Chasing Silver (16 page)

It wasn’t until Sal was almost abreast that Gabriel realized the tall blonde behind him wasn’t just another pretty face in the crowd. She was obviously with Sal, and stood silently off to the side. There was an icy beauty to her fine features, but whatever attraction she might have held for his minion was lost on Gabriel. Too skinny and too cold. He liked women who didn’t require added electric blankets to warm his bed.

Tian glanced at Sal and the strange woman without interest, turning back to his drink with a sigh. Gabriel ignored him, standing to greet their new guests.

“Salvador, I don’t remember inviting you to join us.” He pushed the other man aside, extending his hand to Kirsten. “But you’re welcome to join me anytime.”

The strength in her grip surprised him. “That’s good to hear. Your father said I’d find you more than accommodating.”

Gabriel offered her his seat, much to Tian’s barely disguised annoyance. “My father? I’m sure old Pedro would have mentioned somebody like you before.”

“We’ve never met.” A calculated gleam appeared in her pale blue eyes. “But our families have been friends for many years. My name’s Kirsten.”

Gabriel frowned, feeling very much at a disadvantage. “Kirsten.” He nodded toward the glaring young man. “This is Tian. We were just having a chat.” Tian snorted. “But I’m sure he doesn’t mind taking a break.”

Her disinterested gaze flickered to Tian, but returned to probe Gabriel’s. “Your father said you could help me. I’m looking for a young woman who’s in town, but I don’t know the city and I can’t go to the police. She’s already gathering supporters, including a cop and his ex-partner, so I have to find her and this Pierce guy she’s hiding with before she’s untouchable.”

Tian turned, his hand hitting the half-empty glass and sending it flying. Beer splattered across the bar and Kirsten’s face. Gabriel’s eyes widened, but Tian seemed oblivious to the danger he was in.

“Pierce. This woman you’re looking for is with Nathan Pierce?”

She took the napkin Gabriel offered and dried off her cheeks. Her earlier aloofness had become brittle, something viperous lurking in her gaze. “You know him?”

To Tian’s credit, he didn’t wince or look away from the poison in Kirsten’s eyes. “Yeah, I know him. I know the little girl you’re looking for, too. Unless he’s running with more than one these days.”

She moved like liquid fire, slender fingers wrapping around the back of Tian’s neck to slam his face into the bar. Though Tian squirmed, the wiry tendons in the back of her hand testified to how strong her grip was.

“I already shot one of his friends for trying to get in my way. I won’t hesitate to shoot you, too.”

“Suck my dick,” Tian muttered, his free hand connecting with her stomach. Kirsten looked comically surprised, and she edged back, giving Tian enough room to break free.

Gabriel moved between them, a soothing smile on his face. “Kirsten, I’m sure Tian will be more than happy to help with whatever you need.” He stepped back, smashing Tian’s foot. “Isn’t that right?”

Tian grunted.

Her voice went as cold as her beauty. “I need Remy Capra picked up before it’s too late. She’s dangerous and volatile, and if we’re not careful, we’ll lose the Silver Maiden before we even have a shot at getting it. That’s unacceptable.”

Gabriel forgot about Tian, his attention focused on Kirsten. “The Silver Maiden? It’s here? How? I would have…” He realized she wasn’t going to answer his questions. Her eyes were flinty. “Who are you?”

“I told you. A friend of the family. Now are you going to help me or not?”

Gabriel smiled. “Of course.” It was a truly win-win situation. Tian would be mollified, and the Silver Maiden would be his. He didn’t expect Kirsten to give it up without a fight, but then, he didn’t expect Kirsten to have much fight left in her when he was finished. “But let’s not discuss this here.” He looked around. “It’s getting far too crowded for my taste.”

She kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. Though he never said a word, every once in a while a bemused smile would soften Nathan’s face, his hand stealing across the distance between them to stroke the back of hers. Remy refrained from asking what he was thinking. She had enough going through her head not to add the confusion of his to it.

He held her hand all the way to his apartment, fingers laced as he unlocked the door. It shouldn’t have felt as normal as it did to watch him toss his keys onto a small table, but it did. Like she’d seen it a thousand times before. Maybe that was why Remy pulled away.

“Okay if I take a shower?” She plucked at the sweaty shirt sticking to her skin. “Between the dust at the warehouse and the sand at the beach, I’m almost ready to give up on ever being clean again.”

“Do you want…?” Nathan paused, smiling a little self-consciously. “That’s fine. I’ll call Isaac. See if he’s managed to track down Kirsten yet.”

