chapter 6
Nick didn’t see the girls and had a sick feeling they were calling the cops. He had no control over which cops would show up. If one of his fellow werewolves answered the call, he’d be able to explain the situation, but if not…
He charged out into the street where a drunk was stumbling along. “Two girls. Where are they?” Nick asked, winded.
The guy slurred, “Whaz in it fer me?”
“How about, I let you live.”
Anthony exited the building and quickly strode to Nick, who was sniffing the air to catch the girls’ scents. Just as he locked on a direction, Anthony joined him. Nick pointed toward a nightclub. “That way.”
Nick could run faster than a normal human, but the vampire ran so fast he seemed to disappear. The drunk gasped and said, “I gotta quit drinkin’.”
By the time Nick caught up, Anthony was already escorting the girls out of the nearby nightclub. He had interrupted them just as Brandee was about to call the cops on a borrowed phone.
“But we have to call the police,” Brandee said. “Oh, my obstruction of justice. There are kidnappers, and Katie’s parents need to be notified, and—”
Nick strode over to her, cupped her face, and focused her attention directly on him. “I was hired to keep the police out of this, Brandee. She’ll get home much faster if I take her myself.”
“But—but, the kidnappers! What about them?”
“They’ve been dealt with,” Anthony interjected.
“How?”
Nick and Anthony stared at each other. At last Nick answered. “I knocked them both out. Anthony tied them up. Later we’ll make an anonymous phone call to the police.”
She seemed mollified.
Anthony said, “Now, let’s get you home. Your roommate is worried sick about you.”
“She must be. Angie and I always tell each other if we’re spending the night somewhere else. Hell, we tell each other everything.”
Nick pulled Anthony aside and whispered so softly that only a vamp could hear him. “I hate to ask, but can you glamour her? She saw me shift. She thought I was a dog, but can you erase her memory of seeing an animal at all?”
Anthony nodded.
“Thanks. One less mess to contend with. I really care about her and I wish I could tell her more, but the code…”
“I understand,” Anthony said. “And I have more to tell you later.”
“Brandee, go with Anthony. Let Angie see that you’re all right so she can get some sleep. I’ll come over to your place later and check on you.”
“But…what if I’m asleep too?”
Nick set his hands on his hips. “Are you really apt to go right to sleep after all this? It’ll take me fifteen minutes to take Katie home and get to your place.” He frowned, almost daring her to defy him.
She sighed. “You’re right. Just let me say good night to Katie.”
He nodded and stepped away so she and her cousin could hold each other for a moment. When Brandee let go of Katie, she said, “As soon as you’re safe and things are back to normal, we’ll have a girls’ day out. Shopping. A movie. Whatever you want. Okay?”
Katie grinned and nodded. “Okay.”
Brandee ruffled the white hair on her cousin’s head. “See you soon, kiddo. You were very brave back there.”
“You were too.”
With that, Katie took Nick’s outstretched hand and he escorted her to a taxicab.
***
Anthony let Brandee watch until they pulled away. As soon as she turned to look at him, he snared her gaze. Her jaw went slack and he knew he had her.
“You saw nothing unusual tonight. You were not kidnapped or tied up. You did not see a wolf or a dog anywhere. All you remember is having a wonderful night out with Nick.”
Brandee nodded, and reiterated, “…a wonderful night out with Nick.”
“Very good. Now I’m taking you home, because Nick got called away on business. But he said he’d come over to your place later.”
“Okay. Why?”
“He cares about you very much.”
Brandee nodded, smiling. “And I care about him.”
***
Back in her apartment, Brandee rubbed her wrists and wondered why they were sore. She didn’t want to turn on a light, however, because that might wake Angie.
She tiptoed to her bedroom, but before she got there, Angie’s bedroom door flew open and her roommate stood there in her flannel pajamas with a baseball bat cocked and ready to swing. As soon as she saw Brandee, she dropped the bat and rushed to hug her roommate.
