Blue Diablo

He reached for my hand. The same sweet thrill went through me as the first night he did that over dinner. “I want you to do something for me,” he said quietly.

Another favor? He had some nerve, I decided.

“I already am. You want something else?”

Chance lifted my scarred palm to his mouth and sealed my fingers over the kiss. “Go home, Corine. This is uglier than I knew. I don’t think they’ll bother you if you back off, so just go. Please.”

I yanked my hand away. “One minute you’re asking me to be with you, and the next you’re telling me to go. Hot and cold, Chance. I swear you do it to keep me off balance. Some crazy power game and I—”

His eyes blazed as he flattened a palm over my mouth. By his expression he wanted it to be his lips, which used to be his favorite method of shutting me up.

“You’re so clueless it’s ridiculous,” he growled. “Remember what I said to Chuch? It applies to you. It doesn’t matter if I want you with me—and of course I do. Christ. You’re sunshine to me, Corine.” Apparently distracted, he traced the softness of my lips with his fingertips, like a kiss.

I couldn’t get my breath, let alone speak.

He went on. “But if something happens to you here, now, there won’t be anything I can do to bring you back.” By the darkness in his tiger’s eyes, I saw that he’d realized what his luck could do to me, what it had already done. “No revenge in the world will offer help for that. I need to know you’re safe, that’s all.”

My heart gave a wayward lurch. I tugged his hand away from my mouth before I succumbed to the urge to kiss his palm. “You want to send me away because you’re worried about me?”

“Yeah.” His voice came out husky. “I should’ve known better than to drag you into this. I just keep making the same stupid mistakes. I still don’t deserve you.”

“Nobody deserves me.” I half smiled to show I meant something different.

“Come here,” he whispered.

I slid from the chair to my knees, let myself lean into him. His arms came around me but I didn’t want to hurt his back. Chance brushed his lips against my temple and I lifted my face, craving the heat of his mouth.

“Aw, man,” Chuch said from the doorway. “Don’t even think about doing it on my office floor. That’s a new rug.”

Making Connections

I scrambled to my feet, feeling heat in my cheeks. “So are we doing this?”

Chuch threw himself into his plaid recliner. “Yeah, I guess. How bad could it be?”

Hm, I wish he hadn’t put it like that.

“I’ll call Jesse then.” Though I wasn’t exactly eager, I wanted to do something. Up until now, it seemed like our unknown enemy had all the advantages. I felt like Jodi Foster in The Silence of the Lambs, with a killer watching through night-vision goggles while I fumbled around in the dark.

Chance offered his hand and I hesitated only a second before I took it. He didn’t need my support, though, as he eased to his feet with a grace I’d never possess. I didn’t know where we stood, but his hand in the small of my back said he had some ideas. I just wasn’t sure whether they correlated with mine. That didn’t stop me from leaning back against him, however.

With a sigh, I dialed Jesse’s cell. He answered on the third ring. “Saldana.”

“This is going to sound strange...”

“I expect that of you. What’s up?”

“Do you have anything that belonged to Maris?”

“You think I’m a serial killer or something, keeping trophies? Look, I may have a lot of exes but—”

“No, that’s not it.” How weird that he immediately leaped to that conclusion, though. Just how far did his range stretch? Could he sense my mistrust? “We’re going to try to contact her. Just because she’s crossed over, it doesn’t mean we can’t find out what she knew.” Put that way, it sounded callous. If he was innocent, he might get mad.

“It doesn’t always work,” he said, his voice subdued. “And when they come back, sometimes they’re... not right. You better be sure you know what you’re doing.”

I ignored that. “Can you help or not?”

He sighed. “Hold on. Let me take a look around.”

That must mean he was home. Well, I didn’t know what to make of his reaction. He sounded sad and resigned, not angry or unwilling. But maybe he was a consummate actor.

I glanced at the clock. After six. No wonder dinner smelled so good. I’d taken only a few bites of my parrillada before the Camry blew up. Man, I didn’t envy Chance the conversation with the rental company. Customer service people make cops look benign.

When he came back on the line, Saldana sounded odd. “She left something in my medicine cabinet. I never go in there or I’d have sent it back to her.”

“Come on over then.” I gave him Chuch’s address. “We’re having chicken noodle casserole and then we’re raising the dead. We’d love it if you came.”

At this Chance tightened his arms around me and gave me a little squeeze. I didn’t know if it was meant to be a warning or what, but I just grinned at him over my shoulder. Even if I let him hold me for a minute, it didn’t mean he had me.

“Sadly,” Saldana said, “that’s the most interesting invitation I’ve received all week. Give me half an hour?”

“Excellent. See you soon.” I hit the off button on my cell and noticed the way Chuch was looking at us. I really hate a man who smirks.

“So I guess you two are—”

“None of your business.” I narrowed my eyes on the mechanic.

“Hey, I was just asking if I needed to make up the couch tonight, that’s all.”

“Does he?” Chance found the sweet spot at the base of my skull and worked his thumb so that a pleasurable chill rippled over me.

“Yeah. He does.”

“Oh.” I heard the disappointment in his tone as he dropped his hand. Ghostly warmth lingered on my skin where he’d touched me.

“I might hurt you,” I said. “Maybe when you heal up some.”

We both knew that was just an excuse. More to the point, I still didn’t trust him. Between his control issues, his emotional distance, and his luck, I didn’t know whether I could survive a second try with Chance.

“Sure. Maybe.” As he stepped back, I saw the etched quality to his features.

Why did he have the ability to make me feel like I was breaking his heart? Was I supposed to believe he’d pined for me when he could have anybody he wanted? We weren’t soul mates. Back in the day, we didn’t have some great, immortal love. Did we?

Then I remembered something my friend Sara said when I was trying to console her after a breakup. I said the usual—“You’ll meet somebody else.” And she replied: “What does that matter when the one you want is walking away?”

If I got out of this mess, I needed to call her. When I ran, I’d left everything and everyone behind. I’d started a new life in Mexico City, but I hadn’t made friends. I existed in a quiet vacuum, interacting but not touching.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I told Chance then. “So we can sort ‘us’ out after this is done. Worry about me if you want, but I’ll see this thing through.”

“I hear that’s what they said at the Alamo too.” Chuch grinned as he pushed to his feet. “I’m gonna go see if dinner’s done. Remember, new rug.”

Supper sounded like a great idea, not just because I didn’t feel up to alone time with Chance. I followed our