SeductiveTracks (12 page)

Hell, if a crew could do a few jobs together, stick with it
and make a real partnership of it, they would build a pool of similar
experiences as they grew together. The members could possibly end up respecting
her more for what she could do and the problems she’d overcome.

It felt strange as a possibility in her head, but
nevertheless tempting, like a glimmer of dawn over the horizon.

“Do you trust them?” she asked. Part of her was afraid she
would begin to want something she could never have. It didn’t do to fill your
head with wishes that had no chance of coming true.

“Yeah, babe,” Matt replied, his gaze piercing her every
hidden layer like a royal-blue laser beam. “Yes, I trust them all implicitly.
And you can too.”

Kelly smiled but shook her head. She trusted Matt and
Liv—even Melissa and a very small number of other good friends—but she couldn’t
bring herself to give herself over to something so new and uncertain. Not yet.

“I’m not sure about that,” she hedged before capturing his
eyes with her own. Tenderly, she touched his arm, the steam misting around them
and seeming to create their own private world within her bathroom.

“But I do know I can trust
you
like that, Matt,” she
added. “I can trust you with anything about me, anything of mine at all. Body,
heart, soul. Secrets.”

Her words trailed off for a second and she took a deep
breath. She knew her next words wouldn’t shock him. Regardless, this was a big
deal for her.

“I’m Shadow,” she admitted. “I discovered in my teens that
my essence couldn’t be Tracked. It’s inherent, natural. I don’t have to be
doing anything in particular, it’s just how it is. When I activate my magic,
though, my talent is an innate sense of stealth. I can sense vibrations on the
air. I’ve learned to read all the different alarms and codes by spending years
studying them.”

Matt smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
She stepped into the warmth and closeness of his embrace. The words came pouring
out of her as she bared her soul to her partner, this wizard she had given her
heart to.

“It started out as a game, learning how to crack safes, pick
locks. It was fun, exciting, interesting. I’ve always had a knack for research
and there aren’t many topics I’m not at least superficially interested in.
Besides,” she added with a laugh, “it was a very cool talent for a teenager
bent on hidden explorations to have. But then I discovered that I have a
genuine talent for reading security systems. The only way I can really describe
it is that I can sense the differences of the vibrations on the air. Something
in the electrical circuits shows me the patterns of the various codes, and I
just instinctively know what to do, especially once I’ve seen that brand a few
times. I’ve never been able to work it out deeper—you know how magic ends up
frying most technologies. All I know is I can read the signs and deactivate
them.”

“So Shadow was born?” Matt replied with a smile. Kelly
laughed and ran her hands up his back and threaded her fingers through his
hair.

“Well…teenager, super-stealthy, untrackable, can read alarm
systems on the air, loves to pick locks and sneak in where uninvited,” she
pointed out in almost deadpan fashion. “It was a no-brainer, Matt, really.”

“And Liv?” Matt asked.

Kelly shook her head. “She’s a genuine Retriever,” she
explained. “We’ve been best friends since we were young. She never broke a
single law, but…well, she
is
my best friend. She’s never turned me in,
either. Any Retrievals she made were genuine, though had she asked I likely
would have helped her. I stole stuff, but she found it with her own talent.
Retrieval is such a male-dominated industry, I simply helped to speed up a
process that would have occurred anyway. Besides, it’s fun and, as you’ve
rightly pointed out, addictive.”

“Will you at least give it a go? Stealing for us?” Matt
asked.

Kelly broke their eye contact and weighed everything in her
mind again.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever taken anything for the wrong
reason,” she said. “I’ve always stuck to my own code. I’ve never stolen from
people who couldn’t afford it. Mostly I’ve stolen from complete idiots who
thoroughly deserved it, and the bulk of the money I’ve made I’ve filtered back
into charities for the needy. As you can tell from looking around, it’s not as
if I’m living the high life off stolen earnings.

“I’m not a saint.” Kelly tilted her head as she continued.
“And I’m not claiming I’m perfect, but I have always been very careful to not
cross my personal line, either.”

“I know,” Matt reassured her. He drew her closer in his arms
and they hugged for a moment. “And you can trust these guys as well as me.
These are good people—the very best. I’d not expose you to anything less.
Besides, I have a feeling Julian is more than a little smitten with your Liv.”

Kelly laughed as she stepped out of Matt’s warm, slick
embrace and rinsed her hair one last time before stepping out of the shower
cubicle. She took a thick, fluffy towel from underneath the sink and pulled out
a second for Matt when he was finished as well.

