“Just trust me, okay. You get Asmodeus to show up, and we’ll see if the emissary passes the news onto Satan so that he can show up.”
“You’re not going to rest until I’m insane, right?” Tilting his head, Reed pressed his lips to hers. The kiss started out short and sweet, but swiftly heated. When he straightened, she made a small sound of protest.
“You owe me,” he said. “Dinner. Hot dress. No underwear. High heels.”
“You’re a pig.”
“Can’t help it. I think I’m in love. Why else would I agree to this shit?”
He shifted away before she could reply. She sat there for a moment, considering. Another tall, dark figure filled the doorway to her office.
Alec came in with a mug of hot coffee and set it on her desk. From the café au lait appearance, she knew he’d fixed it perfectly. From the look on his face, she knew he’d heard Reed’s declaration.
“Good morning,” he said.
“To you, too.” She lifted the mug. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” He managed a ghost of a smile. “I thought I’d come over early. Get the day started.”
“You’re always Welcome here.”
He moved to the futon. “I followed your orders. Looks like I’m too valuable to kill.”
“I could have told you that.” She smiled against the rim of her cup.
“But I would lose the firm.”
Eve swallowed a mouthful of perfectly creamed coffee, then set her mug down. “I’m sorry. I know how much you wanted it.”
Alec sat back and crossed his arms. “I want you, too. Can’t have both, so something’s got to give.”
She knew what that was like.
He sat with widespread legs, his booted feet resting flat on the carpeted floor. His jeans were worn in all the right places and the arms of his T-shirt stretched around gorgeous biceps. He hadn’t aged a day in the ten years since she’d first seen him.
“You’re not upset?” She studied him for hints of underlying disappointment or frustration.
“You know I’m not doing well with it,” he said gruffly. “I have to be collared like a dog to get a grip on myself.”
“Did you talk about that to whoever you went to see last night?”
Alec shook his head.
“Why not?”
“I thought he might change his mind and decide to knock me out of commission after all.”
Eve stood and moved to sit beside him. She set her hand on his thigh. “What is it with men not wanting to ask for help?”
“I’ve been asking for years, angel. No one’s talking.” His foot tapped restlessly atop the carpet. “For a long time there’s been speculation that my mother was unfaithful and the result was me.”
“Do you believe that?”
He glanced aside at her. “You won’t tell me about the necklace, and I couldn’t get anything out of my parents either. It’s never good when you can’t get answers. If there was nothing to worry about, there’d be nothing to hide.”
“Alec.” She squeezed his leg, which was like stone beneath her hand. “What are you thinking?”
“You said this necklace suppresses Infernal traits, and the ugliness inside me shuts up when I wear it. What does that tell you?”
“That you think you’re half-demon?”
“It’s not like my mom had a lot of choice in men back then,” he said dryly. He leaned into her. “Maybe the ascension triggered some repressed asshole genetics. What if they can’t be locked up again? Like Pandora’s Box or something. I’d be too great a threat to keep around.”
Wrapping her arms around him, Eve pressed her lips to his forehead. The scent of his skin and the feel of him beside her was familiar and beloved. “I don’t know the answer to your question.”
“I can see that,” he said, reminding her that if she didn’t work actively to keep him out of her mind he had free access to everything.
She pushed him out, gently but firmly. “If there’s a story there, it’s not mine to tell. And I don’t want secrets like that between us.”
Alec slid an arm between her and the futon, then tugged her into his lap. “I don’t want anything between us. I want to fix us. You and me.”
“Are we broken?”
“Abel slipped into a crack, so we must be.”
“You wanted this promotion. My understanding is that you had to bargain for it, probably with unfavorable terms for you. Don’t give it up for me. I want you to be happy.”
“I’m unhappy without you. We’ll get Raguel back, and life will return to the way it was before and I’ll be okay with that. More than okay.”
“Are you sure?”“Completely.”
The phone rang. Eve scrambled off his lap and returned to her desk, picking up the cordless handset. “Hello?”
“Ms. Hollis. Detective Ingram here.”
“Good morning, Detective.”
