage. Power outages can happen in such a storm.”
“Hopefully, they're overshooting the mark to get the people to hunker down.”
“Hope for the best and plan for the worst?” Blaise smiled.
A horrible thought occurred to Demi. “The Paranormal Council won't postpone the hearing tomorrow, will they?”
“They never have as long as I've known.”
“And if they do? What are we supposed to do with the witness?”
* * *
While Katya took the elevator to the lobby level, Cal took the stairs, all twenty-seven floors down, stopping briefly to check each floor. The hotel security staff had an office in the basement equipped with the latest security system.
“Installed it in the hotel upgrade last year.” The chief security officer on duty pointed to the array of screens depicting views of each floor, the elevator, including several views of the lobby, restaurant and front entrance.
“If you see anything that isn't right, and I don't care what it is or if it looks just slightly off, contact me immediately.” Cal gave him their room number and left, preferring to take the elevator back to the twenty-seventh floor. His ribs hurt and his knee was strained. He could use some sleep. But all he could think about was getting Demi alone.
He exited the elevator and noted a bellboy wheeling a cart of luggage to the room on the opposite side of the hallway from their room. He waited for the bellboy to disappear into the room and close the door behind him, before he used the card key to open the door to the suite he and Demi would be sharing with the couple from the Fifth Precinct and the Paranormal Council's star witness.
So much for having Demi to himself by midnight. He'd hoped the handoff at the Fifth Precinct would be the end of his babysitting assignment. But after the attack, he knew he couldn't abandon Ursula to Alexei's threat.
As he swung the door open, Blaise and Demi met him, crouched low, ready to kick his ass.
He chuckled. “Good to know the team is on its toes.” He brushed his finger across Demi's cheek. “You look tired.”
“You don't look so great yourself.”
A knock preceded Katya's calling “Supper's here.”
Cal turned to open the door.
Katya wheeled a dinner cart with five covered plates stacked on top, a pitcher of ice water, glasses and silverware.
Cal and Demi's stomachs rumbled.
Ursula emerged from her bedroom, her long blond hair blown dry and straight. She wore a sequined dress with a low-cut neckline, displaying an ample portion of her chest. The hemline barely covered her bottom and her makeup was thick for a night on the town.
“Going somewhere?” Cal asked.
“You never know if you'll have company. And if I die tonight, I want to leave a good-looking corpse.”
Katya rolled her eyes. “Overkill.”
Cal didn't trust Ursula's response. The woman was far too nicely put together for a night in a hotel room. For the moment, he pushed his misgivings aside as they attacked the food Katya had delivered.
They had choices of salmon, blackened mahi-mahi, rib eye, roast chicken and a chef's salad.
Cal opted for the rib eye while Demi chose the blackened mahi-mahi. The room grew silent as they all consumed the food.
Afterwards, full and now sleepy, Cal yawned. Demi followed with another yawn, raising her hand to cover her mouth.
Katya nodded toward Blaise. “We'll take the first shift if you two want to catch some sleep.”
“Thanks.” Demi set her empty plate on the cart, grabbed her suitcase and headed for the bathroom. “Give me five minutes, then you can have the shower.”
She disappeared into the bedroom and closed the door halfway.
“If you two are sure you can handle things⦔ He glanced from Katya to Blaise, then sent a pointed look at Ursula.
“We have it covered.” Blaise's lips twitched. “Get some sleep and whatever else relaxes you. Ms. Chattox is wound up tight.”
Cal gave Blaise a second glance, but didn't question how the demon knew. The two had spent thirty minutes alone in the suite before he'd returned.
The thought of Demi in the shower chased away any sleepiness. Cal couldn't wait the full five minutes before he grabbed his duffel bag and entered the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
The sound of running water made his pulse beat faster and his groin tighten. Demi deserved so much more of him than the little he'd given her lately. She was strong, determined and so beautiful it made him crazy with desire at the most inopportune moments. Particularly on the job. In order to maintain focus on his work, he'd pushed her away almost as effectively as she'd pushed him away in their first attempt at a relationship.
