Shadows of Fire (7 page)

She
wanted to melt into the teeth grazing the tender flesh of her throat, but Hope
needed Josh to see what she’d discovered. “Still, he had a point. We haven’t
really been digging into the facts.”

He
nibbled her earlobe. “My boyish charm’s not working?”

“Of
course it’s working.” Hope pushed his jaw and turned his eyes back to the
coffee table. “It’s just that we need to focus on the fires first.”

Josh
gave up on his seduction. “It’s not like the local news has been ignoring them.
Besides, it’s the fire marshal’s job to investigate.”

“I
know. Which is why I talked to him this morning.”

Josh
set his mug down and turned to her, his brow furrowed. “The fire marshal talked
to the press?”

“It’s
not like I overstepped any ethical lines.” Hope couldn’t understand Josh’s
concerns. She wasn’t one of those reporters who used underhanded tactics to get
her stories and this man warm against her side knew that. “All I got from the
fire marshal were vague responses and generalities. But …” Hope excitedly
grabbed the map, “after my internet search of all the fires within a thirty-mile
radius over the last eighteen months, look what I found.”

Leaning
forward, Josh took a minute to study the map. “All I see are yellow and orange
marks with different colored numbers and circles around them. Sorry, babe, it’s
not making any sense to me.”

Hope
tapped a couple of keys on her computer, retrieving information she’d stored over
the last few hours. “Okay, here. July 17. South Kenton University. One student
of Professor Alexandra Flanagan burned in a lab fire. Accidental” She pointed
to the map. “Yellow highlighted dot for the location of the fire. A green
number indicating how many died. In this case, one. A colored circle if the
story included an affiliation with another person. For this fire there’s a red
circle for Alex. Blue for Ronan. Brown for Professor Morgan.”

She
pointed to another mark. “August 5. Bailer’s Park here in South Kenton. A
couple died in a cabin fire. The woman was a summer bartender at the tavern.
Red for Alex. Orange for Glenn.” Hope clicked a couple more keys on the
computer, pulling up more news articles. “March 17. Structure fire at Royal
Mills apartments. South Kenton. One dead.”

“You’ve
got it circled in red.”

“It’s
Alex’s apartment complex.”

“That’s
stretching it.”

“Is
it?”

Hope
rattled off several more facts about the fires spreading out from their quiet
town. She wanted Josh to tell her she was seeing things, that the conclusions
she’d begun to draw were too far-fetched to be possible. But when she finished,
he only blew out a heavy breath, raking a hand through his hair.

“You
know what you’re saying?” Josh asked, staring at the map with a couple dozen
fires highlighted—all but five of them circled with red.

“Tell
me I’m wrong.”

“But
this is Alex you’re talking about.”

Unable
to stand the tension crawling over her skin, Hope got up and began to pace.
“Damn it, Josh, you think I went looking for this when I began this little
project?” Needing something to do with her hands, she pulled the scrunchy from
her hair, stretching and pulling it between her fingers. “She’s my best
friend.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Shit, she’s my
only
friend.”

Josh
moved around the coffee table and gathered her in his arms. Hope wanted to go
back to the fire at the professor’s mansion and forget everything that happened
after. “I can’t erase it now, can I?”

Tipping
up her chin, Josh kissed her tenderly. “Let’s hope there’s another
explanation.”

“Alex
wouldn’t …” Hope closed her eyes and swallowed the hot lump of dread burning
her throat. “No, Alex,
couldn’t
do something this heinous. There’s no
reason for her to cause all those fires.”

“Babe,
what you’ve mapped out isn’t the path of an arsonist. You’ve discovered the
murderous trail of a serial killer.”

Between
the exhaustion and weight of the truth, Hope was sure if Josh hadn’t had his
arms around her she would have collapsed. “Josh, what are we going to do?”

“You’re
going to take every scrap of paper and file it away somewhere safe. Then you’re
going to get some rest and not think about it.” He tucked a lock of hair behind
her ear. “I need to take this information to Reese.”

