Part 32 (1/2)
When she went around the corner, she stopped abruptly, almost running into him. He'd rested his body against the wall and underneath a golden light, back stiff, as if there was something bracing his spine. He had a strange electric air about him, a secretive smile that made her wonder why he was so...ecstaticwasn't exactly the word-too optimistic. But then again, she couldn't define Lonigan for nothin'.
”You looking for a private conversation or something?” she asked, a tiny pulse wavering in her neck.
”I know what did this to your partner.”
That beating in her neck seemed to stop.
She advanced a few inches, but stayed near the corner and the safety of the exit doors. ”How do you know?”
”I just do.” Matt looked at her cheek again, and a muscle started to twitch by his jaw. He seemed as angry as she was.
Dawn responded to their shared, heightened emotion, grabbing at it like it was an outcropping on the face of a cliff, one that would hold her up and take her to another level where she could see a little more clearly.
”He did this to you,” he said, his voice gravelly as he moved a hand toward the bandage that covered her st.i.tches.
Was he remembering what ”happened” to his parents?
Right. Before he could lay a hand on her, she lifted her chin, avoiding him. He hesitated, the same look in his eyes that she'd seen back at the Cat's Paw-the indecision, the battle for control.
But then, in spite of her blow-off, he made his choice. He reached out, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
d.a.m.n him and his insistence on being a nice guy. His politeness made her the loser in their control game.
Easily giving in, she shuddered, rubbing her cheek against the heel of his palm.
But...Kiko. She shouldn't be out here fooling around with Matt while her friend was suffering. s.l.u.t.
She backed away, leaving him miffed. Leaving her a pained mess as her right side began to thump under the ice packs.
”I've been wondering, Matt. I looked into your parents. Puttered around the Internet, tapped into databases to read more about it. But...weird. The only match I found was in a comic book story.” His brows came together, but then he laughed, the sound short and knowing.
”You think this is funny, Bruce Wayne?”
”You don't believe me.”
”You're making it hard.”
”Did you ever stop to think that I might've changed my name after the murders?”
Hope flinted against her doubts.
He reclined against the wall. ”Did you ever stop to think that I didn't want to hear my given name again? h.e.l.l, Dawn. Just do another search, but use the name 'Destry' this time.”
Before her remorse fully hit, Matt gave her a yearning glance, as if her suspicions didn't mean squat. But maybe this went along with his entire ”question what's going on” thing. Maybe that's why he was being so accepting of her skepticism-because he'd encouraged it in the first place.
He'd placed his fingertips on her jawline, turning her bandaged cheek toward him. His breath warmed her, ruffling her hair as he tenderly inspected her.
”It's nothing I won't live through,” Dawn said.
”I want to kill this thing. Where did it go afterward?”
”Not sure yet, Matt. Do you have any ideas?”
”No.” Now he was stroking her temple with his other hand, running the pads of his fingers over her skin, as if mapping her journeys through all the bruises and cuts that had come and gone. He floated his fingers over her long earring, pausing. Then her lips.
Needing something to help keep her standing, she reached out to grab his arm with her left hand, but the gun was in it.
”You can put that away when you're around me,” he whispered.
He unthreaded her fingers from around the weapon, slid the metal against her waist as he stored it in her jacket pocket.
The strum of fantasy played her, pulsating low and deep. After seeing Kiko, she needed a human touch, the rea.s.surance that life was still available. That's why Matt's proximity was pulling her in, making her feel, even for a second, that she didn't need to worry about a thing.
”I'm going to make sure you never get hurt again, Dawn,” he said. ”Can you trust me to do that?”
She wanted to say yes, but Dawn wasn't built that way. All her life she'd depended on herself and on her talent for mothering Frank. Trust in anything else wasn't easy.
”And why should I trust you and not Limpet?” she asked.
”Because you alreadydon'ttrust Limpet.”
Somewhere, an ambulance wailed, headed for the ER. It brought Kiko back to her full-force. She shuddered.
In response, Matt kissed her forehead. As he brushed his lips to her brow, she felt the heat of his smooth chin on her mouth, smelled the warm, spiced scent of him. He kissed his way down her nose, then her uninjured cheek, to her lips. Dawn bunched his s.h.i.+rt in her left hand, pressing closer.
Blood churned in her lower belly, urging her to force him against the wall and increase the tempo of their interaction. But this man didn't respond to that-she'd tried shortcuts to intimacy before and had come up empty with him.
But what else could she do? There was too much emotion here to deal with. How could she plug up all the holes in her soul with something she didn't know how to manipulate?
As he kissed her, a low sound of confusion stuck in her throat. But she was still lured, sucking his lips against hers, long and slow pulls of longing. He was being careful not to hurt her, edging his fingertips along her cheek, her neck. There, he traced the center of her throat, the sensitive line that dipped to the cove between her collarbones. His fingers traveled to a vein, stroking her as if it could be as damp and primed as the swollen flesh between her legs.
”I really don't know what to do about you,” he said between kisses.
”Tell me about it.” Breathless, she rested her forehead against his jaw as he ran a hand up and down her back. Soothing; the cure for her ills. ”You're throwing me into a tailspin here.”
The siren was getting closer. Kiko.
What the h.e.l.l was she doing?
Reluctantly, she inched away, holding up her hands and turning around. ”It's time for me to get out of here.”
”Dawn.”
The timbre of his voice jolted her with dark familiarity.
Thrown for a loop, she rounded on him, finding that his intensity level had ratcheted to the extreme. His body was as tense as rope strung between a dangling victim and the savior who was trying to pull him back to safety. His eyes had gone wide, hunter-hot.
Now this was the type of man she understood. Dangerous. Animal desire. They were on her terms now.
With two long steps she went back to him, using her good arm to pin him against the wall. She rocked her body against his, grinding herself against his groin, biting at his neck in the sheer desperation to get Kiko's pain...Frank's pain...herownpain out of her mind.