Bad Girls Do It Better Vol 3

FOOL’S GOLD

BAD GIRLS DO IT BETTER, VOLUME 3:

“FOOL’S GOLD” BY MELISSA GLISAN

2

Melissa Glisan

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BAD GIRLS DO IT BETTER, VOLUME 3: “Fool’s Gold” Copyright © 2006 by Melissa Glisan ISBN: 1-59836-105-8 Cover Art © 2006 by Sable Grey All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form without permission, except as provided by the U.S. Copyright Law. Printed and bound in the United States of America. For information, you can find us on the web at www.VenusPress.com

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FOOL’S GOLD

Dedication:

For Liberty, keep the faith.

4

Melissa Glisan

Chapter One

“Hey baby, what’s your story?” A tired line, but this time delivered in a graveled voice full of sin-filled nuances guaranteed to make an angel weep. Luckily, Jade Savini wasn’t an angel. Her days of innocence were long behind and far away. Warm green eyes, the same earthy tone as her name suggested, perused the rugged form of the middle-aged warrior hunched on a stool at her bar. He looked rough and ready for anything and her hormones quirked a brow of interest before she slammed the door on that line of indecent thought. “Slim, I don’t got a story, I’m the bartender. You’re supposed to tell me yours over your mug of Guinness and that’s that.” She played her voice low and casual, modulating the normal sound to make it fit better with the dark atmosphere of the bar. She’d been cursed with a perky, cheery voice at odds with her personality and lifestyle. Something about her voice, however, caught the warrior’s eye and it glinted. “Slim, eh?” he drawled and her female parts woke up and shivered again. “Haven’t been called that since I hit puberty.” This time his words were accompanied by a hot smile full of white, even teeth. Jade wasn’t buying. She polished the dark oak counter, set another draught in front of her thirsty stallion and whisked away the empty glass. From under dark, curling bangs she slanted the alpha male a hot glance of derision and a sneering half-grin before walking to the far side where a group of college boys packed in hooting and catcalling. Better to ignore him, she advised her suddenly aching body, but she couldn’t ignore him entirely. Her body added an extra bit to her step, turning a walk across the bar into a predatory invitation. Youthful jaws dropped and a pair of middle-aged fists clenched. She knew because even over the wolf-whistles and music she heard the knuckles and joints pop in concert with his grunt. With practiced ease and a glimmer of seduction, she smiled, “What can I get you boys?” Across the bar, Detective Iago de Oro watched the green-eyed beauty spin her 5

FOOL’S GOLD magic on the under-experienced college set. When his regular snitch told him to watch the green passing through the doors of Fool’s Gold, he surely didn’t think the man was giving justice to the bartender’s eyes. He also hoped, for the snitch’s sake, that he wasn’t being fed a line. Being set up wasn’t too far out of his mind either, given the name of the bar and his own moniker. Mind pondering the possibilities, his eyes continued to measure and mold the woman before him. She had an innate grace, watching her serve drinks was like holding a front row seat at the ballet. She dipped then twirled, side-stepped, raised en pointe and flowed along the counter with the ease of a butterfly pirouetting in the breeze. Wasn’t much to look at, if you started with the face, but what real man just looked at a face? Her pretty little nose had been broken leaving her looking as if she was caught mid-wrinkle- cute. He liked it; the imperfection gave her character. Dusky skin proudly staked her Italian heritage, but those eyes, luminous and earthy shards of emerald under the thickest sooty lashes, screamed fairy princess. She’s either out of your league, his gut argued, or so deep in shit that her pretty little eyes will never pay her way clean. He hoped she was clean. Bending at the waist, she lifted a case of beer from under the counter and began quickly filling the wall behind the counter. The after image of her heart-shaped, firmly rounded ass was burned into his mind. Average height. Panning down he smiled at the female vanity he spotted on her feet. A well-turned ankle disappeared into ugly brown leather that goosed her height a good four inches. Platform heels never looked good, but on her slim, well-filled frame they made his blood burn. She had the body of a girl fresh out of college, but her eyes, in those fleeting moments where her gaze caught his, held age and experience that made her shapely outline of curves and planes a lie. Made no matter; Iago shook his head clear and hunkered over his dark ale watching the comings and goings at the bar. Someone, somewhere in the crowd of fresh young faces was selling stolen guns; it was up to him to follow the money home. Jade looked out from the safe confines of the bar, over the small dance floor to the ring of seats lining the far wall. When she had bought Fool’s Gold from the last owner, the front window had been nothing more than a massive series of cracks and spider-lines from all the brawling. Practicality pushed her to dump the glass and wall-in the huge opening. Not for the first time, she mourned not being able to see outside the bar. Maybe 6

Melissa Glisan this month she would be able to set aside enough cash to buy a video camera and small closed circuit television so she could watch the activity outside the establishment. For the last few weeks she’d been working hard to keep the slimier elements out of her new home. Drug dealers were the first she caught and slung out, then the ‘working girls, but the worst had been the shifty-eyed Adonis who hogged the corner table at the front. He rarely bought anything but his visitors did. A steady flow of people came and went but the blond god of a man simply sat smiling with his chiseled lips, never the eyes, as he sipped from a glass of white wine. Two nights ago, Jade had been forced to leave the bar to do an ID check on an apple-faced teen she spied sipping beer at a dark table. Between her swaying hips and low cut blouse neither her mark nor his companion had been able to bluff their way around their bad fake IDs. Escorting the pair out she’d caught a glimpse of something shining under blondie’s shirt, something that looked like a gun. It was against state law to wear a gun inside bars. Bold as brass, Jade made herself saunter up to his table, plant her hands in the middle and lean over to give him a clear view of her best assets. She knew she was in trouble when his ice blue eyes met hers and never dropped. Quietly she told him he had to go and why. Lips twisted into a rictus of humor, he stood and proffered a handful of bills before walking out. It had been her intention ever since to hire a bouncer, she just couldn’t seem to find a likely candidate. Until tonight, when nearly seven-feet of rock hard male poured himself into the back corner of her bar. He was still nursing his second draught but his tired eyes missed nothing. They were a contrast to the rest of him, a worn denim shade that had a soft fuzzed out feeling not reflected in his brutish form. He was darker skinned, not just tanned but golden under the sun’s touch of brown with deep brown hair liberally shot through with strands of silver. Not quite military cut but close, the ends curled and made her fingers itch to comb them. Her arousal surprised her. Mostly she was attracted to the slim, bookish types with soft, almost feminine beauty. This man was a displaced gladiator with an affection for dark ale and a shadowed corner behind his back. Normally Jade kept the corner clear. It was too hard to watch the till tucked there and a few too many college boys had wandered into her work zone, begging an impromptu dance. Now a single gold tasseled rope hung in the opening. It gave her the time to repel would be Romeos and a small measure of control over the approach to her 7

FOOL’S GOLD cash register. Something about the huge, hulking male with the soft watchful eyes didn’t trigger her normal alarms. Instead the only ones shrieking were the clanging bells over her heart. “How’s the drink?” her voice purred with more heat than intended. Balls and sass, she smiled slowly and tilted her head, catching the light on her better side. He blinked slowly and deliberately, like a star struck bull, and her insides cheered– point one for the home team. “Good, thank you.” His voice was rough either with disuse or passion. She was banking on the latter. Holding her elbows she walked into the cut, moved the chain and leaned her arms on the counter beside him, so both could watch the bar patrons. She felt his gaze, hot and hungry, covering the tops of her bared breasts, but when she turned to look, his eyes were there waiting on hers. Awareness burned from the nape of her neck down her spine and lower. She breathed a sigh of thankfulness that the designers at Fredrick’s of Hollywood thought to include that small degree of padding that hid her taut nipples from his gaze. Somehow his eyes warmed every bit of her body without even looking down. It was like standing before an open furnace door and she loved it. Quickly her tongue caressed her upper lip; his eyes followed and Jade nearly grinned in triumph. “I have a proposition for you,” she breathed next to the shell of his ear. Faded sapphire daggers stared into heated green pools and considered. At that moment she knew she had won, no matter what his lips may say. “Miss, I’m honored, but I’m sure any of the studs here tonight would service you better.” Jade felt the floor dip under her absurd shoes before she managed to reexamine his words. Grasping her waist in the throes of mirth, she plumped up her breasts, accented her narrow waist and gave him a long look at the thin creamy line of her throat. Small hiccupping trills of laughter were still leaking from her lips as she felt the heat from his body intensify; he had shifted closer and looked angry. Placating his ire, she stepped close and ran her fingers playfully through his hair. Jade felt a light gasp slide out from between her lips at the downy feel of his hair, like the coolest silk spun out under her fingers. Of their own volition, her fingers flexed in the slightly longer strands at his nape and tugged his head forward. She was drunk on his presence and nearly forgot what she really wanted when she had started this game. A thick arm wrapped around her middle and hefted her between his stocky form and the 8

Melissa Glisan bar. He was impossibly hard against her soft curves and all she wanted was more. “This wasn’t what I wanted when I came over,” she pouted, her hips arching hungrily into his. “No?” he grinned. Her eyes were the purest green, brilliant dark emerald with striations of moss, leaves and mint running in starburst patterns from the abyss of her pupil. He shook his head and leaned his upper body away. Falling into the small pinpoints of midnight reminded him that any kind of plunge with her could be terminal. Looking at her biting her lower lip, he noticed that her teeth weren’t perfectly straight; they were slightly crooked with a small overlap near an incisor. Her flaws seduced him as much as her luscious breasts and hips. He was rock hard and her hips rocked to the beat of some primal rhythm pounding from the jukebox in the front. Slowly her hands slid from his neck, over shoulders until they helped her swaying hips measure his arousal. “Lady, if this isn’t what you wanted, you’re going to get it anyway if you don’t stop,” he growled in her ear. Impossibly he felt himself grow harder as her body shivered in his grasp. “Mmm…” she purred, “this may not have been what I wanted when I walked over, but it’s what I want now.” She felt him quake under her hungry hands and relented. “I need a bouncer.” His eyes nearly crossed; did she say she needed a bounce? Christ Jesus, did the slang get weirder every year. “You need a what?” he gritted out. Jade chuckled and held his face between her warmed hands. “I need a bouncer, someone to get rid of the guys with the drugs and the guns, the underage kids and the hookers. Bouncer. Capisce?” His throbbing balls howled at the let down. “Damn, I thought you needed a bounce.” He grimaced; he wouldn’t be walking anywhere any time soon. “Oh, I could use that too, but not during business hours,” she smiled hotly with promise and lightly nibbled his lips before sliding out of his grasp and back to the bar. Through a haze of arousal he watched her soft form as she returned to work dispensing drinks. There was a difference to her stance, an ease that hadn’t been there earlier. His eyes followed the sweep of her lower back as she swayed from one end of the wooden counter to the other. Tossing her head she looked back, caught him staring and smiled, cocking a hip. 9

FOOL’S GOLD Iago lifted his eyes and caught the time, almost midnight. Either he was going to go up in flames from her flirty dance or he was going to personally escort every last coed out before closing time rolled around in an hour. Slim fingers slid a new round onto the table as he watched the clock.

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Melissa Glisan

Chapter Two

“Just fifteen minutes to go,” Jade breathed past his ear as she left the bar to make rounds at the tables, picking up empty glasses, bottles and cans. Most of the college crowd had stayed until she rang the bell over the bar signaling last call. If it hadn’t been for college kids, her weekday calendar would have the doors closing at eleven. Come fall, come kids, she smiled. The last owner had cursed the rowdy frat parties, but she welcomed them. They were a far cry better than the seedy looking unwashed masses that had first walked in when Fool’s Gold reopened under her management in June. By midAugust she was barely making the bank payments let alone meeting her alcohol bills. With September there had been a small increase as college kids roamed in and out. By October the numbers became steady. The only problem was that the bad elements she had run off in June and July started trickling back in, bearing assorted packets of dope, fake IDs and stolen wares to hawk. On the weekends she had two cocktail servers that circulated through the crowd filling orders and reporting back about the illicit activities. But it was getting out of hand, for every one person she escorted out two more came in. Then came the jolly blond giant with the semi-automatic handgun and expensive taste in wine. Jade still had no clue what he was selling, but knew it had to be bad. If he came back, sans pistol, she couldn’t refuse to serve him. He hadn’t broken any laws she could see. Jade tipped her drink tray full of empty bottles and cans into the trash as she bused the last table. Her arms shook a little under the weight of the glasses. Damn, she cursed the need to hit the gym. It used to be that she could dance all night and wait tables half the day. Getting older, hoss, she grinned to herself as she moved behind the bar, soaking the used glasses. A few long sessions exchanging drink glasses behind the bar had dampened her ardor but every long glance she slid towards that impressive rock of masculinity in the corner stoked the embers and fanned the heat higher. Wednesdays weren’t normally this 11

FOOL’S GOLD busy; one of her cocktail servers had the notion to do an 'over the hump day' special that brought in near weekend level crowds. Jade figured that Claire needed the money and was angling for the slot, but she wasn’t. Oddly enough, Janice was available and needed the money. But presented with midterms, Claire was locked in her dorm room studying. Or she had better be, Jade thought with annoyance, eyeing up the clock. Five minutes to go and she could drag that nice hunky guy around to her office and do unspeakable things to his libido. Maybe she’d remember to ask his name first. Grinning at the idea, she felt a decade younger, like she felt in her early twenties when she was thin, agile and wilder than the night. Something about the big gruff giant brought out her inner siren. His seat was empty. No! Her mind howled at the injustice before her brain registered his presence at the payphone splitting the entrance to the restrooms. A sinking feeling settled in; what if he were married? Sorry honey, meeting with the boys ran over, be another hour yet; her mind tortured her with ugly possibilities. Maybe revisiting her roaring twenties wasn’t such a grand idea after all. Reaching up, Jade tugged the bull rope attached to the huge dinner bell in the middle of the bar ceiling. A few good-natured moans smattered with good-byes sounded from the last of her patrons as they wandered to the door. Smiling, she stepped around the bar, past the quietly speaking man and locked the doors, gulping hard against the nerves her fears had raised. He was still mumbling into the receiver after she finished extinguishing the neon lights so she began cleaning the bar for the night. It was an oddly soothing ritual. Dump the ashtrays, wipe the table, turn over the chairs and let everything soak in the sink behind the bar while she dragged out the mop and bucket. “Somehow, I got the idea that you had something else in mind for us once you closed up.” The deep voice was warm with humor. “Didn’t want to interrupt your call,” she answered stiffly. Eyes downcast she smiled at the foamy water as she dipped and wrung the cottony head. “No, I’m not married and that wasn’t my wife I was calling.” The humor dripped away with each syllable. “I called work to tell them I wasn’t coming back in tonight.” That pulled Jade up short. “What kind of job lets you sit in bars and drink for hours?” Two-fisted she gripped the long wooden handle of the mop and hoped for a legitimate business answer. 12