“Your secretary told me you wouldn’t be in the office today. It was your boyfriend’s car that was in that big wreck yesterday on Harbor, right? Shortly after you left the station?”
“His car was in a wreck, yes. Fortunately, neither of us was in it and he has good insurance.” She rushed forward, waylaying any further questions on the matter. “I know you need the rest of my statement, but you still have my car.”
“If you’re up to it, we’ll come to you. The first forty-eight hours after a disappearance are crucial, Ms. Hollis. You might have information we can use and not realize it.”
“When would be a good time for you?”
“My partner and I could come by in about an hour and a half, if that’s okay.”
“That’s fine. See you then.” She hung up and returned the receiver to its base. She looked at Alec. “Visitors in ninety minutes.”
“You couldn’t put them off?”
“They’re all over me. If I delay any longer, it might get ugly.”
Asmodeus had already stated his desire for the cleanest extraction possible. If he was coming, he’d wait until the coast was clear.
“Angel—”
Eve stood. “You’ll know what to do when the time comes.”
“I hate this,” he growled, rising in a fluid ripple of power. “I hate not knowing when to duck.”
“You love it,” she retorted, stepping close enough to set one hand on the taut muscles of his abdomen. “Unpredictability is your forte.”
“I’ve had enough of that the last few weeks.” Alec caught her hand and moved it over his heart. “I’m ready for stability.”
“Haven’t you noticed that I’m normalcy- challenged? Chaos reigns in my life. If I’m your best shot at stability, you’re in trouble.”
He grinned. “Don’t I know it.”
* * *
The police arrived before an hour had passed. Eve suspected they’d done so as a way to keep her unnerved.
Montevista and Sydney rode the elevator down with her and Alec, but they separated on the ground floor. The guards headed toward the open-air courtyard where the pool was. Eve and Alec went to the glass entrance door and let the detectives in.
“I hope you don’t mind that we’re early.” Jones said as they stepped into the foyer. He was sporting an avocado green suit and the grimly assessing gaze she was getting too familiar with. “We were in the neighborhood.”
Ingram shook Eve’s hand with a palm made cold and wet by the chilled water bottle he carried. He shot a sidelong glance at her when he greeted Alec the same way, betraying his dubious view of her dual boyfriend situation.
“I see firemen around the building,” Jones noted. “What’s going on?”
“Suspected gas leak on one of the floors,” she lied, becoming irritated when her mark burned.
Is that really necessary? she complained, with a glare sent skyward. It’s a white lie.
“Should we go somewhere else?” Ingram asked.
“My floor is clear, but we can sit in the courtyard.” She gestured in that direction and they moved ahead of her. She and Alec exchanged glances.
They gathered around a circular glass patio table, one of the few that lacked an umbrella since the temperature was cool and the sun warm. The pool was being topped off. A small spigot released a stream of tap water, raising the water level. The tinkling sound created a tranquil atmosphere. Eve deliberately chose a seat that kept her back to a planter bordering a wall. Montevista and Sydney, professionals that they were, were inconspicuous.
Jones was lugging around the briefcase Eve had come to dread. He set it on the pebbled cement and withdrew her unfinished statement. After pushing it across the table toward her, he leaned back in the cushioned metal chair.
“I’ve been going over our previous discussions,” he said.
Eve picked up the pen he provided. “Yes?”
“And I think—”
A burst of crimson. A scattering of black feathers. Alec’s chair rocked back onto its rear legs before toppling him completely. The gun’s report echoed.
He was sprawled across the patio before anyone registered the ambush.
***
Reed was waiting at Sara’s desk when she came in. Her dangerously short pinstriped skirt was paired with a fitted white dress shirt and four-inch stilettos that matched her red lipstick. The length of leg exposed and the lack of a bra weren’t lost on him, but neither did they impress.
She paused just inside the threshold, eyeing him warily. “Abel. What are you doing?”
He smiled. The chair he occupied was angled parallel to the length of the desk. His right arm draped along it, his fingers drumming into the stained walnut top. “Didn’t I tell you that showing that video to Evangeline would be counterproductive?”
She stepped closer, her gaze moving to the computer monitor. She saw that the “sent” folder of her e-mail client was on display and murmured, “You go too far.”