Before he could reach into his pocket for his phone, her hand was on his arm. “Maybe you could take a look at my back first.” She swallowed against the dryness that had appeared in her throat. “We haven’t checked it since that first night.”

“You’re right. I should change your bandage, at least.”

She had her hands on the hem of her shirt, pulling it up and over her head, before she was halfway across the room. Nathan followed, and his hand found the light switch on the wall, drowning the small alcove in bright fluorescent as she stepped in front of the sink. The reflection staring back at her took Remy by surprise. Toned skin gleamed with light perspiration. Her long dark hair was curling slightly in the heat, faint wisps clinging to her forehead while the rest pooled around her shoulders. Even her eyes, nearly black, shone from the raised temperatures.

“It doesn’t hurt,” she said, resting her palms on the vanity and leaning forward. “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

“Probably a good thing,” Nathan murmured, peeling the tape from her skin. She watched him in the mirror as he bent to study it, his face only inches from her back. After a few seconds he straightened, but he didn’t step away from her. “Make sure you clean it in the shower, but it looks fine.”

The cool porcelain against her hands was warming swiftly, though Remy suspected it was as much about Nathan’s proximity as it was the heat of her body. Her eyes flew to his in their reflections, searching, wondering what was going on behind their bright depths.

“Kind of an awkward place to get to.” Her head tilted toward the closed door of the bathroom, the offer tumbling from her lips before she asked herself where her earlier fears had disappeared to. “Maybe I should have some help.”

“Maybe you should,” Nathan agreed, his hands sliding over her bare stomach to the top button of her jeans. He paused, studying her reflection before freeing the button and dragging the zipper down. She leaned back as he began to work the stiff material over her hips, not protesting as the jeans fell down her legs.

It was easy to step out of the denim. It wasn’t as simple to ignore the hard press of Nathan’s erection into her barely covered ass.

Remy whimpered when his hand skimmed back across her abdomen, long fingers splaying against the taut muscles as he held her against him. “How are you supposed to shower with so many clothes on?”

“Good point.” He stepped back, pulling his shirt over his head, then pressed his body against hers again. She reached behind her, her hands sliding over his hard cock before finding his zipper. He covered her fingers with his, guiding the zipper down before pushing his pants away. “Better?”

“Definitely.”

Her gaze drifted to the broad outline of his shoulders. Though her head and body blocked most of Nathan’s chest, she could still see the thin scar at the base of his throat, the tight cording of muscles as his arms came back around her. His hands rose to deftly undo the front clasp of her bra, the dark lace springing lax to expose her already hard nipples to the air.

Nathan’s palms moved over her breasts, his skin rough against her. She shivered as he began caressing, his fingers kneading the heavy flesh. His hips moved forward, his cock sliding between her thighs, the stiff heat taunting her through her underwear. Remy raised her eyes to the mirror, but his gaze was intent on her breasts, his eyes darkening as he brushed his fingertips over her taut nipples, bringing forth a light moan from her throat.

As she rocked back against his hips, she lifted her hands to cover his, molding fingers over fingers as he massaged her breasts. The promise made her clit tingle, and the muscles in her legs tightened in response. But it was the sudden pinch of her nipples that made Remy gasp, eyes flying wide as she stared at their reflections.

Nathan rolled her nipple between two fingers, steadily increasing the pressure until she writhed against him. She was so distracted by the sharp pleasure radiating from her tight skin she didn’t notice his other hand sneaking between their bodies, positioning the head of his cock at her slick passage.

“Remy,” he whispered, gripping her hip.

She didn’t know why he was asking. Hadn’t their time together proven to him yet that she was his for the taking? She had never known another man who could so thoroughly render her helpless, whether by the simple call of his voice or the gentle touch of his hand.

Still, her tongue darted out to moisten her dry lips, her arm arching back to tangle her fingers in his hair. “Please,” she replied, her voice as hoarse as his.
You know I’m yours.
“Don’t stop.”

“I won’t.” Nathan thrust forward. He filled her completely, holding her tightly as he paused inside of her. She caught her breath, studying his face, straining to read his thoughts. His eyes were dilated, and he seemed a little awed, a little dazed. Remy restrained herself, waiting for him to move, even as her thighs began to tremble.

Her blood pounded in her ears by the time he began to pull out. Carefully, she exhaled, quivering with every jagged second, but it did little to quell her runaway thoughts. If she thought Nathan’s were inscrutable, hers were a maelstrom of confusion, at once offering answers while in the next moment, posing further questions. The Silver Maiden, her confessions at the beach, and his subsequent chase, danced to distraction inside her.