Melissa Glisan The distance between them was only a few feet. As if reading her mind he lifted his hands and moved back to the corner of the bar. All it did was pull his button down shirt tight against a nice thick slab of toned abdominal muscles that had to be illegal. Jade had run across some big guys in her days riding the poll but never one as impressively large as the male lounging against her bar. Iago cursed under his breath. He wanted to tell her he was a cop investigating possible illegal activities in her bar but was afraid it would put her off continuing that luscious invitation she’d issued earlier. Calling in had been a risk, but he needed to report in and get a rundown on the bar’s new owner. Jade Savini, age thirty-two, retired exotic dancer. Yeah, there had been a few notes in her file, solicitation arrests where the charges had been dropped, unfounded, and one lone assault charge that resulted in a fine. When a husband-to-be got over-enthused at his bachelor party and tried to get a little too personal, Jade broke his nose. Only she hadn’t stopped there. The judge left a note in her record that the charges stood with the fine because after breaking the guy’s nose, Jade had caved in a few ribs with her platform stilettos. Personally, Iago figured if the judge had been a woman, Jade would have walked clear, but with luck landing her in front of the last of the old blue-blooded men on the bench, she’d been screwed. Sitting back, he watched with veiled interest as she bent to the task of cleaning the floor. Her arms moved in fluid arcing motions, back straight and hips lightly swaying as if she were silently dancing to her own inner tune. Long velvety tresses flowed from a clear high brow over her shoulders and down her back. He had a vision of those black curls framing his face as her naked form arched over his chest. Hair had never been such a huge turn on until she looked at him with those limpid green eyes through the black fringes of her scattered bangs. “Let’s start over.” She gave him another broiler of a look; it had the shy sweetness of a toddler laced with whiskey hot lust at the edges. Watching her hands twist the thick wood of the mop handle made him harden as a stick in jealous lust. “I’m Jade Savini, owner and bartender.” Unconsciously she had flipped her hair back out of the way, arching that slim column of neck coquettishly while flashing verdant fire from her mesmerizing eyes as she returned to mopping the floor. Iago swallowed back a groan; he’d never look at washing floors the same way 13

FOOL’S GOLD again. “Iago de Oro, vice cop,” he ground out. Twirling the mop handle between her hands, she looked up, a question in her eyes. “Iago? Like the tragic hero of Othello?” God, he just wanted to pull that pole out of her hands and thrust his own between her busy fingers. “That’s what my mom claimed when I got old enough to ask, ‘What gives with the crappy name, Ma?’” He smiled but his heart twisted at the memory. Kids were vicious shits. Being a bastard son of an illegal Mexican housekeeper hadn’t helped. “Your dad didn’t have much input then,” she smiled, bending in half, legs straddled to reach a far corner under a table. Iago’s eyes nearly crossed and his hands clenched again. Impishly Jade looked back and teasingly waved that delectable fanny at him. It was all he could do to stay in his chair at the bar. “No dad, my mom was this teeny Mexican beauty.” “I’m sorry!” Jade straightened, dropping the mop head in the bucket to give him her attention. “You said, ‘was’; she isn’t gone, is she?” “Oh, no,” he laughed. “Kind of an inside joke, I suppose. Mom met the man who was my dad. He swept her off her feet, made me and then dumped her here in New York, pregnant, promising to come back. You can figure what happened. When I was in high school she met a great man from another world.” He grinned at the memory. “The top side of Manhattan. They married and live in Spain. She tells everyone she’s ‘come home’ like she was a returning donna from before the Spanish-American War. So, no more Mexican.” He finished the tale, surprised that she got it out of him. He’d never told anyone else about his mother, not in those terms. “So, Iago,” she drawled the name out, tasting every syllable, and he wondered if she’d use the same skill in tasting his flesh. “Are you a tragic hero for the women to swoon over?” Her voice teasing and light, Jade returned to scrubbing the floor, using way more wiggle and arch than necessary, but he wasn’t about to complain. “No, no tragic hero, not even close. All muscle, no brains, least that’s what my captain says,” he grinned sheepishly as she turned to look at him again. “I got detective by passing the test and doing slow, solid work.” “Enough with the damned floor,” Jade sizzled using what he suspected was her 14

Melissa Glisan best runway prowl. He felt his eyes burn as she approached, appreciating the extra effort. If she only knew how unneeded it was, he nearly groaned. “Funny,” she placed her hands on his thighs, leaning in, “slow wasn’t something I’d call you, but solid.” She trailed three fingers over his straining erection. “Oh yeah, that’s dead on.” Sliding between his spread thighs, she looked small and delicate but he felt the steel in her spine as his hands held her waist against his volition. Popping open the button of his shirt she made a frustrated sound on finding he wore an undershirt. Growling, she moved to lift it only to have his hands gently collect her roaming fingers. “You have no idea how much I’d like to pull you out of those clothes and leave you wearing only your glorious hide, angel, but I could lose my job.” His voice was oddly strained as he explained, “I’m running an investigation into illegal arms sales in the area.” “Arms.” That stopped her cold. “You mean like machine guns and stuff?” Iago cursed that he couldn’t tell her that a number of the guns came from police evidence lockers, making the case so much more important to play by the books. Internal Affairs was not a group to piss with. He could, however, give her enough information to garner her support. “No, nothing so dramatic, just Saturday night specials and throw away guns. The problem is,” he explained, “a number of these guns have actually blown up in the faces or hands of the kids using them.” “Kids?” She looked sick. “I’d call them kids.” He pulled her closer, rubbing his hands lightly up and down her arms soothingly. “Then again at forty-four, I should be calling you a kid.” Jade snickered and climbed the first rung of his barstool in her ridiculous shoes, arching confidently into his throbbing erection. “Babe, I left ‘kid’ status a lifetime ago.” Purring deep in the back of her throat she licked the hollow of his throat. “Detective, how’d you like a trip to my office to polish your gun?” Iago’s mind blanked. Never, in all his years on the force had he ever considered doing anything to jeopardize a case. Now he needed that strict professionalism and all he could do was see this dark dancing beauty writhing under him. “No one needs to know.” She teased open the zipper of his jeans, peeling back the 15

FOOL’S GOLD too-tight material. He’d dressed down, like a construction type, remembering what Fool’s Gold had been like before Jade took over. Firmly, he grasped her arms and held her, those strong, sleek hands cupping his manhood, burning through his Jockeys with more heat than he thought possible. “Honey, I’d know. I’m a simple man. I can’t hide shit from anyone, that’s why I came clean about being a cop. I need to work with you. If I touch you, everyone who sees us together will know.” “Then,” she demurred, “how about a little tit for tat? You can pump me for information and I’ll give you what you need.” Her fingers flexed on his rock hard cock with every double-entendre. “Follow me to my office, Detective.” Agilely she hopped backwards and walked around the bar to the golden rope and inside the service area where a small bi-fold door stood. “Unless of course, you’d rather take the stairs to my apartment?” A slim black brow arched as she disappeared behind the door.

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Melissa Glisan

Chapter Three

It was wrong of her to torture the detective, but Jade couldn’t help herself. She watched the huge man try to sit on the small step ladder on the other side of her dinky desk. All she could do was fantasize about ways to use that makeshift stool that Werner Ladders had never imagined. Beyond the hinged doors was a small alcove with two doors; to the left a refrigerator room where the draught alcohol was stored, to the right was a door shielding the narrow steps leading up to her small apartment above. The alcove opened into a smallish room, a broom closet actually, that Jade had remodeled into an office. She hated the idea of taking work home, even if home was only fifteen feet away. Listening to Detective Iago’s voice made heat build and moisture gather in areas that hadn’t shown interest in far too long. Instead of crossing her legs and denying the feeling, she propped a foot on an empty box and enjoyed the feeling. “De Oro,” she mused interrupting his very boring, yet erotic, recitation on needing her assistance. The man had a voice to die for. “Gold,” she translated the simple Spanish. “Sitting in Fool’s Gold…does someone have a sense of humor, Iago?” He blinked, nonplussed. Jade felt a moment of contrition. Her family had always been all over her as a kid for changing directions at the speed of light. But she had to see the thought through. “Iago de Oro, the tragic golden hero. Someone setting you up, Detective?” Air whooshed out of his lungs and he suddenly looked very tired, as if every one of his forty-four years was sitting heavily on his shoulders and she felt guilty again. “See what I mean about the brains?” He grinned viciously to himself. “You came to that conclusion far faster than I did. Took me sitting at your bar watching the crowd of people too young for me to blend with.” “It doesn’t matter,” she dismissed the train of thought. Jade found it angered her, watching him come down so hard on himself. “What does matter is that I know I got guys 17

FOOL’S GOLD selling dope and probably worse in the bar. I need a bouncer. That’s why I originally came over.” She smiled as tiredness bloomed; she was starting to feel the lateness of the hour. “You come on to all your prospective employees?” She loved his slightly outraged looks. “Nope,” Jade grinned as new sinful images capered in her over-active imagination. “I already decided to find someone else and rock your world instead.” Amused at his reaction, she could have sworn his sweetly burning blue gaze almost crossed. He was simply too innocent for his own good. “Could you, ah,” he pulled at the neck of his shirt, face decidedly flushed, “tell me about the people you’ve spotted in the crowd already?” The air in the room heated, nearly sparked as his eyes rose and met hers. Why was he fighting this attraction so hard? she wondered. She wasn’t a witness or even a suspect. What cop revealed himself to a suspect, for pity’s sake? Quickly she ran down the list of people she knew, beginning with the ones she had names for and ending with the unusual Viking male that she’d evicted two nights before. He was right, Jade was forced to admit, his face was crystal clear; he recognized the guy, and it made him sick to his stomach. “Let me guess,” she tented her fingers under her nose, “not only is blondie a cop, but he’s your superior in some way?” “Close, very close,” Iago admitted. “Deke Oliver, he’s a lieutenant in homicide, I’m a detective in vice. Different departments but the same precinct, yeah, he’s got rank.” “Good.” Jade had a plan of her own, and it certainly included getting naked as often as possible with the incredibly virile man in front of her. Standing up she walked around the desk and leaned back into the worn wood surface. “How does this sound? You can’t just hang out, this lieutenant will see right through you. You'd be my evening bouncer in every way.” She deepened her voice into a sexy invitation. He looked at her long and hard; something was brewing behind those sexy sapphire eyes. Slowly he smiled and his face was transformed from intimidating to ruggedly sensual. Jade felt her breath catch before her heart trip-hammered into high gear. He’d been elementally intriguing before, but now he was a force of nature waiting to be unleashed, in her office. “It is true, I can’t act.” His voice caressed her skin as she pushed away from the 18

Melissa Glisan desk. Lifting a leg, she nimbly threaded it between his arm and thigh and leaned into the space between his legs. Oh my, she thought greedily, is that for me? The turgid length of his erection was definitely in proportion to the rest of his body. “But I can lead,” he growled. Heat slammed through her stomach, her core wept with joy in anticipation of the meal he presented. “Detective, I’ll follow your lead, no questions asked.” Jade licked the outer edge of his ear, nipping at his earlobe before tasting the soft hollow below. “I’d never hurt you Jade,” he sighed against her hair using those incredibly long fingers to pull her closer, tighter. Deep inside she felt the truth of his words and it gave her a feeling of such power. “Let me dance for you.” Leaning back she gauged the look in his eyes, they burned with heat but there was also a closed look, as if he were only allowing so much of her heat to graze his soul. Jade had every intention of changing that. Sliding off his lap, she pushed a button on her desk and the small office burst into song. The digital music player had been an impulse splurge gift for herself after getting the bar finished. Most nights she dialed in soft soothing tunes while she tallied up the night’s accounts. Tonight she pushed the second button, a list of songs queued for when she used the silent dance floor to relive her dancing days to stay somewhat in shape. Undulating to the spicy sound, she pulled her shirt free of her jeans and slowly lifted it as her hips gyrated. Twisting to the side, Jade bent in half, teasing the hem of the tight cotton shirt higher as she wriggled. Pulling it over her head with a flourish, she turned and twirled it overhead, thrusting her breasts out and up almost under his nose and then she cast it against the far wall. The lacy pink cups floated past his nose in a slow figure eight as the song slowed into something jazzy, a trill of notes with sax and guitar accented with the steady beat of a drum. Jade left the confining bra in place, enjoying the way the thick wire thrust her full bosom up, pointing at his hypnotized gaze. She spread her legs mockingly, rolling her hips as she inched the zipper on her stretch jeans down. Playfully she peeled open the flaps of material showing her detective the soft velvet ruffle top of her thong. Silently she toed the clunky platform shoes off. “Back on.” His voice was an interesting study of hunger and command. Arching a brow she looked where his hard azure gaze was locked on the shoes she’d kicked to the side. Turning around she grinned, a wicked glint in her eyes. If he 19

FOOL’S GOLD wanted her in shoes, he’d get shoes. Shrugging down the confining denim she pushed the material off her feet and slid the shoes back on. Crossing her ankles, she remained bent over, slowly arching her back, intending on rising slowly as the music pounded against them like a heart throbbing on the night. Instead, his hands firmly grasped the sides of her hips, burying his nose in the damp material at her core. Thrown off balance, she reached forward and braced herself against her desk as Iago’s fingers flexed and smoothed the skin of her hips. The light bristles on his cheeks abraded the soft skin of her buttocks as his tongue traced the slick material of her thong, dipping in her crease. Restlessly he yanked the material back and to the side, pulling it tight against her mound, worrying the material between her nether lips. Riding it against her slicked flesh, his hand insinuated between her legs, parting her for his mouth to kiss the swollen lips of her labia. Teasing liquid ran from her sheath to coat his thirsty lips as he thrust his tongue lightly into the dusky feminine flesh of her slit. Impossibly he used the elastic of her thong to arch her hips deeper, bend her over and tilt the soft rigid flag of her clit to his flickering tongue. Gasping, Jade held still, afraid to move and ruin the delicate tango his lips and tongue performed on her pliant opening. At his direction she widened her stance, bent and clasped her ankles, allowing her to watch as he worshiped the opening to her sex with the fervor of a penitent. With an angry sound he gripped her thong in both hands, flexed his wrist and the material ripped in time to his sigh of relief. Never had she felt such intensity at the slippery slide of a tongue around her arousal, never quite touching, always driving the heat higher. Unconsciously her eyes darkened as her hips flexed, opening as wide as she could at the given angle. Sensing her hunger, Iago slid a finger inside her slick sheath then another as he fell to his knees, scorching her inside and out with the careful ministrations of his tongue. “I want you in me,” she demanded, forcing herself to straighten. Leaning over her desk, Jade opened the top drawer and pulled out a strip of condoms. Ripping one free with her teeth, she tore the foil packet open and turned, only to be spun back around as he lifted the slick latex device and fitted it over his long, thick erection. “I’ve had this image in my head all night, dancing girl,” he breathed against her ear. Pulling her back he perched on a lower rung of the step stool, bracing it against her file cabinet. Jade felt the thick pulsing head of his erection rubbing the crease of her ass 20

Melissa Glisan and teased it, riding up and down the bobbing member. “All night I’ve fantasized about watching that perfect firm ass as you rode me.” Iago’s hands not just parted her legs but gripped and held her spread thighs balanced above his cock. In a panic looking for balance, Jade reached back and gripped his upper arms. Slowly, reverently, he lowered her to cover the tip of his cock. The blunted head felt almost alien it was so large. Jade whimpered in want, her hips needed to move, to rock, to allow the inner muscles of her sheath to clasp his rod and pull him in but he held back, impaling her inch by inch as she demanded more. “Shush dancing girl, give me this. You’re so beautiful.” He quaked with need and awe that something so delicate sheathed him so hot, wet, wild and oh, so willingly. Filled, she felt the head of his cock touch her womb, a feeling unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Her legs were spread wide falling to either side of his thighs, as he slowly moved his hands, she found her feet touched the ground. Unhurriedly, she moved a sinuous roll of her hips sliding his thickness inside her sateen walls, luxuriating in the delicious feeling. His hands petted, caressed and struck lighting along every inch of her body from the inside out. She gripped his arms and rotated in slow hot circles on his length, blind to anything but the firestorm building in her core, making her legs shake as she lifted and slid over him again and again. Iago moved one hand to her stomach, the other to fondle the heated, silky lips stretched wide accommodating his girth. Slowly, his fingers slid between her swollen folds, rubbing the sides of her proud flesh redirecting her attention as she lifted and rocked, angling her pelvis against his rough fingers. Over and over, her mind begged and screamed for a shining something just outside of her grasp. Slowly Iago thrust his hips to meet hers, caressed her sex with a gentle finger and pushed her along as sweat slid down her back. Arms and legs shaking in reaction, Jade felt Iago groan and strain against her back urging her with words and fingers as her world exploded, making her jerk convulsively in his lap as he continued stroking in and out before growling his own release against her shoulder. He bit down, clamping her shaking form to his lap as he heaved, straining into her clenched sheath. Groaning, her body still greedily grasping his now flaccid length inside, he slid them to the floor to lie on her discarded shirt. “I thought my heart was going to explode,” he panted, licking the wound his teeth left on her skin. “But if I have to die, it’d be inside you every time.” His arms came around her, cuddling her close. 21

FOOL’S GOLD Jade choked up, never had she felt so loved and wanted. His words made her tear up. Sniffling the emotion back, she grasped his wrist and laid her head back on his shoulder and made a wish in the core of her being that this man would prove different, would stay the distance.

