Page 5 of Tempt the Dragon
They were in a standoff, like so many times before. Only this time, the seven-inch difference in their height seemedbigger as his six-foot-one-inch frame loomed over her. The heat radiating from his body engulfed her, taking away the chill she hadn’t allowed her beast to assuage.
“We’re after the same guy. Even if you get to him first, we’ll be on your tail, because what we need from him is more important than whatever your client wants with him.” In another time and place everything about this moment would’veturned her on. That’s the way it’d been between them. The heat she denied herself from her beast was replaced by Aiken’s burning desire for her. A desire that fueled her, pushing her to meet him equally on every level—especially sex.
Mel didn’t want to think about why that was now. She didn’t give a damn about Drakon folklore or pre-destined connections. All she wanted to do was complete thisjob and collect her fee. Money was her life source now, not Aiken.
“He’s mine. I tracked him once and I’ll track him again. You don’t even know who you’re looking for.”
“You’re right. We don’t know his name, but we know he’s a danger to this realm and possibly all the other realms as well. We know that if we don’t stop him, all the money in the world won’t mean a damn thing.”
“Damn,you’ve gotten pretty melodramatic over the years.” That was the best retort she could manage, considering he’d almost had her ready to ask exactly what he was talking about. But that didn’t matter. Collectors didn’t need those types of details. All she needed to know was that there was a price on his head.
He moved closer, until every breath she took was full of him. She turned her head awayas the familiar aroma tickled her nostrils and filtered through her body like a drug she’d been rehabilitated from. Every part of her trembled and it took her a second—more like thirty to forty seconds—until she was strong enough to stare him straight in the eye once more.
“And you’ve grown more reckless. Come with me and I’ll make sure you get your payment. Insist on going at this alone andyou’ll lose. You know I play to win, always.” He never lied. Not once in the two years they’d been together had Aiken ever lied to her, about anything. As far as relationships go that might have been considered a terrific feat. In the track record of Mel’s life, it was a miracle.
“This is my livelihood, Aiken. I need this. You don’t.”
He moved and she watched in what felt like a tranceas his fingers touched her hair.
“Trust me, Melody. We all need this vampire caught and dealt with as quickly as possible. I wouldn’t ask you to change your hunting plans if that weren’t true.”
The plan was the road map, it was the carefully considered steps that would lead to the payday. That’s what Aiken taught her the first day she started working as a Collector. Any deviation fromthe plan could delay the payday and give a competitor the advantage, unless the deviation terminated the target as it had on their last hunt together.
“I know what you’re thinking.” His fingers moved easily from her hair to brush along her chin. “Just like that night, this deviation is necessary. It’ll save millions of lives. Trust me.”
Aiken was right about her attempting to leave, hewould track her the same way she planned to track her target and if she wasn’t cooperating with him, he’d probably take the target and she’d never get paid. What harm could it do just to go with him? To see what his plan was? As long as she got her money in the end, that was all that mattered. She could walk away from him again, just like she had eighty years ago. She could and she would, there wasno doubt about that in her mind.
“Fine. But I’m driving my car.” She swatted his hand away from her face and touched her thumb to the lock, listening for the second it disengaged, and she could open the door.
The sound of his laughter set off a pulse of desire that swirled through her body like a storm. Damn, she hated him and this stupid attraction between them that wouldn’t die.
“Of course, you’re driving your car. Always obstinate, but still sexy as hell in the process. That’s my Mel.”
He walked away before she could correct him, so she yanked the car door shut instead. She wasn’t his “Mel.” Not anymore. And when she pulled off to follow the black truck he’d gotten into, she reminded herself again that her heart wasn’t breaking because of that fact.
