Black As Night (Quentin Black Mystery #2) (38 page)

Leaning up, I kissed him instead.

I don’t know if I’d really thought about what kind of kiss I meant it to be, but it went from affectionate to something else in a matter of seconds. His fingers wrapped into my hair when I kissed him a second time, and then he leaned over my seat, shoving the armrest up and out of the way as he slid up against me. He kissed me again, harder, wrapping his arm around my waist. The next time he kissed me I had my hands under his shirt, stroking his chest and his ribs, avoiding his hurt shoulder as I started exploring his back. Liquid pain coiled through me when he kissed me after that, and I felt that pull on both of us intensify, a feeling I definitely recognized but that felt completely different to me now.

I wanted him. Badly enough that I couldn’t think straight.

I wanted him to do what Solonik had done.

He let out a low gasp. Then he kissed me harder, wrapping his hand around my thigh and pulling my leg around him.

I don’t know how long we kissed like that, truthfully.

I definitely lost track of the number of kisses.

I know it felt different that time. It felt a hell of a lot different––and in ways I couldn’t really articulate to myself, maybe because I didn’t want to yet. I know it felt a lot more serious than any of the time we spent kissing when I first got to the Hanu Hotel.

Somewhere in that, I felt my stomach drop, and realized the plane was taking off.

Black pulled away from me briefly when it did. Pausing to caress my face with his hand, he glanced past me out the window then kissed me again. When I kissed him back, he let out another low sound, gripping my hair tighter in his fingers.

I lost track of time again.

I don’t know how long that interlude lasted either, but eventually someone was standing over us, clearing their throat.

It was the second time that day.

Black raised his head. His gold eyes shone at me, distinctly glazed, his pupils dilated. He was practically lying on me by then, but both of us still wore all of our clothes, thank goodness. Fighting not to react to the expression on his face, I looked past him, only to find Kiko standing there, one of her dark eyebrows elegantly quirked, her muscular arms folded.

“Boss?” she said. “You got a minute?”

I saw Black close his eyes, longer than a blink. I could feel him not wanting to turn around. Given that he had a rather impressive erection that he was currently pressing against my leg, I didn’t really want him to turn around either.

“What?” he said, without moving.

“You said to update you right off, if we found anything,” she said.

“So? Speak.”

Wondering how she was out of her seat, I noted that the “Fasten Your Seat Belts” sign was already off and glanced out the window.

I stared down at the distant clouds, a little bewildered.

Kiko’s voice grew abruptly businesslike. “We had Paris’s Homeland Security go through the bags of everyone who landed on every flight routed from Bangkok, like you asked. They just picked this up,” she added. “I thought you’d want to see it.”

She held up her phone, sliding her finger across the front of the screen. Turning it around to face us, she showed us the image there.

Black turned his head to look at it, even as I looked past him to do the same.

An open suitcase filled the screen of her touch-phone. On top lay a Thai mask, the same one I’d seen in Solonik’s mind as he’d been describing the killer to Black.

Black looked at me.
Could be a coincidence,
he sent softly.

I gave him a skeptical look and he sighed, looking back at Kiko.

“Did they hold him?”

“On what?” Kiko said. “Having a mask? We didn’t have much in terms of grounds, boss. They looked for weapons and drugs. When they found nothing, they let him go.”

Black nodded, thinking. “Do we have anyone there who can follow him?”

“We tried. They lost him before he left the building.”

Black frowned, glancing at me again.

The news didn’t exactly surprise either of us. He was a seer.

“Okay, thanks,” Black said, still looking at me. “That’s enough for now.”

“You got it, boss,” Kiko said.

When I glanced over his shoulder at her, she winked at me, smiling a mischievous smile.
 

“...Sorry for the interruption. Carry on, sir,” she added, grinning. “I tried to wait, but it was starting to look like you two might be doing that for the rest of the flight.”

Flushing a little, I looked up at Black.

His expression had softened again, even before he leaned closer, kissing me on the cheek.

I frowned a little though, studying his eyes.

“You think it’s Ian,” I said finally. “The killer.”

He tensed, meeting my gaze. After studying my expression, he sighed, nodding perceptibly. “I think it’s possible, doc.”

“You didn’t think that before.”

“Well, sometimes I’m wrong. It’s
really
fucking rare, but it does happen, Miri.”

I could tell he was trying to coax a smile out of me, but it didn’t really work.

“Why?” I said, biting the inside of my cheek.

He exhaled, caressing my neck. “The mask thing,” he said, motioning towards his own face. “He seems to have some kind of thing about––”

“That’s not what I mean,” I said, shaking my head. “Why is he doing this? Is he just batshit crazy? Or what?”

