Alex looked up and said, “Tia volunteered to babysit.”
“For the honor of computer lessons,” Tia finished, smiling coyly. Yeah, she knew what she was doing to the Kid. But he was nineteen and able to send her away if he wanted to. And they both knew his brother’s rules. No visits with any of Katie’s Ladies until Alex was twenty-one.
“Big Evan is driving around the city, listening for Molly,” the Kid said.
Weird things happened when I took naps, even unexpected naps.
The side door opened, rousing me, fully, and Big Evan came in. He looked worn and wan and dejected. Pretty much how I felt. “Anything?” I asked, realizing that I had been dozing with my mouth open. I checked my lips for drool and thankfully found none. I just hoped the Kid hadn’t taken a photo.
“No. I drove all over the city, but I couldn’t pick up anything. You?”
“Leo said a lot of nothing last night, but claims he doesn’t know where Mol is. And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have her.”
Evan shook his head and slumped up the stairs, even his footsteps sounding dejected.
Angie turned in my lap and craned her face up at me. “Daddy’s worried about Mama.”
My heart flipped over. How did I answer this? “I know, honey.”
“Mama’s coming back. Right?”
I forced the horror and fear and worry down deep inside. I had made promises to my godchild before and been able to keep them, but this time . . . This time felt different. “I’m—” I stopped, the words strangling. “I’m searching for her,” I managed. “I’m trying to find her.”
“Good.” Angelina pulled Ka Navista from the crack in the couch and tucked the doll into the crook of her arm. The doll looked frazzled and tattered and much loved, the long black hair tangled. To the doll she said, “My aunt Jane can do anything.” My heart turned over and went flat, as if the life had been sucked out of me. I looked away and batted my eyes to keep the tears away.
“I’ll do my very, very, very best,” I whispered.
Beast butted my soul with her head. Will find Molly kit-mother. Will kill ones who took her. She flexed her claws into me; the pain shocked the fear and worry away.
Okay. Yeah. We’ll find Molly, I thought back, feeling inexplicably better.
“We’re gonna have company.” Angie crawled from my lap and sat in the corner of the couch, watching the doll with determined, hopeful eyes.
And then I heard the bike. It had the high-pitched whine of a Kawasaki. And it was heading our way. Despite my lingering worry and pain, heat bloomed from my middle, flamed up my torso, and folded itself over my shoulders while settling low in my abdomen. It was like being embraced by a big-cat, as Beast’s interest fluctuated and changed.
The bike was familiar. It slowed in the street. And puttered close to the house.
Angie looked at the opening to the foyer, the front door, and the stairs, where her father had gone, and whispered, “I let the wards down.”
“You let . . .” I stopped. Angie could manipulate her father’s wards? Did he know? I had a feeling that he didn’t.
The Kawasaki bike went silent. I stood and looked down at myself. Jeans. Navy T-shirt. Killer boots. I walked to the repaired door, hope joining the warmth that sat deep inside. A knock came. A familiar tat-a-tat-tat. I dropped my head against the jamb for a moment, fighting my smile, and when I was sure I had it under control, I opened the door.
CHAPTER 13
You Gonna Invite Me In?
He stood as tall as me in his black Frye boots. Black jeans, a short-sleeved black tee, his black leather riding jacket hanging on the Kow-bike. His hair was longer than I had ever seen it, finger-combed and looking even darker than its usual black, damp from the helmet. I could smell gun oil, spicy aftershave, cigar. And his cat.
“Let’s go for a late lunch,” Rick said, leaning in, supporting his weight on his arms, high, to either side of the door, stretching up to show his biceps and the damaged tattoos there. And pulling his T-shirt against pecs and abs. Oh my . . . “You can call Tom for an intro. Fair warning, though. He’ll tell you I’m trouble.”
My breath hitched to a stop. They were nearly the same words he’d used to ask me on our first date. “Yeah,” I drawled, no longer holding in my reaction to him, leaning closer. “’Bout that. I know you’re trouble, Ricky Bo.”
His teeth flashed in a smile, his crooked bottom teeth pushing on his lip. “But I’m worth it, babe. Besides, even if I didn’t make you crazy . . .” He leaned farther in, bringing his mouth near mine. “I have info you want.”
I rested a hip against the door and considered, feeling my insides melt under his black-eyed gaze, his breath warm on my neck and jaw. “You let your hair grow,” I said, wanting to touch it, to touch him.
Rick canted to the side, resting on the outside jamb, stretching even closer, so we were only a fraction of an inch apart. I could feel the warmth of his body, and his scent grew even stronger, jungle nights, heat, cat, and man. “My current job,” he said, “doesn’t have a dress code when I’m in the field.”
“You on a job now?” I asked.
“Yeah. I got a party tonight at Leo’s.” His lips grew fractionally closer. “You gonna be there?”
I stood up and backed away. “Yeah. Lemme get this straight. You got an invite to vamp HQ for the gather?”
Rick laughed shortly. “He didn’t tell you?”
“No, he didn’t tell me.”
Rick reached out a hand and pushed a stray wisp of hair behind my ear. His fingers were warm, werecat warm. I struggled not to lean in to his touch. “You gonna invite me in?” he murmured.
“Hey, Uncle Ricky Bo. You gonna kiss Aunt Jane?”
I tried not to laugh at the look on his face as he dropped his hand away from me. “Angelina?” he asked, his tone saying, What are you doing here?
“Uh-huh.” Angie tugged on my jeans until I dropped my hand, which she took. “We staying with Aunt Jane while my daddy looks for my mama. You gonna kiss her? ’Cause I wanna watch. You never did kiss her last time I was here.”
I snorted. Rick opened his mouth and closed it in a good imitation of a beached fish. “Uhhh.”
“No, Angie Baby,” I said. “Uncle Ricky Bo is taking me to lunch.”
A terrible thunder of running feet sounded at the top of the stairs. “Jane!” Evan shouted. “The wards!” He went silent when he saw us standing at the front door. Out of breath, he leaned over the railing, staring. “Son of a witch on a switch,” he whispered, the words explosive. “Angie?”
“Sure as heck wasn’t me,” I said. “I can’t touch your wards.”
“Me neither,” Rick said. “Come on, gorgeous. Let’s go eat.”
“But I wanna see you kiss her,” Angie said.
I picked up my sunglasses and keys where I’d dropped them on the way in this morning and closed the door on Angie’s curiosity and her father’s perplexity. Rick stopped me with an arm across my path, an arm that snaked around my neck and drew close. “I’ve missed you,” he growled.
Trying to keep the goofy grin off my face, I pushed him away enough to drape an arm around his waist. He nuzzled my neck as I pulled him down the street. “Feed me or lose me.”