22

Melissa Glisan

Chapter Four

In a few short hours she had turned his life upside down, made him want like he’d never imagined possible and made him risk his entire career to see her safe. Iago had carried her as gently as he could to her small apartment, much to her amusement. Tucking her into bed, he’d wanted with every ounce of his being to simply strip naked and curve along the supple skin of her back and wait for the sun to rise. But he couldn’t. Too many people were watching the bar and its scintillating owner. Quietly he exited the bar, pulling the fire exit door closed and heard the automatic lock click in place. Not good enough for his peace of mind but it would hold for the night. Immediately the muscles of his back stiffened in reaction. Someone was watching him. The question was, who was watching him? The area around the bar wasn’t the best but as he scanned the quiet storefronts he was surprised to see that they had cleaned up, improved since his last trip to Fool’s Gold last year. It seemed Jade was having a good influence on more than his libido. Drug dealers wouldn’t really care, he reasoned. More people meant more money in their pocket, especially among the college set. It might mean a shifting of lines from one sales network to another but nothing to cause the twitchy feeling between his shoulder blades as he walked down the dark alleyway to the lot where he parked his car. Take out Trixies, hookers would have moved off when the crowds fled, heading for main streets and headlights not lurking in a back alley. It had to be the people he sought. On one hand it was a good sign, he was poking his nose in the right place. On the down side, it put Jade at risk. Either she’d be seen as a cop toy or a closet snitch. For a cop who couldn’t bluff his way out of a paper sack, he was going to have to pull off the performance of a lifetime. Starting now. “Detective,” whispered a voice from a recessed doorway in the inky blackness. 23

FOOL’S GOLD The voice was one Iago should have known but couldn’t place. “Who’s there?” Palming his service piece, he turned towards the voice. “Just me, sir.” A blue uniform paced into a sickly saffron halo cast by the security lights behind the Middle Eastern deli. He didn’t look like foot patrol; not really, the uniform was too polished, perfectly creased, the face rising above too clean-cut and eager. The street had a way of aging a man, leaving a mark that nothing erased for long. Then it hit him, the new kid, Eric Rodriguez. “What the hell are you doing in uniform, here, at this time of night?” Iago demanded in low, angry words. Rodriguez was tall, well built, but one of the perks of being the heavy for the department meant Iago still loomed over the pretty boy from Astoria. “There’s this girl…” Rodriguez began, suddenly finding his shoes really exciting. “There’s always a girl,” Iago sneered in disgust. “Walk with me,” he commanded and the younger man swung in at his side. Damn, the twitchy feeling was still there. “What girl bears watching by vice’s newest junior grade in his dress blues?” Silently, Rodriguez squirmed before admitting, “Desiree Moore.” That brought Iago to a dead stop. “Alderman Moore’s only daughter?” It was rare for him to be shell-shocked. That it happened twice in one night made him search the shadows for a sniper happy to take advantage. Stopping shy of his car, he turned and scanned the streets again, watching to see if the shadows twitched, but nothing moved. “Yeah, well, she was in my criminal justice classes at college,” Rodriguez droned on, blithely unaware that the darkness watched back. “I always wanted to ask her out, but you know, she’s like city royalty and I’m just a barrio brat.” “Her types don’t date cops, m’ijo” “I’m not your son and she does date cops.” Iago didn’t say anything, just stared quietly at the younger cop, waiting. He didn’t often play up his shared Hispanic heritage; then again Rodriguez hadn’t been around long enough to learn. It was a measure of how much the much younger man’s information could be worth that he started to consider beating it out of him. “Who’s she screwin’?” Keeping the question as offhand and crude as possible, Iago hoped to shock the kid into spilling more than a name and it paid off. “Don’t you ever talk about Desiree like that,” Rodriguez menaced. “She’s no 24

Melissa Glisan whore, not like that bit of tail you played tonight. Desiree’s just confused, all wrapped up in the tabloid adventures of Lieutenant Deke Oliver.” The younger man spat on the ground, as if saying his name fouled his lips. Iago counted past the rage screaming in his ears, pushing past the anger over his Jade being slighted by a punk rookie, making himself register the important link. His key suspect, his dirty cop was going to be protected by the city itself so long as Alderman’s daughter was involved. Something of his rage finally registered with Rodriguez; the younger cop started backing away, palms up. “Hermano, I thought you’d know. Oliver staked that place as his; put the word to the street that the green-eyed cat was his new piece. That’s why I didn’t figure to follow Desiree to meeting him across the street at that crappy French restaurant.” Judging by the look on Rodriguez’s face, he’d hoped to slide in the door some ten minutes later and invite himself to dinner, not walk in and spot the love of his dreams cozy with another cop. “Dump the dress blues, keep your mouth shut about Jade and watch who does what on this street.” Iago opened the door and slid into his car. “You need a partner, right m’ijo?” At the younger man’s stunned nod, he grinned viciously. “You got one. I’ll clear it with the Capt'n in the morning. Meantime get watching or get your ass home.” “But, what are we watching for?” Rodriguez called as Iago started his car. Rolling down his window, the older detective grinned. “Watch whatever your heart desires,” he waved, leaving Rodriguez standing in the dark alley, confusion written all over his face. Never had Jade ever felt so utterly wrung out from a sexual encounter that she just wanted to bask in a man’s scent. Worse yet, the afterglow was incredible, feeling safe and sheltered in those huge arms. When Iago picked her up she had laughed but mostly out of surprise at how strong he was. One of his arms was roughly equal to her leg. Yet, she couldn’t ever imagine being afraid of him. The tender way he tried to rearrange her clothes, the stammered apologies over her torn underwear, all coupled with the look on his face as he’d tucked her covers around her shoulders. Incredible. But boy, oh boy, was she paying for it today. She was pleasantly stiff in more 25

FOOL’S GOLD places than she expected. After brewing a pot of coffee guaranteed to reanimate the dead, she tackled cleaning the bar, tallying receipts and calling in the weekend order to the distributor. With an eye on the clock, Jade pulled the tables out of the way and turned on her digital music player. The first routine was a stretching, warming number she picked up from a former co-worker that was into Tai Chi. The next was energetic jazz from her days in lessons, it was a compulsory routine that all the girls had learned amid groans and whines that madam never dignified with a response. As a teenager it was potentially embarrassing, with hip rolls, thrusts and sharply erotic moves. As a former exotic dancer it was almost tame. The music changed, Jade grabbed a chair and concentrated intently on her old show routine. In the cabaret she’d had a pole, downsizing to a chair and not actively stripping changed some of the motions, but not many. Concentrating on a maneuver, Jade never heard the front door open. The song slowly wound to a close and a pair of hands began clapping, slow and over-loud in the silence. Spinning, she saw blondie the cop lounging against the front doors. “If I knew there would be a floor show, I would have come earlier,” he smiled. The expression looked fake, oily. Retreating to the bar, Jade grabbed a towel and wiped her forehead. She wasn’t finished with her workout and it left her feeling irritable. “The bar isn’t open.” She snapped the music off as another song filled the room, a slow romantic tune she cooled down to. “Oh, let it play!” He sauntered over, gracefully sinking into a barstool. “That is one of my favorite songs.” The friendly look that accompanied the request was as fake as the rest of him. “Well, it isn’t one of mine.” The electrician had insisted on installing a panic button rigged to ring at the police station. Jade studied the man in front of her and considered pushing the switch and feigning ignorance at him being a cop. Officer of the law or not, he made her uncomfortable. The decision was taken out of her hand when he slapped his wallet down on the bar. Not the one with his money, but the one with his identification and badge. “Nice,” she commented casually, “what pawn shop did you get it from?” Turning, Jade began stacking glasses on the shelves in preparation for opening hour. Where the hell was Claire? She was supposed to come in on Thursdays, it was her day off classes so 26

Melissa Glisan she was slated to help clean and prep for the night. Looking up at a sudden sound, she didn’t find her server coming to her rescue but the cop slapping his handcuffs on the counter, cheeks stained crimson with rage. “Disrespecting bitch,” he seethed. Stumbling back, Jade grabbed the baseball bat she kept behind the bar. Not a heavy wooden one, no way, a nice steel bat with comfort grips. It was more important that all her girls could swing and save themselves than to impress some drunken brute. Swinging it easily, she paced in time with the leering blond on the other side of the bar. “Go on,” he taunted, “hit me with your toy, you’ll get charged with solicitation and assaulting an officer.” She snorted unladylike. “I’ll believe you’re a cop when Iago vouches for you.” “Ah.” She slowed and the jerky taunting steps became fluid, graceful, predatory. Narrowing her eyes, Jade moved to a Tae Kwon Do stance, keeping the bat in her offensive hand. He was bigger, probably faster and had a gun, but she’d be damned if he was going to take her without a fight. “I had heard that you’ve made the acquaintance of our good defective detective.” Jade watched him closely, refusing to rise to the bait. “You can do better than that, blondie, try again.” Every nerve attenuated to his slightest movement, watching, waiting. Jade didn’t know what she looked like, standing behind the bar in her sage tank and shorts, ponytail swaying behind her bent head. “Why not?” He bared his teeth. “All I need to do is tell your precious Igor how delicious you look dancing just for me with your flashing eyes and silky hair. I am sure between now and tonight when he’s off duty, I can even come up with some entertaining sexual role for your shiny toy.” Jade didn’t twitch. It was bullshit. Not his ploy, she didn’t doubt for a moment he would make good on his threat, but she knew that Iago would never buy the story. He knew she didn’t like blondie. “Sell it to the men’s mags, I’m sure they’d love it in their ‘letters’ section, along with all the other horny delusions from pubescent teens with hard-ons.” Color inched up his neck streaking his cheeks with red slashes of anger. “I’m going to love breaking you, cunt. Your lover, your workers, your business, all of it will slip through your fingers if you continue to fuck with me. Please, keep it up.” 27

FOOL’S GOLD For the first time since he found her dark corner table, the blond cop smiled, and meant it. “I cannot believe you managed to get permission from the captain for this.” Eric Rodriguez was thunderstruck. More likely, lightning struck and thunder deafened. Iago grinned at his new plainclothes partner. Captain Marcus Kessler was long in the saddle at being a top-cop. He grasped the situation fast and listened intently to the detective’s plan. A bit of fine-tuned suggestions and the Capt'n agreed to keep everything off system and in tight with Internal Affairs. The downside being that IA was in the know, watching and waiting. Someone was going to spin out on this and if Iago wasn’t careful, it just might be his ass hung to dry. “He didn’t argue, nothing?” Rodriguez was new to vice despite being in blue for the last five years. “I’m not a rookie or newly up from rank and file,” Iago told his new partner, pouring a cup of steaming tar into his stained coffee mug. “Even if this comes down clean, I may have to take early retirement and Captain Kessler knows it.” Stirring in a copious amount of sugar and powdered cream, he added, “You’ll be kept clean, might end up looking a bit foolish but no one will ever question your loyalty.” “I understood all that,” Rodriguez shook his head, scratching the deep brown hair at the nape of his neck, “just that, it's a lot of trust you both put into the observations of a hooker.” Iago forced himself to sit down and start counting. When he reached ten and still heard a shrill whistling in his ears he kept counting, at twenty his eyesight cleared a bit and at thirty he unclenched his hands, by sixty he managed to control the urge to beat his partner senseless. “She’s not a hooker.” Eric winced at the cracking tone. Okay, maybe sixty wasn’t enough, but it was what the kid got. “Yeah, she was a dancer and cops in her old burghs hassled dancers, sometimes with merit.” He tapped the closed manila file on the desk. Inside were peripheral details on Jade’s arrests that went nowhere; most of the women busted with her had gone down for solicitation and prostitution, but not his girl. “Don’t disrespect her again, not in my hearing, comprende?” Rodriguez’s eyes narrowed on the detective. “You really do have something going with this Savini woman, don’t you?” Iago grinned; the Capt'n hadn’t been thrilled with the development, warned him to 28

Melissa Glisan keep his nose clean and his ass under the radar but understood the need. Given the grin on the bastard’s craggy face he probably understood only too well. Iago had dated but never seriously and as time wore on, even that slowed to dinners or coffee with potential candidates for the role of lover, but Jade, she was different. “Detective de Oro?” A small piping voice called through the door to his office. “Yes,” he replied, gesturing to Rodriguez to get the door for their visitor. The door opened and a small female cop stepped in, nervously running fingers on her service belt. Her belt looked bigger than she was, damn but he was getting old for the job; they just seemed younger and younger. The long rope of her auburn hair and dusting of freckles across the bridge of her pert nose utterly ruined the effect of her semi-automatic service piece. “Capt'n said you needed an undercover for a sensitive case.” Her voice was youthful, almost too. Iago stared intently. No lines at the corners of her eyes, furrowing her brow, no bags or sags, it was unblemished and perfect, eerily so. Yet, something seemed familiar. His close scrutiny netted him a genuine smile from rosebud lips, dimples sunk in chipmunk cuteness. She pulled the band on her braid, fanning her hair into thick waves around her face and smiled again, this time slowly, sensually, soft rounded cheeks turned angular. It clicked. “Raja Bailey,” his voice whispered, astounded. He’d asked the Capt'n for help, discreet and top of the line but never expected… “Alive and in the flesh.” Her soft charm melted under husky tones of sensual syrup. “One day you will age and this city will be screwed,” he grinned, rising from his chair to clasp her extended hand. “How old are you?” piped up the genuinely confused voice of one Eric Rodriguez. Raja’s soft brown eyes gleamed, taking in the clean-cut male and dismissing him before looking back to Iago. “Didn’t no one evah tell this ‘en it was impolite t’ask a lady her age?” Again the voice changed in pitch, tone and accent. Subtly she altered posture and carriage as Raja slowly swiveled into the newest role. “Sugah bear.” She advanced on Rodriguez with the pure blooded Southern grace of an interested belle. “I’m old enough to know bettah and young enough to put you away 29

FOOL’S GOLD hurtin’,” she pouted, spun and bumped his groin with a soft nudging hip, hair flipping over a perked shoulder. In the blink of an eye, she was back to being a nervous cop, braiding her hair. “I’ve been watching your mark, got his routine down, you may want to get a move on. Word was he’s planning a visit to your recently acquired light o’ love to ‘reestablish’ his nest.” Shit! Iago cursed under his breath. “How long have you been watching?” “Long enough to know him, not long enough to file,” she admitted in an unhappy tone. “Take Rodriguez, get ‘street’ level and meet me at the club,” Iago ordered, trotting for his car.

