out endlessly in the dark. The air had a stale, dry smell to it, as if it didn’t get aerated much.
Ten minutes later, Dom inserted his key card into a slot near another heavy door. It slid open and they stepped into a gold-carpeted foyer. A huge bouquet of fresh flowers stood on an ornately carved Queen Anne table between two elevator doors.
“Geez, with all this walking, a girl wouldn’t need to work out.”
Another hallway, another door. When Dom grabbed the handles and pulled the door open, she heard the sound of country music coming from inside. She followed him into a mammoth workout facility. A gym at the field office? The high, open-beam ceilings had to stretch at least three stories tall. State-of-the-art cardio equipment was clustered together on the right side of the room, while free weights and weight machines were on the other side. Just beyond what she thought was a juice bar, a boxing ring sat in one far corner, a fenced-off trampoline in another, and thick mats lined the floors. She smelled chlorine. There must be a pool somewhere down here, too.
A blonde with a face that belonged on a skincare commercial approached them. Barefoot, she wore baggy pajama bottoms rolled down at the waist, a glittery something in her belly button and a cutoff shirt that barely covered the underside of her breasts. When she yawned and stretched her arms up, Mackenzie averted her eyes in case a boob popped out. Dom introduced the woman as Lily, the only Class-A scent-tracker assigned to Seattle.
Great, just great. Dom’s ex is a cover-model.
With wide-set, Bambi eyes, Lily looked at Mackenzie’s outstretched hand and shook her head. “Don’t want to slog any of your energies, love. I’ll leave that for Dom, eh?” Even the woman’s voice, with its subtle accent, was sexy. Canadian, maybe? Lily closed her eyes, lifted her nose and smiled. “Good God, you smell fab, though.” Then she gave a slight nod and Dom visibly relaxed.
Damn. Did everyone know about Chuck’s theory? Mackenzie might as well wear a sign announcing that yes, they’d had a lot of sex, and save everyone the trouble.
“Nice to see you dressed up,” Dom said to Lily.
“Hey, fu— Bite me. Sorry, Mackenzie. I ended up crashing here and didn’t get to bed till way after dawn. Didn’t know you were coming this early or I’d have gone back to my place and changed. Usually I don’t look this horrid.” She fluffed her hair and there was that boob again. “Oh, here’s Jackson,” she said, looking over Mackenzie’s shoulder. “This ought to be interesting.”
Mackenzie turned to see a bare-chested, muscular man stumble through one of the doors off the main room. He had light brown hair that might be long enough to touch his shoulders if it weren’t sticking up everywhere. One hand was inside his sweatpants, stretching the waistband precariously low, and the other held an apple. Dom’s hand on her shoulder suddenly felt even more protective.
“Oh for chrissake. If it’s not you,” Dom said to Lily, “it’s him.”
“Dom. Lil. Hey, Mackenzie,” Jackson said. “We’ve never really met, but I know you.” He pulled his hand from his crotch and extended it to shake hers.
“For God’s sake, Jackson.” Dom knocked his hand away.
“I was just scratching an itch. Sorry.”
Mackenzie stifled a smile. That’d be something Corey would do. She cocked her head, trying to place him. “Sorry. Mind-scrub.” She tapped her forehead. “I seem to have forgotten you.”
Jackson threw his head back and laughed. “I was the one who— Mind if I tell her, Dom?”
“Whatever.”
“I was the one who set up the road blocks after you went back to the cemetery. So I definitely remember you, but you never saw me. I watched you, silently laughing my ass off.”
“Come to think of it, you do look like a bastard.”
Both Dom and Lily laughed.
“Hey, blame him. I was just following orders.” Jackson walked a wide circle around her, and he, too, sniffed the air. “Are you sure she’s sweet— Oh, yeah, now I smell it. Subtle though. Way to go, stud.”
He knows, too? She glared at Dom. Was that what all vampires did—talk about their sexual exploits as you’d go over a football game? “Do all of you live here?” Mackenzie asked, changing the subject. They must, because they both looked like they just rolled out of bed.
“Some of us do,” Lily said. “Dom’s place is roughly up over there.” She pointed behind Mackenzie’s right shoulder. “My condo, when I’m