Jennifer Rardin [Jaz Parks series book 2] Another One Bites The Dust

getup. He’d dressed for the show in clothes so retro he’d have looked at home on the set ofA Christmas Carol . But the pants were just tight enough, the jacket just the right length, the shirt showed just enough chest hair that all I wanted was to slide down the wall and stare.

 I followed him out the door to the water’s edge, trying not to slink guiltily, fighting the feeling that the dean had caught me smoking in the girls’ room.

 “What happened today?” he demanded. “Neither Cassandra nor Bergman would give me any details.”

 “I’m not surprised. You look ready to pounce.”

 “I am!” He realized he’d been close to shouting and lowered his voice. “Consider this a formal debriefing. Leave nothing out. Go.”

 Go? What am I, a sprinter? And what the hell with theI Spytalk? With a mounting sensation ofyou suck feeding my attitude, I gave him his damn debriefing: dream, reaver, hospital, killer pill, Xia Lai, and all.

 After I’d finished he stood staring at me, one hand in the pocket of his gray slacks, the other clutching his cane so hard I expected the jewel on top to pop off at any second.

 “And why do you smell like Cole?”

 “Oh, we were just goofing around.” Vayl’s eyes blazed dark green with gold flecks exploding like depth charges at random intervals. “Not likethat . Like, joking.”

 He started to pace, his cane making an irritatingclack! as he hit it against the seawall every other step. Also there was muttering and some very sharp gestures stopping just short of punching the air. When he whirled on me I actually jumped, which didn’t help my frame of mind. One. Bit.

 “You are driving me mad!” he thundered. “Do you have no sense of restraint whatsoever?”

 “You’re the one who volunteered me to strut my stuff in front of mobs of weirdos!”

 “This has nothing to do with belly dancing!”

 “This has everything to do with belly dancing!”In a roundabout way, but still.

 “If you had not killed that reaver last night—”

 “That poor man he murdered would have lost his soul!”

 Vayl jabbed his cane into the concrete so hard it shivered. “You could havedied today! And how would I have learned? Perhaps the barbecue chefs would have had another fortuitous gossip session? Or maybe Cole would have mentioned it between play dates with Chinese Mother and Baby Charms- Them-All.”

 “What’s your point?”

 He struggled to bring his voice to maybe-they-won’t-hear-us-in-Mexico level. “I would like to wake up one evening without wondering whether or not you will be alive to greet me!”

 “I am what I am, Vayl! I take risks. Sometimes that means I get hurt. Someday that means I’ll die. And I won’t come back. You’re going to have to deal with that.”

 “Why should I, when you could be like me?” The words ripped out of him as if yanked by an invisible hand. He jerked, as if I’d slapped him. I’d never have had the energy. His last pronouncement had left me completely zapped. Vayl wanted to turn me? So I could hang out with him forever? I didn’t know whether to cry or puke.

 “I apologize,” he said. “I had no right—”

 “No. You didn’t.”

 More silence. He heaved a big sigh, and I suddenly wondered if it felt extra good to him, taking a deep, sweet breath of air after not breathing the entire day before. Judging from his present stance, not so much. He’d turned his side to me so that he faced the bay and his feet were placed just right to knock one out of the park if I had one to pitch.

 “The dreams.”

 “Yes.”

 “Without Gregory’s help . . . do you have any idea what to do next?”

 “Yes.”

 He turned, fully facing me in his surprise. “You do?”

 “I think I need to talk to David.”

 “Not over the phone, I take it.”

 “Nope.”

 “I want . . .” He ground his teeth together. “Would you mind doing that while I am awake? I would appreciate the chance to watch over you.”

 “No problem.”

 Vayl came to me, lifted a curl from my face, brushing my cheek with his fingertips as he did so. I didn’t understand why, with his powers so closely related to cold, his touch couldn’t leave me numb. No such luck. Just that slight graze of skin on skin had sent little spikes of flame rushing through my bloodstream. It took an effort not to pant.This is your boss. Who has mentally taken you through the whole human-to-vamp scenario. Where is your pride, woman? “Please believe,” he said, “no matter how much I wish it, I would never ask you to become a vampire. I do know better.”

 “I should hope so!”There it is! You go, girl! At least until he touches you again!

 He nodded. “But I wish you would try somewhat harder to lengthen your life.”