“Brandee! Oh my God, I thought you had been kidnapped, raped, and left for dead.”
“Jeez, Ange. Get a grip. I’m fine.”
Angie took a step back. Her mouth hung open. “Excuse me, did you just say, ‘Get a grip?’ Because if you did—and I’m fairly sure you didn’t—our friendship is in trouble.”
Brandee reared back, surprised by this crazy lady who had taken over her friend’s body. “Okay…I guess I didn’t say that. What’s wrong? Why are you so jumpy?”
“Are you kidding me? You were MIA for hours. You didn’t answer your phone. Didn’t leave a note. What the hell?”
“Oh.” Brandee wondered how in the world time had gotten away from her like that. Was one night with Nick Wolfensen that mind-blowing that she didn’t remember most of it?
“‘Oh’? That’s all you have to say for yourself? Just ‘Oh’?”
Angie’s tone irritated her. She’d be worried about a missing roomie too, but did Angie have to sound like her mother? That’s why Brandee moved out on her own in the first place. Ever since her dad left, she’d had a smother.
“Look, Ange. I know this is going to sound strange, but I don’t remember being gone that long. All I remember is being with Nick and having the time of my life.”
Angie crossed her arms. “Nick. You went out with One-Night Nick, and you expect me to believe you had so much fun you didn’t realize a whole afternoon, evening, and half the night had gone by? You didn’t hear your phone ring or the beeps that signaled missed messages? What did you do?”
“Good question. What did we do?” Oh, my first date jitters…what did we do?
Angie’s eyes narrowed. “Did that bastard drug you?”
“Of course not!” Brandee was becoming more concerned by the minute, but she didn’t want to worry her poor roommate any more than she already was. “I don’t remember having anything to eat or drink. In fact, I’m starving.”
“Well, I’m relieved. I didn’t really think he drugged you. That doesn’t sound like the Nick we know. So why didn’t you answer your phone?”
Brandee glanced around the apartment and looked for her purse. “I must have left my phone here.”
Now that Angie was up, Brandee switched on the living room light and saw her purse where she usually left it. She wandered over to it and pulled out her cell phone. “Looks like it’s out of juice.”
Angie rolled her eyes. “Well, when you charge it, you can delete my half a dozen messages. Each one is more hysterical than the last.”
Why did I leave without my purse? How did I get in? Every answered question brought up another one. Maybe her camera would fill in some of the blanks. She remembered taking her camera with her. But why?
She opened the closet where she kept her photography equipment. Everything was there except her 35 mm Nikon.
“Where’s my camera? I remember taking it with me…” A partial memory returned. “Oh! I know what happened now.”
Angie had followed her into the living room and looked more concerned than ever. “What? I’m dying to hear this.”
“Nick was holding me. There was a tornado or a microburst. Anyway, my camera flew off my shoulder. If not for Nick, I’d have been sucked up into the wind too. He grabbed me and pulled me over next to a tree for shelter. I must have bumped my head.”
She glanced at her wrists. That must have been what happened to them. He’d grabbed onto her so tightly! Now they were sore. But she only remembered him grabbing one of her wrists. Why were they both sore?
Angie’s tented eyebrows said she was having a hard time with the explanation.
“You hit your head on a tree during a tornado on Boston Common? Did you see any Munchkins? Wicked witches?”
Brandee laughed. “Very funny. No trips to Oz for me. Nick will be coming over later. He can tell me what happened.”
“Nick’s coming here?”
“Yeah.” Brandee did remember one thing. That kiss. She touched her lips and smiled.
“Oh, no. You aren’t falling for Nick Wolfensen, are you?”
Brandee sighed. “You don’t understand. We kissed. It was the most incredible, mind-altering, toe-curling kiss of my entire life…and his. He told me his one-night rule didn’t apply to me. I think he was just as affected by the kiss as I was.”
“Oh. My. God. I don’t believe this.”
