Vampire in Geek's Clothing (Psy-Vamp Book 6) (5 page)

Phoenix had gotten almost no sleep the night before, and
she’d been tempted to call in sick today. The only reason she hadn’t was that her
boss needed her. He was getting older, and he couldn’t handle the shop most
days. Everyone else working there was family, and they didn’t show up for their
shifts most days. This was one of those days when there were definite benefits
to working in a coffee shop. Caffeine was going to be her best friend today.

Phoenix was so tired, she hadn’t even noticed Isaiah walk in
and sit at his usual table. When she looked up and saw him, she felt her breath
catch. This wasn’t the first time she’d caught him watching her, but he’d never
watched her this way. There was no mistaking the heat in his gaze, and it
brought back images from all the naughty dreams she’d had about him the night
before.

Forcing herself to look away, Phoenix made Isaiah’s latte,
and grabbed a chocolate croissant for him.

Setting his drink and pastry on the table with a brief
smile, she turned to walk away when Isaiah caught her hand. Just like that, he
was standing much too close. Funny how the shop was emptier than normal today.
She knew what he wanted, had easily read it in the way he’d watched her. This
was very bad, and she needed to put some distance between them. Her mind didn’t
seem to be focused on what she needed to do. She just stared at him for a
moment before she got her brain to function enough to form a question.

“Did you need something else?” she asked, wondering when
she’d suddenly developed a smoky, sexy voice.

Without responding, he released her hand and cupped both
cheeks in his hands before leaning forward to kiss her. No longer thinking
about anything but his mouth descending on hers, Phoenix’s lips parted
slightly, and that’s when he claimed her mouth. There was no testing to see how
she’d respond; his tongue slipped past her lips and stroked hers as he angled
his head to get better access to her mouth.

When she moaned, Isaiah’s hands moved from her cheeks,
skimming down her arms, which is when she realized her hands were gripping his
firm biceps. He tasted clean and minty, and damn the man knew how to kiss. She
should push him away, but everything felt so right. His tongue explored her
mouth, making her imagine what it would feel like to have him slide into her
body.

A throat cleared, and then a woman’s voice called out,
“Excuse me.”

That cut through the haze of lust, and Isaiah pulled back
slightly. When he spoke, she felt his breath against her swollen lips. “Have
dinner with me.”

It was a request and a command at the same time. Licking her
lips, Phoenix shuddered when she tasted him on her mouth. With a nod, she
turned and walked to the counter.

“Sorry for the wait,” she told the young woman dressed in a
prim black business suit.

The woman laughed and looked at Isaiah over her shoulder.
Back in his seat, with his computer open on the table, his hungry gaze was
still focused on her.

“I should be the one apologizing,” the woman told her. “It
looked like he was about to drag you into the back room when I interrupted. If
I didn’t need these pastries for a meeting in thirty minutes, I would have come
back later.”

Phoenix smiled and did her best to get back to work, while
ignoring Isaiah—not an easy thing to do. “What can I get for you today?”

The woman gave her order, and Phoenix busied herself putting
it together, making idle small talk with her customer. Thankfully, business
picked up in the time it took to fill the woman’s order, making it impossible
for Isaiah to continue what they’d started. Of course, she’d agreed to have
dinner with him tonight—something she knew would be a huge mistake. She needed
to get out of this area soon, and she needed to avoid any more attachments
because she didn’t want to put anyone else in danger. At the same time, she was
tired of ignoring her own needs. The idea of having a night with Isaiah—one
night to feel normal—was so tempting that she wasn’t sure she could tell him
she’d made a mistake in agreeing, no matter how much she should.

Kissing Nikki had not been part of his plans when he’d
walked into the coffee shop this morning. Isaiah had come with the intention of
confronting her about whatever trouble she was in and offering to help, but
after a night of fitful sleep and dreams that had left him hard and aching,
he’d had her in his arms before his brain could warn him what a bad idea it
was. Now that he’d tasted her mouth, he wanted to taste everything. The urge to
protect Nikki was even more overwhelming than the urge to strip her naked and
savor every inch of her body. Not once in his life had he considered himself
the knight in shining armor type, but this woman affected him in ways he’d
never expected.

