Damn, he was cute. Lara set her glass on the coaster. "You're not thirsty?"
"No, I'm fine, thank you."
It seemed odd that he never joined her for a drink.
She glanced at the window. "I've never seen such heavy-duty shutters in a residence before. They look industrial strength."
"They cut out the noise from the city."
"That's for sure. It's as quiet as a tomb in here."
He rubbed his whiskered jaw. "You could say that." His gaze shifted to Lara with an intense look. "I missed you."
Her throat tightened. "You could have called."
"I've been trying to resist you."
"Trying? I would say you were entirely successful." Lara slapped herself mentally. She was sounding too needy. She waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. "Not that it matters. I was avoiding you, too."
He regarded her sadly. "That was wise of you."
"Why? Are you involved with someone else?"
"No." He touched her hair. "After meeting you, how could I want anyone else?"
She gulped. Did he really mean that, or was he just a smooth talker? She shoved her hair behind her shoulders and out of his reach. "This is a professional call."
"I see. How can I help you?"
"Where were you last night?"
His eyebrows rose. "Are you working a case?"
"Yes." She lowered her gaze to her clenched hands in her lap. Now she felt like a heel. "A college girl disappeared last night. She may have been kidnapped. And it looks like someone altered her friends' memories."
"And you suspect me?" he asked quietly.
"I don't-" She swallowed hard at the lump constricting her throat. "I don't want to, but you're the only one I know who can manipulate minds like that." She cast a nervous glance his way. "Are there others who can do it?"
"Merda," he muttered, his brow creasing with a scowl.
"Tell me there are others. Tell me you have an alibi."
"Do you really believe I would kidnap a young woman?" He tossed her purse on the coffee table, then scooted closer to her.
She stiffened. "What are you doing?"
"If you think I'm a criminal, you obviously don't know me well enough." He scooped her onto his lap.
"Stop it." She tried to wiggle off his lap, but he held her tight. "You could get in big trouble for hindering an investigation-"
"Lara," he interrupted her, gazing fiercely into her eyes. "I was at work last night."
"At Romatech Industries?"
"Yes. We celebrate Mass there on Saturday night. There was a reception afterward." He gritted his teeth. "About thirty people were there, if you wish to question them."
"I-I'll do that." She couldn't find a place to set her hands other than his chest or shoulders. "You had a church service at work?"
"Yes. Father Andrew comes every Saturday night. Our... enemies know about it. They've attacked before, so I had to be there to provide security."
Enemies? That sounded over the top. But on the other hand, if Jack was at church, he couldn't be involved with Vanessa's disappearance. It looked like her prayers had been answered. "What about the mind manipulation??
His frown deepened. "There are others with the ability."
"Friends?"
"Yes." His eyes hardened, the gold glinting with anger. "And enemies."
Gooseflesh skittered down Lara's arms. Friends and enemies with mind-control power? She shivered, suddenly feeling like she was teetering on a precipice, about to fall.
He touched her cheek. "This is shocking to me."
"Tell me about it." What on earth was she getting into? She tried to make sense of everything, but it was hard to think with him touching her and looking at her so fiercely.
He skimmed his fingers along her jaw. "I'm... stunned by how much it hurts for you to think ill of me."
She swallowed hard. "I didn't want to. It was making me sick. I-I didn't want to believe it."
"Then don't." He raked his hands into her hair.
"I want to trust you, Jack." But it was damned hard when his eyes were taking on a reddish glow.
"You can." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
CHAPTER 9
He must have turned masochistic in his old age. How else could he rage with desire for a woman who suspected him of being a criminal? Jack molded his mouth against Lara's, easing her lips apart so he could invade her with his tongue.
He rubbed his hands down her back. Mine. Santo cielo, he was becoming possessive. Possessive to the point that common sense no longer made sense. So what if they were wrong for each other? So what if every affair he'd had in the past had come to a terrible end? He no longer cared. She was Lara, and he had to have her.
He stroked her tongue with his own, and a surge of joy shot through him as she grabbed his shoulders and kissed him back. Yes! She wanted him, too.
"Lara." He dusted her face with kisses. Her cheeks, her brow, the little freckles on her nose. "Cara mia."
"Jack." She delved her hands into his hair. "I-I shouldn't let you."
"Don't be afraid," he whispered against her temple.
"But... you have strange powers."
"The better to love you with." He drew her earlobe into his mouth and suckled.
He knew from experience that a Vamp's saliva tended to make a woman more sensitive and titillated, but it usually required some mind control to work, and Lara was immune to that. He tickled her neck with his tongue.
She moaned.
He grew hard. She was so glorious, so responsive. Even without a mental connection, her body reacted to him as if... as if they belonged together.
He ran his hand down her hip to her thigh and squeezed.
"Mmm." She wiggled closer to him.
He winced as her hip rubbed against his erection. He'd reached the limit of how much torture he could bear.
"Time out." He shifted her lovely rump onto the couch beside him, so she was lounging sideways with her head resting against the side cushion and her legs draped across his thighs. Her pink tint warned him that his eyes were still red. He turned his face away from her and circled a hand around her ankle.
"I saw your eyes, Jack," she whispered. "They're glowing and red."
"I know." He massaged her delicate ankle bone. "It's a sign of how much I want you."
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I want to know your secret. Who are you?"
He closed his eyes briefly "Nine circles of hell. I'd tell you if I could."
She groaned. "This is so frustrating. At least tell me what's the deal with the nine circles of hell?"
"It's an old habit." He took her hand and stroked her fingers with his own. "When I was a young lad in Venice, my tutor was an old priest. He taught me to read with Dante's Divine Comedy. It starts with Inferno and the nine circles of hell."
She grimaced. "What a strange choice of reading material for a child."
He laced his fingers with hers. "Father Giovannni was trying to scare me into being good. He didn't want me to follow in my father's footsteps."
She gave him a wry smile. "Did it work?"
He smiled back. "Unfortunately, I found the descriptions of Inferno more interesting than Paradiso."
"Well, most kids would. It's the literary equivalent of a horror movie. So nine circles, huh? That's a lot of hell."
"According to Father Giovanni, there are a lot of sinners."
She snorted. "What a fun teacher. So which of the nine circles is waiting for your untimely demise?"
The question caught him by surprise. After living two hundred years, Jack no longer gave much thought to death. And that was a mistake. He could always die in battle with the Malcontents. And then, what would happen to his immortal soul?
Would he prove Father Giovanni right and end up in Inferno? He'd killed before, but only in self-defense. He'd fed off women, but he'd always tried to repay the favor. When it came to sin, only one loomed before him that he couldn't possibly deny.
"Jack." She squeezed his hand. "You look so serious. I was only joking."
He met her gaze. His vision was no longer tinted red. Nothing like thoughts of eternal damnation to kill the mood. "I would go to the second circle, and there, I would spend eternity, being tossed to and fro by a violent storm."