those cards? He’d bet astronomically low.
The shadows didn’t move.
“If you want to threaten us, show yourself!” Joel blasted. “Don’t just leave some random-ass card for us to find. Don’t taunt us with the Death card!”
“We need to go. I don’t think he’s here any longer.”
He?
“Come on. Marie should be waiting.”
He pocketed the card. Stayed close to her as they got the hell out of there. When they exited near Decatur Street, sure enough, Marie and the limo were waiting. She had the back door open.
“Trouble?” Marie asked as she caught a look at their faces.
“Nothing too major,” Chloe replied as she slid in the back.
Marie pinned Joel with a hard glance.
“Oh, right, definitely, not major.” His jaw hardened. “Unless you count a knife fight and some asshole in the Square threatening us with Death as not major.”
“Get in,” she urged.
Like he needed to be told twice.
The door slammed behind him. Moments later, the limo raced away.
Chapter Seventeen
“It wasn’t a death threat.” Chloe smoothed her hands over the sides of her dress. “That wasn’t the intention of the card.”
“It’s a card with a skeleton on it, and the word Death is big and bold at the bottom.” Joel was sprawled on the seat across from her. “Seems like a pretty clear threat to me.”
On the surface, certainly. “Last night, I went to see an acquaintance who has expertise with tarot cards. I’d done research with her a while back, and I wanted to make certain I still had a proper understanding of the cards. While I do possess some knowledge about tarot, I wanted to know more.”
“That’s where you were last night?”
“Yes.” The cards were a taunt. Not a threat. Or at least…not a threat, yet. Perhaps. I don’t want to be wrong on this. “What you see is not what you get with a tarot card. The Death card doesn’t actually translate to a real, physical death. I suppose it could in certain instances, but it is very unlikely—”
“You believe in this psychic stuff?”
“I believe in many things. However, I don’t think anything psychic is at play here. Someone is using the tarot as calling cards. Someone is sending us messages.”
“The Bad Deeds killer?” His fingers drummed against the leather.
She swallowed. “A possibility.” She truly hated that name for the perpetrator.
“More like a probability, don’t you mean? Seeing as how the first card was found at the strip club? The Devil card that he left for me.”
“You assumed it was for you.”
“Because you told me it means feeling trapped, enslavement—and, yes, with my past, that certainly fits the bill for me.” His voice was dark and grim. “But that would mean the perp out there knows about me.”
The car drove slowly through the city. “I also told you the Devil card could be about seduction.”
“Yeah, that was the part I liked.”
“Sometimes, though, seduction can have a darker edge. The interpretation can differ from the meaning of the Devil card that I told you.”
“How does this not surprise me?”
“I wanted to be sure. That’s why I checked with an expert.”
“Keep talking, sweetheart.”
“Sweetheart?”
“Slip of the tongue,” he muttered. “Just keep going.”
“The card may not have been for you. The message could have been for me. For us both. Depending on who is getting the card—the message is different.”
“Cut to the chase. What’s the full message?”
“Cards are always about interpretation. In this case, I was told we could interpret it to be about…temptation.”
The tension in the car—already high—seemed to notch up even more.
“Temptation,” he repeated.
“It can be a card that references seduction. Seduced by material items, yes, but also…physical pleasures.”
He surged toward her.
She couldn’t help but tense.
“You’re telling me that card is some kind of warning about the attraction I feel for you? It’s saying I’m being tempted?”
She wet her lips. “We’re being tempted.”
“So some all-knowing jackass out there realizes I want you?”
That we want each other. She held that response back. “It’s possible it could have been a warning not to act on our attraction.” She was using some of what she knew—suspected—for this assessment. Not just the card.
“So someone wants me to keep my hands off you?” His hand rose. Curled along the nape of her neck. “Am I supposed to listen to the warning?”
“That is your choice.”
He didn’t lower his hand. He did begin to sensually knead the tense muscles in her neck. Odd, she hadn’t even realized how tense they were until he’d begun stroking her.
“What’s the meaning of the Death card?” Joel asked. “You said it’s not always