Heather Long - Waiting in the Wings

Good and right.

Richard had watched her from the audience. Even in the uneven darkness, her gaze found him unerringly. He drew her like the proverbial moth to his incandescently cold flame— why the hell do I think of him as cold? His passion consumed her, searing heat and unquenchable lust. In the audience, however, a deep inner light shimmered about him—blazing brighter than anyone else. Her mock hunger toward the end became very real and, if she’d possessed actual fangs, she would have sunk them into Britta’s neck.

She lingered longer backstage, apologizing to her friend, and delayed her meeting. She might have skipped it altogether, but when she peeked out into the post-show audience, she saw Minion at his table.

Halfway to the table, uneasiness and questions had swirled around her like an unstable whirlpool. She wasn’t sure what she planned to say to him—if anything at all.

“You really care about her, don’t you?” Richard’s dark chocolate voice had poured over her, soothing and arousing.

“I love her. She’s my best friend. I won’t let you take her away.” Minion’s unabashed declaration brought a smile to Kiki’s lips. She adored the little rascal.

“I love her too. I have loved her for a very long time and missed her for far too long. We were happy together.” The statement thrust a hot poker into her gut. The heat seared through layers of ice shackling her heart. The painful melt thawed her unease and filled her with questions. She knew him—she’d remembered that much in the dressing room. But he’d loved her for a long time?

He spoke to and about her with a familiar intimacy. Why? The question pounded against the inside of her skull, smacking with every thud of her heart.

“Yeah?” Minion’s voice filled with skepticism and challenge. “Then where have you been for the last fifty years?”

“That’s an awesome question.” Spurred into motion, Kiki forced her feet to move, one in front of the other, until she arrived at Minion’s side of the table. This close to Richard, a wild hunger surged through her. The familiar ache in her gums swelled with a vengeance. “I know we knew each other. I didn’t know that last night, but I know it now. So where have you been all my life, Richard? And why the hell don’t I remember you?”

He rose to his feet in a smooth, artless gesture. A hopeful smile turned up the corners of his lips, but she ignored the lust surging through her insides. Answers before pleasure.

Whoa…answers before lust? Where the hell did that come from?

“Kristina.” He held out his hand, and she studied it and him. Uncertainty quivered through her. But she refused to be chased away—or to be afraid. She took his hand, intending to shake it and retreat, but the feeling of his palm gliding along hers awoke a fresh wave of lust and eagerness. With surprising charm, he bowed his head and lifted her hand to his mouth. The whisper of his lips feathering the gentlest of kisses to her knuckles unspooled her tension.

“Richard.” He glanced up and smiled. Her heart did a little flip-flop. She would do anything for that smile—anything. Kill, steal, maim—suffer—it didn’t matter. With regret, she pulled her hand away and folded her arms across her chest again. Easier to keep from dancing into his arms or throwing herself at him.

“Please, sit with us?” He gestured to the table, and Kiki glance down at Minion. The imp gave her a wide-eyed shrug and bounced her booster seat to the side. Perching on the seat, with one leg out, Kiki knew she could bolt at anytime. Across the room, Stan leaned against the wall. As promised, she’d told him when she planned to head out, and he merely nodded.

Where she typically resented his watchfulness, she appreciated it tonight.

“I don’t know how long I will stay this time.” She lied, recklessly abandoning her plan to get laid. Minion leaned against her arm, comforting and supportive in the same innocent gesture.

Richard sat slowly. Like the night before, he dressed in comfortable, casual elegance in a blue button-down shirt and midnight-black pants. He wore them as though they had been tailored just for him.

Who knew, maybe they had?

“I was hoping you would spend the rest of the night with me.” He poured a second glass of wine and slid the glass across to her. Minion reached for it, but Kiki slapped her hand lightly.

The imp growled, and Kiki bared her teeth at her until Minion giggled. “I just wanted a sip.”

“Uh huh and the last time you had wine, you teleported all of the shoes around the casino, and it took us hours to find them. No way.” Amused, but watchful, the dancer picked up the wine and swirled it in the glass. Her stomach cramped with hunger at the sinfully sweet scent. She didn’t gulp the wine, but the first flush taste of it against her tongue doubled the hunger. Richard watched her with a vibrant intensity in his eyes.

“We have plenty,” he soothed. “Drink all you want.”

“Answer my question, and maybe I will.” Defiance unfurled. No matter how much she longed to drain the bottle, she would pace herself until he answered the mystery frustrating her.

He glanced at Minion briefly and then to her, eyebrows lifted.

“Minion, sweetie, can you excuse us for a bit?” She swallowed the rest of the wine. The coppery undertones coated her tongue like ambrosia. Sighing, she slid the glass across to Richard, and he refilled it with a small smile.

“But I brought you the file you wanted.” Minion tapped her claws against the folder. “I was sneaky careful and everything.”

Ignoring the fresh wine, she wrapped her arms around the imp and gave her a hug. “Thank you, sweetie—I appreciate it. Really. And you can totally go play with my clothes and my makeup.”

Minion’s eyes widened in disbelieving joy. “Really?”

“Absolutely. Anything you want, you go right ahead and do.” She knew she’d just invited a hurricane to blast through her closet and cosmetics table, but Minion deserved a reward.

“Thank you!” Minion bounced, kissed her cheek and squeezed Kiki super hard before poofing out in a flash of light tinged by the faintest trace of sulfur.

“She’s adorable.” The surprise in his voice tickled her senses.

Shrugging, Kiki picked up the wine and pulled the folder toward her. Now that she had it, her gut twisted with uncertainty. “She’s a friend.”

“I can tell. She doesn’t want me to take you away from here.”

“Good.” Kiki nodded once, drinking down half the glass. The warmth in her belly seeped out to her limbs, relaxing the unease. Hunger still seemed to gnaw at her backbone, and the ache in her teeth left her jaw humming. “Do you mind if we order some food?”

Richard’s gaze narrowed. “Of course not—allow me to order it?”

“Sure. Let’s see if you know what I like.” She drained the wine and started to flip the file folder open. His hand blocked the action, keeping it closed.

“Kristina, I have one favor to ask you.” The wild intensity in his gaze arrested her complaint.

“What?”

“Don’t read that yet.” He exhaled the request on a slow breath, as though it cost him to even make the suggestion. “If it is your file, it probably has some of the answers you want—but I am starting to believe that may not be the journey we need to take.”

Confusion fisted in her stomach. “You make me crazy.”

His quick grin made her pulse jump. “The feeling is mutual, darling. I want to answer your questions and I have more than a few of my own—but tonight I just want to be with you, talk to you and spend time together. The past—let’s leave it there tonight.”

What doesn’t he want me to know? “Do you really love me?”