A cunning smile ghosted across his lips. “It’ll probably be for worse.”
She swatted him, though she couldn’t help but smile. “You can never resist, can you?”
“You’re too easy to tease.” His hand slid lower, and Loren held her breath. “But maybe I’ll just have to start teasing you another way.”
A tremble coursed through her as his hand slipped even lower—
His phone started buzzing. Mouth still on hers, he lifted her up, so he could grab his cellphone and make it stop vibrating against his thigh.
But his eyes snagged on the name flashing across the screen.
For a moment, they both gasped for air in silence. Darien’s hoodie was pushed halfway up his stomach, his belt partly undone. Loren’s hair was a mess from his hands, her own shirt rumpled, her full mouth as rosy as her cheeks from all the kissing.
Darien sighed and snatched up the phone before the call could go to voicemail. “Cassel.”
The Butcher’s gravelly voice drifted through the speaker. “It took me a while, but I finally got a lead on your little substance buyers.”
Darien sat up, and it was with regret that he took his hand out of Loren’s shorts, wrapping his arm around her waist instead to keep her balanced in his lap. “Who was it?”
“Get down to Route 378 and see for yourself.” There was a crackle, and the Butcher added, “You have fifteen minutes. Don’t be late, or you’ll miss it.” The line went dead, and Darien looked at Loren, who stared back at him.
For a long while, they said nothing.
And then Loren whispered, “We have to go, don’t we?”
Darien’s eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, and although the thought alone of getting behind the wheel made him nauseous, he gave a faint nod.
“Rain check,” she breathed as she swung her leg over him so she could stand; the motion gave him a striking view of her perfect ass.
But he caught her wrist before she could make for the door and clasped the bracelet around it in one swift movement.
Loren’s eyelashes fanned over her cheeks as she looked at the charms, glimmering softly in the light. “You fixed it,” she whispered.
“I plan on fixing a lot of things.” He stood up and refastened his belt buckle. Loren’s bowlike lips wobbled with emotion as she fixed her clothes and dragged her fingers through her tangled hair. Darien had to look away from her to get his thoughts under control; it was either that or he would have to take the world’s coldest shower.
Once he’d contained himself enough to look at her again, he winked and said, “Now let’s go see what this prick wants.”
She laughed and squealed as he chased her out the door and into the hallway, where her new Familiar met them with a bark and a prance.
Well done,Bandit whispered in his shadow.
Darien’s heart swelled with pride at the look that came over Loren’s face upon meeting her dog near the landing.
He’d never seen her smile so hard, and the best part about it was that he’d put it there.
—
They met the Butcher on an overpass at Route 378. They’d left the car parked on a side road a safe enough distance away that it wouldn’t be spotted by any passers-by, and then they’d walked from there to the overpass, where the Butcher and several of his men were waiting for them. Their location was concealed by a copse of blue jacaranda trees that hung over the pass, the angle at which they stood providing them with an unobstructed view of the stretch of highway below.
When they were close enough to Casen that they wouldn’t need to shout, Darien gave a nod. “Casen. What’s the plan?”
“Cassel.” The Butcher tipped his head down in greeting, his dark hair swaying. “The plan is to see whoever rolls up to that van down there in the next few minutes.” He waved a large, scarred hand at the windowless black van parked a short distance away. “One of my connections gave me a tip that I might be able to witness a deal for Nacht Essentia here tonight.”
Darien’s mouth tilted down at the corners. “No leads on any more BP deals lately?”
Casen’s smirk looked more like a baring of teeth. “I thought you might ask. I had a BP deal come in this morning—another unusually large order that also involved vats of chemicals. If you’re willing to follow me back to the Block after this, I can show you the photographs I managed to get.”
The frown on Darien’s face altered into a smile. “I’m impressed,” he crooned. “Nacht Essentia and BP in a single day?”
