EIGHTEEN
Leila stared at Aiden’s guilty face, then moved her gaze back to the handsome stranger, who’d interrupted them.
Manus returned her look with a sheepish grin, then glanced at Aiden who snatched his pants from a chair and hastily pulled them over his thighs.
“Nothing,” Manus answered.
She noticed the two men exchange a look. “You said something about Aiden cloaking me with his touch. What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing wrong with that,” he murmured.
“But?” she asked, lending her voice a sharper edge to make it clear that she wouldn’t accept any bullshit.
Manus pretended interest in his shoes, avoiding her question.
“I asked you: what did you mean by that?”
Lifting his head, he gave Aiden an apologetic glance. “There’s no need to touch.”
“What?”
“He . . . he could have cloaked you with his mind, but at night it’s advisable to—”
“You jerk! You lied to me!” she yelled at Aiden, who stood there, guilt written all over his face. That bastard had deceived her in order to get into her pants!
“Great, Manus, that’s just great,” Aiden said in dry tones, giving his friend a sideways glance.
“Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to . . . I thought she knew.”
“Well, I do now!” she spat.
Aiden met her glare. “I was going to tell you, but you didn’t give me a chance. I wanted to explain, but then you . . . ”
“I what? Oh my God, are you suggesting . . . ”
She couldn’t finish her sentence, because he was right: she had asked him to touch her. She’ been the one who’d invited him. Oh God, she’d turned into a slut!
Heat suffused her cheeks. But she needed to defend herself, she couldn’t let this accusation hang in the air. “You didn’t . . . ”
“Stop? No, I didn’t. How could I?” he cut her off, a strange glint of regret in his eyes.
She could see it in his eyes now, he’d wanted it, wanted her. And she had wanted him, and he knew it. Embarrassment choked off her ability to speak. She’d almost had sex with a stranger she’d known only a few hours. What was happening to her? What had her made react like that?
God, they’d even engaged in sex talk, something she’d never done before. Remembering this now made her want to sink into a hole in the ground. Unfortunately no pre-dug ditch was appearing when she needed it.
“Shall I give you guys a minute?” Manus interrupted her thought process, obviously uncomfortable being in the middle of their exchange.
“No, don’t bother!”
Leila jumped out of the bed and marched toward the door, wanting to get out of there, unable to face Aiden and his friend now.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Aiden ordered and grabbed her arm.
“You can’t stop me!” She clenched her jaw together, turning her face away from him.
“You’re not leaving this house.”
“But I’m leaving this room, and you can’t stop me from doing that.”
“There’s a kitchen down the hall,” Manus suggested. “I’m sure Coralee has got some coffee brewing there.”
She ripped her arm from his grip and stormed out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind her for good measure.
She heard the door open again a moment later, but continued walking.
“Coralee knows not to let you leave the house,” Aiden called after her.
Leila ignored him and followed the corridor, trying to find the kitchen Manus had mentioned. She could do with a cup of coffee right about now, knowing that sleep wasn’t to be had anyway, not when she felt all riled up.
Her eyes perused the doors she passed, ignoring those that had numbers on them. Clearly those were the rooms the prostitutes used. Turning around the corner, she reached a dead end. The three doors without numbers were closed. She perceived a faint scent of coffee and guessed that one of them had to be the kitchen, just as Manus had said.
She listened for any sound, but it was quiet. Reaching for the first door, she turned the doorknob and pushed the door inwards.
Semidarkness greeted her and froze her into place. This was clearly not the kitchen, because the dish that was being served up on the massage table in the middle of the room, was too rich for her liking.
A naked man lay on his back while a young woman dressed in nothing but a see-through caftan bent between his legs and licked whipped cream off his cock. At the same time another woman was bent over his head, her breasts, which were also covered in whipped cream, dangling over his mouth.
When the man sucked one breast into his mouth and suckled on it with much gusto, a gasp escaped her. Instantly, the two women whirled their heads in Leila’s direction.
Her hands shaking, she yanked the door shut. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, and her heart raced at the thought of what the threesome was doing.
Damn it, this wasn’t a place she wanted to be at. This wasn’t her life.
Behind her a door opened. She spun around, her nerves already on edge. A young woman stepped from the room, a steaming cup of coffee in her hands. She smiled briefly and walked past without saying a word.
Leila sighed with relief and walked into the room she’d exited. At least, she’d found the kitchen. Maybe she’d feel better after a cup of coffee.
The room was surprisingly homey and well-equipped. On the counter stood an oversized coffeemaker with cups lined up next to it. She poured herself one and added milk. As she sat down at the round table in the middle of the room, she noticed the TV that stood in the corner. It was switched on, but somebody had muted it.