Brandee giggled. “Oh, my lucky day… That’s the one thing I do believe. Like you, I was completely skeptical, but he convinced me beyond the shadow of any doubt. He really cares about me, Ange.”
Angie snorted. “Yeah, right. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
At that moment, there was a knock at their door. “What the…who’s coming here at this time of night?”
Brandee strode to the door. “I told you, Nick said he’d be coming by later. He got called away and asked Anthony to see me safely home.”
That answered another question. How she’d managed to get in if she’d left her purse behind. Anthony owned the building, so of course he had a key.
She peered through the peephole and her heart leaped when she saw Nick. She quickly finger-combed her hair and opened the door.
Nick took one long stride into the apartment, grasped her in his arms, and kissed her thoroughly. His kiss had a frenzied quality to it—as if he hadn’t seen her for weeks, or like they’d just been through some kind of life-altering event. Hmmm… Was he that worried about her after the tornado incident?
Angie cleared her throat and the couple parted, but neither of them looked away. He gazed at her with so much longing. If Brandee didn’t know better, she’d say he wanted to make love to her right then and there.
“I don’t believe this,” Angie muttered.
Nick finally turned toward Angie but kept a possessive arm around Brandee’s waist.
“Look, I know with my past it might be hard to believe, but I’m crazy about this girl.” He gave Brandee a side squeeze that made her giggle.
Angie tossed her hands in the air. “Now I’ve heard everything.”
“Not everything,” Brandee amended. “Nick, I don’t remember anything since hitting my head on that tree. I’m afraid to say you’ll have to fill me in on most of our date.”
He nodded. “Ah, yes. The tornado. You probably remember me telling you I’d buy you a new camera, right?”
“Oh, yeah. I do now. But you don’t have to do that. I should probably do everything with my digital camera now. Film is sort of old school.”
“But I thought you were a purist,” Angie interrupted. “You said you liked the control you had with the different lenses and film speeds. You enjoyed using different tricks in the darkroom too.”
Brandee shrugged. “Yeah, I guess there are a few things I can do manually that I can’t do on the computer, but not much.”
“I’ll get you a new old camera,” Nick said. “I insist.”
Angie yawned. “Look, you guys can work that out without me. I’m beat. I’ll see you in the morning, Bran. G’night, Nick.”
Angie waved and went back to bed.
That left Brandee with Nick, not quite knowing what to do. She was exhausted, but it was too soon to invite him to her bedroom. Thankfully, he spoke first.
“Well, I just wanted to check to be sure you got home okay, sweetheart. If you want, I’ll go and let you get your beauty sleep…not that you need it.” He grinned.
Every one of his killer grins and corny lines affected her the same way. They gave her hope and made her nervous at the same time. I hope he really has changed. If he left me now, I’d be so disappointed.
“Don’t go. We need to talk.”
***
Nick took a deep breath. “Okay.” He had come up with a scenario in case she wanted to know what happened. Of course she’d want to know what happened. Hopefully after the meager explanation he’d come up with, he could distract her—somehow.
She led him to the couch and they sat side by side. “So, Nick. I’m really confused. How did we spend our evening and why can’t I remember?”
“We were walking through the Common, and I’d planned to take you to the Ritz for a drink before we decided where to go for dinner. That’s when the tornado touched down.” Thank goodness for weird weather right when I needed an excuse for weirder things.
“And you’re saying I forgot everything that happened after that?”
He shrugged. “I guess so. You were knocked out so I carried you to my apartment. When you came to, you seemed kind of out of it.”
“Is that when you asked Anthony to take me home?”
“I waited until you seemed physically stable, but I got called away. I thought you’d be more comfortable in your own bed.”
“So you didn’t take advantage of me?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Of course not. What kind of guy do you think I am?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I’ve known you for about a year—ever since I started working at the bar. You seem like a good guy, but I don’t really know anything about you.”