The question of who Nikki was still remained a mystery. So
far, he’d been unable to find any information on her. Discreetly snapping a
picture of her as she helped another customer, he decided he’d load the image
later and try searching databases to discover her identity—that is, if she
didn’t tell him on her own. It was his hope that Nikki would open up to him
when they went out later. Giving himself a mental smack, he brought his
attention back to work.

Sam, his current employer, walked in about an hour later,
dressed casually in worn jeans and a UCSF sweatshirt. To complete the look, his
blond hair was left a little messy, and he had a backpack slung over one
shoulder. If one didn’t know Sam, they might assume the glasses held together
with tape were part of his disguise, but Isaiah had noticed Sam’s tendency to
stick his glasses in his back pocket and sit on them. Usually, he broke the
lenses, but this time, it was apparently just the frames. Taking a seat across
from Isaiah, Sam reached out a fist, expecting Isaiah to bump fists with him,
which he reluctantly did.

“How’s it going?” Sam asked without using his name.

“Not too bad,” Isaiah replied. “The research end of my
project is coming along nicely.”

Sam nodded. “They have good coffee here?” he asked, looking
around. Nikki was busy cleaning up a recently vacated table. It said a lot
about how little Sam left his office that he didn’t know if the shop right
across from his building had good coffee. Based on the way Sam eyed Nikki, Isaiah
got the impression he’d be back for reasons other than coffee.

“That’s why I come here,” Isaiah replied, annoyed with Sam’s
appraisal of Nikki as she bent down to grab napkins that had been dropped on
the floor.

“I can think of a better reason to come here,” Sam murmured
without taking his eyes off Nikki. “I should work out of the San Francisco
office more often.”

“Are you honestly telling me you go out to pick up your own
coffee?” Isaiah asked, trying to keep the annoyance he felt at Sam’s interest in
Nikki from his voice.

Sam laughed. “Not too often,” he admitted. “Mostly, I just
drink whatever they brew in the office. I’m beginning to think no one in the
San Francisco office can make a decent cup of coffee.”

As the head of corporate security, Sam had been the one to
hire Isaiah’s company to look for flaws in their current system. Since Sam had
just taken over, he was busy with more obvious issues in the Midwest territory
at the moment. The fact that the company was such a mess was likely the reason Sam
had been offered the job in the first place. Isaiah would guess that they’d
wanted someone with more experience, but they’d had trouble convincing anyone
to take on such a big task for the nominal salary they were offering. Sam was
only in his mid-thirties, but he could easily pass for being in his twenties
when he chose to. With only ten years’ experience in the field, this was his
chance to prove himself—something Isaiah had no doubt he would do.

“So, what’s her story?” Sam asked, gesturing to Nikki.

“She’s having dinner with me tonight,” Isaiah told him
without giving out any other information.

Sam chuckled. “I guess if you have to be distracted from the
project, it may as well be by your dick.”

The irony of Sam’s attitude was that he never would have
considered saying something like that dressed in his usual tailored suits, but
Sam easily fell into any role he played. That was one of many reasons Isaiah
had tried talking Sam into working for him instead of taking this job.
Naturally, he understood why Sam had turned him down in favor of taking a job
that could put him in a position of earning more than Isaiah could ever hope to
offer him.

Nikki approached them, refusing to meet his eyes, and he
could tell she was still thinking about their kiss, something that definitely
pleased him. He’d seen the way she occasionally fidgeted at the counter, and he
imagined her pressing her thighs together to try to get some relief from her
arousal, which only seemed fair since his dick had been practically throbbing all
day. That wasn’t the result of the kiss so much as her proximity.

“Can I get you something?” she asked Sam.

