23
Grim and I returned to the penthouse where he made a call to the Pizza Palace. While they had an address attached to his phone number, Skip ordered from any number of locations. Grim used his skills of persuasion to convince them to notify him when Skip made his regular order. The trap was set, now all we had to do was wait.
I was glad Grim got on board with my plan to follow the bread crumbs of my past. But what the hell happened in my previous life that made a master vamp obsessed with me? Did I key his car? Turn him down for a date?
At least I knew answers were coming, and they would lead us to the master. So now we could kick back and relax until Skip ordered a pizza.
“Feel like wriggling on the hook for a bit?” Grim asked as he hung up.
So much for kicking back. Though I wasn’t too shocked. Grim really wasn’t the sit-back-and-wait kind of guy.
“Are you asking the bait how it feels? That doesn’t sound like you,” I said, laying the back of my hand against his forehead as if checking his temperature. Grabbing my hand, Grim held it against his chest instead of letting go.
Once again, I was caught in his special thrall like in the security room. The need to grab him by the neck and haul him down for a thorough, hot kiss until we both lost our minds was overwhelming. Warmth trickled down my stomach and flooded my southern region as I fell headfirst into those bourbon-colored eyes. I wanted him. Bad.
The moment he’d switched from blame mode to “do something about it” mode, the tension between us melted away. Yet the attraction seemed to be growing exponentially.
But I needed my freedom more. I stepped back. He released my hand. I wanted him to grab me again. I wanted to yank his crisp black shirt out from his pants and run my fingers up his abs to see if they were as carved as I imagined.
“Sure,” I said, managing to not sound as breathy and bothered as I felt. “What did you have in mind?”
Grim’s eyes swept up and down my body with a heat that took me by surprise. Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure what he meant by “wriggling bait.”
* * *
“Don’tyou think this bikini is a bit over the top?” I asked, standing next to the infinity pool. The night air was cool, but I’d drunk my way back up to a comfy body temperature again.
Hands on my hips, I twisted my pelvis so my rhinestone-studded bottoms would catch the outdoor lights. Reflected dots swept back and forth along Grim’s face as I did so. The top was just as ostentatious. The blood-red bikini had so many shiny crystals on it, it looked as though it belonged in a locked case next to some royal tiaras. A matching jewel-encrusted necklace circled my neck instead of the tied leather I’d been using to cover up the scars.
Waltzing around the private pool and cabanas of Sinopolis, I was doing my part, dangling on the hook, waiting for any other sekhors to come knocking.
Come on, master dickwad. Come out, come out, wherever you are.
It was only midnight, and down below, the common pool for Sinopolis was thumping. There was a party with some famous DJ. Up here, you could hear the rhythmic thrum of the base and the roar of the crowd when the beat dropped. The sounds skimmed across my exposed skin. I could taste the life and excitement on the air, coming from below.
Grim assured me the private pool was a better location. If sekhors had gotten into club Wolf Town, there would be no difficulty crashing the private pools of Sinopolis. There were few people hanging around the private pool, primarily here to use the giant hot tubs.
Positioned on a lounge chair, Grim did not lie back. He sat with a leg on either side of the chair, watching, waiting.
While I was cavorting about in a bikini in the dead of night, his majesty deigned to remove his jacket, and undo two buttons on his black shirt to reveal an appealing amount of dark chest hair. I wanted to slip my hand in there and run my fingers through it and explore the hard muscle peeking out. I gripped my hips harder to keep from doing any such thing.
Grim scanned me with what I could only guess to be calculating indifference. “We want you to be noticed so the master targets you, and this attire is,” he paused, “satisfactory.”
Satisfactory? He might as well have said the F word. If he had said I looked fine, I would have slugged him on the spot. Even I knew I looked like a glittering sex goddess. My auburn hair was pulled up into a messy bun, tendrils falling out and around my shoulders. The bikini perfectly offset the dip and tone of my long torso while accenting the swell of my breasts. Even the bottoms were the perfect fit to make me look bootylicious. I did draw a line at the kitten heels, however. That was far too obvious.
I’d pulled on the BDSM bodysuit to razz Grim before, but this time the outfit had been presented to me in a box folded in tissue paper. I wasn’t sure if the gift was because Timothy and Grim now believed it was to my taste, or because my last costume had drawn out the baddies so effectively. Either way, I wasn’t as comfortable in this getup. But I’d be damned if I let Grim get any hint of that discomfort.
Inwardly smirking, I wanted to see if I could crack his cool demeanor. Spotting a penny, I turned, then bent over to pick it up, giving him one hell of a show. Timothy had graciously arranged for a quick, in-house wax when I saw that bikini, so I knew his view was flawless.
When I turned around, I held the penny out to him. “Did youwant this?”I asked, blinking innocently while putting emphasis on my last two words, implying more than the coin.
“No, thank you,” he said, delivering the words with cool indifference. Despite his tone and hard jawline, his eyes glowed gold and his nostrils flared.
Gotcha.
I flipped the coin into the air. It perfectly arced in the air over to Grim. He reached out with lightning-fast reflexes and caught it between his thumb and middle finger. Then he fluidly pocketed the penny, his heated gaze still glued to me. Annoyance flickered in those molten amber eyes.
Was I some huge slut in my past life?
