Binding the Shadows (Arcadia Bell #3)(31)

“Need a ride, little girl?”

“Depends,” I said, stepping up to the car. “Where you going?”

His lazy gaze slid down my body. “Probably to hell. Wanna come?”

Why, yes—yes I did. And I was certain he could hear the zing of desire that went through me. “Sorry, my boyfriend doesn’t like sharing.”

“Is that so?”

“Besides, aren’t you kind of old for me? I’m not sure you could handle all this.”

“I have a feeling I could.” A breeze from his open sunroof lifted strands of golden brown hair. Good God, he was hot. Just beautiful, all golden and rugged, with those deep crescent hollows in his cheeks and his perpetually narrowed eyes. “And I don’t think I need permission to take what’s already mine.”

Goose bumps blossomed over my arms. “Did you miss me last night?”

“Get in the car.”

“In the front or back?”

He seemed to consider that for a moment as his gaze dropped to my breasts. They immediately felt swollen and overripe under his perusal. If he didn’t stop looking at me like that, I might bust a few seams in my borrowed top.

Then he said, “My seat goes all the way down.”

“What a coincidence. So do I.”

“Get in the car, Cady.” Oh, he was mad now. Not mad-mad, but impatient-mad, like he gets when I tease him too much.

I stood on tiptoes and leaned through the window to kiss him. It was just going to be a peck, but he tasted like the cinnamon gum he always chews, and I really did miss spending the night with him. Before I knew it, he was urging my lips apart—or maybe I was doing the urging, hard to tell—and his tongue was hot in my mouth, and I pretty much melted on the spot.

I didn’t care that pedestrians were doing double-takes as they strolled past on the sidewalk. I was ready to pull him through the window. But just when it started to get good, Lon pulled away. I moaned a complaint.

“That’s all you get,” he said, grasping my chin firmly with one hand. His voice was all deep and rough. “You think about it tonight when you’re trying to decide whether you want to sleep in your own bed or play nursemaid to Kar Yee.”

“No one at Kar Yee’s place is demanding I leave on account of my whorishness.”

“I like your whorishness. And that’s all taken care of. Situation fixed.”

I stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to tell me how. Did he have a talk with her? What was his idea of “fixed,” exactly? Probably not the same as mine. If she hated me even more now, I was going to be pissed at him. “What did you do?”

“Nothing you need to know about.”

“Try again.”

He sighed. “I had a little talk with her. Gave her some information that changed her mind. End of story.”

“What information? You didn’t use your transmutated knack on her, did you?”

“Nope.”

“Magick?”

“No magick. Can we drop it? I’ll tell you in good time.”

“Why not now?”

“Cady,” he pleaded.

“I know, I know. Get in the car.” He clearly wasn’t ready to share, so I dropped the subject for the time being and headed around the SUV to hop inside. He was wearing a jacket I loved, a fitted, softer-than-butter hazel-colored leather deal that was almost more green than brown in the sunlight. I could make out every bump and dip of arm muscle. The inside of the car was warm, the breeze from the sunroof cool. He turned down Thin Lizzy on the radio and offered me some valrivia, which I waved away.

“How is she?” he asked as he pulled out into traffic.

“Kar Yee? Much better. Bob’s healed her bones three times now. He says the brace can come off and she can do non-strenuous stuff, like actually leave her apartment. I think he’s going to try to take her somewhere today. He’s up there arguing with her now.”

“Bob spent the night?”

“Yeah, in a chair next to her bed. But after sleeping on her couch, I understand why. I’ve got a massive crick in my neck. Then again, that could be from my rooftop adventures. Guess what I did?”

He looked askance at me through squinty eyes. “Does it have to do with the paring knife you stole?”

“I can’t steal what’s already mine,” I said.

That got a slow smile out of him.

I sighed and gave him the lowdown about Priya, leaving out the whole first thing I remembered was your face remark. Having no experience dealing with a Hermeneus spirit, Lon wouldn’t understand their desire to serve. Even so, his reaction was less happy, more alarmed than I expected.

“Are you certain it was Priya and not some sort of demonic trickery?”

“Pretty positive.”

“I wish I could’ve been there to hear his emotions.”

“Maybe you can meet him when he reports back.”

Lon didn’t comment.

• • •

Noel Saint-Hill’s address was a half hour drive from Kar Yee’s place. The neighborhood was Richie Rich. Brand-new McMansions were squeezed into tiny plots of land between older homes. I hated when people did that—bought a house for the location and tore it down to build something that didn’t fit the neighborhood. What kind of person needs six bedrooms, a home gym, and a three-car garage? Apparently the Saint-Hills, as their four-story home was one of the new ones.