30

Melissa Glisan

Chapter Five

Blondie’s bloodcurdling smile didn’t fill Jade with comfort. Where the hell was Claire? Any face other than the one sneering from the edge of her bar was more than welcome. Air moved, brushing the sides of her legs and her heart stilled. Someone had come in through the emergency exit off of her office, but how? It was a one way door. Sweat beaded on her neck as she tried to move, keeping the bad cop in range but not exposing her backside to danger. “Jade.” Her heart nearly spasmed in relief as Iago’s voice caressed the back of her neck. “I meant to tell you last night that your emergency exit door wasn’t closing right.” The obvious lie told her to stay on guard. For a big man he moved soft and quiet. Gently he tugged at the bat in her hands. “You don’t need this.” He dropped a kiss on the back of her neck making her shiver. Just the heat of his body resurrected every scorching moment shared in her office mere feet away. “Lieutenant Oliver, I see you’ve met my Jade,” Iago smiled over her head, pulling her firmly back against his hard body. The naughty little imp happily noted he was more than happy to see her, despite being as tense as a cat in a dog kennel. He moved away, walking on the balls of his feet, fingers twitching, arms tight and ready…for what, Jade wondered. “We’ve met.” The other man’s voice dripped condescension. “Actually Detective, you just missed an incredible floor show. Jade danced for me.” Hands that had been reassuring, but now tightened and hurt, Jade winced and felt her stomach drop. She’d been banking on Iago not believing the lies this man was sure to spew. Chewing on the inside of her cheek she wanted to claw Oliver’s eyes out of his head and explain what had happened. Making excuses, Jade reflected, was a weakness; it only showed that she had something to hide. Growing up she got beaten for giving excuses, it was easier to say you did wrong and face punishment than to get in double trouble by explaining. 31

FOOL’S GOLD His hands loosened and Iago whispered an apology against the top of her head. “Coccolissima, can you entertain the gavone while I make a call to see why my Claire didn’t show for work?” Yes, it was small of her to insult the man in Italian but it made her feel so much better. By the look on Oliver’s face, it was an insult he was well acquainted with. So much the better, she smiled, contented. “Coccolissima? Is that a good or a bad thing?” Iago teased, spinning her in his arms to drop a kiss at the edge of her mouth. Hungrily, Jade clutched the front of his jacket and pulled him tight, slanting her mouth under his, demanding. He caved and opened his mouth to her thrusting tongue, Jade’s senses spun merrily as she arched into the good detective while sucking his slick probe. She hadn’t been dreaming–he was everything she remembered. Pulling back, she kissed the underside of his jaw. “Would you rather I called you cuddle bunny?” she teased. He looked down at her in shock. “No, that isn’t what it means, not exactly, but it does mean someone I like sleeping with and not in a bunk-bed kind of way.” Grinning she ignored the man trying to glare holes through her back as she slipped by Iago for the questionable safety of her office. Fifteen minutes and a few phone calls later, Jade was cursing a blue streak. It seemed the good Lieutenant had visited her girls, and then when that didn’t deter them from working at Fool’s Gold, he called their families. She didn’t know if she was angrier with the girls for caving on a good job or with their parents for pressuring the girls to get away from their boss - a former stripper. Only stripper wasn’t the word used, whore was the title used with the liberal abandon of a toddler salting popcorn. Gritting her teeth she walked back into the bar area, breathing fire and seeing red. The smarmy prick was sitting there, smiling and something popped in her brain. Striding over to the wine cooler, Jade smacked the handle of the bat, snapping it into the air and catching it with more speed than grace. She never even saw Iago as she hit her stride and swung a perfect homerun at Oliver’s fat pasty head. Smack! Her arm jarred painfully, but she held on, teeth bared, spitting epithets in English and Italian as Iago deftly tugged at the bludgeon. If she hadn’t been so pissed, Jade was sure she would have been impressed that he not only stopped the bat but did it without losing his cool. As it was, she was enraged he’d stopped her. 32

Melissa Glisan “Vatenni, you son of a–” “Jade!” Iago roared, lifting the bat high and pulling her off her feet as she held on. Blinking to clear her vision she snapped to attention and really looked - they were nose to nose. “This, man,” she spit out, “called my girls and their parents, telling lies, that I am a putanna. I’m no whore!” Jade ended on a yell, more defiance than anger, her chest heaving, full of the pain of betrayal. “No, you are not a whore.” His voice was deep with rage. He lowered her to the ground and gently pried her fingers off of the bat. Even through her pain and anger she could see that he was moving slowly. A glimpse into his face and she wondered if his absorption with the task at hand was to give her time to calm or wait out his own fury. Talking deliberately over her head he cuddled her close, “I am certain the Lieutenant had a good reason for hurting you mamita. Didn’t you Deke?” Jade felt the steely tight muscles under her hands and cheek as she looked past Iago’s shoulder to see Oliver putting on a noteworthy performance. Ducking his head like a little kid, he smiled an “ah shucks” kind of expression, spreading his hands out. “You got me Detective, I’m sorry. It was just all those ‘come hither’ looks this little beauty tossed me, I got a little jealous.” For a split second Jade saw the roughish charm buried under the seedy exterior before his words registered. One time she turned up the heat and one time only and that was to 'disarm' him while she asked him to leave. The only thing that kept her from lambasting him was the rock-hard arms holding her and the gentle fingers massaging her lower back. “You can hire new people, gato pequeño,” Iago rumbled against her ear. She appreciated his support, she really did, but with the way kids gossiped she knew she didn’t stand a chance at hiring girls like Claire and Janice any time soon. With a sigh, she pulled free from the comfort of his arms and eyed the clock with dismay. An hour before opening and still so much to do, she fumed, tugging her ponytail. Reaching under the bar, she turned the knobs, opening the beer gas-lines to the draft taps. The locks on the wall and refrigerator racks were open as was the wooden chest that held the liquor bottles while the bar was closed. Dallying last night meant a few minutes saved today, thank you hormones, she smiled setting ashtrays along the bar. A pale hand snaked out, grabbing her wrist with surprising strength. 33

FOOL’S GOLD “I’d like to…apologize.” Jade bit down on her tongue, hard. The smarmy tone left no doubt that he was about as sincere as a sinner on a Saturday night. Artic blue glinted as he waited for her to respond, the temperature dropping as the silence strung out between them. “Well then, get on with it.” The words came out sharper than she had intended, but she really didn’t have the time or energy for playing games with this gavone. Obviously, he had expected her to simper and wave away any apology. More fool you, she seethed inwardly, glaring hotly as he tightened his grip grinding the bones of her hands together. Breathing slowly and evenly, Jade pushed the pain back, denied it and kept her gaze unflinchingly on the man casually reclining against the bar. A small muscle jerked impatiently in his jaw and the red tide of hurt receded as a small spurt of gleeful spite warmed her insides. “I can play that game too, Oliver.” Iago palmed the higher-ranking officer’s entire forearm in his hand, but there was no silk in his tone. Jade watched with detached amusement as the light-skinned cop lost color, bottoming into a shiny grey color reminiscent of rain-damp gravestones. With an abrupt laugh, Deke Oliver released her hand. He gamely tried to keep the forced sound going as if he could fool himself into playing off the other man’s grip as anything other than punishing. But Jade wasn’t given time to savor the second small victory over her blond nemesis, Iago lifted her by the waist and swung her into his arms. Planting soft kisses along her neck, he hustled her away from the bar and towards the stairs to her apartment. “He will never hurt you again,” his graveled voice solemnly promised. Frustrated fury crackled in those denim blue eyes, making her ache to touch him and let him know it would be all right. A comforting hand sparked electricity sliding from his face to his neck, urging him forward. All thoughts of the bastard waiting at the bottom of the stairs faded as lust slammed through her bones, making them melt. His mouth was hot and hungry. Placing her on the top step, Iago held her lips willing prisoners as he impatiently shoved her pants down. For a moment, he relented, bending to free one leg. As he stood, Jade dropped to a knee and pawed impatiently at the zipper of his pants. Gasping in eagerness, she slid the metal tab down, sinking her hands into his incredible heat. Fingers found and freed his cock to bob lightly under her nose. He smelled of clean cotton and hot musky male as she ran her nose along the underside 34

Melissa Glisan of his throbbing rod and inhaled his scent. Her tongue flicked out and tasted a bead of moisture at the tip before her mouth settled on the head, sucking, her fingers caressing his length from base to mid shaft. Jade heard Iago’s breath hitch in his lungs as fingers wound gently in her hair, not tugging or shoving her head but holding on. An edgy sound from deep in his chest was her only warning as he pulled her to her feet. An arm braced under her naked leg, he settled her partly clothed buttock on the railing. In the half-light of the steps, his eyes gleamed fever bright as he fumbled on a condom, lined up and drove his turgid length deep. Again, the feeling of being touched all over shivered through her with every hard, fast thrust. Arching closer, the feeling doubled as Jade’s hip found purchase to increase the speed. “Nothing,” she panted, “feels as good as you.” The tight ball of emotions bound in her stomach worked free and blazed to an apex-blinding nova bright behind her eyes. Keening her release, Jade lost control of her body as it jerked and bucked, and with a guttural moan Iago slowed and changed the angle of his thrust, spiking a wave of reaction to the tips of her hair. “Never hurt you again, never,” Iago repeated as his thrusts picked up speed and he lost focus as he spilled deep inside her tight sheath. Shuddering, he nearly collapsed on top of her before realizing they were balanced precariously in the stairwell. A soft smile lightened his face, made him seem years younger. Bemused, Jade brushed a finger around his lips. Playfully he nipped the wandering digit as he struggled to separate them without dropping them both down the steps. Legs wobbling, Jade gave up trying to find the openings to her pants and slipped them completely off. Her mind was fuzzy with afterglow when he tipped her face to his. “I mean it Jade, he will never hurt you again.” She wanted to believe as she nodded and kissed his lips. But as she watched him descend to the bar, she knew that so long as Deke Oliver had power to hurt either of them, nothing would be right. Tugging open the door to her living area, the notion of rejecting the burly giant with the teddy bear heart flittered into her mind, without thinking she slapped it aside. What she saw in those serious eyes promised more than a quick tumble or a dinner or two, and she was willing to fight for it. Now, she considered digging through her closet, how to castrate the blond bull without taking him by the horns?

35

FOOL’S GOLD

Chapter Six

Five o’clock was breathing down her neck as Jade slipped down the steps from her apartment. Stepping through the bi-fold doors to the bar, she accepted the sudden intense silence as positive proof that her outfit was perfect. She knew Iago was up to something, just as she knew the gentle giant wouldn’t be able to act his way out of a wet paper sack. Jade was going to be a nightlong distraction; she just hoped Iago understood she was doing this for him. Saucily, she flipped the ponytail perched high on her head, flaring the thick curling mass, arching her neck like a mare in heat and casting a doe-eyed look at Iago. Walking through the cut she turned chairs off of tabletops, feeling the hungry weight of eyes. It wasn’t a new sensation. She’d had several years to learn to ignore the feeling, but inside her heart quailed. Jade had hoped to never again be on display like a market ham. With a graceful twirl, she set the last chair and reached to open the front doors for business as voices outside caught her attention. It sounded like a rowdy crowd tonight. Pausing, she turned, this was actually the job of a bouncer. “Iago,” she turned the name into a sultry promise, “are you working tonight?” From the fulminating intensity in his eyes, she knew exactly how hard her ensemble had affected at least one of the cops. Her blood flushed with an answering heat that battled with amusement. Remembering his impressive size, she hoped he didn’t lose too much wit as the blood drained from one head to the other. He moved around the counter, never taking his eyes off of her and her body tightened and thrummed in anticipation. Down girl! She ordered her uncaring hormones. The heat of his presence scorched her back as he leaned into her from behind, reaching above her head to flip the switch that sent power to illuminate the bank of neon lights inside and outside of the bar. A hand caught her mound and pulled her buttocks into tight contact with his jean-clad erection. The muscles of her spine sagged in primal reaction, conforming to his body. 36

Melissa Glisan “We will talk about this…outfit later, gato pequeño, but for now tend your bar,” he ground out, his fingers drumming a staccato beat against her swollen sex that sent licks of molten heat through the thin shorts. Sliding his hand to her belly, he gripped the low top and used it to tug her away as he opened the door. Walking back to her spot behind the bar, her legs shook slightly giving her hips a wobble that caught the hated cop’s eyes and kept them. “You aren’t doing much to allay the rumors of being a retired whore in that outfit.” He smiled, tipping a half-empty draught. Jade nodded vaguely, Iago had given him the drink. It struck her slightly funny. “I thought you only drank expensive white wine, not amber beer,” she said casually as drink orders were called to her from around the bar. There were about fifteen patrons, a lot of people for so early in the night. “Mm…” he drawled warmly, “some nights I like high end, others,” his voice deepened, “I like a cheaper thrill.” The words stung but she simply smiled and served her customers swapping bottles and glasses for dollars as the jukebox in the corner whirred to life. Only words, they can only hurt if you let them, she soothed her inner rage. “Wow, Miss Savini, you look beautiful tonight.” A college-aged regular peered owlishly at her from the spot Iago had claimed last night. “Joe!” She didn’t expect to see one of her more unusual regulars with midterms brewing. He was wire thin and utterly brilliant. He was also one of her first collegiate customers. Given his propensity for promptly showing up when the bar opened and sipping beer all night as he spread his books on the counter, studying until last call. It had never occurred to Jade that this youth might have been responsible for her upswing in business. A quick eye revealed that no one was ready for a refill, except for the leering cop. She topped his drink then sidled over to Joe. “So, you like these old rags?” She turned around slowly giving him a good view. A diaphanous wisp of silk netting fashioned into a blouse covered a satin bra top and floated just above the low-riding waistband of a pair of emerald green shorts. The pants were shorts in name only, having been reduced to seams and threads connecting the belt area to the wide rear pockets and filmy front panels. To complete the shimmering arrangement of shifting verdant tones, Jade had slipped into a matching thong--for Iago’s eyes only--and a pair of bottle green leather platform sandals that had thin straps that wound upward and buckled under her knees. “Yeah, the pants are definitely rags, but the rest look pretty damned spiffy.” Joe 37