“Liv…Liv is just the craziest, most wonderful witch alive.
From the manner she described Julian at lunch, I have the feeling she’s quite
taken with him indeed,” she mused as she dried herself. Matt turned off the
faucets and stepped from the stall. Kelly handed him his towel as she continued
to chew over her thoughts and frame her words.

“Usually when a good-looking man catches her attention she’s
very forthright about it, to the point of blunt rudeness. She was more circumspect
with her descriptions of Julian today. I really think he might have caught her
fancy. It’s more than possible she has a bit of a thing for him, something
greater than her usual ‘fuck ’em and leave ’em’ style, I mean.”

Matt chuckled and cupped her face. They leaned in, kissed
each other with comfortable ease and familiarity, as if they had been doing it
for years instead of just a few hours. Kelly felt her heart warm and her body
flush with delighted interest as they touched each other.

“Julian is a big boy,” Matt commented. “I’m sure he and Liv
will get themselves organized. For now, though, I’d love for us to grab
something light to eat, preferably while we’re completely naked like we are
now, then we can get a bit of much-needed rest. I have a feeling tomorrow is
going to be a very long, hectic day.”

Kelly raised her eyebrows in disbelief and snorted her
amusement. “A long day?” she parroted. “What on earth gave you that idea?”

Matt shook his head and lightly slapped her ass. “Trust me,
after only a couple of missions with this crew, I can guarantee you that once
the ball gets rolling, it’s non-stop hectic action until all hell breaks loose,
a building or three burns to the ground and we finally come to a screeching
halt as if we were on a theme park rollercoaster.”

Kelly wriggled her ass at Matt, daring him to spank her
again. “Sounds like fun,” she said suggestively. When Matt growled back at her,
she giggled and hung up her towel to dry.

Sashaying out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, she grabbed
a robe then headed toward the kitchen. It was getting quite late and she felt
blissfully tired from their lovemaking, so she figured it was time to see what
she could rustle up for them to eat before they crashed for the evening.

She opened her fridge and peered at its woeful contents,
scanning the shelves with a knowledgeable eye. This wasn’t the first time she’d
tried to make do with whatever she had on hand, and knowing her it wouldn’t be
the last time either. A half-finished block of vintage cheese caught her eye
and she pulled it out, then went scouting about amongst her condiments. A jar
of stuffed olives and a half-empty jar of sundried tomatoes rounded out the
nibbles platter she had decided on.

She pulled a large painted plate from a cupboard and
arranged the cheese with a knife to take up one side. She drained the sundried
tomatoes and the stuffed olives onto a piece of paper towel and dried the oil
from them before she poured them onto the other end of the platter. Opening her
pantry door, she searched the back of her shelves and found a box of crackers.
Hoping they were still fresh, she broke the seal on them and was placing them
in the middle, running in a straight line between the condiments and the block
of cheese, when Matt walked into the kitchen, his towel wrapped enticingly
around his waist.

Grinning at him, Kelly nodded down at the now-finished
platter and beamed.

“Not exactly the supper of champions,” she confessed, “but
it should fill us up for now. I’ve got eggs, hash, bacon and sausage, so I
promise breakfast will be far more tempting.”

Matt stood behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and
rested his chin on her shoulder as he peered at the platter on the bench.

“I don’t know, that looks pretty tempting from here,” he
replied as he let his fingers draw open her robe and pull the loose material
away from her body. He dropped a kiss on her naked shoulder.

Kelly laughed and leaned back into his warm body. Wanting to
snuggle, she turned and reached out her arms to wrap them around Matt’s waist.
She drew their bodies flush together once more.

“I’m going to wear you out,” she teased as she rubbed
against his towel-clad shaft. Matt mumbled his approval as she ground back on
him, their bodies swaying together in an intimate dance right there in the
middle of the kitchen floor.

Matt strung a series of kisses down the side of her neck and
along her shoulder. The soft press of his lips grazed over her skin, sending
shivers of delight through her system. She could easily become addicted to this
wizard, she decided. Matt cupped her breast with his large, warm hand. He
lifted it as he continued to kiss down the front of her chest as far as he
could reach. Gently squeezing her nipples with the tips of his fingers, he
flicked his tongue out to rasp over the smooth skin of her neck.

Kelly moaned and turned fully in his arms so she could
capture his lips and they could kiss passionately once again.

She managed to press Matt back to lean against the kitchen
counter and her breasts pressed into his hard, chiseled chest as she ate
hungrily at his mouth. Their hands roamed each other’s skin, caressing known
sweet spots and discovering new ones. Kelly felt her heart pounding faster as
her arousal grew, a delicious burn she knew would consume her.

Panting for breath, Matt pulled away so he could look down
at her and stroke his fingers over the curve of her cheek.

