lot of time for the thorough attention I’d like to give certain parts of your anatomy right now.”
He chuckles. “Never you fear, it’ll keep for later. Let’s have the talk you were so concerned about.”
Chapter Eight
I move to have my own chair and fill Rafe in on all I’ve learned, and done, to our new arrivals. We never did get to cover it with our interlude in the basement and then with Jon stopping by early.
“What are your thoughts on the scenario with Olivia?” I ask when I finish. “Would you like to play a role in my plan or should I enlist Drew?”
“I think it’s a good idea to bring Drew in. You know I don’t like to help out with the jealousy stuff unless there’s no other alternative. It’s not my cup of tea. This could be a good way to feel out what Drew knows, or thinks he knows, about you.”
“Agreed. But Drew seems like he’s been in a funk. He needs a kick in the pants to get out of it,” I answer. “Why else would he have come here?”
Rafe shrugs in answer.
“Anyway, I plan to drive Antonio slowly crazy with his desire for Olivia, and Drew will be perfect for the job. Care to picture me as a blond later? It will help aid my projection if you think of me as a sultry, smoky blond while I tease you.”
“You know I like the Asian look best, but I’ll take one for the team and play with a blond.” His heated look is all I need to set me off on a tangent.
“Down boy, we’re not done yet.” Picking up a leftover dinner roll from a basket on the table, I lob it at him.
I’d gladly ignore all the cares of the hotel to spend an evening in bed with him. He's revved up from my blood and will be for a while. He’s got to be feeling the high I felt. It will make it even more of a joy to tease him later. I smile inwardly. Ah, it’s going to be fun.
After the dinner roll hits him and lands on the table, Rafe smiles and gets back to business. “Shall we focus on these two tonight and go after Liam and Francesca tomorrow during their tour of the third floor?”
“Sounds good.”
Rafe picks up some files on the far side of the round dining surface. “I found these in our room. What are they in here for?”
He’s holding the Natsuhara and Salvador files in his hand, making me realize he doesn’t know I asked Tommy to have them delivered to me or why.
“I thought I could review them to see if they revealed a clue about John Pierre.”
“It’s getting odder by the moment that no one has come to the front desk looking for him. Makes me think only one or two people may have known he was here. And one of those is the one who killed him.”
I release a sigh, “Ah, and therein lies the problem… which one or two people?”
“Have you thought to call Cy yet?”
“No, I haven’t. Good idea. I bet he could trace the name down for us with what we’ve got so far.”
“Lord knows he owes you. Not many vampires would allow such a loose leash on a rich and powerful member of their flock.”
I wrinkle my nose at the mere thought of a “leash” or having my own “flock” as he put it. “You know me. If they are responsible I set them free. If they aren’t… well… ”
Rafe knows the unspoken end to that statement: If they aren’t responsible, I hunt them down and kill them.
Finishing my trailing thought I say, “He’s doing fine on his own. I have no need to worry.”
Cy Whitfield’s a contact from our time in New York forty-five years ago. I changed him when I found his crumpled body in an alley behind one of his nightclubs in Manhattan. Seems a young fledgling got out without supervision and drained the first person he came upon to within a pint of his life. Cy wouldn’t have been able to recover from such a loss unless the alley laid next to a hospital. Did I have four quarts of human blood and the ability to transfuse him right then? Uh…no. But I did have mine.
It was a split-second decision. If he had been unhappy with the choice when he came over, I would have killed him a second and final time out of