FOOL’S GOLD sipped his beer and snapped a creased notebook on the counter. “Young man,” she grinned, “you are an ego deflator.” Nearing, she caught a look at the book and saw symbols that looked like a foreign language before he covered it with a slim arm. “What are you studying tonight, my scholarly friend?” He shrugged. “Chemistry. I’ve got my final in the morning.” “Don’t you mean midterm?” she asked wiping the counter, watching the room. “No, finals.” He tilted his head quizzically. “You really don’t remember me sitting in here studying all summer do you?” Jade flushed, she had noticed but thought he had been taking summer classes, nothing more. “I’m studying for my PhD in advanced polymer chemistry.” It was Jade’s turn to blink owlishly at Joe. She knew the boy was brilliant, just not how so. There was a grim set to his mouth. “You called me friend, Miss Savini.” Dumbly she nodded. “As a friend, this outfit of yours isn’t helping your image. A couple people put out around campus that you used to be a hooker.” That was enough; Jade found her voice as her dignity slapped her in the hindbrain. “I’m no whore,” she hissed, slanting a baleful look at the grinning cop as he tipped his beer in a mock salute before heading to the far dim corner where he usually perched like a hairy vulture. Snapping to Joe, she pinned him with a look. “I was an exotic dancer for nearly fourteen years. I danced, that was all.” The noise level in the bar noticeably dimmed. Angrily Jade spun and addressed the room at large, “Does anyone here have a problem with me having been a dancer?” A chorus of denials flooded the air and she nodded sharply in approval turning back to Joe. He sat smiling, shaking his head at some joke only he understood. “Miss Savini, you are something.” Chuckling he opened his book and fell into his old routine, pouring over dog-eared pages and sipping frothy beer. From across the room a pale hand flickered and caught her eye. Cradling a drink tray on a hip she sauntered belligerently to the dark corner table. “Anything I can get for you, Lieutenant?” Grinning he leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head projecting the air of being utterly at ease. Anyone looking at his icy eyes would know better. “Feel better ‘outing’ me to the room, Jade?” He had an educated voice with a silky tone. Normally, Jade enjoyed listening to beautiful male voices, but his put her in 38

Melissa Glisan mind of a cobra’s dance, a seductive tool to disarm the foe for a lightning fast strike. “Doesn’t really matter, Lieutenant,” Jade smiled saccharine sweetly, “you see, I hired Iago to keep your friends out of the bar.” “My friends?” The silken voice snagged. “Umm hmm,” she hummed happily, leaning to swipe the tabletop clean with a damp rag. Picking up his empty glass, she looked at him in askance. A mocking smile plastered to his face, he shook his head. “No, I’ve gone the cheap long enough.” His eyes hooded, burning a path up and down her body. Jade felt her stomach heave but forced a bored look. “The body is wonderful, full and heady, but the aftertaste is stale. Just something lacking I’m afraid.” Jade’s teeth ground at the slight as Oliver pretended to pick lint from the lapel of his jacket. “If you would bring a bottle of my usual and two glasses, I’m expecting company.” Heading back to the bar she counted to ten, focusing her anger on something other than the shoddy put down. Who was he expecting? Moving briskly behind the bar, Jade dug out an insulated wine bucket. Plopping it on the bar, she arranged the bottle of wine and glasses on her tray. He never ordered more than a glass at a time and then only for himself. Whoever was coming wasn’t one of his regular seedy friends. “Ah c’mon, buddy! All I want is a drink.” A plaintive wail at the door pulled Jade’s mind from the quandary of cop and company. Quickly she settled the bottle and glasses in front of the lieutenant and headed for the door. Standing in the cool damp air was a pretty, petite redhead, dressed for the stage with strappy sandals, body glitter and the telltale Velcro-seamed ensemble. But the effect of the outfit was ruined by trails of mascara on her angry face. “Iago, what’s the problem?” Jade hated to step on toes, but she felt a curious bond with the younger woman. “You said no hookers, so she can’t come in.” He was looking at a spot beyond the woman’s head and Jade grinned. It was kind of cute how he was studiously not looking down at the generous form on display. “I’m not a hooker, you big stupid ape!” the redhead seethed from between clenched lips. “I’m a dancer at Malloy’s. Or rather I was,” she turned and spit fire at a shadowy form behind her, “until this idiot got me fired!” Turning back to Jade she pleaded, shivering in the cool air, “Lady, I just want a drink or four.” 39

FOOL’S GOLD “Let her in Iago,” Jade smiled at the underside of his jaw and impulsively kissed his neck. “As for the young man…” The shadow stepped close enough that she almost choked on the squeaky clean, obvious Mormon youth. “He can come in, but one word I do not like and he goes, capisce?” Iago grunted but the young man, book of the Mormon in hand, looked like he wanted to begin objecting–at length. Moving behind the bar, Jade looked at the younger woman and saw numb desperation and age beyond her years mirrored in her brown eyes. “If you’re in need of a job, I can help you there. But those shoes will punish your feet.” Walking to the tap, she angled a small plastic cup and filled it with thin yellow beer, handing it to her newest customer. “A job doing what?” The look of scrutiny in suddenly sharp eyes reminded Jade of what she was, or rather wasn’t, wearing. “I worked same as you, kid, this is for later. Me and the ‘big stupid ape’ got plans for later tonight,” she smiled in anticipation. Catching a slightly surly look at the door from Iago, she blew him a kiss. “Okay, but what’s the job?” Jade looked back and noted that the girl only sipped at the beer. A sidelong look told her that the girl’s want-to-be rescuer was talking earnestly to a beleaguered looking Joe. “Waitress, you know, taking orders, clearing tables. What’s your name?” She couldn’t keep calling her girl, even in her thoughts. “Rita Barnes, but I went by Raja on stage.” “Well, Rita, I have a pair of ballet flats in my office on the desk. Before you showed up I was going to put them on but you take them.” Opening the till, she pulled out bills and coin quickly counting and recounting. Jade tucked the money into a barmaid’s bank and clipped it to the underside of the drink tray. “Here is one hundred dollars to start you off. Keep track of drinks on this.” From under the bar she retrieved a small electronic device on a nylon string. It was a crude PDA that listed beer and mixed drink with quantities. Settling the cord around the soft mass of red hair, Jade explained, “All you do is push the drink type, amount and hit enter. At the end of the night click the sum-total button and it will say how many drinks and dollars. Pay that back plus the hundred I started you with. Keep the rest.” When the younger woman opened her mouth, Jade shook her head. “No, I don’t want to know how much you get in tips. I can’t afford to pay much but I pay regular minimum wage, not 40

Melissa Glisan that half-rate waitress pay. That’s why I don’t want to know what you get in tips. “Now, do you have questions?” She and Rita spent the next few minutes reviewing what was available on tap, in bottles or cans, mixed alternatives and the lone wine drinker. As Rita disappeared into the office for the ballet flats, Jade went to rescue Joe but instead found her best customer boring the other man to tears discussing something called covalent bonding. Wiping the bar, she placed a bottle of water and a plastic cup in front of the newcomer. “Anything else you need?” Grateful for the interruption he shook his head. “Thank you Miss Jade. I mean for more than the water, for giving Raja a good, honest job.” This sent her brows shooting to the roots of her hair. “There is something dishonest in being a dancer?” She’d heard all the different objections before, both social and religious but couldn’t resist making the kid squirm. Joe played into it, nudging his new friend with an elbow and mumbling advice. From the pop-eyed look she was getting from the pretty Latino youth she had to assume it was the truth of her former occupation. “Uh…I mean to say…that is…thanks for the water and the job.” He finished in a rush looking lamely at the bottom of his cup. “No, thank you. If you wouldn’t have gotten her fired, I’d still need help.” Grinning impishly, she turned and swayed to a small stool that normally sat under the counter. With Rita taking orders at the tables, Jade was able to take a few minutes here and there off of her feet. It also gave her the opportunity to study the creepy blond cop. Maybe she was being too hard on the lieutenant. Perhaps he was just meeting snitches in the bar, nothing more. No sooner had those thoughts crossed her mind when in walked a million bucks in an underage package. Frugal women don’t like to admit it, but they can tell the difference between a Manolo Blahnik and a less expensive rip-off. The young woman with the shiny overbright eyes wore more money on her feet than Jade spent on her entire wardrobe. They were one of the classic reissue lines that Jade, like many other women with noses pressed to glass, had admired with longing. A stacked heel with thin leather straps crisscrossing loving around a trim silk-clad ankle. Sizzle, the shoes were called and for a moment Jade maliciously hoped they hurt the young woman’s feet. “Ugly purse,” Rita commented as she passed Jade heading for the taps. Shaking herself out of the throes of envy she turned and stared at her newest waitress who was in 41

FOOL’S GOLD turn looking petulantly at her Mormon knight. Guilelessly, his open innocent face was slack with shock over the new girl. “If it wasn’t a Prada bag, I’d have to agree. Faux giraffe to me will always scream trailer-park princess but when it costs more than my car,” Jade shook her head, “you just left trashy and ugly in the mud.” The young woman was lithe and sheathed in a cashmere confection that must have taken diligent weavers weeks to create. From her glossy mink brown hair to her too-classy shoes, she screamed money and lots of it. Fool’s Gold wasn’t the place to come show off your finest duds, meaning the simple red-gold dress and matching heels were casual. When she shrugged out of a jacket that must have cost four figures and indolently launched it at Iago, Jade’s suspicions were confirmed. This little miss was money in and out and used to be waited on by the cops. “Hang here for a minute,” Jade murmured to Rita as she slipped past the gold rope heading for the lieutenant and his visitor, who was wrinkling her too-perfect nose over his wine offering. “So sorry to keep you waiting, Deke,” spoke the warm, cultured contralto voice through painted red lips. “I was going to wear that Dolce & Gabbana dress you love so, but remembered the lowbrow establishment we agreed to meet in.” Jade caught the insult and the slight shiver of too-thin shoulders as the princess in pumps sipped ‘inferior’ wine. “I am sure Lieutenant Oliver would only be too happy to escort you home so you could change.” Jade kept her tone even and polite despite her blood pressure screaming in her ears. “Deke, what is this?” The imperious tone wasn’t asking for an introduction, but was a thinly veiled threat. Having been a server at four-star restaurants Jade knew the tone well, it said, Get it fired; it annoys me. Being owner was a heady, energizing feeling, smiling, Jade savored the moment. “Jade,” the lieutenant oozed charm as he sprang to his feet, “I’d like you to meet Desiree Moore, Alderman Trent Moore’s daughter.” He stood over the preening girl as if expecting Jade to fall at her expensively clad feet and issue huzzahs. Raising a brow, she returned the sardonic haughty look and watched with inner glee as the man’s face clouded with indecision. “Personally, I don’t care if she’s one of the Bush twins, I need to see proof of age.” Jade felt the fine hairs at the nape of her neck stir and rise, it had to be Iago, her body didn’t recognize anyone else with such potency. “Since Iago acted as her majesty’s 42

Melissa Glisan lady’s maid, I’d be willing to bet that he didn’t dare ask for her ID.” An indignant gasp popped from between wine red lips. Desiree wasn’t plebian enough to push back her chair in a huff. Oh no, Jade cynically noted that the little princess was well enough schooled to make the males around her come to heel and pull her chair out. Instead of standing, Desiree sat ramrod straight and appraised Jade in kind. There was something about the intent brown eyes that put Jade in mind of cigarette burns, hot and painful. “He wouldn’t dare.” The educated tones dripped ice. “Be that as it may, I do. It’s not his ass if the LCB raids the place, it’s mine.” It was childish, but Jade enjoyed using the crude language on the bratty Fifth Avenue princess. “I don’t need to prove myself to the likes of you, whore.” The thin pretty face took on a sleepy look of satisfaction. “Mmm…Slander,” Jade shivered delicately, “I think I like the notion that I am being defamed by someone who can so obviously pay for the damages.” Heavy hands gripped her shoulders. “Jade, let’s have a word over here.” The grip pulled at her gently but she resisted. “Please,” he begged. Normally she wouldn’t be such a bitch, but this was her place, and she was just managing to hold everything together. If she got busted serving a minor, the fines would cripple her but losing her liquor license and being closed would bankrupt her. “I need proof of her age or you can all go.” It came out harsher than intended but Jade couldn’t afford to be seduced into letting the Prada princess sit sipping wine and playing footsie in a corner with the sexy psychopathic cop, Deke Oliver. “Do you know who I am?” Cultured tones swapped out raw and ugly. Jade looked carefully at the young woman, it was as if the façade of humanity had been removed like a cellophane veneer. The burning vicious light was back but now matched with a slashed mouth and cold, aloof set to her frame. Gazing into Desiree’s face was like staring down a gun barrel, silent, lethal and deadly. Which was real, the pampered princess or the mobboss in drag? “Who you are, is high profile,” Jade modulated her voice to be soft, coaxing. “Who you are isn’t in dispute. It’s your age not your identity that can get me closed down instead of just fined.” Without a word, Iago let go of her shoulders and grasped her waist lifting her 43

FOOL’S GOLD away from the table and toting her over towards the door. “Jade, honest to God, don’t worry, the LCB won’t step foot near this place, not now,” he muttered through his teeth. “I believe you,” she shivered, leaning back against his warmth in the small alcove off of the main entrance. “Is her family old money?” The question seemed to throw the big man for a loop because he peered over a shoulder into her profile. “Not that I’ve heard, just old school politicians. Her dad’s third generation city level politics and looking higher.” His hands slid comfortingly against her arms, but it didn’t work, Jade was cold to the soul. Desiree Moore hadn’t pulled the ‘politician’s daughter’ routine, she hadn’t reminded everyone of whom her father was, she’d warned about her own identity. What Jade saw in those malevolent eyes scared her more than any string-pulling Alderman.