“Circe, but you are beautiful and so very tempting,” he
said.

Kelly blushed but smiled at him and stared into his eyes.
They burned with a hunger and lust she had come to relish and expect. Matt
could make her scream and swoon. His touch ignited a fire within her that she
had never believed existed. But it was his eyes above everything else that
seduced her, urged her to indulge in every wicked fantasy she had ever
conceived of.

“You’re a smorgasbord of temptation yourself,” she answered,
amused. “You walk into my kitchen in nothing but a towel and a wicked grin and
stare at me with those beautiful blue eyes, and I’m practically ready to shed
my robe and my inhibitions and climb onto the bench, spread my legs and tell
you to go for it. I think you, Mr. Kestell, could bring a lot of trouble to my
door, and I don’t even care. That takes talent.”

Matt threw his head back and laughed. He tightened the towel
around his waist where it had loosened as his cock had grown semi-erect. Then
he reached out to open the cupboard doors.

“I’ll bring trouble to your door? Oh, sweetheart, you could
hands-down bring far, far more dangers to mine, I can promise you,” he insisted.
“But you know what? I do believe it would actually be worth it. You’re worth
anything and everything to me. What’s life without a bit of trouble between
partners?”

Kelly nodded but kept her own counsel as Matt continued to
look through her cupboards and mutter,
“Glasses, glasses,”
under his
breath. “Ah!” He removed two large drinking glasses.

“Do you have orange juice? Or water?” he asked with a nod to
the fridge. “I figure we can eat this just standing here trying not to molest
the hell out of each other.”

“I have apple juice,” Kelly confirmed as she pulled a gallon
jug from the fridge and at Matt’s nod of approval poured them both some. She
cut them each a couple of thin slices of the vintage cheese, then added a dried
tomato and half an olive to a cracker and bit into it, surprised by how tasty
it was—or how ravenous their sexual escapades had made her.

Laughing, they dug into the food, sharing kisses and
snippets of information about themselves as they asked questions and learned
more about each other’s backgrounds.

Matt awoke with a mumbled groan as numerous small muscles
within his thighs, calves and back let him know he’d had a serious workout the
previous day and they were not happy with him. The bed he lay in was incredibly
comfortable, but even with his eyes still shut some inner instinct warned him
it was not his own.

A warm, slender female body moved next to him. She seemed to
want to climb out of the bed without waking him. For a moment his mind went
blank. What was he doing in some strange woman’s bed? He cracked an eye open
and caught sight of the long length of her back. The curve entranced him, as
did her sweet, rounded hips and ass. A cap of short, dark hair was delightfully
mussed and the entire previous day came back to him in a quick flood of
information.

“Mmm,” he muttered, still half asleep and beyond coherent
words. The guttural sound was the only gesture of appreciation he could muster
for the intimate, sensual visual he’d woken up to.

“I’m just having a quick shower,” Kelly said as she turned
around and planted a soft, brief kiss to his lips, which granted him a sexy
eyeful of her pert breasts and smooth belly. Matt appreciated the glorious
sight of Kelly’s luscious body as an image to begin his day with.

“Mmm,” he repeated, still enjoying the warm haziness that
usually clouded the start of his mornings.

Kelly laughed. “When I get back, I’ll cook us that
breakfast,” she promised, “just lie back and wake up.”

Matt yawned and looked over at Kelly’s side of the bed as she
climbed out and padded on nearly silent bare feet into the bathroom. Her alarm
clock showed that it was just before noon and Matt blinked, shocked. He was not
usually the kind of person to sleep in so late, but then he recalled that they
had sat up, wrapped in each other’s arms, until the very early hours of the
morning, talking, touching, kissing and caressing each other. Opening up and
sharing their respective lives, dreams and hopes for what would come.

Even as he’d grown more and more tired, their chatter had
been so easy and simple that he had not wanted it to stop. Only as they’d both
begun to nod off as they lay in each other’s arms had they finally decided to
call it a night, so it was no real wonder they had slept in so late. Thankful
that neither of them needed to go to work that morning, Matt stretched and
settled back to let the events of the previous day percolate in his mind.

Part of him felt astonished that he did not feel his usual
urge to cut and run. He never slept over with his bed partners. Spending the
night in a woman’s bed—or letting her spend the night in his—usually sent
certain very strong indications of where a relationship was heading. It formed
specific expectations in the female mind, and most of the time Matt was not in
a rush to have those boundaries crossed.

He had never spent the night with any woman the first time
they’d had sex, let alone the first time they’d met. Far more usually, Matt
would give some explanation in the wee hours of the morning and head for home
no matter how he was coerced. He was not comfortable rushing the intimacy of a
relationship.

