Games We Play (11 page)

He grabbed her other hand off the glass. “Dance with me while we wait for our food.”

“I didn’t order anything.”

“I did plan to share mine with you.” He held her close to his side as they made their way through the crowd and on to the dance floor and when they reached their destination he held her close in his arms. “Relax.”

Like a scared child attempting to pet a large dog she hesitated several times before laying her hands over his shoulders. “Are you doing this because you’re trying to prove something to Wes?”

“No, that would be petty and that’s not what I’m feeling right now.”

“What are you feeling right now?”

“I’m feeling like you should wear my shirts more often because there’s something unbelievably sexy about you in this large shirt.” He slid his hands down her back and over her hips, he pulled her closer that she had to look up to meet his eyes. “I want to kiss you and have it mean something.”  Her eyes darted away from his intense stare to something unimportant over his shoulder. “Sasha.”

Her eyes snapped back to his with alarm. “You can’t—”

He kissed her and that shut her right up. He was fully aware of what he could and couldn’t do, what he should and shouldn’t do but right now the 7Xs killer had no place in his train of thought or the assaulting desire burning across both their skin. He wasn’t forcing the situation or creating an attraction that wasn’t there. He tasted it every time they kissed and he heard it in the small gasp of breath as she kissed him back. Her hands on his shoulders closed into fists as she tugged at his shirt and pulled him closer to her heaving chest. He moved his hand from her hip up under the shirt and over the naked skin of her waist.

Last night’s kiss had caught her off guard and left her frozen in his arms but thankfully that wasn’t the case tonight. She kissed him back with the same passion coursing through his veins, each touch he laid across her body she was right there touching him back. A huge surge of gratification filled his heart as he knew now without a doubt she felt something back for him. He broke the kiss and moved his mouth along her ear. “I know this isn’t ideal but I want us to build on this.” He planted small kisses around her ear and temple.

“You’re crazy.”

“That wasn’t a no.”

“No, it wasn’t.” she rested her head across his chest for a short moment before looking up to his face. “We should talk about this, whatever it is, back
home
.” Her emphasis on the word home didn’t mean their rental down the street.

“I can work with that.”

Her smile was nervous again. “I need some air. Alone. I’ll be right back.”

Sasha followed the signs out to the back entrance to avoid the crowds out front. Her head was swimming with thought and after thought and a butt load of fear. She had been so sure Nick wasn’t serious with his newfound desire to flirt with her bu
t right there on
the dance floor she knew there was no laughing matter between them. He was stone cold serious and she knew that look on his face well enough to spot it genuinely.
Nicholas McBain likes me?
What the hell. She walked over to a stack of empty crates and sat on one as the air started to fill her lunges and stay there longer than a second. She chose to stop focusing on what Nick said and did and focused on what she had done. She kissed him back and liked every moment of it.

Saying this wasn’t ideal was the understatement of the year. They were smack dab in the middle of a very important murder investigation. It wasn’t the time to realize a year of arguing and personal battles to best each other was actually the lead into something she never saw coming.

Suddenly she thought of Pete and every time he expressed wanting their relationship to change and all the ways she wondered how it
could
change. Was this what her boss ha
d
been hinting at? It wasn’t a far stretch to believe Pete saw something before she and even Nick had. He was an eerie genius that way into the human psyche.

Ok, she thought it was time to accept it. She liked Nicholas right back. It wasn’t much work to look at him in a romantic sense, he was gorgeous, too smart at times, and caring when he needed to be. The last several days he could’ve been a jerk if he wanted t
o
o but instead he let his real heart show and that heart belonged to a good guy.

A bottle rolled past her feet and all her mushy inappropriate thoughts look a backseat. “Who’s there?” standing she looked around her surroundings and saw no one but trash dumps and blanket upon blanket of dark sky. Stupidly she had left the house with no weapon because it didn’t go with the Maggie persona. Screw that, next time she was going to make sure to bring her gun. She made up her mind to go back inside when a low voice broke through the darkness.

“Wake up Maggie I think I got something to say to you.  I know I keep you amused but I feel I’m being used. You stole my heart and that's what really hurt.” They were lyrics to the Rod Stewart song called
Maggie May
, what the real Maggie had been named after. The voice saying the words was raspy and haunting, he was trying to scare her and it was working.

The tears that stung her eyes were no act and they caught her off guard. She had been preparing for this from the moment Marla told her about the case, it was hoped she’d make contact with the killer but now as it was happening she was terrified and naked with no weapon. “I’m not going to let you scare me.” The first rule was to not play into the unsub’s hand, he wanted fear and she couldn’t give it to him. “I don’t know who you are but you’re going to have to do better than this.”

“It’s too soon for me to show you what I want from you. I’ll be seeing you Maggie.”

“Coward! If you want me well here I am!”

“Wake up Maggie I think I got something to say to you. It’s late September and I really should be back at school. I know I keep you amused but I feel I’m being used
Oh Maggie I couldn’t have tried any more…” the voice faded away as he moved away from the diner. Along with the tone of his voice was the sound of jingling coins from his pants pocket. He was walking without a care in the word.

Sasha strained her ears to keep listening but the voice and coins moved out of her reach. She nearly screamed when someone touched her shoulder but she spun fast enough to see Nick’s face.

“What is it?” he moved his hands over her arms and looked her over for any signs of trauma. “Why are you crying?”

“He was here.”

Chapter 14

Nicholas pulled her into his arms and didn’t let go. “From now on you don’t go anywhere alone.” She wasn’t the only one scared by the encounter. They had hoped to draw the attention of the killer but when it actually happened that changed the whole ball game. He was there and he was ready to hurt them. “Let’s go home.”

