Deadlocked (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 3) (5 page)

After a few minutes, I pulled my mouth from his, panting for
breath as he sucked and licked and nipped his way down my throat to my
collarbone. His hands found my waist and he tugged my shirt out from where it
was tucked into my jeans. He slid his hands up under my shirt, his warm
fingers gliding across my bare skin. Taking my mouth again, he tangled his
tongue with mine. He growled and I felt the heat rush straight to my core. I sucked
in a breath as his fingers brushed across the fabric of my bra, teasing my
sensitive nipples. He pushed me back, forcing me to rise up on my knees,
opening the space between us as he pushed up my shirt exposing my bare belly.
He leaned over, his lips tickling across my skin and I arched my back as he
licked a path up to my bra, his hands cupping my breasts. I threw my head
back, my chest heaving as I struggled to stay in control. Nash paused, his
face against my abdomen, his breathing as ragged as mine. With a little
chuckle, he slid his hands from my breasts to my hips, pushing me back down on
his legs.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” he said with a shake of
his head, “but we should stop.” He laughed again and tucked his finger under
my chin, closing my mouth as I looked at him in disbelief. “This is only our first
date after all.”

I groaned and leaned against him, running my tongue up the
side of his neck. “Do you really want to stop?” I kissed him behind his ear.
Nash growled and shifted positions, pushing my hips tight against him. I
nipped at his ear lobe, pulling it between my teeth.

A growl exploded from him and his fingers twined roughly in
my hair, pulling my head back. He took my mouth with his in a no-holds-barred
kiss. Breathing heavily, he pulled his mouth from mine. “Minx,” he said with another
growl, slapping me on the ass.

“Hey!” I protested, the swat still stinging. A wave of lust
washed over me.

“Do that again, little minx, and I’ll take you right here,
right now, no matter who else is around to see.”

I swallowed with a gulp, my eyes wide. I couldn’t decide if
I wanted to push him or if I was too chicken to call his bluff. Nash laughed
and kissed me on the nose.

“Sexy little minx. You like that idea, do you?” He grabbed
my hips and deposited me on the blanket beside him. He jumped to his feet and
held out his hand. “Come on. We had better go before this gets out of hand.”

With a little disappointed huff, I put my hand in his,
letting him pull me to my feet. He pulled me straight up into his arms and
into his kiss.

I pushed myself away reluctantly a few moments later.
“You’re right. We should go.” With a sigh, I bent over to pick the
blankets up off the ground and then squealed when Nash goosed me on the bottom.
“Hey!” I swatted at him playfully. “Keep your hands to yourself, Nash.”

Nash wiggled his eyebrows at me with a grin. “Never.”

***

I ran out of steam on the ride back into town, my eyes
fluttering shut.

“Hey, wake up, sleepyhead,” Nash smiled and gave my thigh a
pat. “We’re almost home.”

I looked around and, recognizing the neighbourhood, realized
he meant my home. The streets were quiet, the clock on the dash of Nash’s
truck read 2:05 AM. No wonder I was tired. Nash had turned on the radio and
Adele was crooning softly that she wanted to set fire to the rain. The whole
evening felt kind of surreal. Best. First date. Ever.

I let my mind wander thinking about whether Nash would walk
me to the door and kiss me, and whether or not we’d behave and leave it at the
door or stumble inside to my room. Suddenly, something stepped out in front of
the truck.

“Nash! Look out!” I threw my hand against the dash as Nash
slammed on the brakes, but it was too late, the truck barreled right through
the man standing in the middle of the road. “No!” I braced for an impact that
never happened.

“What the hell, Harry?” Nash brought the truck to a
complete stop and shifted it into park. He turned to look at me. “Are you
okay?”

“He...you…I mean…” I shook my head and turned to look out
the back window of the truck. The man was standing in the middle of the road
looking back at me. “Son of a bitch!” I huffed out a breath.

“Harry?” Nash eyed me with concern. He grabbed my hand and
turned to look out the back of the truck. “Oh, shit.”

About a week ago, we had discovered that if Nash touched me
skin-to-skin, he could see what I was seeing when ghosts manifested. It
probably had something to do with the mate bond, although now that I think
about it, the first time Nash saw a ghost with me was
before
he had
marked me as his mate. Huh. Interesting, but that thought would have to wait
for another time.

