“I know.” His hands were a heavy, warm weight. “But I’m not exactly a safe man.” His hold tightened, for just an instant, and a lick of pure passionate fire shot through her.
Her sensually aware skin tingled, her pulse raced, and though Cara knew she was playing a dangerous game, she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
He said he wasn’t safe. Was he talking about the fact that he was a cop? Or something more?
“I’m not a nice guy,” he continued, the words hard, but so soft they carried only to her ears. “I’ve done things—” He shook his head, “I’ve done what I had to do in order to bring criminals to justice. I’ve fought. I’ve lied.”
Todd’s confession didn’t particularly surprise her.
His lips thinned. “I’ve even killed.” His gaze met hers. “If you can’t handle that, you need to tell me now.”
She could handle it. The problem was that he wouldn’t be able to handle her. A pang of sadness filled her as she stared up at him.
“You like to fight evil, don’t you? Like to make sure that the good guys win and that the bad guys get just what they deserve.”
“I do my job,” he said simply and his fingers pressed into her hips.
“Is everything black-and-white to you? Good or evil? Is that the only choice?” His answer was so important to her.
Because, like him, she’d done desperate things in her life. Fought. Lied. And as for the killing…
“Not anymore,” he murmured. “Nothing’s simple any damn more and—”
A soft vibration shook his hip and reverberated through her.
His cell phone.
Todd’s jaw clenched and his fingers dug into her hips.
Her time to play and dream had ended. Cara shook her head and stepped away from him, breaking his hold. “You’d better check that.” The slow, moody music ended. From the corner of her eye, she saw Brock pick up his guitar. She knew what song would come next even before the screech of the instrument cut through the crowd.
Todd grabbed his phone, glanced at the glowing message and swore softly. “I’ve got to call Colin.”
Of course, he did. Evil never slept. At least not in this city.
“Thanks for the dance.” Her hand lifted and stroked down his cheek. A soft murmur of pleasure whispered past her lips as she felt the faint sting of stubble along his hard jaw.
He caught her hand. “It doesn’t have to end with a dance.”
“For me, it does.” His hold was tight, but not unbreakable. “I’m not the kind of girl who has flings.” Not anymore. Hell, she didn’t have much of anything anymore.
But once upon a time…
“I could change your mind.”
So confident. Such a silly, human trait. She kept her eyes on his, feeling the rush of psychic power flow through her. Hypnotism had always been one of her gifts. “I could change yours,” she breathed the words as she decided to put an end to the game. No more temptation for her. No more wrong side of the town for him.
“Forget about me, Detective. Go back to your life. Fight your evil, and forget about me.”
In the past, she whispered her words and made men into puppets, eager to follow her commands. Long ago, she’d been so good at giving her sweet suggestions.
Until she realized she didn’t want puppets.
Todd’s eyes widened and he shook his head. Once. Twice.
Sensitive. She’d nearly forgotten about his latent powers, but he wouldn’t be able to resist her order, no one ever had, and—
“Your eyes…” The words seemed torn from him. “They aren’t blue. I thought they were…but…”
Shit. He shouldn’t be realizing what was happening. The guy sure as hell shouldn’t have noticed that her eye color flickered with that burst of power.
What was happening?
Cara yanked her hand away from him.
He blinked.
The phone vibrated again with a hard buzz of sound.
“Go.” An order from her, one without any hypnotic suggestion because her suggestions weren’t working on him.
She could dreamwalk into his mind, plant a suggestion when his defenses were down, but she couldn’t control him when he was awake and aware.
Never. Happened. Before.
A man she couldn’t control. A human.
If her hypnotic power didn’t work on him, if he could still choose on his own, then that meant he hadn’t come to her just because of her pheromones and the soft, silent lure that a succubus sent out to prey.
Part of him, at least, and from the awareness in his eyes, she’d say a very large part, had chosen to want her.
Very, very scary.
And very arousing.
He wanted her.
“I’ll see you again.” He sounded absolutely certain.
When she’d told him to forget.
Her hands trembled.
He leaned forward. Kissed her hard, fast, and deep. His tongue claimed hers, seduced.
She was the one who should have seduced.
Then he was gone. Pushing through the crowd and leaving her alone.
As she’d been for so long.
Todd wasn’t precisely sure what had just happened. One minute, he’d been staring down at Cara, thinking about how soft her lips looked and how badly he wanted to taste her again.
The next, he’d been looking into her eyes and realizing that the color looked too dark.
Not blue any longer—black.
She’d been talking to him, whispering something that had seemed very important at the time.
He couldn’t remember the exact words, but he’d known something was wrong as he gazed down at her.
He’d shaken his head, focused all of his energy on her, and reality had snapped back to him.
Glancing over his shoulder, he found her still standing on the dance floor. A sad, almost lost expression covered her face. He hesitated.
Cara caught sight of him then. Her shoulders stiffened and a mask of indifference swept across her features.
Then she turned and disappeared into the throng of dancers.
Damn it.
He stalked toward the empty booths lining the rear of the bar. Lifted his phone and punched in the number for his partner. Colin answered on the second ring.
“Tell me this is important,” Todd barked.
“It is.” A pause. “We’ve got another body.”
What? Jesus, already? He rubbed his eyes, felt a throb in his temples that matched the loud beat of the drums in the background.
“Where?”
“Dayton Hotel. Off Marcus Street.”