“No. I’m not going to let him get what he wants easy by running out of here. We came to have dinner so let’s go have dinner.” She was shaking but damn it she refused to run.

Wes greeted them back at the bar. “I thought you two disappeared for good.”

“No, only getting some fresh air. With all these people it gets pretty stuffy.” Sasha answered. “It was good seeing you again but we’re gonna move to a booth and eat some of the chief’s masterpieces.”

Wes smiled and waved them off. “I’ll let Cook know you think so.”

Sasha and both Nicholas put on their game faces and ate dinner like there wasn’t a mad serial killer out there planning. Back at the house it was another story. Nick pulled off his cellphone and started dialing Pete while Sasha pulled off her boots. They were seated together on the couch when Pete finally answered. “Are you still at the office?” it was only ten o’clock that night and it wouldn’t be uncommon for Pete to still be hunched over his desk working as time quickly passed him by.

“Just about getting ready to go. Why the call?”

“He made contact.” Sasha said. “We went out for dinner and while I was outside alone getting some fresh air he spoke to me.”

“What did he say?”

“He started singing
Maggie May
. I told him he wasn’t scaring me and he was going to have to do better. He said it was too soon for him to show me what he wants and that he’ll be seeing me. I wanted to go after him but I was weaponless.”

“No, its better you didn’t but he will make contact again and you should be prepared just in case he makes a move against you. Nick, you weren’t witness to the exchange?”

“No. I stupidly let her go off by herself, it wasn’t more than ten minutes but it was enough. Do you think he was watching and waiting to catch her alone?” Nick already had his suspicions on the answer and he hated them.

“He wouldn’t leave anything to chance so I assume so, yes. I’m running with the theory he’s leaving Maggie last on his list and that fits with what he said about it being too soon. Right now he’s on the hunt for three through six.”

“We can’t just sit around playing pretend while he goes off and kills four more people.” Sasha knew logically it was best to let him go tonight but in her heart she wished she would’ve chased him down and at least tried to end this nightmare now rather than later.

“What are you thinking?” Pete asked, he never faked interest and if he was asking he was willing to consider it.

“I think we shouldn’t play by his rules anymore. Let’s rile his cage and put it out to the public that yes he’s back and we’re willing to fight. Let me draw him out through the public and make him come for me next.”

Pete was silent as his mind worked. “It’s ballsy.”

Nick agreed with more dislike. “It’s crazy.”

“It’s smart and you both know it.” Sasha met Nick’s stare. “If you have any better ideas share them.”

“Look, we knew signing on to this case you would be playing bait to the killer but to anger him and taunt him would send him down a barrel of unknown and we don’t know if we can handle that.”

“But if it saves the lives of four people then it’s worth it and we don’t know for sure if this is his last cycle. He’s killed more than forty people and I don’t want him to go kill another forty. I get that you’re worried for me and I appreciate it but this can work much better than playing Susie Homemaker.” Staring into her eyes she saw the big problem with starting to care for a  teammate more than just that, a team mate, because right now Nick wasn’t regarding her as an agent but a woman he wanted to keep out of harm’s way.

Pete, who had been listening silently to the exchange, spoke again. “It sounds like a lot has changed during your trip.”

“You could say that.” Nick answered. “I can cite my dislike all night but that doesn’t change the fact I can’t do anything about it. What do you think is best?”

“I think Sasha’s idea has merit and we should attempt it. I hope you got a goodnight’s sleep last night because this one is going to be a long one. I’m going to send some reinforcements your way and I want you all to come up with an outline for when I call you back in the morning. Nick, I need you to assert yourself into the role of the unsub and anticipate his moves. If we plan this right Sasha will be safe.” Pete hung up after his orders were clear.

Nick grabbed his phone from the center of the couch and put it back in his pants pocket. Sasha watched his hands as he pocketed the phone and tried to hold back his dislike over the new developments of this case by flexing his hands. “You stopped working out of the behavioral unit but you never stopped being a profiler. Pete relies on it.”

“I’m good at it but,” he looked at her like the last hour and a half hadn’t passed and they were still tangled up on the dance floor. “I’m good at a lot of things.”

Oh wow….just like that her heart was racing and again she was amazed at his skill in the game of seduction. He hadn’t said much and he wasn’t touching her but she felt his hands across her skin and the promise of so much more in his eyes. “Yeah, I know you’re an ace with computers too. Like you said working with Pete you have an avenue to use all your talents.”

“Sasha….” He got on his knee and leaned in closer to her and kept going until he had her trapped between his body and the couch cushions.

“I thought we were going to talk about this when we got back home.” He smiled and she felt herself slipping farther away from sanity and deeper into the low heated desire he was creating in the air.

“That’s fine, I don’t want to talk anyway.” He kissed her and every time he did she was struck by how much she liked it. She refused to feed his ego by admitting it vocally but Nick was a great kisser. He wasn’t messy as he traced his tongue over her bottom lip and slowly moved it inside her mouth. The pressure of his hands on her hips added to the excitement curling her toes and arching her legs around his waist. Geez, this was dangerous, she thought and still couldn’t find the strength to deny what he was making her feel. It wasn’t just a raw sexual desire he was awakening in her soul, she felt safe in his arms and right now it didn’t matter how close the killer could be lurking because they could handle it.

Nick moved his mouth from hers and down over the opening of her top. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the zebra stripes.” He moved his hand under her skirt and over her thigh.