44

Melissa Glisan

Chapter Seven

For a Thursday it had been a busy night–Jade’s confrontation with Miss Moore notwithstanding. Iago stretched his arms behind his back and felt the tension pop. More than one hundred kids had trekked in and out. Some would buy a few rounds and chat; others flittered in for a drink and a look around then left. If this was a slow day, he cringed at the thought of riding the gate all weekend. There had been a few strange types he’d kept out; none were on the department list of snitches codified by Oliver, so Iago hadn’t felt bad about denying them access to the bar. What had bothered him was the way the men had asked after the lieutenant. Not as if they were searching out a bluebird to sing to for cash to party on, but like they’d been told who to look for, not what. It surprised him, the amount of bite in the little lapdog daughter of the city’s finest palm greaser. Trent Moore was as clean as any politician, meaning he had a few vested interests in town that looked shady when the light passed over, but nothing that would land him in jail. Not that that couldn’t change, Iago reasoned, but most of the guys he’d talked to agreed that Trent Moore was pretty much a lackey to the movers and shakers, the true powers of the city. And because of his bowing and scraping, Moore was a contender next year for the slightly elevated position of Mayor. Carrying favor with the future boss’s daughter wasn’t enough to push a decorated cop like Lieutenant Oliver over to the dark side, but the dark side of what? The whispers were getting louder on the street, that the place to get a throw-away piece was from the blond businessman at Fool’s Gold, but no one on his team had seen Deke Oliver do anything other than smile and play hot date to the twenty-something ingénue seated next to him at the corner table. Iago needed more than rumor and he needed it fast or the captain would pull him for wasting resources and badgering a decorated senior officer. Deke Oliver had won his way to rank with his dedicated by-the-book approach to solving the weirdest homicide cases. He came to fame by the quick and clean 45

FOOL’S GOLD apprehension of a murderer that targeted the homeless and street-level addicts. Unlike the days of Jack the Ripper, most urbanites understood fast that any victim of violent crime could transition from the down-and-out to the landed in the blink of an eye. Maybe it was something on that case that warped him, Iago considered. The department shrink had been all for Oliver to take an extended vacation, but he fought the recommendation and won. The large bell over the bar boomed, shaking him from his reverie. Pushing the uncomfortable stool to the side, Iago made his way to the bar where Jade and the new girl Rita had their heads pressed together in conversation. At his spot was a gangly young man trying to herd the love-struck Mormon. Iago grinned, in the bar one night and he was territorial over a spot. He shook his head at the irony; he’d been in his apartment the better part of ten years and still didn’t feel at home. Must be the woman, he mused looking at Jade. “Last call,” he growled at the gawking, Bible-toting patron. When the young man seemed disinclined to leave, Iago palmed his shoulder, escorting him to the door. “Try to find something better to do with your time,” he advised the youth as he deposited him on the sidewalk. “Not every woman needs saving.” “Oh, I don’t know about that,” the studious male chimed in, “I’d be game for saving a few after exams tomorrow. What d’ya say, Brother John?” He clapped the austere youth on the shoulder and directed him towards the college campus. Ever paranoid, Iago wondered what the bookworm found so fascinating about the monochromatic prophet. The air felt good, cleared his mind and head. Taking a minute to scan the street, Iago was glad that the feeling of being from last night had faded. The streets were quiet and dark with pools of yellowed light spotting the black ribbon highway in either direction. Scrabbling sounds from across the street perked his interest until a scruffy marmalade tabby emerged triumphantly holding a large sewer rat in his teeth. Shaking his head at the image of thin cat waddle-walking his trophy home, Iago turned and made to open the door when he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. Spinning into a crouch he grabbed his gun and took aim. “For a big man you move very fast,” Oliver said, stepping from the shadowy well of the adjoining alley. Shrugging, Iago replaced his gun waiting for the other man to make his move. 46

Melissa Glisan “I don’t suppose I could convince you to spend your off duty hours elsewhere?” Something about his expression must have been answer enough because Oliver nodded and continued, “It is imperative that I not have my movements hindered. Do you understand me, Detective?” “I understand you,” Iago sneered. He understood all too well what he was being asked to do. “No, you don’t understand, but that isn’t at issue here.” Oliver turned and scrutinized the streets before stepping close. “It isn’t what you think.” “What do I think?” Iago asked, his curiosity piqued. Oliver opened his mouth, his throat working convulsively trying to force out words that his tongue and teeth grimaced back. “I can’t tell you, not now, maybe not ever. But I can tell you this - I don’t have anything to do with the rash of bad guns on the street. For that, you’ll have to look to your own department.” “My department?” Iago was stunned; he’d heard nothing about a leak in vice. “One of your newer members is dupe with a girl he’s trying too hard to impress.” The words registered and hit home harder than Iago wanted to admit. Oliver saw it and nodded. “You know who I mean then. Deal with it.” Blond hair and pale skin melted into the mottled walls and disappeared, leaving Iago more confused than ever. Just before ringing the bell to signal the last call of the night, Jade ducked into her office and made a quick call. It made her feel worlds better when the voice on the other end recognized not only Rita’s given name but also her stage name. Jade wasn’t new, cops had played the undercover game long enough to know how to set up references, it was something else to think ahead and actually build a rep in the trade. Calling Malloy’s would have been obvious, so she called Flora’s Fountain across town. The only way Florence wouldn’t have heard of Rita/Raja was if she was a cop or if the girl had been on stage less than a month. Rita, it seemed, was on the level. She’d been dancing for the last seven months, first in The Cage and later at Malloy’s. Florence’s place wasn’t part of the adult trade but her long-time lover Kady was another story. Kady had connections in every facet from dancing to tricking as well as the adult film sets. Pulling the bell for last call, she pulled Rita to the counter and helped the girl go through her bank for the night. Thankfully, Joseph pushed Rita’s admirer towards the 47

FOOL’S GOLD door and Iago. Jade wondered what kind of thwarted Lothario got a girl fired from a good paying job at a clean club then sat no less than a handful of hours later lustily ogling another woman? Men, she sniffed in derision. “Congrats, Rita,” she smiled at the tired looking redhead. “You made a little over a hundred in tips. If you’re game on coming back and working from five until closing, you’ve got a fulltime job. Mondays and Tuesdays I can handle the place alone so you can have those nights off.” The warm brandied eyes looked vague in concentration before Rita agreed. They were still ironing out duties and pay questions when Iago walked back in looking agitated. Rita grinned wickedly. “Looks like your man has a lot of restless energy tonight, Jade.” She laughed, moving around the room quickly straightening the chairs and tables, heading towards the door. Playful the girl might be, but Rita had picked up on the overdose of cash in her rival’s wardrobe. But nothing had grabbed her attention as fast as Joseph’s unhappy exclamation of “son of a bitch,” when the debutante plunked down next to the “good” lieutenant. After that, the normally studious guy had turned taciturn and brooded over his notebook while never really taking his eyes off Desiree Moore. Jade finished washing the glasses and ashtrays to find that Iago had already mopped the floor. He kept busy fidgeting with perfectly aligning the chairs on the tabletops; smiling Jade wondered what he was trying to keep her from divining. For such a big, ruggedly gruff man he should have had the ultimate poker face, but all it took was catching his soft-hued sky eyes and one could watch the shadows of deception fall away. Jade stopped herself from pushing; there may be things going on that would cost her dearly to know too much, or in detail. She knew that her new waitress made him uncomfortable and it warmed her heart. He had looked at the floor, the doorframe behind the girl and even the ceiling in order not to look at the appealing young package. It wasn’t necessary, Jade knew he had no designs on the girl, the way he flinched back when the younger girl made to blow him a kiss good night was evidence enough that he found her behavior shocking. The only shocks in his eyes now were twin points of hunger glimmering deep and bright. It was if he caught Jade’s covert study and fed off of the attention. “I’ve been wondering all night, just what you could have hidden for me underneath that tempting wrapper,” his voice growled low in the suddenly heavy air. Jade 48

Melissa Glisan felt her blood ignite and her bones turn heavy; with just a look he made her feel more feminine than any expensive dress ever did. “These old rags?” She dipped her head coquettishly, grinning up through her bangs as he cleared the cut in the counter. Big and muscular with the innate grace of a boxer, he feinted left and when she moved into the maneuver, he laughed low and dirty, tugging her off-balance and into his arms. Moving towards the narrow staircase, his eyes gleamed on the impossibly tall green stiletto heels. “Never knew I liked shoes so much until I saw them decorating the start of your legs.” Leaning over his thick arm to look at her sore feet, Jade squealed in surprise when he used the diversion to nip the cool sweep of her neck. His lips sent frissons of want skittering down her spine. So caught up in the erotic feel of his lips on her skin, she didn’t notice they were in her large living room until he eased her back against the plush cushions of the couch. The smooth material under her legs and fingers cooled her blood long enough for her to remember there were things she wanted to discuss. “Iago,” Jade began, as his thick fingers slipped the buttons skillfully through the sheer material of her diaphanous top. “What did you think about that Desiree Moore?” “Mmm…spoiled brat.” Hands brushed apart the filmy lapels then lightly brushed her skin with warm quicksilver caresses. Oh my, it felt so good. Jade felt her mind wander along silken paths of need as his lips found the tops of her mounded breasts above the confining bra. Her legs shifted around his waist, the rough denim chafing the thin skin of her inner thigh. “Iago.” Without meaning to, she dragged his name out breathily, dreamily. “No, didn’t you notice her clothes?” “Clothes?” he mumbled against the valley of her bosom. “Yeah, you’re wearing too many.” Suddenly the room felt cooler, as clever fingers freed the small hooks on her bra, tugging the satin cups under the swells of proud flesh. Rumbling in satisfaction, Iago drew one dusky tipped nipple between his lips, savoring the taste and scent of hot woman. Each tug of his lips and teeth set off spasms low in her belly. Moaning lightly Jade arched, thrusting the other, hungry nubbin into his hand for fingers to tease and pluck as his mouth suckled the first. There was something very important she needed to tell him, but her lips could only frame words of encouragement. “Haven’t made out on a couch since I was a kid,” Iago rumbled against her belly 49

FOOL’S GOLD making butterflies dance under the skin. Using his teeth, he tugged the button free of the worn cotton and buried his nose in the top of her thick silk thong. “Kid,” she repeated in bemusement, it niggled a memory. “That kid in the bar.” “Rita?” He drew back in confusion, looking at the top of the sleek dark forest green delta waiting under the scraggly pants. “No! No,” she shook her suddenly heavy head, “not that one, the other, Moore.” But Iago wasn’t listening; he was focused intently on her, as if he had an idea of his own. His fingers deftly buttoned the worn denim as his finger stroked all over the threadbare remains. “Too expensive…” She trailed off as he dipped his head, staring purposefully at her crotch. “Damn straight that little bitch is too expensive,” he agreed, lifting a long leg to his shoulder, giving him better sight access to the pesky seam he was searching for. Jade laughed, drunk on the feelings he stirred. “Her clothes, they’re too expensive?” Iago stopped and stared, fingers lightly stroking the burning, pulsing flesh of her core. “Honey, you think I looked at her clothes? The only clothes I saw tonight were yours.” That said, his fingers dipped into her wet heat and returned holding the floss of seam left to the pants, twisted and with a sharp yank the stitches gave. The pad of his thumb slid aside the tight thong and parted her furred lips and circled her clit as his middle finger slid deep, plumbing her depths. Any thought of clothes, hers or Desiree’s, flew out the window as stars exploded behind Jade’s eyes. Blindly she tore at his clothes, bunching cloth under her hands looking for openings. “Oh no, dancing girl.” He brushed her hands to the side. “The last few times were fast, this is going to be slow.” With his free hand, Iago pulled her blouse free of her shoulders. When it snagged on her wrists he wound it tight, binding them. The tangle of satin bra he slid to meet the thin shirt and used the straps to hook around the arm of the couch, binding her beneath him. Shudders wracked Jade’s body as his long thick finger slid in and out mercilessly; his thumb urged her body’s reaction higher and faster. He never changed pace while fussing with her clothes. If it weren’t for the thick bulge pressing against the front of his jeans, she would have thought him unmoved. “God you’re beautiful.” Iago sat back, blue eyes gleaming. Jade gasped for air as 50

Melissa Glisan his fingers worked her, finding the slick spot inside that sent her heart pounding; instinctively she lifted her hips and rocked in time with his thrust. “Hmm…gato pequeño, how many times can I make you scream my name?” The words echoed in her mind, as if underwater. Air felt heavy, hot as she fought her body’s need; she wanted this but she needed more. Her body tightened reflexively around his thrusting finger as heat burned a path from her core to the back of her head. “Iago…Iago…” she chanted as the room dimmed and shattered into a thousand points of light but he never stopped as her hips bucked. Mewling, her body tightened again, shivering and shaking as he lifted her by the waistband of her shredded jeans. Jade almost cried when his hand withdrew, her inner walls convulsively flexing, seeking his caress. Dimly she heard the sound of a rip as he covered himself in latex. Using the denim as a handle, Iago lifted and arched her back, poising her wet slick opening just above his freed cock. Wet heat scalded the thick head of his cock as he nudged apart her slick folds. Entranced, he watched himself sink slowly inside her flushed, swollen flesh. The skin of her labia was dark and red, like the sweet scented core of an exotic fruit. Aftershocks from Jade’s first orgasm pulled him deeper within her liquid tightness. Nearly lost to the sensations, Jade whipped her head back and forth, seeking with her hips, heels and legs to make the torturous impaling faster, but he wasn’t moved. Iago’s pulse jackhammered in his chest but he made himself remain in control, intent on watching his little hellcat take him in, inch-by-inch. His ears heard breathy cries, plaintive whimpers for him, for more and he reveled in the power she gave and took from him in return. No other woman had ever caught his attention, snared his soul with a fraction of the power she commanded with a single glance of verdant steam. Twisting his hand in the denim collar at her waist, Iago settled her tight against the root of his cock. When Jade started rocking her hips he pulled his hand tight to her belly, holding her inanimate. “Slow, gato pequeño, slow,” he breathed against her upthrust breasts, watching the tight nipples lift to twin peaks from the whispered caress. Hungrily his lips found one turgid cherry and nibbled, suckled and rolled the flesh between his teeth. Each tug echoed in her body. Iago felt the reaction as her sheath clamped around him, squeezing in contractions tingling from her opening, deeper, along his throbbing member to the spot where he felt her womb rubbing his head. Nothing real or imagined had ever felt as darkly, sinfully right as this woman. Growling he shifted his attention to her other breast, licking the underside with the tip of his tongue, drawing 51

FOOL’S GOLD shivers that hummed from her heart to where they were joined. Jade had enough. She wanted him, hard and fast, driving her into the cushions. Tugging, she freed her hands and fought to sit up straight. Tightening her stomach muscles as she rose to meet his burning gaze was like rippling through orgasm. Capturing his thick neck with her impromptu binding, Jade experimented. Impaled on his cock, nose to nose she tightened her stomach muscles then her buttocks and felt to the depths of her being the undulation of her body around his without really moving. He laughed and Jade gasped at the sensation as her body twisted at the soft vibration, intensely wanting it repeated. Quivering she closed her eyes and focused on making her body repeat the tightening inner massage again and again until his hands trembled under her heart. Iago had never felt anything like it; she danced on his rod without so much as batting an eye. Electricity hummed in arcs from his balls to his spine. Surging to his feet, he stumbled forward, slanting the small of Jade’s back against the padded arm of the couch before letting go of his cloth handle. Wrapping his arms around her back, he gripped her shoulders and leaned his weight into her. They teetered on the arm of the couch as he pulled her tight and close, rubbing her raw nipples against the crisp material of his shirt. Jade groaned as her legs wrapped around his waist, hooking her heels on his back, keeping him prisoner deep inside. With an oath he captured a soft earlobe and licked the small bit of her as he rocked his hips back and forth. He could only move an inch or two but her fisted sheath caught and milked him for more as he thrust slowly again and again. Underneath him, Jade trembled like a leaf caught in a storm. Her body was a mass of reaction to the thick slide of his cock in and out. His crisp hairs ground into and stroked her engorged clit with every sliding thrust. Jade forgot to breathe as her body spasmed over and over, her limbs clutching and twisting as waves of pleasure broke over the surface of her mind inexorably. The last thing she remembered was calling his name over and over before shattering into oblivion. Nose buried in her softly scented shoulder, Iago pumped hot jets of his seed into his thrumming hellcat. Her heels beat a tattoo against his lower spine as he heaved without restraint into and over her. He felt her go limp as his heart was beating double time, trying to clear the fog from his brain. Panic squeezed his heart and lungs as he pulled free and cuddled her close. “Jade?” he called to her, feathering her brow with his frantic kisses. 52

