Tempting Evil by Keri Arthur Read Free Book Online Page B

can feel it.”
    He could feel it? How? We hadn’t shared dreams in any way yesterday, so he couldn’t have leeched information that way. And, usually, he could only catch my thoughts if he was physically near.
    But maybe he had been. Maybe he’d been here in Melbourne all along, and just hadn’t contacted me.
    Bastard.
    “So the real reason you came to my apartment last night was for a little extra information gathering? I bet it sucked having your grand plans foiled by Kellen’s presence.”
    “It wasn’t the only reason I was here last night. I did want to see you.”
    Yeah. Believing
that
big time. “How in the hell could you supposedly feel
anything
when we’re supposedly only sharing erotic dreams and nothing more?”
    He didn’t answer. No surprise there. The bastard never answered questions that
really
mattered.
    He walked toward me and held out my panties. I snatched them from his hand and threw them to the floor. And some childish part of me wanted to stomp all over them—or maybe it’s just that I wanted to stomp all over Quinn, and with no hope of achieving that, they were the next best option.
    “Was I ever anything more than just a convenient source of information?” I asked bitterly.
    He reached out, his fingers briefly caressing my cheek with heat until I jerked away from his touch. His hand dropped back to his side, but the determination in his eyes said he was far from defeated.
    “There has always been something more between us.”
    “Yeah, great sex.”
    “More than that. I care for you, Riley. Deeply.”
    I snorted softly. “You keep saying that, and yet you couldn’t even be bothered coming to see me for the last two months. The only reason you’re here now is the fact that you sensed something was happening with the case.”
    He studied me, arms crossed, face impassive. But there was nothing impassive in his eyes. Nothing impassive in the explosive swirl of emotion scorching my skin with heat.
    “If it was your brother they’d snatched and killed, would you not do everything in your power to exact revenge? Even if that meant betraying someone you cared for greatly?”
    “That’s different—”
    “No, it’s fucking not! Henri was my brother in all but blood. I will not let these fools get away with his murder. I
will
have my revenge, no matter what I have to do!” He paused, then added softly, “Or who I have to hurt.”
    I held up my hands, not pushing him away but certainly ready to. “Don’t touch me.”
    “This will not end here,” he said flatly. “I won’t let it.”
    “Right now, you have no goddamn choice. I want you to leave and I don’t want you to come back and I don’t want to see you again.”
    He snorted. “You’ll see me, not only in your dreams, but on the mission. It starts today and I
will
be involved in it.”
    So he’d gotten that much from me. Bastard.
    “Go,” I said fiercely, “before you make me do something I might not regret.”
    He studied me for a moment, then spun on his heel and walked to the door. But he stopped with his hand on the knob, and looked over his shoulder at me. “I’ll see you at the Directorate. And you had better tell Jack about that increase in power, or I will.”
    With that he left. The door slammed after him, the noise reverberating through the sudden silence. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples for a moment, then turned and headed for the shower. And though I could wash the smell of him from my skin, there was no washing away the feel of him in my mind. No getting away from the huge sense of loss and betrayal.
    And I hated that, hated that he’d reduced what was between us to that. Because he was right—there was something more, something that had the potential to be magical. Not soul-deep magical, perhaps, but still so very good. His actions might not have destroyed that, but I really didn’t know if I would ever be able to get past them.
    I lifted my face to the cooling water, letting it wash away the