This trip was supposed to have helped to reestablish their bearings. A chance for Cal to show Demi how much she meant to him. With a witness and two other agents on the other side of the door, he wasn't sure how that was going to happen. Still the sound of the shower drew him closer. He stripped his damp clothes from his body and pushed open the bathroom door, a smile stretching across his face.
She hadn't locked it.
The silhouette of her body showed through the white shower curtain as she lifted her arms to rinse her hair beneath the water.
Cal pushed aside the curtain and slipped in behind her.
With her eyes closed, she reached for the little square of soap. His hand found hers and she leaned her back into him. “I thought you'd never join me.”
“I'm slow, not stupid.” He lathered the bar of soap and skimmed it over her body, pausing to cup her full breasts in his palms. “You clean up well.” Cal nibbled her earlobe then pressed his lips to the crook of her neck and shoulder. “Beats the cold rain, huh?”
“You know it.” She stilled for a moment. “Think our package is behaving herself?”
“If not, so be it. Blaise and Katya seem even better equipped to respond to any threat than we are. In a world full of paranormal beings, I'm still not sure why I'm on this team.”
“Because your heart is in it.”
“Yeah, but I don't have the speed or strength of a demon or the ability to tie people up with ivy.”
“Consider yourself lucky. With the powers come many drawbacks.”
“I'm not exactly sure there are any.” He ran his soapy hands down her belly to the juncture of her thighs where the tuft of hair covered her sex. “Not only are you magically talented, you're beautiful and have the right number of body parts.”
Demi laughed and turned in his arms. “The world has more humans than paranormals.”
“I'm beginning to rethink that statistic.”
“Well, there are more humans. It's hard for us nonhumans to fit in.” She cupped his face in her palm and brushed her lips across his. “It takes someone special and tolerant to accept us for who we are and not try to kill every last one of us. What you lack in speed and strength, you make up for in intelligence and cunning. Cut yourself some slack and kiss me.”
“Yes, ma'am.” He complied, crushing her lips beneath his, pushing his tongue past her teeth to twist and slide around hers.
Demi took the soap from his hand and worked up lather over his chest then down his taut abs to his erection, standing straight and ready. Her hands encircled him, sliding down to the tip and back, bubbles forming with each stroke.
Cal closed his eyes, the tension increasing as her hands wove their magic, building an incredible level of passion. On the verge of exploding, he quickly stepped back from her.
She glanced up. “What's wrong?”
“Nothing's wrong, but I want you to be there when I get there.” He stepped beneath the cooling spray and rinsed off the soap, then shut off the water and shoved the shower curtain aside.
He grabbed a fluffy white towel and wrapped her in it, then lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom, laying her on the comforter.
She scooted to the edge of the bed, intent on getting up. But he stepped between her legs, halting her progress.
“I'm not dry.”
“Good, because I'm going to make you a whole lot wetter.” He leaned over her until she lay back on the mattress, her legs draped over the edge of the bed and pressed a kiss to her lips, trailing more kisses along her jaw and down the long line of her neck to where the pulse beat like a runaway drummer.
She threaded her fingers through his hair as he dropped to his knees, spreading her thighs wider.
Her entrance glistened with her juices, sending a surge of animalistic lust spurring through him, making him want to rise up and thrust into her, again and again. But he wanted to satisfy her first.
Parting her folds he found the narrow strip of flesh packed with its bundle of nerves and flicked it with his fingertip.
Her fingers dug into the comforter and her back arched off the mattress, a low moan rising from her throat.
Ah, yes
. That was what he wanted to hear. The sound of her increasing passion as she rose to the top and burst over the edge. With him.
He tapped her again, tracing a line from there to her entrance, swirling his finger in the moisture. Then he leaned in and stroked her with his tongue.
“By the goddesses!” she called out.
He smiled, wondering if her voice had carried through the door to the others in the room beyond.