Melissa Glisan “Mmm…” she murmured sleepily. “Let’s do that again,” her voice slurred as her arms pulled him close. Iago nearly smothered her as he went limp with relief. His own legs wobbled as he stood, holding her in his arms and carried her to bed. “Doing that again in one night just might kill me.” He dropped kisses along her neck and shoulder. He enjoyed putting her to bed. Pulling the tangled remains of her clothes from her wrists and body, Iago licked the smooth skin in the hollow of her ankle as he unbuckled each of her sleek shoes. Brilliant green eyes peered from hooded brows as she surrendered to his deft ministrations. Jade discovered that she liked being fussed over. “You told me about your mama, I want to tell you about mine.” Reality settled in and Jade had to get Iago to listen. Her best intentions nearly went out the door as he stood looking at her and the door, lost to indecision. He looked so lost and alone her heart ached. “Turn out the lights, coccolissima, stay with me tonight.” Watching that powerful body rid itself of clothes was nearly her undoing. His chest was sleek and powerful; a small dusting of sable and grey fur accented the powerful muscles. There were pale scars on his thick torso. One was long and thin tracing across his ribs, two others were small thick tears to the side of his belly button. Seeing where her eyes lingered, Iago tried not to flinch. “I was seventeen and knew it all,” he smiled as her eyes snapped up to meet his. “Hey, you know, I was the biggest, baddest thing around, those barrio gang-bangers had no business bothering my mama.” He smiled sadly and turned letting her see the exit wounds from the gunshots and the spot on his shoulder where a ram’s head tattoo almost hid the swirling design of an old street-gang cut into his flesh. “Di manes,” Jade stuttered, reaching a finger to trace the outlines in his lower back. “Nearly lost my damned kidneys, both had to be reconnected; an inch or two lower...” he broke off shrugging. “The docs said I was real lucky, all I lost was some muscle in my back.” Numb at the evidence of violence scrawled across his skin, Jade simply traced the edges and kissed the long healed hurts. Her eyes were drawn again to the curling ram’s horns. It looked almost like the new emblem used by an auto maker but the horns stood farther to the side and curled longer and thicker. “Why a ram?” Curiosity got the better of her tongue and she bit down on it. 53

FOOL’S GOLD Grinning, he sat and pulled off shoes and jeans as her fingers traced the scar tissue and tattoo. “Thought you read Othello, the whole bit about ‘tupping’ and rams.” He liked how her expression went from serious to sparkling with laughter in no time flat. Grabbing his ears, Jade grinned impishly. “You’re hung more like a bull then a ram, but since I’ve got you by the horns…” she teased until his hands captured her hips and pinned her to the soft mattress. Striving to keep the tone light as she felt his cock stir against her belly, Jade captured his nose between fore and middle finger and shook his face. “Maybe a ring for your nose.” Shocked, Iago almost pulled back. Women never teased him in or out of bed, it was surprising but the warm feeling in his chest said he liked it. “Well, if you’re going to ring me, maybe we should get you a few too.” He looked meaningfully at her breasts. “Oh, no,” Jade laughed, snuggling him in against her, pulling the thick covers over his legs and back. “I fainted when I got my ears pierced, getting those done…” she shivered in dread at the thought. Tweaking his flat male nipples, Jade caught small handfuls of chest hair and tugged him to lie beside her. “Now, I was telling you about my mama.” She made her face stern, this was important and she wasn’t going to be interrupted again, no matter how badly her body craved him. “My papa was in the army and spent a tour in Italy. He loved being in the home of his ancestors, daily he searched for the perfect woman to bring home as his wife.” Without thinking, Jade had turned to the fairy-tale story her papa had used all through her childhood. “She was a beautiful maid sitting crying at a fountain dedicated to Argei in a wondrous marble palazzo. Tiny and delicate with big brown eyes and flowing black hair, he knelt at her feet and promised her the sun, moon and stars to make her laugh again. Three months later he arranged for a military chaplain to marry them in secret and they fled to the United States, man and wife.” Sighing, Jade snuggled under Iago’s chin. She liked how he never felt bristly, even though she knew he had to shave. “That’s when the pretty story ended. Mama was from a fine, wealthy family and Papa was from Little Italy. He had the name Caesar but not the nobility or money to go with it.” The story made her heart hurt, she had always wanted her mama to look at her daughter and find wealth enough but it was never to be. Before Jade's eighth birthday, Maria Savini had taken the family's meager bank account 54

Melissa Glisan and bought a ticket to Italy and fled home. “So she left,” Tears burned against her eyelids and she sniffled hoping to hold them back. Gently, Iago held her close and kissed her cheeks. “But,” she continued, rubbing the soft fur of his chest with restless fingers, “Mama always dragged me downtown to stores along Fifth Avenue. By kindergarten I could tell designer from fake, glass from paste and the cost of perfume by scent. I did it hoping she’d love me enough to be happy, but she never was.” His hands gently stroked her spine and sleepiness tugged at her eyelids. “That girl tonight, Desiree Moore, she was wearing ten grand from her feet to her head–not counting her make-up and perfume. Iago…” Jade pulled his face to hers, softly kissing his chiseled lips. “She is scarier than the bad blond cop, she’s got dead eyes and too much money. Please, watch out for her. She never once invoked the name of her papa remember? ‘Do you know who I am?’” Jade prompted. Iago looked down into the sleepy forest depths of the woman holding his heart and with a sinking feeling, nodded agreement. As Jade drifted to sleep in his arms he wondered if she was on to something or if her own hurt blinded her to the other woman. Tucking the blankets around them, he decided to sleep on it.

55

FOOL’S GOLD

Chapter Eight

The sun peeked through the burgundy curtains, coloring the room in bands of red. Jade loved the shades cast on the walls; it felt like waking in the center of the horizon with red-gold and oranges splashed around. The walls were painted a soft gold and the bedding was a pumpkin color. But when the sun beamed through the small bank of windows, everything turned rosy. This morning, however, as she lay in bed still warm from her lover’s body, the color took an ominous feel, looking more like blood splashed along the walls and floor. Shivering, Jade flipped the covers back and padded to the curtain rod, pulling the offending drapes back. Normally she kept the solid bank of cloth blinds up so the sun could smile through the material and warm her mornings; today she lowered the blinds and pinned the curtains back. In the sudden brightness the drapes lost their feel of clotted blood and death, simply hanging dark and innocent in the corners. Cursing her overactive imagination, she headed for the bathroom. A quick, hot shower and all was right in her world as she waited impatiently for coffee to perk in her small kitchen. One day, she vowed for the millionth time, she’d take out the wall separating the kitchen and open the room to the small dining area off of the living room. Jade liked open spaces without walls and doors, where there were doors there were places that could be closed off. Too many places in her life had been shut, closed off ending in pain and misery. “This is what I get for thinking about Mama,” she grumbled at the slow perking coffee machine. Iago had a wonderful mama, but no papa and Jade a wonderful papa and not-so-good mama. “Between us we have one happy family,” she grinned at the fanciful thought. Before she let her heart drag her down the harrowing road to happily ever after, she had to make sure they could spend time alone without getting horizontal. Stretching overhead for a clean mug, Jade felt the telltale aches of a night well spent and grinned. Okay, so they didn’t always get horizontal, but they would need to spend non-sex time 56

Melissa Glisan together if she was going to make heads or tails about how she felt, beyond horny. The phone rang popping her out of her reverie, glaring at the happily burbling pot, Jade reached for the handset. “Hello?” There was the sound of muffled arguing and Jade frowned. “Hello!” she repeated. “I’m sorry,” a voice wheezed out, “Miss Jade?” She almost nodded then smacked her forehead answering affirmatively, the voice seemed familiar. “It’s Joe…I didn’t know who to call.” “Joe?” Her heart leaped painfully in her chest as she began frantically pacing the small tiled floor. “What’s wrong?” “That guy I left with last night…I found him.” Joe broke off, coughing and breathing hard. “He was in the bushes off the quad on my way back from my final this morning. Miss Jade, I’m-I’m scared, he’s dying.” “Stay right there,” she commanded, heading for the stairs to the bar. She cursed for not having asked Iago for his phone number, forcing her to call the hated blond cop. “Exactly where are you?” She never thought to ask why he called her instead of 911; in bad situations people did strange things. Jotting down the location, she picked up the receiver of the phone in the bar and punched in the number on the card the blond cop had given her. A receiver to each ear, she quickly relayed the information to the tired voice calling “Oliver,” when he answered. Without thinking, she never told Joe that the cop she called wasn’t Iago; she just reassured him that the police would be there soon. She kept him on the line until the sounds of sirens pierced the connection and he fumbled his cell closed. Completely awake now, she raced up the stairs and pulled on jeans and a sweater, dashing through the apartment. Snagging a small thermos, she headed for the door but pulled up quick. What an idiot! She nearly thumped herself cross-eyed. Heading back to the bar she dialed the number for Lieutenant Deke Oliver’s office, after a few rings it rolled to another connection and a bored voice intoned, “Police, PCO Searandis.” Asking for Detective de Oro, Jade fully expected to be sent to voice mail and nearly dropped the phone when his gruff voice answered. “Oh, Iago,” she sobbed, quickly she repeated what had happened, the early call and how she called Oliver without thinking. 57

FOOL’S GOLD “Jesus, Jade. I’m sorry. No, you did right, if the kid was hurt that bad, Oliver’s department was the one to call. Why did you call me?” As soon has the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Jade went from jittery nervous to full-blown ire. “Maybe because I was scared and wanted you,” she bit into the phone. “Maybe because you saw them off and could have seen someone following them. More fool me!” Slamming down the receiver, she grabbed an old chalkboard she kept behind the bar and wrote with shaking hand, ‘closed for family emergency.’ Opening the front door, she centered the sign on a hook she’d had installed and closed the door, setting a steel bar in a pair of brushed aluminum braces. The door opened outward as per code but she had the steel door fitted with the security lock for after closing. Walking past the bar, the phone chirruped to life, she glared at it as she walked into her office and out the emergency exit door. As moon-eyed as the youth had been over the wealthy she-bitch, Jade was willing to bet that he trailed her after leaving the bar. In his office a few miles away, Iago replaced the handset in its cradle and held his head in his hands. What a fucking mess, he sighed. Standing, he walked through the bullpen to a small doorway and rapped respectfully. Entering, he looked into the face of his captain and sat, explaining all the events of the previous night. Starting with walking in on an argument turning physical between Jade and Oliver and ending with watching his rookie partner walking off, trailing the suspected cop. “And the other?” Captain Kessler prompted, using no names. It was unusual not to name an undercover officer and Iago’s brow furrowed but he played along. “The other didn’t report in this morning, I’m unsure of activities.” Given how strange the captain was acting, he didn’t dare tell him that Raja had managed to sign on with Jade as a waitress. “Head to the hospital, if his cover is blown, it’s blown. Don’t pony up to being his partner, unless it can’t be avoided. He just transferred in; I can distance him with a few calls. The other I can’t, that one was assigned to you by Internal Affairs.” Iago winced. He expected to be under scrutiny as well as Deke Oliver, just not to this degree. He should have left, met up with his people last night, instead of making love with Jade. Leaving the captain’s office he understood why she had called Oliver, but it 58

Melissa Glisan rankled. Why call directly, why not call 911? Walking out the front door he stopped and turned towards the bored desk sergeant. “Hey, Searandis? Who would you call in an emergency?” No longer bored, the heavyset Greek looked up from his crossword puzzle. “Whatta ya mean?” “Say you just saw something go down, and you had two numbers. One is 911 and the other is a bad cop, who would you call first.” Searandis snorted and went back to his puzzle book. “That’s easy, I’d call the cop. You can never get nobody on the phone at 911. Better a bad cop than nothing.” Pacing the halls at the hospital, Jade worriedly watched Joseph. “Are you sure there is no one I can call, honey?” Again the thin, washed out head bobbed in the negative. “My parents would freak that I got involved at all. They’re like these uptight fussy assholes.” His eyes remained closed and his lips pursed in a grey line. Jade was stunned, that such a warm, out-going young man had emerged from such a prissy cocoon. “I’m sure everything will be okay,” she repeated for the umpteenth thousand time, patting Joe’s shoulder. Looking down at the dried brown stains on his shirt it finally hit how hard he must have worked to save the other’s life. Lieutenant Deke Oliver came around the corner and smiled grimly. “Joe, looks like your buddy is going to live. Why don’t you go back to the dorms and get some sleep, I’ve got your information, I’ll stop by later, okay?” Joe nodded sluggishly and Jade tugged at his arm handing him money to call a cab. He smiled and waved tiredly. “Miss Savini, I have a few questions for you.” The tone of his voice booked no argument. “Me? All I know is that Joe called me and I called you.” The good-looking angular face was shuttered. Without a word he towed her to an empty waiting area. “First, why call me?” His blue eyes were tired but sharp. “I had your number, you gave me your card, remember? Last night.” Was it just last night? It seemed like years ago and miles away, ancient history. Jade shook her head. “I just reacted, yours was the only number I knew.” 59

FOOL’S GOLD “You mean to tell me that all the after-hours calisthenics and good old Iago never gave you his phone number?” His tone was harsh and dripping with condescension. Jade flushed beet red, she hadn’t blushed since her senior prom, but the barb struck home. No, Iago had never given her a number at work or home to call him at. Covering her cheeks in her hands, she nearly broke into tears. She’d turned into such a sex-fiend that she never got the man’s phone number or address. Cool hands pulled hers from her face. “Look at me.” Arctic eyes pinned her to her seat. “Answer my question,” he barked. “No,” she admitted miserably, “I don’t have Iago’s phone number.” “Did you know that that guy we brought in by ambulance is a rookie cop?” Jade felt the floor fall out from under her feet and her mind buzzed as a frisson slammed through her brains. She felt numb and painfully alive all at once. “No.” She felt like she was drowning in his cold icy gaze but held it almost like a lifeline. Her world was falling apart. Wait, a part of her mind urged, maybe Iago didn’t know either. “But…but you didn’t know him?” she asked. “No. But then I wouldn’t,” his lips twisted cruelly, “he’s in de Oro’s department, not mine.” Jade felt her heart rip into a thousand screaming pieces of pain as she coughed wetly in reaction to the news. Head spinning she wondered half-heartedly if he had been sent to watch over her or to simply watch her in suspicion. Hugging herself close she wondered what if anything Iago had told her was real. Then it hit her, if the young guy was a cop, so must be Rita. Staggering to her feet she mumbled something to the grim-faced lieutenant and fled the hospital. “Are you sure this is where she lives?” Jade looked at the respectable brownstone with a jaundiced eye. Stripping paid well, waitress work was enough to get by and being a cop wasn’t bad–but all three combined couldn’t explain owning an entire side of the building Jade stood in front of with her “back up.” After the address ‘Rita Barnes’ left at Fool’s Gold turned out to be a parking garage, Jade trekked to Malloy’s, which led to a beauty shop and another dead end. Taking the bus, she resolved herself to the worst parts of the city and The Cage. Putting 60