With Kelly, however, he had not even given it a thought. It
had been so natural, and even now it felt right to be lying here in her bed the
morning after, listening to the sounds of the shower running and her humming
some tune under her breath as he allowed himself to wake up.

Part of his mind wondered if it would even be possible for
them to move their relationship too quickly for his peace of mind. Prior to the
last twenty-four hours, he would never have believed he’d even consider giving
up his apartment, but the thought of Kelly wanting to buy a house with him so
they could move in together appealed to him on a deep level.

Matt found his eyes half closing as he indulged in a bit of
daydreaming about them setting up a house together, creating a home and maybe
even having a few children. Instead of feeling deep-rooted fear, he found he
might be able to get his head around such a life. He found himself attracted to
the idea of creating a solid, permanent life with Kelly. He realized with a
jolt of shock that he wanted to commit to this witch—he wanted to go the whole
nine yards with her and did not feel in the least trapped.

It was a sobering thought for so early in the day. He shook
his head and slapped himself back to some sense. Kelly had not even mentioned
spending the following weekend together and already he was thinking of moving
in and having children with her. He needed to get a grip before he lost his
mind.

“One step at a time, Kestell,” he ordered himself. “Let’s
allow the witch a bit of time to fall in love with you and get used to your
presence first. Then you can spring things like a house and three children on
her when it’s too late for her to back out.”

Matt chuckled at the thought of Kelly’s reaction to his
wanting a large family. It had been one of the few things they hadn’t discussed
the night before, neither of them seeming at the time to want to tempt fate or
jinx things by appearing to rush too much.

In the bright light of day, he found himself unable to deny
the fact that he wanted everything with this witch. Forever and the whole nine
yards didn’t appear so scary or big in the glow of the new morning. Especially
not with Kelly in the next room humming a popular rock tune that he rather
enjoyed as well.

The bathroom door opened and Matt found himself jolted back
into the present. Steam clouded out of the small room and Kelly was running a
comb through her short cap of hair as she entered the bedroom with a seductive
smile.

“I thought I heard you speak,” she commented as she opened
her wardrobe and dresser drawers. “You couldn’t get back to sleep?”

Her words were light, but the underlying concern made his
heart turn over. For an instant he toyed with the idea of giving her some
throwaway, senseless answer, but decided a gentle broaching of the truth might
be better for his peace of mind. He paused as she pulled out a hot-pink bra and
a matching set of panties. As she stepped into the panties and pulled on the bra
he couldn’t help but notice how sinuous her movements were. He’d not noticed
how graceful she was, and found it entrancing. She appeared to debate between a
tank top and a baby-doll T-shirt, finally settling on the T-shirt and a pair of
worn jeans.

“Actually, I was thinking about maybe in a couple of years
starting a family with you. How does three or four kids sound?” Matt tried to
make the words light and humorous, but they didn’t seem to come across like
that. It sounded more as if he were serious and concerned about her opinion, at
least to his ears it did. He sounded callow and young and like some teenage boy
who laughed too hard and loudly because otherwise he might cry from nerves.

He’d never before understood the term “having your heart in
your throat”, but now he got it. His heart pounded like a drum in his chest,
yes, but it also seemed to have risen into his throat, closing off his
esophagus. Matt struggled to breathe as Kelly placed her comb on top of her
dresser, ran her fingers through her wet locks and turned to face him.

Matt didn’t need a mirror to know his grin looked a bit
sickly. He felt like a gauche teen as he waited on tenterhooks for her to say
something—anything. Kelly seemed to be searching for something in his eyes and,
with a faint hope of brazening his way through his idiocy, he met her gaze and
didn’t look away.

Part of his mind yammered at him to say something, to cover
up his blurted words. But even though he felt raw and stripped bare, Matt still
wanted to know what Kelly thought about it. Even if she laughed and turned him
down, at least he’d know where they both stood on the matter.

“You’re serious?” she finally asked after it felt like an
age had passed. Matt shrugged, hoping to look nonchalant.

“About three or four of them?” he checked. “I’m only half
serious—my heart’s not set on it, no. But if you’re talking more generally,
just about wanting to have kids and, well…all that with you, then yeah, I am.”

“I’ve always been more partial to the idea of four kids than
three,” she replied with a small, secretive smile. “I like the thought of
having an even number so they can’t gang up against each other.”

“Well, then, four it will be—unless I can talk you into
six,” he half-joked as his spirits lifted. “I’d like them all to be girls,
please. Just like their mother.”

