Eve looked at her once-broken finger. It was fully healed now, with no bruising or swelling to bear witness to the injury. If only her psyche could be set right so easily. There were some things a person shouldn’t have to experience. Tidal waves on roofs, attacks by ghoulish creatures, and being suspended fifty-three feet above the ground were some of them.
“Got your keys?” Alec asked.
“Yep.”
As they passed Mrs. Basso’s door, it opened. She took in their appearances with one wide, sweeping glance. “You look like drowned rats.”
“I feel like one,” Eve muttered, though she managed a tight smile.
“What the hell were you doing if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Uh . . . surfing?”
“With those clothes on?”
“It was spontaneous.”
Mrs. Basso looked at Alec, who shrugged. She shook her head. “Young people these days. I get worn out just thinking about your courtship rituals. Whatever happened to drugstore chocolate shakes and drive-in movies?”
Eve laughed softly. Mrs. Basso reminded her that life was normal for some people. She wanted to feel that way again, if only for a short time. “I’m worn out, too, so you’re not alone. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Mr. Cain,” Mrs. Basso said. “Could I talk to you a moment?”
Alec’s brows rose, but he nodded. “Sure. Let me get out of these clothes.”
“Of course.”
“Want to come over in about five minutes?”
Mrs. Basso glanced at Eve, who got the impression that she shouldn’t be around when Mrs. Basso talked to Alec.
“I’m going to take a long, hot bath,” Eve said, moving to her condo. It was ironic that she would want to sit in water after days of being soaked with it, but she couldn’t imagine a faster way to warm up.
Once she was inside the sanctity and comfort of her home, she began to strip her way down the hall. She opened the louvered doors that hid the laundry alcove and shoved her wet clothes into the washing machine. A low whistle turned her head. Alec stood at the end of the hallway where it emptied into the living room. If the heat of his gaze had been less than tangible, she might have been embarrassed at her blatant display of nak*dness. She was certain Mrs. Basso’s likening of her appearance to a drowned rat was apt.
His voice came low and husky. “Your place has a great view.”
“You got a thing for wet rodents?”
“I’ve got a thing for you. Hot, wet, and nak*d.”
“Charmer.” Her voice was come-hither husky. “No way you can start and finish anything in less than five minutes.”
A slow, lazy smile curved his mouth. “I can make your bathwater safe.”
She sighed. “That’s not as sexy as what I was thinking.”
“Hold that thought.” He approached with the sultry stride she’d always drooled over. Catching her elbow, he led her through her bedroom to the bathroom, which was separated from the sleeping area by her closets. There, her sunken whirl pool tub waited to froth her worries away.
If only it could be so easy.
Alec plugged the drain, turned the taps, and blessed the water. Eve found herself swaying to the lulling cadence of his words.
“You better hop in,” he drawled when the tub was full and he was done, “before you fall asleep standing up.”
“Shouldn’t the mark cure exhaustion?”
“Sleep reminds us that we’re not invincible.”
“Whatever.”
He kissed the tip of her nose and cupped her bare breast. “You need to move out to the boonies,” he whispered, the pad of his thumb brushing over her taut nipple. “No meddling neighbors.”
“I’ll get right on that. But she’s not a meddler. She just worries.”
Smiling, he left her and she sank into the steaming water with a sigh of relief. The sight of the cross hanging off the adjacent showerhead made her grumpy so she closed her eyes. A few moments later she heard a knock at the front door, a sound that would have been impossible to detect before having her super hearing.
The vague whisper of subdued voices reached her ears. She concentrated hard, trying to hone in on the individual syllables. The Change was like putting a stethoscope to her ears.
“Mr. Basso saw it on TV one night a year or so ago,” Mrs. Basso was saying, “and he started a monthly subscription. Now that he’s gone, I have no use for them.”
“I don’t understand,” Alec murmured.
“Take the box.” Eve heard something rattle as it exchanged hands. “You’re a fit young man, but swimming with your clothes on at night . . . and that business in the carport . . .”
