you stick around a little while, I’ll keep them all over again.”
He felt her body respond. Felt it tugging at his, felt her yearning, her desire. Even heard it in the breathy quality of her wavering reply, saw it in the way her lips trembled as she gave it, while his eyes fell closed and he swayed closer, about to kiss her.
“I could do that. Or you could just eat shit and die,” she whispered.
He frowned and opened his eyes.
Hers were coated in a sheet of solid ice—one that concealed a riot of emotions, he was certain.
“I hate you, Jack.”
“You want me,” he said, straightening away from her.
“One doesn’t negate the other.”
“Okay. Fine. I’ll be ready for Reaper’s meeting.”
He backed away a few more inches, mostly to give himself relief. Yes, she was just a mark, albeit the only one he’d ever regretted. But he wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman. And he was determined to get her out of his system once and for all.
“Why are you here, Topaz?”
“To give you this.” She fished a slip of paper from her jeans pocket and handed it to him. “And to say goodbye.”
He opened it, glimpsing an address, then quickly refocused on her. “You’re going somewhere?”
“I’m going there.” She nodded at the paper in his hand.
“And you couldn’t leave without coming to say goodbye, letting me know where you would be, in case—”
“In case you manage to keep a promise for the first time in your life and get me back the rest of my money. I wanted you to know where to send it. And you’d better, Jack. Because if you haven’t repaid me by the time I finish my business in California, I’m gonna track you down, and I’m gonna hurt you. And not in the good way.”
She turned on her heel, reached for the doorknob.
Jack gripped her shoulder and spun her back around to face him. “That’s bullshit and you know it. You couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to me, because you still have feelings for me.” His arm slid around her waist, hand cupping her ass, and he jerked her against him. “Admit it.”
“Oh, I have feelings for you, all right,” she snapped. “Contempt. Disgust. Fury.”
“Lust. Passion. Desire.”
“Desire to do murder, at least,” she agreed.
He ground his hips against her, and she closed her eyes, unable to suppress the shiver that passed through her. “Back off, Jack.”
He released her, staring into her face in search of confirmation that she still felt the things he did—the physical things that made sense, not the other ones. Before he could find it, she was out the door, slamming it behind her.
Sighing, Jack pushed a hand through his hair in utter frustration. But then reason returned, and he lunged toward the door and peered through the peephole.
Topaz was standing on the other side, her hands pressed to her bowed head. She looked as if she wanted to scream.
He just wasn’t sure whether it was with anger or desire. Hell.
Jack wondered why she was really leaving. To get away from him, he would wager. But why go all the way to Califor—
He turned slowly, gazing at the closet door, but seeing, in his mind’s eye, snippets of the film he’d just been watching, hearing echoes of the narra-tor’s voice. He gazed down at the piece of paper she’d given him.
Avalon Mansion.
Santa Luna, California.
Good God, she was going to the very place where her mother had been killed. She was going to try to solve Hollywood’s most compelling mystery.
It could be dangerous.
Maybe he should tag along. If only he could think of a plausible excuse. Reaching for his backpack, he unzipped it and reached inside. The bag full of money he’d claimed he didn’t have was still there, still intact. He might need to give it back to her sooner or later, he supposed, as a way of convincing her of his sincerity and good intentions. The very reasons he’d given her back the first half. It hadn’t worked entirely, but it had seemed to knock a chink or two in that brick wall she’d erected around her heart to keep him out.
He might need to return the rest to win her trust.
He probably shouldn’t waste his time. But then again, he had to stick closely to one of the members of the gang, because he had bigger fish to fry this time around, and having access to Reaper would be crucial. Sticking like glue to the big guy would be too obvious, though. And since the gang was splitting up, for the moment, he was going to have to pick one member to latch onto. Why not Topaz?
And so what if he had to give her back the rest of her money? He was pretty sure there was a lot more than 500 K to be made this time.
He fingered the manila envelope that rested inside the bag with the cash and the DVD. It was stamped with the words CLASSIFIED: PROP-ERTY OF THE U.S. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY. He’d found it in his former boss’s safe, along with Gregor’s half of Topaz’s money.
Maybe—just maybe, if he played his cards right—Jack could make whatever there was to be made of what he’d found in that envelope and keep half of what he’d conned from Topaz.
That notion made his collar feel a little tight, his stomach a little queasy. He cleared his throat and shook off the unaccustomed sensations. Guilt was nothing but wasted energy.
He pulled out the DVD and told himself he really ought to slip it back into Topaz’s belongings before she discovered it was missing. If she found out that he had been snooping through her stuff, she would really be unhappy to see him when he showed up on her oceanfront doorstep.
After she left Jack’s room, Topaz held her head in her hands and waited for the hunger that had suffused her veins to ease, for the trembling that had possessed her body to stop. She wanted him. God, she wanted him so badly it was like an addiction.
She knew he was no good. And yet she wanted him. No good for her, and no good, period. And yet she ached for him. He was a con man. And yet she hungered for his kiss. If she fell back into those strong arms again, knowing what she knew about him, then she was the most pathetic, selfdestructive, stupid woman on the planet. And she was determined to be none of those things.
“You okay?”
She lifted her head and met Roxy’s eyes. Roxy. The wild, irreverent, redheaded mortal whose age was fathomless. The belladonna antigen in her blood, the hallmark of the only humans with the potential to become vampires, made it unlikely she would live nearly as long as she already had, but she showed no signs of slowing down. Roxy. The most trusted mortal Topaz could imagine. One of the sexiest, most beautiful women of any age she’d ever seen. And easily the wisest.
“You still love that asshole, don’t you?” Roxy asked, coming to a stop very close to her in the hallway.
“That would make me a complete idiot, and I’m not an idiot, Roxy.”
“No, you’re not. But we can’t always help how we feel.”
“I can. I’m the least likely person in the world to fall for a con in the first place, much less twice by the same person. No way.”
“Well, good. Don’t let him con you again.” Roxy shrugged. “Doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy him, though.” She glanced toward Jack’s closed door. “Hell, if I didn’t know you were into him, I might give him a tumble myself. ’Course, that would spoil him for all other women, but you know, some things can’t be helped.” She winked at Topaz.
Topaz