It shouldn’t be possible. There was no such thing as fate. The only one to control your destiny was you.

And yet, here she was. Doing the impossible. Finding both exhilaration and peace in a near-stranger’s arms.

Not a stranger. Nathan. You know this man.

She had known him from the beginning.

Nathan continued to move, his long, slow strokes pushing her close to the edge. Her eyes fluttered shut, but his grip on her hip tightened. “Remy. Remy, don’t close your eyes.”

She obeyed without pause, chin lifting as well as her gaze to find him watching her in the mirror. “Why?”

“Because I…” Nathan kissed her shoulder, looking at her reflection through his lashes. “Because I want to see you. I want you to see us.”

She did. She could. The words failed her, but the sight of his arms around her, his mouth pressed to her skin, his shoulders bowed to swallow hers, left her surging with the need to tell him. Somehow.

Her fingers left Nathan’s nape to ghost along the side of his face. She traced his cheekbone, found the rough edge of the stubble that refused to ever go away, lingered at the corner of his mouth as he continued to rain kisses up to her neck. Still, it wasn’t enough. And she knew it.

“Magic.”

His mouth paused, but his hips continued the same maddening rhythm, his eyes clashing with hers. “What is?” His hot breath sent a shiver down her spine, and she felt the question more than heard it. “This? Us?”

“All of it.” Her eyes threatened to close again at the electric onslaught of sensations, but Nathan’s tightened grip forced them open. Any barricade she might have managed around her emotions splintered at the naked need she saw reflected back at her. “I don’t know what else to call it. All I know is that I don’t want it to stop. It can’t. You’re the first man I’ve ever thought…”

Remy stopped. That would be too much.

Nathan froze, wrapping his arm around her stomach to hold her against him. Her chest rose and fell with his, and his skin seared where they touched. “What?” he asked, his voice faint. “What, Remy?”

Everything roared inside her head, caught in the flame of his gaze as he waited for her to speak.

“I’ve always been alone. Even when I had…family, I guess you’d call them. I would have died for any of them, but that didn’t mean they were inside me.” Her fingertips caressed his cheek. “You’ve been there almost since the start. I don’t know how. I don’t even know what to call it. Magic doesn’t seem strong enough.”

Nathan opened his mouth as though he was going to respond, but closed it again. He hesitated before he began moving, thrusting into her as slowly as before. The silence stretched between them, until Remy felt a flicker of panic. Had she gone too far? Had she said too much? He had asked and it wasn’t fair if…

“I know.” His tone matched hers. “I know…me, too.”

It wasn’t the words that released the torrent of emotion through her battered system. It was the unfaltering hold of his gaze with hers in the mirror, the surety reflected within it as he continued to stroke in and out of her body. Remy sagged against him, grateful for the hard wall of his chest. She almost hadn’t dared to hope, and yet here he was, professing to feel the same way. Why? It defied explanations, but maybe that was part of its power.

“It scares the shit out of me,” she confessed.

Nathan exhaled, in what almost sounded like a light laugh. “Me too. God, me too.” His fingers moved over her stomach, caressing her before sliding between her thighs. She took his wrist, guiding him to her throbbing clit. “But we’ll have time to figure it out.”

Remy nodded, incapable of anything more coherent with his talented fingers and throbbing cock playing her to such a fevered pitch. Her breathing quickened, air coming in audible gasps, but always, Nathan maintained the same steady tempo, in and out and back and forth until every inch of her skin screamed for release from the fire he stoked. Her nails clawed into his nape, and her head pressed back against his chest. She would fall if not for his strength holding her up.

She almost did when her knees buckled as she came.

“I love watching you come,” Nathan said, his voice strained as he thrust into her a final time. His words forced her to focus on their reflections once again, and she watched the relief wash over his face. He gasped, his chest hitching against her back as he climaxed. His muscles immediately went lax, and he stumbled backward against the wall without releasing her.

They regarded each other in the mirror for a long moment, only their ragged breath breaking the silence. She had so many words straining to come out, like a floodgate had been thrown open inside her heart, but she bit her tongue against them, waiting for Nathan’s next move.

His lips grazed her temple. “I don’t think it’s magic,” he whispered. “I think you’re some sort of miracle.”

Everything inside her blazed white hot. She hadn’t known what she’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t that. It wasn’t this exultant freedom his few words elicited, or the sense of coming home now flooding through her.

She smiled. She didn’t need to worry about all the things she’d left unsaid. The only ones that mattered were, “Me, too.”