“Welcome to my life,” I said, turning my mind back to the
present with a wry smile. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize the guy was already
dead. I thought you were about to hit him.” I shrugged.

“It’s okay, Harry. Does stuff like this happen often?”

“Not really. It’s the first time a ghost has ever stepped
in front of my car.” I looked back at the ghost standing rather forlornly in
the street. “I guess I’d better go see what he wants. I don’t particularly
want him following me home.”

I hopped out of the truck and Nash followed. As we
approached the ghost, Nash’s hand in mine, the spectre turned and started to
walk away.

“Hey! Where are you going?” I hurried after him as he headed
towards a darkened alley.

Nash put out his arm to stop me from following. “I don’t
like this, Harry. Stay behind me.” He pulled his gun out of the holster at his
waist. I frowned. He wasn’t wearing that a minute ago. He must have grabbed
it out of the truck. Keeping my hand in his left and his gun in his right,
Nash led me into the alley after the ghost. About halfway down, we found the
ghost staring down at a body, his body.

“Maybe you should go wait in the truck,” Nash said, coming
to a halt a few feet away from the grisly sight.

“What? Go back there? All by myself?” I shook my head,
but I think my smile gave my ploy away. “No thanks, I’ll stick with you.”

Nash grumbled but didn’t say anything and he stepped towards
the body. It was partially covered by a piece of dirty cardboard. He pulled
out his phone and snapped a couple of pictures, the flash filling the alley
with light, and then he kicked the cardboard to the side. “Shit,” he said. He
ran a hand through his hair and then rubbed his forehead like he felt a
headache coming on. He punched some numbers into his phone. “Yeah, it’s
Nash. I’m going to need a couple of units and the M.E. I’ve got a DB in the
alley off of Dempsey, a few blocks east of Miller. Tell them to look for my
truck; I’ll throw the four-ways on.”

I stepped closer, taking a look at the body in front of me.
“Holy…” I shook my head. The man’s throat was completely torn out. I looked
at Nash and he grimaced. “Where’s all the blood?” I asked, looking around the
alley.

Nash took a deep breath and scanned the alley. “I don’t
know. It could be a body dump.” He tousled his hair again. “Listen, can you
run back to the truck and throw the hazard lights on? Maybe wait at the mouth
of the alley where I can see you and watch for the uniforms?”

“Okay.” I turned to leave.

“Harry, wait!” Nash grabbed my arm. “What about the ghost?
Maybe you should question him before backup gets here.”

“I would, but I can’t. He’s gone.” Nash looked around in
surprise, sliding his hand to touch mine as he scanned the alley. “He
disappeared the moment we found the body.”

“Do you think he’ll come back?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Maybe he just wanted someone
to find him. That might have been all that was holding him back. It wouldn’t
be the first time.” In fact, I needed two hands to count the number of times
ghosts had appeared to me with the sole purpose of helping me find their bodies
so that they didn’t lie somewhere unclaimed.

Nash nodded absently, his mind already back on the case. I
headed back to the truck and flipped on the four-ways, grabbing a flashlight I
had remembered seeing in the console. Five minutes later, two police cars
pulled up, their lights flashing but no sirens. I waved them down and pointed
them towards Nash. A few minutes later, Nash strode out of the alley.

“I’m sorry, Harry, but I’m going to have to stick around.
I’ve been assigned the case.” He paused to watch as his partner, Dev, pulled up
in their department-issued car. He lifted my hand, turning it palm up and
dropped his keys into it. “Take my truck home, okay?”

“Really? You’re going to let me drive your truck?” I
grinned at him. “Gee, Nash, you really know how to show a girl a good time on a
first date.”

Nash snorted and reached over, his fingers furrowing through
my hair at the back of my head. He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “This
isn’t how I imagined our date would end.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

Something tickled my ear. I shook my head in irritation,
refusing to open my eyes at whatever ungodly hour it happened to be. It
certainly didn’t feel like I had been asleep very long after driving home – very
cautiously I might add – in Nash’s big-ass truck.

The something tickled me again only this time it was on the
tip of my nose. I wrinkled my nose and gave my head another shake. A familiar
scent nudged at my consciousness. Nash! I continued to play possum, keeping
my eyes shut. When the tickle struck again, I whipped out my hand,
meaning to capture his in mine, only this time it was his lips tickling me, not
his hand, and so I clocked him in the eye by accident.

