Part 16 (1/2)
I took a sniff. Not just green tea, but mint-green tea. ”You,” I said, dropping a quick kiss on his lips, ”are a darling.”
”And you,” he said, the amus.e.m.e.nt on his lips crinkling the corners of his bright eyes, ”stink.”
I snorted. ”Not exactly surprising given I've been sprawled all over a sewer tunnel.”
”But unattractive all the same. A shower is required before we go anywhere near that meeting this evening.” He pulled a coil of metallic rope from over his shoulder and squatted beside Sherman. ”Did you ask him about Baltimore?”
”He said Marcus Radcliffe hired him to watch Mark and take note of who he talked to on a regular basis.”
”Did he say why?”
I drank some tea, then shook my head. ”Which is not surprising. It didn't take much to get him to talk, so he wouldn't have been trusted with anything vital.”
”Wererats are never trustworthy,” Jackson muttered. ”It's the nature of their beast.”
I raised my eyebrows. ”So what is the nature of the Fae? Besides being randy sensualists, that is?”
He glanced up and grinned. ”You struck it lucky. Unlike most of my kind, I'm more beta than alpha. Which means I generally ask for opinions before I do whatever the h.e.l.l I want.”
I laughed. ”Yep. That about sums you up.”
He finished trussing Sherman up and then rose. ”I'm pretty sure I got in here without a tail, but just in case, let's exit via a different sewer cover.”
As he tucked a hand under my elbow to guide me forward, I said, ”I'm going to need somewhere to shower and change.”
He nodded. ”I've booked a room in a hotel not far from where we'll exit, and I borrowed some clothes from my friend's wife. She's about your size. Oh, and I retrieved your purse from the waitress's place.”
”You've thought of everything, haven't you?” I teased.
His grin was bright and cheeky. ”Trust me, I do expect payment in kind.”
I laughed. ”Of course.”
We wound our way through the tunnel system, following the little GPS map he had on his phone. Where the h.e.l.l he managed to get an app that showed the sewers I had no idea, but I wasn't about to grumble. Not if it got us out of this stinking place sooner rather than later.
After about twenty minutes, I'd finished my tea and we'd finally reached our exit point. Once he'd checked that there was no one close, we climbed out. I took several deep breaths of air unfouled by rubbish and excrement, then looked around as Jackson replaced the cover. ”Where are we?”
”Dorcas Street, South Melbourne. The hotel is just down the road.” He caught my hand and tugged me forward.
”If I know Sam, he's probably got an electronic eye on all the hotel bookings, so he's going to discover our location sooner rather than later.”
”He would, if I were using my own card. But I'm not.”
”Another friend?” I said dryly.
He smiled at me. He really did have a nice smile. ”He owes me several large favors. I saved his wife once.”
”From what?”
”From a rather nasty kidnapping and extortion attempt.” He shrugged. ”The police weren't happy about my involvement, but who f.u.c.king cares when there's a life at stake?”
”That,” I said with a smile, ”is the alpha speaking, not the beta.”
He glanced at me, eyes twinkling. ”And also the reason the cops in this city and I don't see eye to eye.”
He tugged me through the hotel's lobby. I blinked at the vibrancy of the red feature wall, but didn't get much of a chance to see more than that as we strode quickly to the elevators. In no time at all we were zooming up to the eighth floor. As it turned out, we didn't have a room, but rather a suite with a generous living area, separate bedroom, and a small kitchen.
”The shower is in the en suite,” Jackson said, ”and the fresh clothes are on the bed. What would you like to eat?”
”A big steak with lots of potatoes and another mug of green tea.” I stripped off and headed for the shower. He was right-my clothes stank.
”A woman after my own heart. Except for the whole green tea bit.”
”I've had enough coffee over the centuries. Time for a change.”
”You know, I always wondered what being with a much older woman would be like. I have to say, it's better than I imagined.”
I laughed as I shucked off the remainder of my clothes, then headed in to clean up. Twenty minutes later, the luscious aroma of roasted meat told me dinner had arrived, so I hurriedly finished dressing. Though there was no underclothing-a fact for which I was grateful, because I drew the line at wearing cast-off bras and panties-the rest of the clothes he'd borrowed fit me nicely. My b.u.t.t was obviously a little bigger than the wife's, because the jeans were rather tight, and the s.h.i.+rt fit like a glove, exposing more than it covered-a deliberate choice, I suspected. Thankfully, he'd also borrowed a coat-I could cover up and keep warm when I needed to.
His gaze skimmed me as I walked out, and a grin split his face. ”Nice,” he murmured, his gaze coming to rest on what the s.h.i.+rt wasn't covering. ”Shame we haven't got time to peel off that s.h.i.+rt and explore what lies beneath.”
”You know what lies beneath,” I said, amused. ”You've explored them once or twice already.”
”Ah, but a good explorer is never afraid to retrace his steps on the off chance he missed something vital.”
I snorted. ”Let's concentrate on the business at hand, shall we?”
”Oh, I was,” he murmured. But he sat down and uncovered the two plates-steak, mashed potatoes, and several helpings of vegetables.
”Right,” he said as he picked up his cutlery and began to tuck in. ”While I was twiddling my thumbs, waiting for your former boyfriend-”
”And just how do you know he's a former boyfriend?” I inquired mildly.
He waved a fork. ”It's obvious given the way you talk about him. I'm guessing it ended badly, but some part of you isn't quite over it.”
He'd guessed entirely too much. I waved him on irritably.
Amus.e.m.e.nt danced in his bright eyes as he continued. ”My friend got back to me about that pic I sent her. She couldn't find a match.”
”So, our mysterious Professor Heaton hasn't got a criminal record.”
”Nor a driver's license.”
”Inconvenient.”
”Yeah.” He munched on some steak for several minutes, then said, ”Said friend is going to do an overseas search to see if anything comes up, but that may take a while.”
”Which leaves us with the vamp tonight. Hopefully, he'll be able to enlighten us more than Jones did.”