Leila took a sip of the hot coffee and allowed it to warm her overtired limbs. She hadn’t pulled an all-nighter since her residency and felt that her age was showing now. In her teens and early twenties, she’d had no problems staying up all night, but now she felt the strain physically.
As she lifted her head from the coffee cup, her gaze drifted back to the TV. A red stripe scrolled on the bottom of it. It said Breaking News. Then a reporter appeared in front of a building she recognized instantly: Inter Pharma.
Leila jumped from her chair and rushed to the TV, frantically searching for the button to increase the volume.
***
Manus rubbed the back of his neck. “That didn’t go well.”
“As always you have great timing,” Aiden replied.
“Hey, I said I’m sorry, and I tried to explain to her that at night that’s just what you need to do to get some rest, but you saw how she cut me off. Besides, how did I know you’re resorting to cheap tricks to get your charge into bed? Should have simply used your charm.” He gave a half-hearted grin. “Works for me.”
“She wanted it.”
His second lifted his arms. “Hey, hey, I’m not denying that. It was pretty obvious by the way she blushed, but you’ve got lots to learn about women.”
As if he hadn’t figured that out himself. “I don’t need a lecture. I’ll handle this.”
How, he had no idea. They were both adults; she knew what she was getting into, and still she’d let him proceed. Wasn’t she the one who had started it? Hadn’t she asked him to make her forget? Nevertheless, he had to somehow get her to forgive him.
Aiden cleared his throat. “Now tell me what you’ve found out.”
Manus flopped down on the couch and put his feet on the coffee table. “The car that nearly ran your charge over was stolen last night.”
“That’s not a good sign.”
“I’m thinking the same thing. Somebody could have stolen it solely for the purpose of killing her with it.”
While Aiden had to agree with that assessment, one thing didn’t make sense. “But why would the demons want to kill her? She’s in the final stages with her research. If they kill her now and the drug doesn’t work, they’ve cut their own arm off. It would be stupid.”
“Is there a chance that they already have a sample of the drug and know it’s working?” Manus asked. “Maybe they don’t need her anymore.”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to ask her about that possibility. What about the fire?”
“Ah, the fire. I rode with the fire truck and played fly on the wall. Looks like they suspect arson, most likely some incendiary device. They found something in the kitchen where the fire started. Could have been a timer.”
Aiden rubbed his temple. If somebody had deliberately set the house fire after failing to run her over, then he couldn’t write off any of these events as a coincidence or just bad luck. Two attempts on her life in one night couldn’t be explained away so easily.
“I heard a loud sound. Could have been some sort of explosion. What if something in her kitchen malfunctioned? There were plenty of electrical devices that could have shorted out and caused a fire. Or it could have been the gas stove.”
“The fire chief doesn’t think so. It definitely wasn’t the gas stove, and that’s the only appliance in her kitchen that could have produced the sound of an explosion if that’s what you heard. It’s still early in the investigation, but he seemed pretty convinced that it was arson, and I’m inclined to agree with him. I had a look at the kitchen. There was no electrical cable or outlet in sight where they believe the fire started: on the counter.”
Aiden nodded. “We have to figure out who could have brought something into her apartment without me or her noticing. I was there before she got home. I didn’t see anything suspicious.”
Manus shrugged. “Then somebody must have planted something later.”
“Impossible. I was in the apartment most of the night. Nobody could have gotten past me.”
His friend lifted one side of his mouth. “So you were watching the door all night?”
Heat shot through his chest. Did Manus know that he’d been in Leila’s bedroom, watching her pleasure herself?
“How I do my job is none of your business,” he snapped.
Manus jumped up from the couch and faced him. “Really? Is that because you don’t want to admit that you’re just like me? That f*cking a charge excites you? That Leila excites you?”
Aiden growled low and dark.
“Can’t you just admit it?”
“There’s nothing to admit.”
“Isn’t there?”
Aiden clenched his hands into fists, trying to rein in his fury. While he’d never before f*cked a charge, unfortunately the rest of Manus’s accusations came too close for comfort. Leila excited him, and he wanted her.
Manus took a step back, nodding. “Well, I guess we’d better talk to Leila about her drug then. Besides—” He pulled out a little box from his jacket pocket. “—I have a birthday present for her. She loves Swiss chocolate, you know.”
Aiden stared at his second. “Her birthday.”
“Of course, I thought you read her file.”
Realization flooded his senses. How could he have missed that? It had happened right in front of his own eyes. “It’s her birthday. Of course. That’s it.”
Then he turned toward the door.
“What are you talking about?” he heard Manus ask behind him.
“Come.”