This was the distraction he had been looking for. “Ask me anything. I’m an open book.”
“Okay. Why did you quit being a cop?”
As uncomfortable a subject as it was, he’d prefer talking about that to talking about what happened that night.
“I have an identical twin. He was in trouble with the law more than once and was eventually tried in a high-profile case. People saw his face on TV and plastered all over the newspapers last year. Plenty of people mistook me for my brother, and even my fellow cops thought I must have had something to do with it.”
“I don’t pay attention to the news, I’m afraid. It’s all bad anyway. So what was he accused of?”
“Remember the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum heist?”
“Oh, my Rembrandt. That’s terrible. I love art and art museums. It broke my heart to see the empty frames where priceless paintings used to be.”
“My brother was the last person who’d do something like that, but he was set up. The fact that the robbers wore Boston Police uniforms to get past the security guards convinced the rumor mill I had something to do with it. I wasn’t even a cop at the time.”
“Then how could they blame you?”
“The public didn’t know how long I had been a cop. And even if they did, people believe what they want to believe.”
“That sucks.” Her hand flew to cover her mouth. “I’m sorry. I mean, that’s really awful.”
He chuckled. “I like how you try to avoid offensive language, but why around me? I’ve certainly heard worse.”
She blushed. “When I was in art school, my mouth was pretty filthy. I realized how bad I sounded after hearing myself on a friend’s answering machine. ‘Trailer trash’ was the term that sprang to mind. I attracted the wrong kind of guys back then. Eventually, I figured out why.”
He put his arm around her shoulder. “I know my reputation isn’t stellar, but I promise I’ll be good to you.”
He leaned in for a kiss, and she met his lips eagerly. Her lips parted and their tongues sought each other out, swirling together as if this dance was second nature. Fire sprung up between them and he clutched her close.
Desire hit him in the gut…and lower. This wasn’t the normal horniness of a man attracted to a hot woman. An overwhelming desire to take her and mark her, then and there, pounded through his veins.
If he didn’t stop soon, he might not be able to. He broke the kiss and found himself panting hard. “Brandee, I’d better go.”
“Is everything all right?”
He took a moment to compose himself. “Everything is too right. If I don’t leave now, I’m afraid I’ll pressure you to go too far too fast.”
She nodded as if she understood. “Yeah. And then I’ll never get any sleep.”
***
“Kidnapped! What do you mean I was kidnapped?” Brandee couldn’t believe what her aunt was telling her. She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it as if she could see if it was lying.
“Katie said you were with her. And that you were tied up.”
Oh, my rubber ducky. “Why would she say that?”
“I-I don’t know why she’d make that up. I just called to thank you. She said you kept her calm and helped her escape. Well, you and Mr. Wolfensen.”
“Nick was there?”
“Yes, we hired him. But why were you with him? That’s what I can’t understand.”
Brandee was speechless. She had been out with Nick on a date last night. A terrific date from what she could recall—but that’s about all she remembered. Since when did kidnapping count as a great date?
“Aunt Dee, I’ll have to call you back.”
“Of course, dear. But, before you go, is there anything we can do?” The worry in her aunt’s voice came through.
“No, I’ll be okay. I just need to talk to someone.” Someone who apparently lied to me about what happened last night.
“Yes, I should say so.”
Brandee realized how that sounded. Great, now she thinks I’m nuts.
“Love you, bye.” She shouldn’t have hurried her aunt off the phone like that, but she really didn’t want to hear any more about her “lost night” until she spoke to Nick. He’d better not try to lie to me, either.
On the off chance he was downstairs in the bar already, she decided to go in a bit early. She could always say she was making up for being late more often than not. Claudia, the daytime manager might faint, but Wendy would appreciate a hand if it was busy. It was a beautiful September day, and tourists would be getting thirsty.
Thank goodness Angie had the day off and was gone before Brandee woke up. She didn’t need to answer any more of her roommate’s questions until she got more answers herself.