Authors: Laura Morrigan
Charm waited a beat and then slunk back to me.
Kai let out a long breath. “Can I move now?”
“Sure.” The jaguar watched with interest as Kai pulled a flashlight from his case,
turned it on, and started walking back and forth across the width of the enclosure.
Taking a calming breath, I asked, “What are you looking for?”
He glanced up. A smile played at his lips. “Clues.”
I rolled my eyes. “Come on. Really.”
“His gun would be nice.” He muttered as he scanned the earth and pine bark–covered
floor.
I knew LaBryce had a gun. It was a super-duper custom deal. He’d shown it to me on
one of my visits. “You’re looking for the shiny one?”
Kai’s gaze leapt up to latch onto mine. “You’ve seen it?”
My knee-jerk reaction was to deny it. But I thought about Kai’s assumption the night
before that I was involved with LaBryce and reconsidered. I’d have to earn Kai’s trust
if I was going to have any hope of swaying his opinion.
I nodded, hoping I looked eager to help. “LaBryce showed it to me just after he got
it. He told me the gun was customized by some guy in Arizona, or maybe it was Texas—I
don’t remember. It was actually kind of pretty, for a pistol. Big. Polished chrome
with a jaguar on each side of the handle.”
Kai nodded and went back to his search. “Arizona. We have a copy of the receipt.”
Passed that test. Hoping to keep the goodwill flowing, I added, “He kept it in a case.”
“It’s not in the case.”
I felt a jolt of confusion. Where else would it be? “You think he used it to kill
Mark and hid it in here?”
“I have to look. LaBryce says he doesn’t know where the gun is. He locked it in its
case and put it in a drawer.”
It was obvious that Kai didn’t believe this story.
I sat and pondered the missing gun for a while. LaBryce hung out with some folks that
ran afoul of the law. He had parties. He had domestic help and an animal trainer.
All of them had access to the house and, presumably, his gun.
“Maybe someone stole it.”
“Yeah, that’s what he said.” Kai paused in his search and looked at me. “We’ve been
checking with pawn shops and Jake has talked to his informant. No one’s seen a custom,
chrome-plated, semiautomatic pistol.”
“Oh,” was all I managed to say. This was not good news. I knew LaBryce was innocent,
so I was not infected with the doubt that plagued Kai. But I had to admit the AWOL
firearm looked bad. It would make it doubly hard to talk Kai into accepting the idea
that LaBryce was not the gangster his PR firm wanted everyone to imagine he was.
The real LaBryce was a kindhearted man who loved his mama and had a soft spot for
animals.
I couldn’t think of a way to express this without sounding antagonistic, so I changed
the subject. “How long have you been doing this? Been a crime scene investigator?”
Kai answered without stopping his examination of the enclosure. “I started with the
CSU about ten years ago, as a grad student.”
He didn’t expound like people tend to do, and I couldn’t think of a follow-up question.
I suddenly wished I had paid more attention to Emma’s social techniques.
Think of something to say, genius.
As I cast about for a more fruitful subject, I reached out to place my hand on Charm.
She sat with her back against the log, leaning her upper body against my legs. Not
totally relaxed, she kept an eye on her new guest.
I began massaging her sleek, supple neck, as much to comfort her as me. Within moments,
feline contentment poured into me. Riding the gentle wave of blissful calm, I turned
my attention back to Kai.
He stopped, knelt, and leaned forward, gently flipping over a bit of bark for scrutiny.
As he worked, I spotted something that sparked an idea.
“Are you from Hawaii?”
This time, he stopped his search and looked up at me. “Why would you think that?”
“Your necklace.” I pointed to the swirl of carved bone that dangled on a woven cord.
“It’s a fishhook, right?”
“A
makau
.” He tucked the pendant back into his shirt. “A lot of surfers wear them.”
“But not a lot of surfers have a name like Kai.”
He laughed. The sound was so unexpected and appealing I found myself grinning back
at him like a fool.
“What? I’m that far off?”
“No. You’re right on.” His laugh settled into the devastating grin I remembered with
embarrassing clarity. “For someone who claims to have issues with humans, your anthropologic
skills are pretty good.”
“So, you
are
Hawaiian?”