“I’ve
been hoping those two would get together for months. Now …” Sadness burned her
throat, causing a fresh wave of tears.

“Don’t
go there.” Josh tenderly brushed away her tears with his thumbs and kissed her
forehead. “I’m hoping there’s another explanation. Let me take the map over to
the cabin and discuss this with Reese. Not only do we need another set of eyes
on this information, but I owe it to the man to give him a heads up.”

* * * *

A bet.
It had taken a stupid poker game
to make Reese realize how fear had kept him from a relationship with the woman in
the wine cellar office. He dropped the empty wine cask in the pile in the
corner before storing the last dozen wine bottles in the rack. A busy few hours
had passed, bottling blood wine and packing orders.

“I could get used to this.” Alex
leaned against the door frame, her crossed arms showcasing her lovely curves.
In the heat of the wine cellar, he’d taken off his shirt and, she’d stripped down
to a strappy little black tank that had his fingers itching to touch. “I hate
to admit it, Colton, but you’ve been a huge help this morning.”

“You just like staring at my
ass.” He strode across the room and gathered her in his arms.

The smile she flashed melted his
heart.

“A definite perk,”

“Anymore appointments?”

She shook her head, her sassy
crop of red hair brushing her chin.

“Chris here yet?” he asked.

“He’s
running late. Won’t be here for another hour.”

He
couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her cheeks flushed a sexy shade of pink. Each
ragged breath she took brushed her breasts against his chest. “I haven’t even taken
you on a proper date. I could at least buy you lunch.”

“Do
I look like I’m hungry for food, Colton?” She snaked her fingers in his hair
and nipped her teeth along the stubble on his chin. “I’ve been wondering what’s
taken you so damn long to notice me.”

“Oh,
I noticed everything about you, Alexandra Flanagan.” He cupped her face in his
hands and kissed her nose. “This cute upturned nose.” His lips fluttered over
her lids. “The sky blue color of your eyes and how they darken when someone
pisses you off—or turns you on—though I didn’t know that until now.” He wasn’t
sure if the blush creeping up to paint her cheeks was from embarrassment or the
sexually charged air. Whatever the cause, he liked it and continued. “The sweep
of your long lashes when someone compliments you.” Reese lifted Alex’s arms
above her head, hooking her fingers on the sill of the door. “The way your
breasts look in these little tanks when you reach for a bar glass.” His palms
skimmed down the soft flesh of her arms, leaving goose bumps trailing behind.
He brought his hands down her torso, eliciting a sigh as he grazed the swell of
her breasts. His fingers curved around Alex’s narrow hips and he gently pulled
her tight to his body. “The way your jeans ride low and show off that tribal tattoo
on the small of your back.” Reese’s hands finished their exploration by palming
the mounds of her ass. “The sweet curve of your bottom when you bend to get
extra napkins.”

“I
just thought you were unusually messy.” Alex smiled at him, her eyes growing
darker, communicating desire she didn’t verbalize.

“Nope.
Calculating.”

His
teeth grazed along Alex’s neck and he realized the sexual energy had lengthened
his fangs. She seemed unfazed by their appearance. It had been a long while
since Reese had allowed himself this freedom with a woman. His last liaison had
been a one-night stand the previous winter with a human female in the city
after too many hours fighting a fire. Hopped up on the adrenaline rush, he’d
been unable to keep his beast under control. As they’d fucked like horny
teenagers in the backseat of his Buick, his fangs had lengthened, his body
screaming to be satiated by her blood. In fact, if Josh hadn’t called his cell phone
just as they’d finished the deed, Reese was sure the woman would have left his
car missing several pints of blood. His lack of control had shaken him and kept
Reese from sleeping with another human.