Black clicked softly, his eyes shifting briefly towards the window. He looked back at me a few seconds later, his voice growing almost blunt.

“I don’t know,” he said.

I didn’t believe him.

When he bent down to kiss me again, I laid my hand on his chest, holding him back. Feeling frustration spark through him when I did it, I met his gaze.

“You don’t know?” I said. “Really?”

He exhaled, that frustration sharpening. “I don’t want to talk about this right now, doc,” he said. “It’s complicated. It’s not important right now...and yes, your ex is batshit crazy, which is probably the only part of your question that really matters.”

I nodded, pursing my lips. “So we’ll talk about it later?”

“Yes,” he said, still sounding frustrated. “Are you really not going to let me kiss you until then? Because of that murdering piece of shit?”

I shook my head. “Not because of him. We’re kind of taking the PDA thing a bit far,” I said, glancing past him to the other passengers behind him. Seeing the puzzled look in his eyes, I clarified, “Public Display of Affection...PDA? Don’t you think we should hold off on this until we’re alone? Not on a plane in first class seats, where we’ve got a bunch of horny businessmen watching us, probably wondering if I’m a hooker?”

Black grinned. That time it reached his eyes. “A hooker with a bandaged foot?” he said. “That would be...kinky.”

“Black,” I warned, turning my face away when he tried to kiss me again. “I’m serious. This isn’t really the place for this.”

“You started it, doc.”

“I know I did,” I said, blowing my hair out of my face in some exasperation. “I know. And I’m sorry. But we need to cool it now...okay?”

He leaned down, pressing his face against mine with a sigh.

I felt him giving in though, even before he leaned away from me, grabbing one of the pillows from behind me and placing it deliberately on his lap once he was settled. When he glanced over at me that time, we both laughed. I couldn’t help it.

He took my hand when I leaned against him, kissing the back of my knuckles before he entwined our fingers, holding them on top of the pillow.

“Do they really call Bangkok the City of Angels?” I asked him, remembering what Anders had said. “Like Los Angeles?”

Black nodded, closing his eyes as he settled back in his seat. “Yes. It’s what the Thai version of the name means...well, the short version of the Thai name, anyway.”

Exhaling, he glanced up at the media screen, where a map of our trip was currently displayed. “City of Angels to the City of Angels. Then back to San Francisco.” He kissed the top of my head. “I admit...I might kiss the fucking ground when we land there.” He glanced down at me. “Although Bangkok’s a really nice city, Miri. It can be, anyway...and Thailand is a beautiful country. We should go back there sometime...when all of this is done. Take a real vacation.”

I nodded, thinking as I gazed out the window.

He gripped my hand tighter. Tight enough for me to look up.

When I met his gaze that time, I nearly flinched at the seriousness in his gold eyes.

“It
will
be done at some point, Miri,” he said. “It’s going to be okay.”

Something about the way he said it sounded like a promise.

Swallowing, I nodded, clutching his hand back as I pretended I believed him.

But that time, it was me who was the liar.

* * *

Continue reading the QUENTIN BLACK books with

BLACK ON BLACK (Quentin Black Mystery #3)

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QUENTIN BLACK MYSTERY
is a dark, gritty paranormal romance and mystery series starring brilliant and mysterious antihero Quentin R. Black, along with his partner, psychic forensic psychologist Miram Fox. For fans of Sherlock Holmes and paranormal romance, the series spans continents and dimensions as Black tries to redeem himself by making the world safe for his kind.

ALLIE’S WAR
is a dark, unique and gritty psychic romance involving a young woman grappling with her role in bringing about the end of one world and the start of a new one. Follow Allie Taylor and her antihero partner in crime, Dehgoies Revik, as they fight terrifying enemies and one another in a passionate story spanning centuries, and filled unpredictable twists.

ALIEN APOCALYPSE
is a dystopian new adult romance about a tough girl named Jet Tetsuo who grew up on Earth following an alien invasion. Forced into living among her conquerors, she has to navigate a treacherous world full of enemies who pose as friends, even as she becomes their most famous fighter in the Rings, a modern day version of the coliseum.

GATE SHIFTER SERIES
is an unusual shifter romance centering on shifters from another world altogether, called morph. Earth humans remained blissfully ignorant of the existence of alternate dimensions until Nihkil Jamri tries to save private detective, Dakota Reyes, while he is surveying Earth. Part urban fantasy, part detective series, part paranormal romance, part science fiction adventure, the Gate Shifter series explores crime solving, interstellar warfare and alien romance with the least likely candidates imaginable.

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