He nodded and stood, beginning his scan of the enclosure again. “Half. My father’s
family is Scottish-American.”
The mix explained the exotic tilt of his intense green eyes. “How did your father
end up in Hawaii?”
“He was in the Navy. Stationed at Barbers Point when he met my mom. We moved to Jacksonville
when I was fourteen.”
“Out to Mayport?”
“Yep.” Kai bent down again to examine something, only to disregard it as unimportant.
“What about you? Are you from here originally?”
“I grew up on the beach. So did my parents.”
“Do they still live out there?” He glanced at me but didn’t stop the search.
“No, they sold their house and took off in a Winnebago about a year ago.” I stroked
Charm absentmindedly and thought about how excited they had been. “The great American
adventure. We get postcards from all over now.”
“Nice.” His voice was soft, and there seemed at be an undercurrent of emotion in the
word.
“Are your parents still here, or did they move back to Hawaii?”
“My mom did. My dad’s dead.” He paused to look at me. “He was murdered.”
“Oh God, I’m sorry.”
“They never found out who did it. The case is still open.” He shook his head and smiled,
but it wasn’t his usual heart-stopping grin. This smile was stiff and tainted with
bitterness. “And once again, I find myself telling you more than I intended to. You’d
be a good cop. You have a way of making people open up.”
It didn’t sound like a compliment.
“I didn’t mean to pry.”
After a long pause, he blew out a slow breath and shook his head. “You weren’t.”
Flustered, I looked at Charm, who stretched out and rolled over to expose her white
belly for me to scratch. I leaned over and ran my fingernails over the cat. As I touched
her, her satisfaction and pleasure rippled through me. The emotions soothed, blanketing
my anxiety with an odd sort of euphoria.
Along with the sensation came the thought that this was a quid pro quo situation.
Kai had shared something personal; I should return the favor. For the life of me,
I couldn’t think of anything.
My favorite color is green
didn’t seem to cut it.
Maybe a change of subject was in order. “I had a lemur on my head Sunday when Jake
called me.”
Kai’s brows arched.
“He thought I was his mother,” I clarified.
“That happen a lot?”
“Yep. My days are filled with the unexpected. What about you? You’ve seen some weird
stuff, I’m sure.”
“Aside from you taming a Doberman and a jaguar with nothing more than few words?”
His grin was back, though not as wide.
“Not just words. I have a winning personality.”
Kai seemed to relax back into the rhythm of his search. The awkwardness of his confession
passed. As he moved, I tried to think of an admiring comment. But all I could think
of was that he had nice eyes and a hot bod. Not smooth. Not smooth at all.
Well, at least I had gotten him alone, aside from Charm. Now I was supposed to flirt.
Get him hot and bothered so I could mold him like clay.
Yeah, right
.
I looked up and watched Kai tapping on the faux rock face that made up the far wall.
He nimbly climbed onto it and started looking through the thick banana leaves and
palm fronds that served as the canopy of the mini forest.
Charm rolled onto her feet. Ears pricked—eyes wide.
“Hold on, Kai.”
He stopped. “What?”
“Charm is not cool with you climbing around up there.” I honed in on her mind. Her
senses had focused to a fine point.
Hunt
.
The rustling noise Kai was making as he searched though the canopy had triggered her
drive to stalk and kill.
“Don’t move. You sound like an animal rummaging through the forest.”
“Like food?” he asked softly.
“Yeah, like food.”
Easy, girl
. I reminded Charm that Kai was a friend. But her predatory instinct had kicked in,
and she wanted to track what she had heard.
“Kai, listen. Without turning your back, very slowly get down. Do not make any more
noise.”
Keeping his eyes on the cat, he silently sat on the rock and moved back down to the
ground.
Charm’s head was lowered, and she watched him with an intensity I knew he could feel.
There really wasn’t anything like being stared down by a big cat. A cat with hunger
in its eyes.
“Easy, girl. Kai’s a friend,” I murmured. I knew I couldn’t physically stop her if
she decided to spring. But I could alter her attitude. I blanketed her mind with my
own. Smothering her burning predatory need like I would a fire. I breathed slowly,
pressing the calming hiss of nothing in to drive out her brain’s fixation. Slowly,
she lost interest in Kai and looked back at me.