But
vampires
.
That was another story all together. Long-ago
promises squeezed the breath from his lungs and Reese pulled back, staring at
the desire clouding Alex’s heavy-lidded eyes. He
wanted
to take this
chance and enjoy the feeling of a female vampire in his arms, her teeth
piercing his flesh. But sometimes the past reared its ugly head, rising up in
the present, making it impossible to move forward.

“What
is it?” Alex whispered.

“I
don’t want you to get hurt.”

She
licked at his canines, sending electric currents of lust jolting over his
nerves. “I’ve always known your bite was worse than your bark, Colton.” Alex tipped
her head, offering her throat to him. “Doesn’t this work as sharing a meal?”

She’d
misunderstood. “It’s so much more complicated than I can explain. I don’t know—”

“Today.”
She grazed her teeth along his jaw. “Let’s just share today and not worry about
tomorrow.” She bit his earlobe, her breath feathering over his skin. “To hell
with the consequences.” Alex stayed where she was, stretched and ready for him.
“Let me worry about my heart, Colton.”

Her
words were a soft aria, serenading his heart. Reese wanted to be with Alex more
than he needed his next breath and she’d just given him permission to give in
to his animalistic desires. What more could a man want?

He
pulled Alex into a deep kiss, swallowing her moans and giving them right back
to her.
His tongue
thrust between her parted lips, taking and taking until she melted against him.
She
tasted like
liquid sugar and the heat pulsing from her straining body pushed away the last
of his doubts.

 He
tugged the flimsy cotton tank over her head, brushing his knuckles over the
satin curve of skin showcased by her sexy bra. With her hands high above her
head, her breasts jutted proudly, her nipples straining against the lacy
material. He filled his hands with the fleshy mounds, pinching and teasing the steepled
peaks of her nipples. Undoing the front clasp, he wrapped his tongue around one
of the pearled tips and sucked hard. Her moans vibrated straight through him,
driving him to a frenzied pitch of need.

She
kicked off her tiny sneakers and he shucked off her jeans, throwing them in the
growing pile of clothes. The vision standing before him stole what little
breath filled his lungs. Naked, save for a lacy purple thong that matched the
bra hanging from her shoulders, Alex was miles of unflawed alabaster skin,
nearly luminescent against the dark wood. Her flat belly rose and fell with her
chest as she worked to slow her breathing. He couldn’t tear his gaze from her
beauty.

“Like
what you see?” Alex asked. As if bound by an invisible force, her arms were
still high above her head. She didn’t seem interested in moving from his
intimate inspection.

His
head bobbed up and down. “No.”

The
chime of her laughter invited him back into her arms. She was impossibly soft
and warm with her breasts pressed against his skin. Their mouths fought for
control as tongues darted in and out, meshing and clashing. He wrestled with
the button of his jeans. The need to couple with this woman overrode his common
sense. Getting involved when his undercover work guaranteed he wouldn’t be
staying was such a bad idea. But her needy sounds called to him, pushing him to
reckless abandon.

His
hands worked feverishly to free their bodies from the restriction of clothing. When
they were naked, his erection pulsing painfully between them, Reese pressed his
forehead against hers, waiting for Alex’s eyes to flutter open and focus. He
needed to know there would be no regrets.

“Don’t
you dare think about leaving me like this.” She lifted her leg, draping it
around his hip, opening herself, begging him to claim her. The heady aroma of
her arousal wafted between them, wrapping around his senses, driving him crazy
with desire. At times like this, he was grateful he wasn’t human. Vampire
births were very rare, so human birth control was of no consequence to either
them. Nothing would come between him and Alex’s silky heat.

He
guided his shaft to her slick opening, willing himself to go slow, but she
would have none of it. Alex canted her hips, pressing him into her, both of
them moaning as he sank deeper. He grabbed her ass, pulling her close. Alex
wrapped the other leg around his waist and squeezed until he was completely
buried. Her muscles pulsed around him, testing the limits of his control.

She
dropped her arms, her nails scoring his shoulders. Burying her face in his
neck, she mumbled through desperate pants. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”