“Useful?”
“She’s near the top of Christian’s list. High up in the civil service.”
“Well, that’s not bad. One out of three. Keep going.”
“We will.”
Ash was actually enjoying himself. While he’d never considered them as equals, he’d always found humans fascinating, and in the dim past, a good portion of his time had been spent on Earth. These days, under the Shadow Accords, their contact was limited. While the occasional seduction was ignored, anything more was frowned upon. And after the periodic wars between the demons and fae, the portals were locked. Of course they opened again eventually, nothing would keep them closed permanently.
Now, if this came to fruition, then for the first time, humans would know the truth of their existence. Some of them might even visit the Abyss.
Maybe he’d take Faith to his home. He had an image of her sprawled on the black fur covers in his huge bedroom at his castle in the Abyss.
He had an idea that Faith wasn’t going to take the news that the ghosties and ghoolies—as she referred to them—really existed with a smile. She was so emphatic.
He couldn’t wait.
…
Faith drummed her fingers on her desk and stared at the computer in disgust. She was beginning to hate this place. She glanced at the clock. Another hour until lunch.
She hadn’t heard from Ash yet. They’d lunched together each day since that first time. And each evening he drove her home and dropped her off in front of her apartment. And each time she saw him, her decision to keep her distance eroded a little bit more.
At night, as she lay in her bed, she fantasized and she gave herself a little release, but that only seemed to make her body crave him more.
He’d kissed her last night in the front seat of his car like a couple of teenagers making out. And God, that man could kiss. Only the neighbors pulling up behind them and beeping their horn had put a halt to their lovemaking. By that time, Ash had one hand on her breast and the other on her belly and inching downward.
She’d ached for his touch. A pulse throbbing between her thighs, and when he’d raised his head and gazed down into her face, a question in his eyes, she’d come so close to nodding.
Only a second beep had brought her to her senses.
If she liked him less, she might have given in. Because it would be just sex. But she did like him. And she couldn’t risk herself feeling more while she was using him and she suspected he was using her.
Not that he was giving her much. He told her that if she took the job with them he’d tell her everything. His words had so much reflected her current situation at work that she’d been even more pissed off.
Anyway, he’d driven off last night without arranging to see her for lunch today, and he hadn’t called yet. She hated how bad that made her feel. Maybe it would be better if she didn’t see him again, before she got in any deeper. But that thought made her feel even worse.
She was a mess.
On top of that, she still hadn’t heard from the hospital about her test results and that made her edgy.
She eyed up the colonel as he crossed the floor to his office. He’d been avoiding her, probably because she moaned at him for something to do every time she saw him. But this time, he must have felt her evil-eyed stare because he glanced up and headed over.
“The boss is expected this afternoon,” he said. “You should have your clearance by tomorrow morning.”
“Will I meet him?” she asked. She was curious about “the boss.” The boss who the security guards had never met, which must mean that he came in through a different entrance and presumably skipped the retinal scan and all the other checks.
“Perhaps.”
As he left her, she sat back in her chair and grinned at her reflection in the dark screen. Tomorrow was the big day. She was finally going to learn something interesting. Or in the very least, she was going to discover that MI13 had nothing interesting for her to learn.
When the phone on her desk did ring, she almost jumped. She glanced at the number. It was an external line, but she didn’t recognize the caller. Not Ash then and a jolt of disappointment stabbed her in the middle.
She ignored it and picked up. “Hello, Detective Connelly speaking.”
“Detective Connelly, it’s Tara Roth. We met briefly the other night.”
“I remember.” Her mind was working furiously. What the hell did Christian Roth’s wife want with her?
“Ryan suggested I call you.”
“He did?” That didn’t make anything any clearer.
“He said you had some doubts about coming to work for my husband’s company and thought I might be able to answer some questions for you.”
It sounded reasonable but her detective senses were tingling. All the same, she was definitely interested.