Read Through the Night Online

Authors: Janelle Denison

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #General, #Contemporary, #Suspense, #Erotica

Through the Night (2 page)

BOOK: Through the Night
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He glanced at the card, then flicked the tip of it between his long, masculine fingers as he raised his gaze back to hers, a flirtatious grin on his lips. “Can I call you for a date, without the use of hotel perks? I think I can afford to take you to a really nice dinner somewhere on the Strip after what I just won at the craps table.”

Valerie had to give him props for being persistent, and incredibly persuasive. The teasing note to his voice, the warmth in his piercing green eyes, and the promise of pleasure still lingering between them drew her in and played havoc with her normally good sense and solid intuition.

His burning hot touch had evoked such a strong stirring of lust and desire, and while she had to admit she was curious to see where that physical awareness might lead, she was smart enough not to get caught up in the attraction.

Instead, she took a purposeful step back from him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Pierson, but I don’t fraternize with the guests outside of the casino,” she said, injecting a pleasant tone to her voice. “Enjoy your stay at the Onyx.”

Before he could try to sway her further, she turned around and walked away—and she didn’t need psychic abilities to know he was staring at her ass. She could feel his gaze on her, intense and intimate, all the way until she entered the lobby of the adjoining hotel and disappeared from his view. Only then did she release a deep breath in an attempt to relax her tense, sexually charged body.

Geez, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so hot and bothered, so aroused and stimulated—and
never
just from a man’s mere touch. Stranger or not.

On a regular day-to-day basis, she’d learned to control her psychic abilities through grounding and meditation techniques so they didn’t interfere with her job as a hostess. But there were times when her connection to a person’s aura or energy field was overwhelmingly strong and penetrated those barriers and triggered an episode.

Usually, when that happened, visions or premonitions flashed in her mind, but this thing with Chase was purely physical. There had been no mental images. No intuitive visions. Just a palpable, inexplicable desire that was still coursing through her bloodstream, and was as distracting as hell.

Curious to know more about the enigmatic Chase Pierson, she headed to one of the computers at the check-in desk that was currently unoccupied. Using her employee access code, she typed in his name and up came his room reservation. She was shocked to discover not only that Chase was staying in the penthouse suite normally reserved for celebrities and other affluent VIPs, but also that the owner of the casino, Steven Wilkes, was the one who’d approved the paid-for room.

“Wow,” she breathed, both impressed and intrigued by his status. And while she was tempted to search the Internet to see what Chase’s name might reveal about him and who he was, she had other, more pressing things to get done. But later tonight when she was at home, she intended to do just that.

She spent the next few hours in her private office working on a marketing campaign geared toward enticing the Onyx’s Platinum Club members to book a return visit to the casino with free offers and upgrades. She had champagne and a fruit basket delivered to an arriving high roller’s room, and she put a call in to valet to arrange a Ferrari rental for another guest who wanted to surprise her husband with the flashy ride for their tenth-anniversary outing that evening.

At 4:45 in the afternoon, the alarm on her cell phone beeped, reminding her that she had a scheduled meeting with her boss, Caleb Roux, in fifteen minutes. She cleaned off her desk, shut down her computer, and headed to the security wing, where Caleb’s office was located. She didn’t know the exact details of why he’d summoned her, but usually a meeting with Caleb meant being assigned a case with the Reliance Group.

Excitement and anticipation filled her with each step she took. While she loved her job as a hostess, being a part of TRG—a private investigative agency Caleb had organized with the specific purpose of taking on specialized cases other agencies weren’t interested in handling—was a nice change of pace. And she also enjoyed being linked to such a close-knit group, which felt like family to her.

She never knew what to expect from Caleb. Sometimes he asked for her help on the more complicated cases, and other times he used her to glean information from someone, details that he wouldn’t be able to learn on his own. With a deft touch and mental concentration, she was usually able to give him insight on a person’s thoughts or intentions to help solve a case.