“Just a coffee, black,” Sam told her without an ounce of
flirtation. From the looks of it, Sam was ready to move on to business.

“Did you want something else?” she asked Isaiah, leaving him
wondering if she realized what a loaded question that was. Then he found
himself wondering what she’d say if he told her he wanted to lay her across
this table and free her breasts so he could see what color her nipples were and
then spend the next twenty minutes suckling them while she moaned and tugged at
his hair.

“Thanks, I’ll have another latte,” he replied in a somewhat
strained voice.

Nikki nodded and walked behind the counter to fill their
orders.

“So, exactly how close are you?” Sam asked.

Isaiah let out a snort of laughter. “Pretty damn close at
the moment,” he muttered, not talking about the job. Although, that was also
true. Struggling to get his head back on business, he gave Sam a better answer.
“I should have everything written up by the end of next week.”

“Security codes?” Sam asked.

Isaiah simply raised an eyebrow as if to ask Sam who he
thought he was talking to.

His reaction clearly amused Sam because he laughed. “I
assume you also have all the details about guard schedules and building
schematics.”

“Of course,” Isaiah replied.

“Great! Then we can do this tonight.” Sam sounded eager, and
Isaiah couldn’t blame him. While Isaiah loved the research, actual break-ins
excited him most. In this case, they didn’t need to break into the building. He
could simply send his report to Sam. In general, he only followed up with an
actual break-in to prove to the head of security that new measures were in
order. It was often not the head of security who decided to hire his firm, so
they needed more convincing that changes were needed. With Sam, he trusted
Isaiah to do his job and didn’t need any proof. Not to mention, Sam already
knew there were problems and had simply hired consultants in various areas to
help him find those issues since he couldn’t check all locations at the same
time. In fact, it would have taken him more than a year if he’d handled
everything on his own. At the moment, the company’s security issues threatened
to drive them out of business. The reason for going through with the actual
break-in was that Sam got off on this kind of thing as much as Isaiah did. It
was one thing to tell people you could do something, but it was totally
different to actually pull it off.

“Then let’s do this tonight!” Sam said with a decisive nod.
“We’ll meet at nine. I’ll text you the details.”

“Not tonight,” Isaiah insisted.

“Because you’re going to be banging the sexy coffee girl?”
Sam asked, laughing when Isaiah glared at him.

“You sound like my cousin, Drew,” Isaiah muttered. Eyes
straying to Nikki, he wondered what was taking her so long. As it turned out,
she’d gotten delayed by an indecisive customer, which was a good thing
considering his conversation with Sam. “I’m having dinner with her tonight, as
I already told you.”

“Then you’ll be done in time to grab your gear and meet me,”
Sam told him. “I need to get this done soon. I have another job to take care of
in Houston.”

Isaiah sighed. “Fine, but I haven’t had time to look at
evening street views yet, so I’m not sure if we’ll run into problems from
outside sources.”

Sam shrugged. “That just makes it more exciting.”

“Not if you end up getting shot,” Isaiah told him.

“Nothing will go wrong. Just finish your research and enjoy
your date first,” Sam said.

“Here are your drinks,” Nikki interrupted with a smile that
seemed somewhat strained, making Isaiah worry she’d heard something. He
suddenly wanted to kick himself for having this conversation here. He should
have insisted on meeting Sam later.

Since he’d first set foot in this coffee shop, Isaiah hadn’t
been thinking straight. Being around Nikki was making him lose his edge, which
was probably as good a reason as any to finish this job before his distraction
resulted in a major screw up.

Phoenix almost wished she hadn’t overheard Isaiah’s
conversation, because now she couldn’t stop worrying about what he was up to.
Honestly, she needed to stop thinking about him and focus on her own problems.
He’d left three hours ago, after giving her a quick kiss on the mouth and
telling her he’d pick her up at five for their date—a date she’d been having
serious second thoughts about even before she’d learned that Isaiah was most
likely a criminal. It was always possible she was overreacting, and they were
simply planning to hit a club Isaiah had researched, but then why would they
call it a job?

