StrategicLust (5 page)

Amber eyes held her gaze and for a second all the air rushed
out of Kate’s lungs. Joshua leaned in and delicately cupped her jaw in his hand,
as if she were made of china and would break. Kate tilted her head and their
lips met in a fusion of heat and electric energy.

Kate murmured on a slight puff of air, a happy, content
sound as they tasted each other again. Joshua’s lips and tongue were warm and
talented. Their tongues parried one another, writhing together in a passionate
embrace as they teased, tempted and made silent, erotic promises to each other.

With a sharply indrawn breath, Kate jerked herself a few
centimeters away and quickly scanned the crowded café again. Her eyes darted alertly
from patron to patron, many already etched into her memory from earlier
reconnoiters during their meeting.

No one appeared to be paying more than a common interest in
them, and the three new people Kate had spotted a moment before were barely
paying attention at all.

“We can’t do this—not here, not now.” Kate spoke quietly but
firmly, willing Josh to hear the seriousness in her tone. Suitably chastised,
Josh nodded, but the gleam of hunger and arousal in his amber gaze told that Kate
discretion might be the better part of valor just now.

She shook her head. Two days? Had she thought in the car not
an hour ago that she could let this ride for two days, that it would be simple
enough to try to balance her duties as a Guardian and the lust Joshua enflamed
within her? She must have been crazy.

Checking that the bills on the table would cover their check
as well as leaving a decent tip for their waitress, Kate stood and waited for
Josh to follow suit. One final glance around the room and she memorized the
patterns. It was a tricky skill—not one every Guardian perfected—but it was her
secret weapon. In a long look, she could memorize the angles of everyone’s
bodies, the direction of their focus and their mannerisms. A picture formed in
her head, finding the patterns and projecting of who would do what—a finger
tapped, a food jiggled, who would lean forward and who was about to stand. It
was a mélange of constant motion and prediction, and one that was fiendishly
difficult.

In a sense it reminded Kate of the school yard, when the
girls would swing two or even three ropes and you had to gauge the exact moment
to move into the middle and start to jump. This was a far more complicated
puzzle but not too dissimilar.

The fact that she could focus enough to take that snapshot,
project the other patrons’ movements and chose the moment to safely walk out
with Josh helped to placate her gnawing worry. She could do this—be a Guardian
and a woman at the same time. It might take more practice, a lot more control
and focus than she was used to. But she’d make it work, no matter the potential
cost to her heart when Joshua moved on and she finished the job and had to go
to a new client.

He was worth it.

“Kate…” Josh began as he stood beside her. She only heard
him because she was concentrating on every iota of information inside the room.
Kate didn’t acknowledge the word and it took her a second to realize he’d let
his subsequent words peter out. She cast him a quick look as she memorized the
patterns. Josh seemed to lose his train of thought.

She wanted to smile at him but continued to divide her
attention between Josh and the café around them.

When she gauged the time perfect, she touched his elbow in a
completely platonic and professional manner and they walked silently out of the
café. As they joined the teeming masses on the street, Kate jerked backward as
she felt a warm hand touch her hip. A moment later she realized it was Josh and
she huffed out an agitated, choked laugh.

“You’re lucky you didn’t lose that hand,” she teased him
without removing her attention from the street around them.

“I’m not
that
bad am I?” Josh returned jovially. Kate
turned her head to catch his gaze with hers. She held it for a moment, let him
sweat about her response before smiling again and turning her attention back to
their surroundings.

“No,” she replied quietly enough that she couldn’t even
swear Josh could hear her words. “No, Josh, you’re not that bad at all. But
again, this isn’t the time or place. I know we need to talk, but wait ’til
we’re in the car, please.”

Josh laughed, but then the weight of her serious response
sank in and he quieted. Doing her job and guarding her lover and charge, Kate
continued to visually track as much of the busy street as she could as they
walked side by side down the road toward the car.