Kelly raised an eyebrow and rested a hand on her hip,
cocking her body into a delectable feminine pose that had his mouth watering.

“For a man trying to convince me to turn to the straight and
narrow, you’re not doing a very good job,” she teased him. “Do you have any
notion how expensive six children will be? Not just to feed and clothe them,
but to put those who want to go through the Academy or purchase work experience
placements for them in reputable companies? Or are these half a dozen little
girls going to be
exactly
like their mother, and we’ll have our own crew
of little mini-thieves and they can put themselves through whatever training
they want, like I had to?”

Delighted, Matt threw his head back and laughed harder than
he had in what felt like forever. He tossed the covers aside and climbed out of
the comfortable bed, crossed the room and dropped a chaste kiss on his
partner’s lips.

“I adore you,” he said, wanting her to see and feel the
truth behind his words. “I don’t think my heart could cope with the stress of
worrying about six thieving daughters, perfect in every way and exactly like
their mother. I’d be old and in my grave before they left their teens. But if
that’s what we’re graced with, then so be it.”

Kelly laughed and twined her arms around his neck, hugging
him close and gently kissing his cheek.

“Poor baby,” she cooed, “you don’t even know the half of
what I got up to in my misspent youth. If it’s daughters you have your heart
set on, I might not ever tell you some of the stories I still have stored away.
You’ll turn into an ogre and keep our girls barricaded in their rooms until
they turn twenty-five.”

“If they’re as beautiful as you and have half your spirit,
I’ll be locking them up until they’re thirty at the very least. And just so you
know, that will be regardless of whether they have thieving skills or not.”

Kelly laughed, seeming to half-believe him as she hugged him
again then rummaged in her dresser to pull out an oversized T-shirt, presumably
for him to wear today instead of his very crumpled suit shirt. She handed it to
him with a wicked grin and he pulled it on then searched for his briefs and
pants.

As she headed toward the door, Matt followed, bemused and
relieved that she hadn’t freaked out and run away at the direction his thoughts
had been heading in.

“Come on,” she laughed, “I promised you a decent breakfast.
Let’s start the day before it’s over.”

* * * * *

Kelly pierced her last link sausage on the end of her fork
and took a bite. Her stomach was full and she figured she had outdone herself.
Scrambled eggs with a little thyme, oregano and dill pickle added for flavor,
fried tomatoes, link sausages and bacon, as well as toast with fluffy butter
had made for a feast. The sink was full of soaking pans and dishes, but as Matt
had eagerly accepted seconds and seemed impressed with her marginal-at-best
culinary skills, she had to believe she had scored enough points with the meal
to get help cleaning up when they were done.

Matt had cleaned his plate for the second time and now sat
opposite her, sipping coffee and looking far more alert than he had when she’d
climbed from bed to have a quick shower earlier in the morning. A glance at the
clock showed that it was now after noon, but since it was Saturday neither of
them was in a rush. Lazy mornings were decadent for her, and unusual. Normally
she was busy with half a dozen projects around the apartment or doing
research…or sometimes even updating her thieving skills if she felt restless.

Today, on the other hand, Kelly found herself enjoying the
slow pace and the company. Generally a loner, she hadn’t realized how very much
she’d missed the social interaction of having a partner. She had forgotten how
having someone there at any given time to bounce ideas off, share a funny
thought with or even just to sit in comfortable silence with was an enrichment
to life she welcomed back into her routine.

While Matt finished his coffee, she scraped the last of her
eggs into the bin and pulled on a set of rubber cleaning gloves. She rinsed the
dishes and piled them all back on the side of the sink, filled the basin with
steaming hot water and a hefty squirt of cleaning liquid, and scrubbed the
dishes.

She had placed two items in the rack to dry before Matt came
up behind her, pressed a coffee-scented kiss to her lips and picked up the dish
towel. Kelly threw him a grateful smile and continued to wash as he dried and
piled everything on the clean kitchen bench.

“I’m relieved to find you domesticated,” she teased with a
wide grin. “Do you pick up your socks as well?”

Matt flicked the towel at her jeans-clad ass, snapping it
before picking up another dish and drying it.

“Saucy witch,” he teased. “I told you earlier I wasn’t some
heathen, an un-housebroken male. I am a superior specimen in all regards.”

Kelly laughed, delighted by the easy camaraderie that seemed
so natural between them. There were no awkward pauses in between laughing
conversation, or distressing long silences while they wondered what to say. All
too frequently, the men in her past had fallen either into the “friends only”
category or into the “brilliant in bed but sucky at life” category. A man who
could be a friend, lover, helpmate and partner equally well had been damn near
impossible to find.