Great kisser or not, it was time to admit that Isaiah was
planning something illegal tonight. That should have been her cue to cancel
their date and encourage Isaiah to buy coffee elsewhere, which is exactly what
she’d do if her gut wasn’t insisting that Isaiah was a good person. Tonight, at
dinner, she planned to find out what was really going on. There just had to be
an explanation.

Phoenix was scheduled to work until two, but Alan had called
to say he was going to be late, which meant she wouldn’t have time to go home
to change before her date with Isaiah. As it turned out, she was the one
closing the shop up at five since Alan hadn’t even shown up. Her boss had
apologized profusely and assured her someone would be in tomorrow so she could
have the day off, but she’d believe that when it actually happened. He’d also
told her to leave the closing duties and promised one of his nephews would take
care of them so she could leave at five on the dot. Again, she’d believe that
when it actually happened. What she expected was to walk into a messy shop with
cash still in the register tomorrow morning.

Isaiah walked in the door just as she was about to lock up.
Thankfully, he was still dressed casually, since she’d be in jeans and a
t-shirt tonight.

“Long day?” Isaiah asked.

“Longer than I expected,” she admitted. “Are you going to
offer to let me go home and get some rest?” she asked, turning to wipe down a
spill on the counter.

Isaiah moved up behind her and placed his hands on her
shoulders, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. “No,” he murmured against her
skin. “Maybe I should let you go home, but I’m selfish, and I want you with me
tonight.”

Phoenix shuddered as his warm breath licked across the side
of her face. “We aren’t having sex tonight,” she blurted out, feeling like an
idiot, mostly because she was saying it for her own benefit more than his.
Isaiah hadn’t mentioned sex with her. It was her own brain that had images of
him naked as he slid into her body playing on a constant loop.

Isaiah allowed one of his hands to trail slowly down her arm
until his fingers laced with hers. Then he turned her to face him. “I know we
aren’t having sex tonight,” he assured her. “Don’t get me wrong. I want you
very much, but tonight I just want to talk to you, spend time with you, and get
to know you better. You’ve been making me crazy for weeks. I can’t get you out
of my head.” Isaiah looked down and shook his head. “I didn’t intend to say all
that. Promise you won’t hold it against me.”

“I’ll go grab my stuff.” With a shy smile, she gestured to
the back room and waited for him to release her hand. “I actually need to take
this with me,” she finally told him when he continued to hold her hand.

Isaiah blinked before giving her a sheepish grin. “Sorry.”
He dropped her hand. “I’m not myself around you.”

“Are you telling me that when I’m not around, you’re the
ultimate ladies’ man?” she teased.

“No, I’m afraid I’m the ultimate computer geek,” he admitted
with an adorable grin. “When I’m around you, I act like a computer geek who
believes he’s a ladies’ man. I can only imagine how ridiculous I look.”

That grin made her heartbeat quicken from excitement rather
than nerves. Maybe she was a fool, but she knew Isaiah wasn’t a bad person.
There had to be a good explanation for what she’d overheard, and she planned to
find out what it was tonight.

Phoenix stood on tiptoes to kiss his chin before quickly
pulling away when Isaiah looked like he was going to grab her. “You’re pretty
good at being a ladies’ man, and I’ve always found nerds sexy.”

“Pocket protectors and all?” he asked, ducking his head and
grinning.

“You don’t really have a pocket protector,” she said,
convinced that no one really had a pocket protector.

“I’m not sure why they get such a bad rap,” he argued.
“They’re actually pretty awesome.”

“Pocket protectors?” she asked, struggling to contain her
laughter.

“Yes,” he insisted. “I’ll bet you’ve never even used one,
and that’s the reason you don’t appreciate their awesomeness.”

He really was an adorably clueless nerd. “I’ll get my
stuff,” she told him, fighting her laugher.