* * * * *

Even on the busy street, with seemingly hundreds of people
jostling them from all sides, Josh could detect the faint perfume of cinnamon
and honey. Admittedly Kate was standing right beside him, close enough that he
could wrap his hand around her hip. Normally in a crowded, busy, peak-hour
street, though, he would be lucky to smell anything except the exhaust of cars
and sweat of the rushing masses, eager to get home and unwind from a hectic day
of work.

Regardless, the usual scents of the city faded into the
background when Kate was around. She scanned the street like a sentry,
blue-green eyes coolly assessing each and every person in their vicinity.
Joshua wanted to drag her into a side street, wrap his arms around her and kiss
her senseless.

Their quick, stolen kiss back in the café had only whetted
his appetite for her. Part of Josh had completely understood when Kate had pulled
back, insisted it was not the time or place for their intimacies. A completely
different and refreshingly new aspect of himself had rather liked the way he
could so easily flummox his lover. She reacted to him instinctively, and the
male beast inside Josh loved that.

He also appreciated how Kate could be two completely
different people inside one skin. She could kiss him passionately, wallow in
their mutual attraction, then instantly go back to being the professional
Guardian and doing her duty. Josh found himself intrigued by how quickly and
effortlessly she could revert from one side to the other.

Never having needed to distance his work persona from his
true, inner self, he hadn’t thought about how hard it must be for Kate.
Restraining such a bright, vibrant inner self must have been—at least to begin
with—truly difficult for her.

“When we get back to the motel I’ll cook us up some
omelets,” Josh offered as they walked closer to their hire car. He could see
the dark-blue metallic roof over the heads of the people in front of them.

Kate didn’t reply, but then Josh hadn’t really expected her
to, as she was working. He liked speaking to her, though, felt it made it
appear as if they were friends —or lovers—walking home together from a busy day
at their jobs.

“We could even pick up some peppers and fresh chives,” Josh
continued. “My aunt used to make these omelets that—”

Shouting came from a small side street. Instinctively, Kate
and Josh paused and glanced down it. The street was barely more than a delivery
entrance for a small row of restaurants. Only three people wide, it could fit a
car or van, but not two lanes of traffic. Three men were huddled in a small
semi-circle, jeering and shouting. Josh only got a brief glance before Kate
nudged him gently.

With evident distaste and reluctance, she began to walk
past. Josh followed until a shrill, very female scream cut through the air. He
halted immediately and cast a far sharper glance at the three men.

It was difficult to ascertain as the three large, beefy male
bodies were close together and effectively blocked the view from the street,
but Josh could barely make out a slender, dark-clad female behind them.

He took a few steps into the side street, hesitant and wary.
Kate’s hand rested on his biceps. She was clearly ill at ease as she relentlessly
scanned the area.

“I know you want to help her, Josh, but I can’t let you go
in there,” Kate whispered fiercely.

“I’m not going to let them beat and rape her, Kate,” Josh
insisted vehemently in return.

“No! Please!”
the woman shrieked, further
strengthening Josh’s resolve.

Kate appeared to waver, clearly wishing to help the woman,
but her duty of care to Josh was rigid. Josh helped her to make up her mind and
brushed past her to walk a dozen paces further into the street.

“Wait!” Kate called out sharply. “If we’re going to do this,
I’ll go first.”

Josh wanted to grumble about that, his instinctive machismo
rising. Yet, again, despite the traditional views he hadn’t even consciously
known about, he understood Kate’s need to perform her job and protect him.

At that moment, two of the thugs began to beat the slender
woman. All thoughts of this being a potential trap flew out of Joshua’s mind as
he reacted on a gut level.

“Hey!” he shouted angrily as he lurched forward to rescue
the woman.

The group of men paused and turned around almost
simultaneously. Josh didn’t recognize any of them but they all stared
menacingly—as if
they
knew exactly who
he
was. The willowy woman
pressed her hands to the ground, partially stood up—still in something of a
crouch—and dodged around the men, running down the street. Her black suit skirt
and jacket were crumpled and askew, a button or two having been torn off.