Mrs. Basso cleared her throat. “Oh, this is terrible. I should learn to leave well enough alone.”
Again the rattle came, like beans in a jar, and Eve frowned.
“Male enhancement?” Alec croaked.
Eve sat up so fast, water sloshed over the rim of the tub.
“The walls are thin,” Mrs. Basso muttered. “A couple nights ago . . . No man can keep that pace indefinitely.”
The silence from Alec was deafening. Eve bit her lip. He was speechless, and she was going to burst.
“You can’t be any more embarrassed than I am,” Mrs. Basso said. “Hear me out and I promise never to interfere again. Women with drive make the best wives, my late husband used to say. I know it can be exhausting, though, and intimidating. Just don’t give her up without a fight. Don’t give up, period. You’ll never find another girl like Evangeline.”
“I know.” Despite how low Alec’s voice was, Eve heard it clear as day. Her throat tightened and her eyes stung.
She grabbed her terry-cloth-covered inflatable headrest and leaned back with her eyes closed. Fact was, life wasn’t bad when you had good friends, which brought her best friend, Janice, to mind.
Eve hoped her trip to Europe was fulfilling its purpose. They had both spent a year bitching about feeling stagnant. First, they’d blamed it on a lack of good men. Then, they’d realized that was just a tried-and-true excuse for the real problem—themselves. Janice had decided a complete change of scene would give her a new perspective and as a bartender, she could easily take her livelihood with her. Eve had said her job prevented her from going, but that wasn’t entirely true. She just hadn’t known how to break the news to her parents, and the idea of backpacking seemed so far out of line with her desire to put down roots.
“Hey.” Alec’s voice penetrated her thoughts at the same moment she registered the shutting off of the spa jets.
She blinked sleepily up at him. “Hmm?”
“You have to get out, angel.” He reached for her. “You’ve been in here so long, your skin is pruning. Considering you’re a Mark, that’s saying something.”
“What?”
“You fell asleep.” He plucked her out of the deep tub as if she was a child, heedless of how her wet body soaked his boxers. He was nak*d otherwise, and mouthwatering. She knew she had to be half dead with exhaustion, because her super libido could only manage a slight twitch of interest.
“Figures,” she muttered.
He set her down on the rug and scrubbed her down with a towel.
“You’re good at this baby-sitting stuff,” she said. “Do this often?”
The question was only partly teasing. She did wonder if he’d cared for another woman with such tenderness before.
“Only for tasty Asian babes.” He tossed the towel in the hamper.
She stepped back and eyed him. Long muscular legs, taut abdomen, beautifully delineated biceps, and a thick, weighty bulge in his drawers. She licked her lips. “Where’s that male-enhancement stuff?”
His arms crossed. “Excuse me?”
“Think it’ll work on me?”
Alec smiled. “You don’t have the necessary parts.”
“Oh yeah? Why don’t you ask your parts if they think my parts are necessary or not? They might disagree.”
“You’re barely standing.”
“I can lie down.”
He tossed her over his shoulder. She almost protested, then pushed his boxers down instead and admired his flexing buttocks. He swatted her ass. “Behave.”
“You like me naughty,” she said, tossing his earlier words back at him.
“I like you awake, too.”
Eve sighed. “Technicalities.”
Alec tossed her on the bed and she bounced lightly. Catching the edge of the blankets, he covered her and kissed the tip of her nose. “Good night, angel.”
“Where are you going?” She yawned.
“To bed.”
“I’ve got one of those.”
He tugged up his boxers. “You won’t get any sleep if I join you and you need the rest. We have a conference call with Raguel tomorrow.”
She snorted and curled into her pillow. “I’m taking tomorrow off.”
“No such thing.”
“Watch me.”
As he closed the door, she heard him chuckling.
“Smells awesome.”
