Borrowed Souls (Soul Charmer #1)(37)

Heat coiled low in her belly. Did he have to say “fucking”? Her audible inhale made him smile wider.

“Calm down. No harm, no foul.”

“It-it-it wasn’t a thank you.”

He nodded, but she didn’t know if he really believed her. “Then I suppose I owe you one. Haven’t been kissed like that in some time.”

Heat flooded her face so quickly there was no way to quell it. Derek brushed the backs of his fingers over his cheek. “I like your sweetness.”

Callie hadn’t been a sweet person in a long time, but trying to form the words necessary to argue was futile at this point. “Should we get out of here?” Oh, Lord, she hadn’t meant it like that.

He let the implication slide. “Tempting, but I still need to talk to Bianca. She’ll know what Tess is up to.”

The change of subject gave Callie’s insides a chance to galvanize. “Where is she?”

“Haven’t seen her yet, but she’ll be here.”

His confidence elicited goose bumps on Callie’s skin. She didn’t rub them away. No need to invite attention to bared flesh. Not when her body was still reliving the pure power of kissing Derek.

“So, you want to tell me about—”

No. God no. It didn’t matter which way he finished the question—your connection to the mob, why that dick was acting like you’re a whore, how often you go for hot-and-heavy kisses at the bar—she did not want to answer it. “What’s Bianca look like?”

He furrowed his brow and stared down at her. The embers of the heated gaze from before were there, smoldering, but now he was measuring her again. Whether it was for the best, he let her off the hook. “Little shorter than you, black hair down to her ass, red lips.”

The lust warming her neck sank like a rancid meatball to the pit of her stomach. “Sounds like you know her well.” Probably intimately.

His amused huff didn’t do much for Callie. “She’s worked at Tess’s massage joint since before Tess owned it.” He frowned, and then mumbled, “Or before we knew she ran it.”

Could the alternative healing community be so big as to keep such secrets? Callie could ask Jackie. Her cousin, one of Aunt Lily’s kids, was in the business. If roping another family member into the depths of her problems wasn’t a terrible idea, she could also ask her about Tess. Instead she asked Derek, “What do we know about her? Tess, I mean.”

“Not enough.”

She liked his simple answers, but only when he gave them to other people. Had her sexual faux pas put her back into the stranger category? She should want to be there. Distance was smart, whereas Derek was trouble.

Fuck it. She liked courting trouble. “That’s not all that helpful.”

He cracked a smile, and rapped his knuckles against her beer. “She’s never rented souls before. She just snatches parts of ones still in people’s bodies. Or she did last time she was working Gem City. Best we could tell she did it for her own high and just used the souls herself instead of pawning them.”

Callie couldn’t even start to process that. It must have shown because Derek added, “You need a few more of those to be able to handle more knowledge.”

“Maybe I’m a lightweight.” She took a hearty swig.

His laugh was a deep rumble that calmed her like a double of whiskey. As if he’d heard them talking about drinks, the bartender sat two fresh bottles behind them on the bar. Callie reached for her wallet, but Derek’s light touch on her wrist stilled the motion.

“I got it,” she said, as if she had more than a lonely twenty in her wallet. She needed to quit knocking the beers back, because she’d need groceries before pay day, and owing Derek only made her look more like the kind of woman she didn’t want to be. Plus, this was work. What if the Charmer tacked her bar bill onto her indentured servitude? She liked the Derek part of the gig, but the rest scared the shit out of her. The sooner she was done with the Soul Charmer, the better.

“No. Bartender’s thanking us for getting that dickhead out of here.”

She nodded toward their server. He didn’t stop pouring, but inclined his head in kind. “Okay then.”

“But, doll, you’re already in a bad sitch, so you’re going to let me buy.”

“I don’t like owing people.”

He pulled back like she’d slapped him. “I’m not my boss. This ain’t a negotiation. You’re a hot girl out with me. I buy. No questions.”

She bit her lip.

“What?”

The instinct to clear the deck reared. Did he think they were on even ground? Did she? She swallowed the urge. “Thank you.” Funny how hard those two words were when you really meant them.

Lounging at the bar and watching the belly dancers begin to pull random patrons from their seats lulled Callie back into her earlier reverie. Mostly. There weren’t souls to retrieve tonight. Only her obligation to the Charmer required her to be out with Derek. Though, the confusing kiss was totally non-obligatory. She vowed to make herself useful tonight, though, in the name of shaking off her nerves. Now she, like Derek, eyed the crowd for a resource. She took in the shaking hips—some far superior to others—keeping an eye out for a signature red lip and dark hair. Men used black to describe every shade of very dark hair. The woman could have a rich brown or a so-black-it’s-blue hue. In the southwest both were plentiful, so the makeup was going to be her cue.