04 A Killing Touch (3 page)

She stumbled to a stop, but took a moment before turning. When she did, her back was straight and she met his gaze dead on with her charming smile in place. “Hey! How was lunch? Thank you for filling in for me.”

“Cut the sweet-as-innocence rambling.” He closed the remaining distance, took her elbow and led her into the closest conference room. “Just because you’re blissfully happy with Ian, just because he lets you browbeat him into submission, and just because you’ve gotten used to the couple-type outings with Breck and Kami and Ava and Dr. H, do not fool yourself into thinking you’re going to make another match that includes me.”

“As if you’d be worth my matchmaking effort.” She dropped into a chair and crossed her legs casually. “You know I had to go do those interviews.”

“Especially don’t think you’ll make a match for me with Lana Quinn. Find some other sucker for your gal pal.” He braced his hands on the arms of the chair and leaned into her face. “I am not interested.”

“That was never my intention, Aidan.” Her mouth lifted in her sassy grin and she patted his cheek gently. It was the kind of touch Lana demonstrated. Tender and caring. Without planning it, Kieralyn was substantiating her friend’s claim. “But be careful,” she warned seriously. “Your protestations are very adamant, which would typically suggest denial.”

She ducked beneath his arms to stand. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have some interviews to type up.”

She turned back at the door with her head cocked at a curious tilt. “You coming anytime soon?”

“I’m warning you, Kieralyn.” He stepped toward her, shaking his finger. “Don’t mess with me on this.”

“You’ll have no interference from me.”

She raised her hands in surrender. He didn’t believe for a second that she would back off of trying to get him and Lana together. What she didn’t understand was that while he saw the merits of the idea, and he had tasted how good he and Lana could be together, they would never work.

“So tell me about lunch,” Kieralyn said as they headed toward their workspace. “Did Lana have anything substantial?”

“Possibly.” He went to his desk in the center of their space, passing Ava who spoke quietly into her phone, and sat on the edge while Kieralyn went to her desk and reclined in her chair. “She’s convinced people are being killed by allergies and are somehow all connected to a holistic allergist who did an independent study.”

“Listen, Aidan. I know you question Lana’s…” She trailed off and bounced her head back and forth as if she sought the right word. “Motivations.”

It was more where she allowed her motivations to drive her. He didn’t argue or clarify the difference.

“Do me a favor. Give her a shot. She’s got impeccable instincts. If she thinks there’s something to the deaths, it at least garners a look.”

“Murder by an herbal allergy cure?”

“Are you talking about Dr. Grayson’s cure?” Ava asked as she dropped her phone onto her desk.

“You’ve heard of it?” Aidan asked.

“I read his article. My brother Alexei doubts it’s a permanent cure. Says that more likely the herbs have halted or masked the allergies.”

It wasn’t easy keeping up with Ava’s large Greek family, but Aidan was pretty sure Alexei was the med student. Or maybe he was the doctor and her cousin Alex was the med student. Or Alexei could be the farmer and Alexis was the med student. Or doctor. Ava swore they got easier to remember after meeting them in person, which would happen at her wedding. Whenever that would be.

Shaking off the befuddling thoughts, Aidan refocused on the possibilities. “Eased allergies could be enough for some people depending on their level of misery.”

“True. What’s the murder angle?”

Aidan gave Ava the thumbnail version of Lana’s suspicions.

“If the doctor is really on to something, or if something went really wrong and one of his patients is threatening to sue or go to the press, he might want them silenced. Then again, if something went really wrong it could be a patient out for revenge.”

“In which case you’d think the doctor would have been the first victim.”

“Unless the patient wants the doctor to worry, to stress and grow more afraid each day.” A contradiction to her words, Ava’s voice softened like a caress and her mouth curved in a sweet smile. It was creepy at times to realize how much she loved her job. “The daily pressure would amp up and weigh on the doctor until he trusted no one and turned his life upside down trying to protect himself. Then it would be his turn.”

“You’re sort of scary, Ava.” Aidan coughed a little nervously. Kieralyn half smiled to herself as she typed in her interview notes.

“How do you mean?” Ava blinked, but there was no innocence in the gesture. She knew exactly how he meant. Whitestone turned her into an operative capable of killing. They’d also taught her how to needle her way into a mark’s mind if it netted them greater results. Her fiancé, Dr. H, a former captive of Whitestone, seemed to know that trick well too.

Aidan shook his head and ran a search for Dr. Grayson, starting with the easily accessed public information. He wanted to argue that Lana’s story lacked substance. He wanted to refuse just so he didn’t have to deal with her. But damn it, he trusted Kieralyn. Her instincts were laser accurate. He trusted Ava. Her musings were entirely likely.

Sure Lana was their friend and that may color things, but both his teammates had proven their ability to not allow a personal connection to interfere in their need to do a job. Now he had to do the same.

“Kieralyn.”

“Yeah?” She didn’t look up from her computer and sounded a little distracted.

“How blind to danger will Lana become in her pursuit of this story?”

Kieralyn looked at him with a how-much-do-you-think look stamped on her face.

“Shit.”

He called the ME’s offices to get the names of the possibly related deaths. By the time the clerk had found the two names he needed and he’d read up on Dr. Grayson, three hours had passed. The rest of the team was gone or somewhere else in the building.

He was typing in the first name to run a background search when the top of his neck, just at his hairline, began tingling. He glanced around, but their shared space was empty. He checked his phone, but no new messages waited. It was a little after four. Almost quitting time for the nine-to-five world.

The tingling spread lower.

How blind to danger will Lana become in her pursuit of this story?

Shit. Lana.

Aidan grabbed his jacket and called Dr. Grayson’s office as he headed for the stairs. A pre-recorded message reciting their address and hours let him know he had little time to head Lana off, because suddenly he knew she was heading that way.