“Ouch!” Nash growled, grabbing my wrist. His body pounced
on mine, pressing me into the bed.

“Umph!” I grunted, blinking repeatedly as my eyes adjusted
to the low light in the room. “What the hell, Nash? Why are you in my bed?” I
struggled half-heartedly under his weight, frowning at him. “You know it’s
kind of stalker-y to follow a girl home after the first date and sneak into her
bed, right?”

Nash’s pupils flared and he took a deep breath, my struggles
obviously exciting the wolf. “Mmmm, you smell good, Harry. Good enough to
eat.” His eyes burned into me. I felt a wild heat bloom somewhere south of my
belly button. I attempted to push him off me again. “Lie still, Harry.”
Nash’s voice was rough. “You’re getting the wolf all worked up.” He dipped
his head down until his nose was at my collar bone. He took a long,
exaggerated breath and then slowly licked up my neck to my ear, nipping at the
lobe. The heat at my core burned even hotter. Nash’s eyes gleamed. “You like
that, don’t you, little minx?”

“I -” I started to reply, but Nash’s lips captured mine, eating
my words.

He kissed me hard, his tongue thrusting into my mouth,
owning it. Just as suddenly, he pulled away and looked at me with narrowed
eyes. “Why are there vampires watching your building?”

I blinked, feeling a little shell-shocked at the sudden
shift in gears. “I guess they’re watching over me?”

“Why? Why do you suddenly need a security detail?” Nash
growled out the words.

I gave him a little push and his body slid off mine to lie
beside me, his head propped up on his hand. I turned to face him, grabbing at
the sheet as it slid down. I looked down at myself and gave a little squeak in
surprise. “Hey! What happened to my shirt?” I had gone to bed wearing an
oversized t-shirt. After a quick look around the room, I spotted it on the floor beside
the bed.

Nash looked at me with a cheeky grin. “I told you, Harry. No
clothes in my bed.”

I gave a little huff, pulling at the covers. He was lying
on top of them fully clothed. “It’s not your bed, wolf,” I muttered. Nash
continued to look at me expectantly, one eyebrow raised. “Didn’t Salvador tell
you about the Mariposa’s visit?” I finally replied.

Nash frowned, but nodded. “He didn’t mention that he
thought there was a specific danger to you though.” He looked at me speculatively.

“Well, I haven’t exactly managed to keep the whole
necromancer thing quiet lately, have I?” I frowned and hurried on. “Maybe
he thinks the Mariposa has heard about me.” Since necromancers are a threat
to vampires, they tend to have a short life span around them. It
was a highly plausible theory. I felt a twinge of guilt at not telling Nash
the
other
reason. I just wasn’t ready for the ‘Darth-Vadar-is-my-father’
reveal.

Nash narrowed his eyes, the mate bond obviously telling him there
was more, but he let it slide. He growled, reaching out to my raised shoulder,
pushing me back down on the bed. “I’m going to arrange some daytime protection
as well.”

My argument that I didn’t need additional babysitters was
swallowed up by another crushing kiss. He rolled his body onto mine, capturing
my hands and pushing them above my head. He grasped both of my wrists in one
big hand, his other sliding down across my jaw to my collarbone, finally
pushing the sheet aside to cup my breast. I gasped as he pinched my nipple,
pulling it hard. My back arched, my hips lifting off the bed to grind into him.
I groaned into his mouth and I could feel his smile as he pulled his lips away
from mine.

“God, I love how responsive you are, little minx.” He
nipped at my chin. “I could play with you all night, coaxing those sexy little
whimpers from you.” He bent over my breast, his tongue lapping at the
sensitized peak. He released my hands, his other hand joining the first to
cup my other breast. He gave it a squeeze then sucked it into his mouth, not
just the nipple, but gathering in much of the surrounding flesh, suctioning
with his mouth and tongue. I gasped, writhing on the bed. I was so close to
coming and he had barely touched me. I brought my hands down to grasp his head
on either side, my fingers tugging through his hair to pull his lips back up to
mine, kissing him fiercely. After a minute or so, Nash pulled away, the feral
look on his face quickly replaced by a more mischievous one. “Too bad we’ve
only had the one date.” He kissed me on the nose and then rolled off of me,
rising up from the bed. He was still dressed in the same clothes as the night
before.

