Kissing Sin (Riley Jenson Guardian 2)

"After we dump the car? I'm open to suggestions. Neither my place nor yours would be safe right now, and hotel registers can be checked too easily."

And even signing in under a false name wouldn't be safe, as there wouldn't be many people checking in at this hour of the night.

I rubbed my forehead wearily. There was an ache behind my eyes, my head was beginning to pound, and I desperately needed some sleep. But more than that, I needed some sort of sanity back into my life.

My gaze went to the softly lit ship that was crossing the bay, heading toward the open ocean. Right now, I felt like that ship - gliding through the darkness, heading for ever more treacherous waters.

But that ship at least knew its final destination. I had no idea.

"Riley?"

Sighing, I said, "Let's find somewhere I can use the com-unit safely. I need to check a few things."

His gaze swept me, a heat I felt rather than saw. "Like what?"

It was so tempting to snap out something along the lines of "that's none of your damn business," but that'd be churlish and he didn't deserve any more of that. "Like, who the hell Kade really is."

"So you fucked - " He stopped abruptly.

"Yes," I stated, wavering between annoyance that he'd started to repeat the same old line, and amusement that he'd actually stopped it mid-sentence. A small improvement was better than nothing, I supposed. "I fucked him without doing a background check. And don't you dare try and tell me you check the background of every woman you bed."

"No." He paused. "I apologize."

"Oh, I bet that hurt."

He gave me his vampire look and simply said, "What has made you suspicious of him?"

"The fact that he's still here, helping us."

"Ah, so it's not suspicion as such, but curiosity." He glanced at me. "You know what curiosity did to the cat."

"Yep. And it so won't stop me."

"Nothing seems to stop you."

Given I wasn't entirely sure how to take that statement, I simply said, "Where are we going to dump the car?"

"Here?"

I looked around the darkened, grimy streets, and could instantly think of a dozen better places to go. Which I guess made it the ideal spot. "Fine."

He swung into a side street and stopped in the shadows of an old gum tree. I grabbed my bag and climbed out. The wind had become even colder, whipping around my bare legs with some force, sending goose bumps fleeing across my flesh. The scent of the ocean mingled now with the overripe aromas of rubbish, age, urine, and stale human. The surrounding houses were as dark and dingy as the street itself, yet the sound of lovemaking that was coming from the one closest indicated that some of these hovels were at least occupied by more than the drunks I could smell.

I glanced across the roof of the car. "Do you know this area?"

"Not at all." He faded into darkness, and I switched to infrared. The heat of him moved around the back of the car. "This way." His breath whispered warmly past my ear as he took the bag from me.

I glanced at the house, saw the flame of the couple loving each other, and fleetingly wished I had nothing more to worry about than achieving satisfaction.

Pulling my gaze away, I followed Quinn. We moved quickly through the maze of streets, always heading away from the city rather than toward it, as might be expected.

By the time he'd stopped, we'd made our way into a small shopping strip. I eyed the bedding shop with longing, but naturally, it wasn't that one he stopped at, but rather, the dingy-looking corner store.

"No alarms," he said, before I could ask. "And there's an unoccupied floor above it."

I didn't even have the energy to work up a glare. "I thought you were going to stop reading my mind?"

"No, I said you should guard your thoughts if you don't want me reading them." He forced open the door, and waved a hand. "After you."