This Side of the Grave

"You are so going to pay," I swore, lunging at him.

"If you want your revenge, come and get it," he taunted, flying just out of my reach as I continued to swim toward him.

My gaze narrowed. He wanted to play games, huh? Well, maybe I’d forgotten how much he enjoyed being a hard-ass in training, but he’d obviously forgotten that I was a fast learner. You’ve flown twice before, which means you have the ability. You just need to sharpen it, he’d said just a short while ago.

Oh, I’d sharpen it. Right now.

I channeled all my plans for paybacks into picturing the air above me as a ladder I could climb, if I could make it solid in my mind. Bones continued to fly in tight circles above me, asking how I enjoyed my evening bath and pondering that it must not be true that cats didn’t like water. I ignored those witticisms, continuing to picture the air as something that was malleable.

Energy began to push against my skin, building until it thrummed with the same steadiness that my heartbeat once pulsed inside me. Remember how the air felt before.

It’s not empty space. It’s something you can shape and mold, propelling you upand after him, if you just concentrate hard enough . . .

When I felt the air above me pulsating in time to the energy in my body, I vaulted straight up out of the water. Bones was in the middle of his next pass over me and I barreled after him even though he yanked himself backward at the last second. That exultant feeling returned, like a shock of adrenaline to my system, as I felt the air bend to my will, allowing me the momentum and support to catch him with an aerial tackle that flipped both of us around.

And then, with a victorious snicker, I tightened my grip and tumbled us into the river, his answering laugh the last thing I heard before the water closed over us.

Chapter Thirteen

Now I know why you chose a room located all by itself on the roof," I remarked as Bones dropped us down in a graceful landing on the outside courtyard of our suite. After several hours of practicing, I probably could’ve managed to land myself, but I might have taken out some of the wrought-iron furniture in the process.

"Comes in right handy now," he said, with a meaningful glance at his ripped pants and shirt, casualties of my midair grab on him before. Between that, our wet clothes, and our dripping hair, we’d give any snooty patrons of the hotel a heart attack if we took the normal way in through the lobby.

I smirked. "Told you I’d get you back."

His laugh was its own caress on my senses. Even wet and smelling like a stinky river, Bones still managed to entice me. His clothes might be ripped and his leather jacket dripping water, but he made that look sexy. Maybe because being waterlogged meant his pants and shirt clung to all the lines of his body with explicit snugness, highlighting the lean muscles and hard planes like they’d been molded onto him.

He leaned down. "Dare I hope that vengeance was sufficient enough to make you forget your other vow of retribution?"

My hands trailed over his chest, pausing near his ni**les, which were rigid due to his wet clothes – or because he knew how those tight buds practically screamed to be touched. Without conscious thought, I licked my lips.

"And let you go back on your promise to work hard to change my mind?" I couldn’t keep the husky catch from my voice. "That wouldn’t be smart of me, would it?" He moved closer, pressing his chest more firmly against my hands until I could feel all the play of his muscles as his arms rose to encircle me.

"No, not smart at all," he murmured, his breath landing on exactly the right spot near my ear.

I closed my eyes, savoring the sensations rising in me. Then I pushed him away and began digging in my pants. Just a short distance away from us was a bedroom. That’s where we needed to be, and the sooner the better.

"Hope the room card didn’t fall out . . . ah, thank God for button pockets," I said, pulling out my card. This outdoor courtyard had key card entry access, though I’d bet it hadn’t been used as the first way into the room before.

But when I went to the exterior door, Bones following closely enough for his energy to throb along my back, nothing happened when I pressed the card to the slot. I did it again, double-checking that the arrow was in the right position. It was, but still no green light.

"Try yours," I said, frowning.

After a few moments, Bones had his card out and in the correct position, but several tries later, the door still didn’t open.

"Getting them wet must’ve shorted the magnetic strip," he said, shrugging. "Wait here.

I’ll go back through the lobby and let you in once I’ve gotten new cards."

"Dressed like that?" I asked with a laugh. "I should let you just because I’ll crack up imagining the looks on people’s faces, but I’ll go. I might be just as wet as you, but at least my clothes aren’t ripped half off, and my jacket’s dry because you left it by the bridge before I pulled you into the river."

"I don’t care what any of those toffs think," he replied dismissively.

No matter that I’d done far more questionable things myself in recent months, shades of my rigid upbringing insisted that one did not appear with indecent gaps in their clothing in public if one could avoid it. I tried another tactic.

"Come on, have mercy on any older women who might be in the lobby. You don’t want to give them heart attacks if they catch a glimpse of your goods," I teased, trailing my fingers down the front of his torn pants.

His hand closed around mine, bringing it flush up against the goods in question. Things low inside me clenched in response, drawing a short moan. God, feeling him grow thick and hard in my grip almost ended my control right there. It was all I could do not to drop to my knees and replace my hand with my mouth.

"I’m leaving," I said, the words hoarse from the willpower it took for me to pull my hand away. "I won’t be long."

His eyes were bright green, matching the hunger in his expression, fangs tantalizing me from underneath those perfectly sculpted lips.

"Hurry."

I jumped off the roof without even looking to make sure someone wasn’t below me until I’d almost reached the ground. Good thing it was almost four in the morning, late even for most of this city’s residents to be out and about.

Then I rounded the corner and went into the Ritz, giving a brief nod to the doorman. One short elevator ride later and I was in the lobby, pretending not to notice the surprised looks the employees gave my wet hair and shoes. I pulled out my driver’s license – fake, but registered to the same last name Bones booked this room under – and explained my room key was somehow not working. While I waited for my new cards, a man checked in, holding a sleeping little girl in one arm while awkwardly signing his forms with the other. From his hushed voice, it was obvious he was hoping to have her in bed before she woke, and after hearing his weary comment about airport delays, it was also obvious he was just as tired.