“You’ve been working all this time?” I looked at him with
concern, my irritation at being woken and revved up only to have him leave,
forgotten. He looked tired.

He ran a hand through his already tousled hair. “Yeah.
Just came to get my truck. Need to head home and catch a few hours of sleep.”

“Stay with me,” I said. At his raised eyebrow, I added.
“To sleep only. You know you will recharge faster.” And he would. We were
like the two parts of a voltaic battery. When we slept together, an energy
bridge seemed to form between us, allowing us to ‘top up’ each other’s
reserves. He had probably saved my life a couple of times already when my aura
was particularly low, just by spooning with me.

He hesitated and I thought he was going to turn me down, but
then he pulled off his shirt, tossing it to the floor beside mine. He
unbuttoned his jeans, sliding them down his well-defined thighs. He was
wearing a pair of boxer briefs. Pushing me over onto my side towards the
middle of the bed, he climbed in, wrapping his body around mine. I reached
behind me and ran my hand over his briefs. He grabbed my wrist, pulling it
back in front of me. “They’re for my own protection, so you won’t molest me in
my sleep,” he growled in my ear. I huffed out an exasperated laugh as his hand
clamped around my breast and he nuzzled his face against my neck. Just who
was molesting whom?

***

I woke hours later, alone in bed. I felt well rested, but
an achy throb between my legs left me feeling irritable. Damn that sexy
wolf. I was sure he left me feeling all needy on purpose. Just to make his
point that he didn’t think the whole dating thing was necessary when we had
already had each other six ways from Sunday.

I headed into the bathroom, the residual humidity indicating
that Nash must have availed himself of my shower before leaving. As I washed
my hair, images of Nash naked in the shower made my achy need worse. I decided
to take the problem into my own hands, literally, when I noticed something in
the steam on the glass shower wall. As the room got steamier, words began to
form on the glass. When I was finally able to read the message, I growled indignantly
at it. Just who did he think he was? I looked at the words
again, glaring at them.

YOUR ORGASMS BELONG TO ME. NO CHEATING.

Cursing pain-in-the-ass alpha males, one wolf in particular,
I finished my shower, clean but unsatisfied. I told myself that the fact that
I decided not to get off had nothing to do with Nash or the realization that
his little pronouncement only left me feeling even more aroused.

It was close to noon when I headed downstairs to get
something to eat. My schedule was so out of whack these days, less like a
witch’s – up with the dawn, and more like a vampire’s - up all night. Tess,
with her job at the gym where they catered to training norms, tended to keep
more witch-like hours on work days, but she quickly reverted to the werewolf’s
more nocturnal pattern whenever possible. I didn’t think she had to work at
the gym today so she was probably still sleeping.

After demolishing a loaf of peanut butter toast with a milk
chaser, I paid a visit to Bryce, hoping to catch him. Luckily, he responded
fairly quickly.

“
Greetings, oh Zombie Queen
.” Bryce’s computerized
voiced sounded like Siri’s younger brother. The little robot character
he displayed on the screen bowed to me, over and over.

“Ugh. Don’t joke about that.” I winced.

The robot changed to one holding up a sign that read
“Sorry”.

“
What’s up Harry? I came back as fast as I could yesterday but
you were gone.
”

“Yeah, sorry about that. Something came up and I had to go
to the shop.” I paused wondering at his words. “Where exactly were you?”

“
Russia. They have the best live porn sites. I found
this one, where you can just type what you want the girls to do and
…”

“Ewww! TMI dude. Too much information.” I made a face at
the screen.

The robot with his sorry sign was back. “
Yeah, okay.
No problemo. What can I do for you
?
Are you all right? The news sites
are exploding with stories on Bellemare and his untimely death
.”

I filled Bryce in on what happened with Bellemare, glossing
over the showdown with Navarre and the whole Salvador is my father news. I
ended with the card from the Mariposa.

“Anyway, now I need to know everything you can dig up on
this Mariposa character,
La Mariposa de la Muerte
. Pictures, known
associates, anything you can get me. The more I know about her the better.”

“
Know your enemy. Gotcha.
” The screen blinked to
black for a moment, then the robot popped back up. He was dressed like a
ninja. “
It might take a while to dig through the dark web
.”

“That’s okay. Just make it thorough. Oh, and Bryce? Sun
Tzu was Chinese, not Japanese.”