Bottle?
Disaster averted. I pressed my lips together to hide my smile. Charm and her bottle
obsession.
Sorry, girl. No bottle
. She sniffed at the pocket of my shorts, where I had stowed a few dog treats, and
a thought occurred to me. Even though Kai was the cop, I was in control here. This
was my turf. Why wasn’t I acting like it?
“All right. I think we need to reiterate that you are a friend. Come here, sit next
to me, and give her a treat.”
“Okay.” Moving cautiously, Kai eased himself down onto the log next to me.
I reached into my pocket and handed him a dog biscuit.
Gently, Charm.
I wanted to make sure Kai didn’t lose any of his fingers.
Charm gingerly took the biscuit from Kai’s hand.
“Should I pet her?”
“Sure.”
He reached out and stroked Charm’s shining spotted fur. The jaguar, now totally reformed,
butted her head against his chest to beg for another treat.
“She likes it when you scratch her head right here.” I placed my hand in between the
cat’s ears. Kai followed my hand and raked his fingers back and forth.
Charm let out a contented growl and closed her eyes. I could feel pure bliss radiating
from the big cat. It sent pleasant chills up my spine. My fingertips brushed against
Kai’s and a surge of heat that had nothing to do with the cat rushed through me. I
pulled away and glanced at Kai. He was so absorbed in petting Charm he hadn’t seemed
to notice the contact. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed. Wasn’t I supposed
to be flirting?
Kai looked up, his face alight with excitement. He looked like a kid who’d just walked
into Disney World. “This is something I never expected to be doing.”
“Keep it up and I think you’ll have a new girlfriend. I’m pretty sure she’s in love.”
He looked down at the big cat, who had practically melted into his lap, and chuckled.
The sound was a low, sensual rumble. I felt my mouth go dry.
Wait a second. Wasn’t I supposed to be the one who was working
my
wiles? Drawing him into my carefully spun web?
“Is it typical for a jaguar to go from hunt mode to this?” he asked.
Shrugging, I reached out and ruffed Charm’s coat. “She trusts me.”
Kai glanced up at me. “I’ve never met anyone quite like you, Grace.”
Oh, you have no idea.
Kai’s hand moved along the cat’s body until his fingers brushed over mine again. This
time, when the flash of heat came, I didn’t pull back.
Now or never, Grace. Do something
.
Slowly, deliberately, I moved to thread my fingers over his, sweeping over the back
of his hand with featherlight strokes. Kai stilled. My pulse thrummed in my ears as
I stared at our hands.
I felt his gaze on my face and wanted to look at him. But I couldn’t. He turned his
hand over and I drew my fingers along his rough palm, tracing them along the inside
of his wrist then back again.
Kai stopped my plundering fingers by clasping my hand. I looked up into his face.
His eyes were riveted on mine. The heat in them would have made most women spontaneously
combust.
“You’re not like most guys I know either.” My voice was so husky I almost didn’t recognize
it.
“Really, why’s that?”
I tried to remember the speech I had come up with. Nope. Nothing. Now he was the one
stroking his fingers along my arm. My thoughts became jumbled as his hand brushed
up past my elbow.
“The Ice Queen.”
“What?” His grin flashed and I felt myself lean into him.
“I’m good at being cold. But not with you.” What was I saying? Was this flirting?
I didn’t know anymore. All I could see was the heat in his eyes and the way he looked
at my mouth.
“I’m not very objective with you either.” His voice was almost too low and rough to
hear. Clearing his throat, he seemed to remember himself.
He stood abruptly and said, “I only have one other place to check.”
Charm grumbled at his sudden departure and shifted to lean against the log with her
head in my lap. As she settled in for more petting, I struggled to get my heart rate
under control. I could still feel where Kai had touched me.
Get a grip, Grace.
It wasn’t like we had kissed, or ripped off each other’s clothes or anything. I squeezed
my eyes shut. Why had I thought about that? I would not think about ripping off Kai’s
clothes!
I concentrated on counting the spots on Charm’s head, marking each one off with my
finger. When I reached ninety-seven, I looked over at Kai. He was packing his case.
His shoulders seemed tense. Damn. I’d blown my chance.