Elemental Assassin 02 - Web of Lies

saunter back the way I’d always keep my business and pleasure separate.”
    come instead of running like I really wanted to. I didn’t I stuck my lower lip out and pouted. “Too bad. Well, know what bothered me more. The fact Mab Monroe if you change your mind, I’ll be around. All night long.”
    had considered taking me up on my fake offer to fuck her I batted my eyes at her. Mab raised an eyebrow, but or the fact I’d left the Fire elemental in her own bathroom the corners of her lips turned up into what I assumed was with a dead body in the tub. Either way, things were starta smile. I couldn’t tell if I’d amused her or if she was just ing to get out of hand. I needed to get Tobias Dawson mocking me, but I didn’t care to stick around and find alone—now—or get out. Saving my own skin tonight—out.
    and Finn’s and Roslyn’s—came first. Even before the job
    “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I really do need to get back I’d promised to do for Warren Fox.
    to work,” I said. “Mix and mingle and all that.”
    I’d just rounded the corner that led back to the main
    “of course,” Mab murmured.
    hallway when someone moved in the shadows off to my I made a move to step around her. But Mab Monleft. I palmed one of my knives. roe shifted ever so slightly, so that my body brushed up
    “That was quite a performance you put on back there against hers on my way to the door. Again, her magic in the bathroom,” a male voice murmured. “Very enterwashed over me, so hot it seemed as if my dress had burst taining.”
    into flames. But evidently Mab liked what she felt beowen Grayson stepped out of the shadows. Like every cause her smile widened. I gave her another lascivious other man on the premises, he wore a tuxedo. once again, wink and kept going, even though my stomach clenched I was struck by how compact, sturdy, and strong his frame at the feel of her magic pricking my skin, even harder and was. Almost dwarven, except for his six-foot-one height. hotter this time, as if I’d aroused her.
    His violet eyes glittered in the low light, even as his blueI’d just made it to the door when Mab called out to black hair disappeared into the shadows. The white slash me again.
    of a scar under his lips offset the crooked quirk of his nose,
    “Have we met before, Candy?” she asked. “For some adding that much more character to his chiseled features. reason, you look familiar.”
    First Jake McAllister, then Mab Monroe, and now I turned and shook my head. “I don’t think so, and I owen Grayson. Terrific.
    surely would have remembered meeting you, Miz Mon“I’m not sure what you mean.” I tightened my grip on roe. You’re a legend in this town.”
    my knife.
    Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 300-301
    12/17/09 9:32 PM
    302 JENNIFER ESTEP
    Web of Lies 303
    Instead of answering me, owen Grayson’s eyes trailed
    “What do you want?”
    down my body, one slow inch at a time. Breasts, stomach,
    “I just want to talk.” owen held out his arm to me. thighs, legs. He took it all in. A smile spread across his
    “Shall we?”
    face.
    I stared at his arm, thinking how easy it would be to
    “You know, Ms. Blanco, ” he said, purposefully using brush it aside and bury my knife in his heart. He knew my name. “The dress is lovely, but I think I like the apron what I was thinking. The knowledge flashed in his violet and jeans better. Seems more like the real you.”
    eyes, but his arm never wavered, never lowered. His gaze Fuck. Despite the blond wig, owen Grayson had recnever left mine. For whatever reason, owen Grayson wasn’t ognized me. Even worse, he’d somehow heard me propoafraid of me. Which piqued my curiosity. At least enough sition Mab Monroe in the bathroom. I wondered if he’d for me to slide my knife back up the sleeve of my dress. seen me with Jake McAllister as well—and realized the Fucking curiosity. Going to get me killed one night. other man had never come out of the room.
    Maybe even tonight.
    “And what would you know about the real me?” I I took his arm. “So talk.”
    asked in a soft tone.
    owen tucked me in close to him, and the heat of his owen’s smile deepened. “I know you have a silverstone body washed over me. He smelled rich and earthy, almost knife in your hand right now.”
    like . . . metal, if metal had any real smell. His arm felt There was no way he could have seen me palm the like steel, even through the fabric of his tuxedo jacket. For knife. So how did he know