Josh’s stomach fell and in an instant he opened himself to
his magic and pressed a small trickle of power into his talent. His eyes
cleared, and with magic singing through his blood and veins the small street
came into sharp, crystal-clear focus. Everything became brighter, as if they
had all been standing around in the dark and suddenly the sun had come out or
someone had turned on a light.

The scene stood in stark relief in front of his magically
enhanced eyes, a tableau set up for his benefit. Josh surveyed the entire scene
through his talent and tried to see the Strategy behind it. Part of him
believed it was a set-up, but the other part could not believe even villains
would beat up an innocent human woman just to ensnare him within their trap.
Those thugs had genuinely been whaling on the tiny woman—he could see the
bruises forming on her flesh as he took in every detail of what was before him.

It took him only a few seconds to survey the scene through
his magic. Literally thousands of times Josh had used his Strategy talent to
discover the true agenda and meaning behind a series of actions. It took him
almost no time at all to ascertain that this scene had indeed been set up with
the specific objective of trapping him within it.

The sound of the woman’s heels clacking down the street
seemed to echo in Josh’s mind as he tried to wrap his brain around the sheer
callousness of these wizards’ actions. No more than a minute could have passed,
but time almost seemed to stretch before him.

“Josh, get back!” Kate shouted loudly, and he felt her shove
him roughly behind her, back toward the main city street.

Even though Joshua could hear her voice reverberating around
him, the noise seemed dim to his ears. He slowly closed down his magic, stunned
by the revelation of the Strategy he had seen.

This wasn’t just some run-of-the-mill ambush. Josh had no
idea how his magic had picked up on it—seeing the truth behind a Strategy often
was not a logical, explainable thing—but the number of thugs and their
positions indicated to Josh that they intended to kill Kate and kidnap him.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize what would
occur when they dragged him back to their lair. They would steal his memories
of the dark ritual—by force and with glee at the destruction of his mind that
would cause—and then they would kill him too. Josh’s mouth dried up as his
senses returned to normal. He reached out a hand to touch Kate’s arm,
determined that they should turn and run.

While fleeing might not be the macho, manly thing to do,
they were outnumbered. Kate was a warrior—Josh knew that without a doubt—and he
was not precisely useless in a fight. But these wizards meant business, and if
they were more than happy to assault a defenseless, innocent human woman, they
would not play fair or have scruples. Josh wanted no part in fighting these
men. He would much rather flee and live to tell the tale.

Many things appeared to happen at once. Josh felt Kate pull
him farther back—hard. A strange blowing sound came from above him. The three
men rushed forward and Josh tried to balance himself and prepare to attack them
in return. It was obvious that Kate had no intention of running, and Josh would
rather sever a limb than run alone and leave her there to face them.

Wooziness came over him like a wet, heavy blanket. The world
around him became disjointed and Josh wasn’t sure of the exact order things
occurred in.

“Kate, get away,” he insisted firmly, surprised as hell when
his voice sounded thick and slurred, as if his tongue had swollen within his
mouth.

Part of his mind could tell that Kate had dragged him
partially back down the street, but his legs and feet felt as if they were encased
in cement. The men were rushing them far more quickly than they were
retreating. Swearing ferociously with a truly vile curse—something that until
that moment Josh would never,
ever
have believed would pass her
lips—Kate inserted her body between Josh’s and the thugs.

“You cock-sucking donkey fuckers,” Kate swore at them. “You
do
not
want to piss me off like this.”

Josh wanted to simultaneously cheer for Kate and snicker at
her foul mouth. He never would have guessed—Kate appeared to be such a placid,
calm young witch. Gray-and-gold energy gathered around her hands in a very
prominent warning before Josh could force his mouth and tongue to follow his
brain’s orders.

One of the thugs halted in his tracks, his eyes widening in
clear understanding of the inherent power Kate demonstrated. The other two
either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Kate picked the physically larger of the
two and shot the lightning bolts at the dead-center of his chest.