For most of Valerie’s life, being able to read other people’s minds or seeing visions of past, present, or future events had been more of a curse than a blessing—but Caleb had given her, and her gift, a sense of purpose when her future had seemed so bleak. Doing something positive and constructive with her psychic abilities was her way of making up for the stupid decisions she’d made in the past, and helped assuage painful memories that would forever remind her of how she’d failed the two people who’d mattered most to her—her parents.

Caleb was not only her boss, but also a friend—and one of the very few men she trusted implicitly. She knew without a single ounce of doubt that he’d never hurt her, or exploit her gift as others had, including a man she’d thought she loved. Caleb was always up front and honest with her—honorable, ethical qualities that had been lacking in her previous relationships and now set a strong precedence for the few friends she’d let into her life on a regular basis.

But until those people earned her trust, her first line of defense was to be cautious and guarded. She’d like to think that she was much smarter and wiser now when it came to protecting her heart and emotions.

Reaching his office, she stepped inside … and came to an abrupt stop when she saw who was sitting in one of the chairs in front of Caleb’s desk.

Her “Gorgeous Guy.”

His deep green bedroom eyes meet hers, and Valerie’s heart immediately skipped a crazy beat before resuming at a galloping pace. Even though a good six feet of space separated them, an undeniable wave of awareness wrapped around her like a tangible caress and tugged at her core.

What was
he
doing here? she wondered as she forced herself to approach the desk, and him. As she closed the gap, that strange shimmering heat between them intensified and drew her like a magnetic charge.

“Here she is,” Caleb said in that direct tone of his as both men stood to greet her. “There’s someone I want you to meet, Valerie. This is Chase Pierson, a close personal acquaintance of Steven Wilkes.”

She’d already come to that conclusion after discovering the owner was the one to approve Pierson’s stay in the luxurious penthouse suite. She had no idea what all this had to do with her, but she was sure she’d find out soon. And then she was going to put as much distance between herself and Chase as possible because the man wreaked havoc with every one of her five senses.

“Caleb was just telling me all kinds of good stuff about you,” he said with a playful wink as he stretched a hand toward her, an
I dare you to touch me again
glint in his eyes. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Nervous about what might happen if she came into skin-to-skin contact with him again, she couldn’t bring herself to touch him. “Chase and I already met down in the casino earlier,” she said in an attempt to disregard the need for a formal handshake. “He was quite lucky at the craps table.”

Chase wasn’t about to let her off so easy, and kept his hand extended. “How about we consider this our
official
first meet?” he suggested, a devilish smile curving his lips.

God, he was so damned determined, and he did it with such unabashed charm that if she ignored or refused his gesture, she’d come across as downright rude in front of Caleb—and he knew it, too. Praying that her earlier response to touching him was nothing more than a fluke, she took extra precautions and created a mental and physical block against the masculine energy emanating off him, then slipped her hand into his.

Snap. Crackle. Pop.
She heard the sound in her head, felt the electrical shock of his touch vibrate through her body. She’d tried, but there was no defending herself against the uncontrollable flash of heat that surged inside her or the way the air between them practically crackled with sexual tension. Illicit sensations sparked like wildfire in her veins, prickling her skin with goose bumps, while lust and desire merged and intensified, setting off a chain reaction of arousing quivers low and deep in her stomach.

She sucked in a sharp breath before she could stop the sound from escaping and quickly pulled her hand from his grasp, which did little to break the bizarre spell this man seemed to have over her. He barged right past the defenses she’d erected, and that had never happened to her before. Her reaction to him was extremely unnerving, given that she was a psychic. However, the woman in her couldn’t help but find it all incredibly erotic and exciting.

Knowing her gasp and the abruptness with which she’d ended the handshake hadn’t escaped Caleb’s shrewd gaze, Valerie went with the first thing that popped into her head. “Damn static electricity,” she muttered, rubbing her still-tingling palm against the fabric of her pants.