As he fried bacon, Alec smiled at the sound of Eve’s voice. He glanced back her, finding her dressed in her red kimono robe and wearing a towel on her head. “There’s coffee in the pot.”
“Will I get a buzz off it?”
“Nope.”
“Good thing I like the taste of it, then.”
She padded barefoot to the coffeemaker, poured herself a cup, and moved over to one of the stools on the opposite side of the island. He’d set the newspaper there and she immediately spread it out and began reading.
“After breakfast,” he said, “we need to call Raguel.”
“I told you, I’m taking the day off.”
“Don’t be stubborn.” He set down the fork he was using to flip the bacon. “This is bigger than you and me now, angel.”
“Because we couldn’t smell them?”
“Or see their details. If there’s a new faction somewhere operating completely outside the rest of the system, every firm needs to know.”
Her lips pursed. “You can handle the talk with Gadara without me.”
“Talk to me.”
Eve looked up from the paper. She looked faultless, refreshed, and alert, but the lack of shadows under her eyes didn’t hide the fact that she was weary. “I need a break, Alec. Just for a few hours, at least.”
She let the paper rest on the counter. “I need some time to be normal. For my own sanity. Think about the last two weeks of my life, okay?”
“I understand.”
“Do you?” Her slender fingers drummed atop the newsprint-covered granite. “Then handle Gadara by yourself. There’s nothing I can add to what you’re going to tell him.”
“Fine.” He turned back to the bacon and tried to hide his volatile response to her withdrawal. All morning long, he’d been whistling with contentment. The concern over the tengu and the possible rippling effect their existence would have over every facet of the mark system gave him a feeling of anticipation. Surely a new firm would be needed, and he had the only known hands-on experience with this new threat.
But Eve was unhappy and possibly scared. She had a right to feel both of those emotions. And he was an a**hole for thinking only of himself.
“You’re angry,” she said.
“Not with you.”
Silence followed. He continued browning the bacon and set to work on frying eggs. In another pan, he made pancakes. Behind him, he heard the rustle of flipping newspaper pages. It was a quiet domestic scene, but the intimacy he craved was lacking and sorely missed.
“There’s a story in the paper about a series of animal mutilations,” she murmured. “There’s speculation that they’re ritualistic.”
“Then they probably are.”
“I figured. And the fact that the latest animal—a Great Dane—was found in the back of a Gehenna Masonry pickup truck can’t be coincidence, because there’s no so such thing as coincidence, right?”
Alec turned off the gas burners and moved to the island. He read the story over her shoulder. The Orange County Register was covering the latest ultimate fight at the Upland Sports Arena. Lower down the page was the mention of a recent spate of dog mutilations and killings in the area. Two animal carcasses had been found in the arena parking lot just a week before—one of them had been found in the back of a Gehenna truck left in the lot overnight due to some construction the company was doing.
“I smell a rat,” he said.
“I smell breakfast,” she retorted, “and I’m hungry.”
He pressed his lips to the crown of her head. “Yes, Your Highness.”
Returning to the stove, Alec finished up the cooking, filled two plates, and brought them back to the island.
Eve looked at her overflowing plate. “You’re going to make me fat.”
He smiled. “Don’t eat what you don’t want.”
“I want all of it.”
“I’ll help you work it off.”
“How generous of you.”
“I’m here to serve.”
And that was the true crux of the matter, he realized as he stabbed at the yolk of one over-medium egg. He couldn’t serve God’s needs, his needs, and Eve’s needs at the same time. Something had to give.
He found himself wishing that she would learn to like the mark, so he could have it all. Then he thought of the night before and remembered the terror he had felt as he watched her being swept over the side of the roof. If he’d been capable of having a heart attack, he would have had one.
“I think I’m going to take Mrs. Basso to the movies today,” Eve pronounced before munching on a piece of crunchy bacon, “while you’re talking to Gadara. The theater is away from water and far from the tengu building. I need a price on my head before anyone else can take a crack at me, right? So it should be nice and uneventful.”