How he’d allowed himself to get tangled in this mess of promised trouble he didn’t know, but he had. He would see it through until he got Lana to back off because he couldn’t afford to be chasing her around town to save her ass, and he wasn’t willing to deal with Kieralyn’s fallout if something happened to her friend.

Twenty minutes later, Aidan parked in the underground parking and took the stairs to the doctor’s office on the fifth floor. Double glass doors provided a clear view of the waiting area. He looked for signs of Lana, but she wasn’t there. In fact, few patients were. Whatever tale she spun the doctor wouldn’t likely make patients wait while he talked with Lana.

Knowing he risked missing her in passing, he headed back down the stairs to the lobby where he approached the security desk.

“Hi,” he addressed the bone-skinny guard on duty. Maybe a year out of high school and probably still hoping he’d develop some muscle, the guard looked bored. “Have you seen a gorgeous blonde go by here in the past ten minutes?”

Brendan, according to his name badge, shook his head. “Can’t say I remember one.”

“You’d remember this one. Business suit with a satin blouse and short skirt. Stiletto heels showing off her mile-long legs. Sea-green eyes you would willingly drown in.”

Brendan’s eyes lit up, he sat a little straighter, his head shake turned sad as if he suddenly wished he had seen her.

“If she shows up and heads for the elevators, could you let me know?” Aidan asked as he pulled out a business card. “I’ll be waiting out front for her.”

“You want me to stop her?”

“No.” Kid wouldn’t last a minute in a dream about Lana. No way would he be able to handle talking to her. Or trying to derail her. “Just let me know if she comes in without me.”

“You got it.”

“Thanks.”

Aidan headed out the front door, scoping the area for the best vantage point. He chose a concrete ledge surrounding a section of elaborate landscaping. Sitting at one corner he could see the lobby, the elevators, the parking garage entrance and the walk up area. He had Brendan on lookout, but Aidan wouldn’t miss her.

Not five minutes later, a cab pulled up to the curb. The back door opened. One strawberry-red, strappy stiletto followed by another and leading up to a set of evenly tanned legs extended. A delicate, pristinely manicured hand grabbed the side of the door and Lana stood from the back seat.

One man dropped his briefcase. Another man tripped over it.

She caused a stir without trying. God help a man if she decided to pour on the charm.

Checking his watch, Aidan saw she’d timed her visit for just before the end of office hours. Dr. Grayson and his staff would want to be wrapping up and heading home. They’d be distracted and likely have their guards dropped. Unless Ava’s scenario of the doctor’s fear was true. Whatever Lana’s plan was, she intended to use their haste to her favor.

Lana shook her hair back and as cool as Lana Turner in her prime she strode with confidence toward the ornate glass doors. She didn’t bother looking around because she cared only about her targeted destination. She’d walk right past Aidan if he didn’t speak up.

“Lana.”

The ball of her foot scraped across the concrete, tripped her up. She recovered before he had to step in to catch her, though he wouldn’t have minded feeling her in his arms again. At least on a public sidewalk he knew he’d be able to stop touching her.

“What are you doing here?” She put sneering emphasis on you. She’d spoken the same way in the pub. Her sniping tone gave her feelings away even when she blocked them from reaching her face.

“You asked for my help.”

“I didn’t ask you to follow me.”

“How could I follow you when I was clearly here before you?”

“You
…
Why are you here?”

“Because I knew you would be coming here with some plan to get a scoop. A plan that could land you in trouble like that kidnapping ring did. Like The Killing Cupid.”

His blood heated at the memory of backing her up on that serial killer case. He hadn’t known her before the kidnapping case, but in the time it had taken him to carry her to the ambulance she’d gotten beneath his skin.

Watching her set herself up as bait on Valentine’s Day, when a woman like her should be on a date surrounded by romance, had sliced into him. Staying out of the way while she all but invited a sociopath into her home to rape and kill her had driven him onto an uncomfortable and violent ledge.

Lana cocked a hip and flashed her perfect teeth. “So you admit I may be on to something?”

“Reluctantly.” He took her elbow and pulled her away from the people exiting. He’d almost stalled her long enough for it to be too late for her to get to the doctor today. “I also think you’re jumping in before you know enough facts. It’s what you do. It’s going to get you killed.”

She rested a hand on his arm and glanced up from beneath her thick lashes. His dick throbbed. His spine tingled. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or pull her into a dark corner to devour her. Damn the woman’s touch.

“You’re sweet, Aidan.” She placed a hand on his chest, tapping her fingers over his heart. “I had no idea you cared for me.”

“God.” He jerked away. She never stuck to one kind of behavior. One time she’d be hard as forged steel and the next she’d be Southern charm. It made her tough to predict and impossible to resist.

He missed her touch more than he should. Shifting the remembered feel to the side, unwilling to let it completely go, he slipped into the antagonism that protected him against her charm. “Leave it to you to play games.”

“No games.” She grew serious. “Though I’m curious why else you’d be here if you aren’t here to protect me.”

“I’m here to watch out for Kieralyn. If you get hurt she’ll be upset and that will impact the team.”

Even he wasn’t sure he bought the day’s flavor of bullshit.

“For a fed, you’re a surprisingly bad liar.” Lana crossed her arms and stood with her right hip slightly cocked. It was her stubborn stance that said she’d dug her manicured nail tips in and wouldn’t be letting go. “I think you checked into the doctor and found a link to something or someone. I also think you worry about me.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Then why are you really here?”

Her tongue flirted with the corner of her gloss-coated lips. As vibrant as she was, she didn’t use bright colors in her makeup. Instead it was the understated touches like the pale pink gloss that made her approachable. Tempting.