Chase laughed, clearly amused with her excuse, and obviously not believing it for a second. “Yeah, there seems to be a lot of that going on today.”

Caleb gave her an odd look, as if he was trying to figure out why she was behaving so strangely, then finally waved a hand at the chair beside her. “Have a seat, Valerie, and I’ll brief you on why you’re here.”

Yes, she was definitely curious about that, especially since it appeared Chase was involved somehow, as well. They all sat down, and while Valerie kept her gaze focused on her boss, her awareness of the man reclining in his chair so casually next to her was as strong as ever.

Thankfully, Caleb jumped right into business. “Chase is a treasure hunter, and Steven Wilkes has retained his services to recover a valuable historical item belonging to Al Capone.”

Knowing that TRG and its members had no expertise in treasure hunting, she frowned in confusion. “Why is the Reliance Group involved?”

“Actually, it’s not so much TRG’s services that are needed, but rather the gift you possess,” Caleb explained easily. “Steven has requested that you, specifically, assist Chase in acquiring this piece.”

Valerie’s stomach fluttered at the thought of doing
anything
with this man. Just his mere presence next to her was throwing her off-kilter, and she couldn’t imagine what would happen if she were forced into close proximity with him. Well, yeah, she could
imagine,
and every single scenario that flitted through her mind was like an X-rated fantasy with
him
in the starring role.

Her cheeks heated, and her entire body felt warm and flushed, even though the air-conditioning was on in the office. “What does my psychic gift have to do with finding an old antique?”

“Steven is hoping that your talent, combined with Chase’s, will ultimately lead to the item that’s been elusive to Chase so far.”

She finally glanced at Chase, met his too-seductive gaze, and raised a curious brow. “Your
talent
?” She had no doubt the man was an expert at many things, and she was dying to find out what this so-called skill of his was all about.

His broad shoulders lifted in a casual shrug, while a slight
gotcha
smile made an appearance. “I have psychometric abilities.”

Surprise rendered her momentarily speechless.

Okay, she hadn’t seen that one coming. While she, as a clairvoyant, could touch a living being and see and feel things related to that person, Chase had the rare ability to hold an inanimate object in his hand and be able to read its history. They each possessed two separate, different psychic abilities, and depending on what they were searching for, their talents
could
complement each other.

If it were anyone other than Chase, she would have jumped at the opportunity to be a part of something so fun and mysterious. Going on a hunt for treasure would be a nice change from the other cases she normally took on for TRG, which were darker, more emotionally draining, and usually dealt with shadier elements.

But knowing just what kind of effect Chase had on her, she was reluctant to say yes. She took great care to keep people from getting too close because of her gift and a painful past that left her guarded, and yet he’d so easily ambushed her defenses and shaken her control.

Yet there was no turning Caleb or his request down, because she didn’t think he’d appreciate or accept her explanation.
I’m sorry, Caleb, but every time Chase touches me, I want to rip his clothes off and do wicked things with him.

Oh, yeah, that would go over real well.

Not.

So, instead, she sucked up her own personal issues with Chase and put on a professional façade. “So, what does this job entail, and what, exactly, is this object we’ll be searching for?” Despite everything, she
was
intrigued.

Before Caleb could reply, the BlackBerry sitting on the desk in front of him vibrated. He checked the message that came through, then cursed beneath his breath and abruptly stood. “I’m going to have to cut this meeting short. I’ve got a security problem down in the casino I need to take care of. I’ll let Chase fill you in on all the details, since this is essentially his deal, anyway. In fact, since it’s getting close to six, why don’t the two of you discuss everything over dinner?”

“Great idea,” Chase said quickly and enthusiastically, not giving Valerie any say in the matter.

Once Caleb was gone and she and Chase were alone, he glanced back at her, emitting too much male charm and confidence. “It looks like the two of us will be having that dinner after all, not to mention working together. Should make for an interesting few weeks, don’t you think?”

BOOK: Through the Night
3.92Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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