Melissa Glisan up with the foul greasy little owner long enough to get a last address, Jade escaped feeling a need to wash with gasoline. When the last destination proved false, she turned to the only people she felt she could still trust–Flora and Kady. Her first employers, the pair had taken her in when she used her first month’s wages to send her dad on a round trip visit to see his estranged wife. After he returned a broken man, they didn’t say a word when she used her next month’s wages to send him west to live with his brother. The moment Flora’s soft arms pulled her close, Jade collapsed on her surrogate mother’s shoulder. Almost six-feet tall, Flora was a statuesque brunette with the generous curves of a former opera diva. Kady was everything Flora wasn’t. Sharp-featured, muscular and addicted to thin weedy cigars. Sniffling on Flora’s plump shoulder, Jade caught Kady’s eye, and the other woman took the opportunity to offer her services. Within minutes she returned with an address for one Raja Bailey, a cop. The trio sat looking at the address before discussing possibilities. Maybe Iago wanted to shield her from the investigation. Perhaps she was a departmental spy watching Iago. Maybe there was a guy in Central Park who could cut out Iago’s kidneys for $50. The last, obviously, was offered by a stoic Kady through her normal cloud of cigar smoke. Standing in front of the building the female cop was supposed to live in was another matter. Squaring her shoulders, Jade walked to the front door and looked at the four listed names. R. Bailey had the first floor apartment. Her hopes sank and soared at the same time. It wasn’t a good feeling, more like stomach flu meets PMS. Flora stepped near the door and crowed with delight, “My dear come look! It’s pathetically simple!” With a magnet and a few small wires the ‘locked’ entrance door was behind them. Kady strode to the door and rapped briskly. Flora and Jade waited to the side, out of the range of the peephole. A small portal in the door opened and a groggy but familiar voice asked, “Who are you and what do you want?” According to plan, Kady demurred that she was sent by the hospital due to the terrible incident involving Officer Eric Rodriguez. Silence was total for the space of three heartbeats before Jade heard the telltale slip of the lock and chain. The moment the knob 61

FOOL’S GOLD turned, Jade kicked the door and dove forward hitting the cop with two fast jabs to the face and an uppercut that landed the slightly smaller woman on her ass in her own foyer. Flora strolled past angling for the bank of windows to the rear of the apartment as Kady secured the door. “Good morning Officer Raja Bailey,” Jade spat at the stunned cop holding a very bloody nose. “Your cover is officially blown.” The other woman’s brown eyes focused and darted side to side. “Almost forgot dear,” Kady’s voice floated out from the living area. Jade’s hand reached up and grasped her bat, eyes never leaving the face of her target. “Thanks Kady. Now,” she focused on Raja, “I have no clue what you’re thinking of doing but I can guarantee we’ll end up breaking lots of your expensive pretty things.” For effect Jade tapped the bat lightly against a cherry wood accent table near the closed door. “Or we can talk, your choice?” “Talking sounds good,” Raja sighed, wiping her bloody hand on an expensive looking robe in disgust. “Oh, goodie!” Flora gushed, “I’ll make the coffee!” With a toss of fat baloney curls the aging opera singer disappeared into the kitchen singing a favorite aria. Jade trusted the cop about as far as she could spit, which wasn’t far enough to clear her shoes. She hung back watching while Raja went to the bathroom and cleaned her face, smearing different flowery scented goop on her eyes, nose and cheek. Scowling, Jade noted with disgust that the cop had a better coffee maker; a full carafe was perched on the counter. “Where do you want to begin?” Raja asked, cupping a mug. Beginning when Iago first arrived on the scene, Jade quickly sketched in their initial conversation. “I agreed to provide him with a cover for being in the bar looking for illegal gun sales. Why were you and that man, Eric Rodriguez, brought in?” “I’m not at liberty to discuss the case,” Raja replied sweetly. “I wasn’t bullshitting about the Rodriguez kid.” Kady doused her coffee with copious amounts of sugar and cream then rejoined her mate at the rear windows facing a small garden. At Raja’s arched look Jade nodded, “He was found this morning at the community college near the bar; he’d been carved up like a Christmas ham.” “Who found him? How is he?” When the other woman made to rise, Jade pointed 62

Melissa Glisan at her with the bat. “Joe found him, he’s out of surgery and in critical condition. Why was he at the college campus?” “I-I have no idea. Last night he was supposed to tail Oliver and his date home then call in. At oh-three-hundred he called in, said that Oliver had been put to bed for the night. That’s all I know.” Jade stared holes in the other woman; she was telling the truth. “Why didn’t Iago tell me about you and Eric?” “Because he’s a cop and he was doing his job,” the redhead sneered. “He stepped over acceptable lines talking to you and fucking you.” Jade ignored the cheap shot. “You’re IA aren’t you? You’re not interested in Oliver but Iago, why?” When the pixie-faced cop clammed up, Jade grinned. “Those guns weren’t just defective were they? They were from the evidence locker. But why Iago?” Slowly she paced the kitchen, half an eye on the Bailey woman. “He was tipped to Fool’s Gold by a snitch…a snitch that is on a list at the department, right?” Snaps to the cop, she grimaced, poker faces that good were few and far between. Something else wiggled at the back of her mind then started doing jumping jacks. “Why was Rodriguez so fixated on the Moore whore?” Her penchant for changing gears midstream caught the cop unawares. “He sat and stared at her like a lovesick puppy from the moment she came in the bar till the second she left. In fact,” she paused looking up into sharp brown eyes, “if Joe hadn’t stopped him, he would have left on her heels.” Eric was out of surgery but hadn’t regained consciousness. Iago felt drained to the bottom of his reserves as he walked back into the precinct. Jade had been and gone. Lieutenant Oliver had only been too happy to talk about their little chat in the hospital cantina. Tiredly he slung his bulk into his chair as the phone rang. For a moment he stared as if he didn’t recognize the squat bleating object on his desk. “Iago,” he answered, mind already drifting as a female voice, not Jade’s, began speaking. The words slowly began registering. “Wait, run that past me again.” Frantically he began taking notes and digging in his desk for his cell phone. The next words nearly stopped his heart, “She what!?!” he thundered. The bullpen went disturbingly quiet as cops leaned here and there hoping for a better angle. “Sit, stay,” he growled into the 63

FOOL’S GOLD handset, gripping the device so hard that the plastic protested with loud popping sounds. “What do you mean you can’t?” The captain came out of his office, tipped to the unusual activity by a patrol officer. He managed to catch the string of epithets as his detective immolated the receiver in a meaty fist. “Detective,” he said into the echoing quiet, “I need a word with you in my office, now.” Joe Orbash sat under a golden leafed tree watching the sun filter through the clouds to illuminate the delicate lines in each brilliant leaf. For too long he’d tried to watch over his half-sister, protect her. He couldn’t do it any more. “How’d you figure it out?” he asked the figure watching from the shadows. It didn’t answer, but then he didn’t expect his visitor to offer anything, not while holding all the cards. “I’ll take you to her,” he agreed rising to his feet. He walked at a leisurely pace down concrete paths past towering halls of learning, skirting public areas and groups of smiling students. Friday after midterms was a time of celebration, all but for the taciturn male leading the way. Every so often he’d stop and look behind him, not seeing or expecting to see the person following along. The cuts on the undercover cop had been too much like the ones found on the bums, whores and pushers last summer. It was bound to be noticed. Joe had hoped to have more time to confuse things, to get her free, but it wasn’t to be. But the way she’d been hanging around cops, he figured it was what she secretly wanted, in her heart. Stopping in front of Fool’s Gold he looked to the trailing shadow. “She’s inside. I’m sorry, it’s all I could think to do.” Jade moved forward into the light. “Why my bar?” Raja moved around the corner as Jade and Joe disappeared inside. Before the lithe redhead could dart forward, Iago dropped a heavy hand on her shoulder. Looking around she caught an icy glare. Lieutenant Deke Oliver stood beside him. “I hear that your cover has been blown in spectacular detail, little mouse,” Oliver smiled viciously. “Enough,” Iago bit out. He led the procession down the alley to the emergency door entrance, hoping that the captain really had the front entrance under wraps as 64

Melissa Glisan promised. Slipping the lock, Iago waited as Raja slipped inside, then Oliver. When a slight tapping came at the door he slid in. Given the small size of Jade’s office, he’d been afraid of tripping over each other. Voices from the main bar area sounded over-loud in the dark silence. “Joe…I don’t understand. What’s wrong with her?” Iago put an eye between the slats of her office door. Jade was leaning over a slumped form. “She always had the best of everything, even Dad’s love. I was the first, his son. Why didn’t he love me?” Jade turned and looked at the tortured face of her young friend and felt her heart break. “Oh, Joe. Honey, I can’t answer that. My mama left me without looking back. I don’t think it has anything to do with us, but them.” She wanted to go to him, offer comfort, but at the same time she worried at what he might have done. “She’s just sleeping,” he sobbed out, clasping his elbows. “I just gave her some sleeping pills.” Joe collapsed to the floor, holding his knees and rocking. “Dad told me, always keep her safe, never let anything happen.” Wiping his eyes on the back of his shirtsleeve, he stared at Desiree with fear and hatred. The young woman shifted and stirred. “Joe?” Her voice was rough, drowsy. “What the hell?” Desiree slumped upright, staring in revulsion. “Why am I here?” she demanded. “The safest place, the safest place…” he muttered over and over rocking on the floor. “With all the cops it’s the safest place.” “Perhaps,” she considered looking around the room. Jade ducked but the other woman caught the movement. “You stupid shit.” Desiree aimed a toe at Joe and struck his shoulder. “Where are my tools? I told you what I would do if I had to look at this whore again.” She tried to stand but wobbled, bracing herself on the table. “Green-eyed bitch,” the red lips leered. “My Deke did nothing but talk of you, then my Eric and my Joe. You took them away from me!” she shrieked. “They are mine! Their love is mine!” Gripping Joe by the hair, Desiree moved to face Jade. “Remember your stupid mewling kitten, Joey? It had green eyes too. I drowned the furry rat in the toilet. Me! I need love, not some gutter born offal!” Shoving his head away in disgust, she moved 65

FOOL’S GOLD forward. “But cats have claws, claws that cut deep.” Peeling back a cuff, she showed off a thin, bony wrist traced with faint scars. “It marked me.” Her lips twisted in disgust. “So, I left my mark on everything that took from me.” “But why Eric?” Jade crab-walked backwards. Her bat was secured behind her, she wasn’t afraid of the girl–cautious, but unafraid. She just hoped that Raja got Iago in to hear this. “His eyes never left you last night. All night he was here, slobbering after you, like my moron brother and my idiot lover. Eric served his purpose. The fool actually thought to seduce me by having candlelit dinners in the evidence locker after his aunt locked up. We spent glorious hours reading unsolved murder cases.” Desiree shivered in ecstasy at the memory. “My cases,” she smiled viciously. “You’re cases?” That stopped Jade cold. It was one thing to suspect the girl of cutting up a jealous lover; it was something else to admit to multiple murders. “If you’re going to do something, do it right,” Desiree sniffed in derision. “When I was done, darling Joe would douse them with booze or shoot them up with some drug or other he cooked up in his science lab.” Jade sat heavily, they all hadn’t been homeless, it had been a shield to keep public hysteria down. The funerals weren’t at varied potter’s fields but simply held in seclusion. “Why?” It was something unthinkable, picking people at random to rip to pieces, murder in cold blood. “What does it matter why? They were nothing. Bottom feeders, like you.” Desiree fluffed her hair and stared at Jade, considering. “Look at how pretty I am, but when I walked down the street did people see me? No! They looked at those cheap whores. Salivating, panting like dogs over a bone. Bones, all that was left was meat and bones.” She laughed manically paced a small circuit making short fast turns. “One night a filthy bum touched me.” Shivering delicately she looked at an imaginary spot on the hem of her coat. “He left a mark so I left mine.” Desiree bent down and stared eye to eye with Jade. “The stupid drug pushers were just for fun. Buy some drugs, give them to a sappy geek like my brother and aim him at the dealer with a stolen gun. What fun!” But…Jade’s mind kicked in. “Deke Oliver had to know.” Jade hadn’t realized she spoke out loud until Desiree stepped closer glaring at her. 66

Melissa Glisan “Yes, you are correct. But the poor fool kept tracing everything back here, to this bar and my idiot brother.” Desiree turned and viciously kicked Joe in the ribs. “Such a good chemist,” she mocked, “that he developed a signature.” “Desiree, I believe that is quite enough,” Oliver stepped out of the office. “It’s time for you to come with me.” Jade watched in sick fascination as the young woman preened and adjusted her hair, offering the lieutenant her arm. Deke was looking toward the door and missed the glimmer of light on steel, as Desiree pulled a wicked looking device from inside her jacket and lunged. Jade didn’t have a chance to yell a warning before she swung her bat in an upward arc from the floor. She felt the impact in her wrist as it shattered Desiree’s elbow. Desiree fell to the floor screaming, fingers still locked convulsively around a metal bar sporting three long thin blades. “Not in my bar, bitch.” Jade shook in reaction watching the insane woman try to peel her fingers open to grasp the bladed device in her other hand. She was ready to break Desiree’s other arm to be safe when Iago palmed the bat. “I think this is why you hired a bouncer.”

67

FOOL’S GOLD

Chapter Nine

“Hey Miss Jade, did ya hear? That Alderman’s daughter was locked up in the loony bin for carving up that cop!” Hazel Wolfe wasn’t renowned for being a people person, unless gossip was involved–making her an exceptional barmaid. When the cops had descended on Fool’s Gold the older woman had been standing just outside the door, clutching a huge purse and rubbernecking with the rest of the people on the street. It was the fact that Jade overheard her giving passersby an account so staggering in its accuracy that she blurted out an offer to the woman to wait tables. Jade smiled, in the end, she’d ended up waiting tables and Hazel ran the bar like she was born to it. Business was starting to pick back up after the very public arrest. Unfortunately, the days of being a college bar were in the past, now it seemed most of her clientele were cops. Lieutenant Deke Oliver was still a frigid pain in the ass, but the others explained that was how he was, aloof and snooty. Jade felt bad about misjudging him–for about twenty minutes. Then his natural charm had her wanting to beat him like a piñata. At least he informed her that the department was still trying to decide what to do with Joe and Eric. Raja Bailey stopped in for a drink. Her life as an undercover cop was over; too many people on too many levels had been tipped to her habits and abilities to make her effective in the field ever again. Jade found she could almost like the other woman, but for Iago’s continued absence. The petite cop swore she knew nothing about why he stayed away. However, Raja did want to ask that Flora stop making offers on her apartment. She called the obsession unnerving but promised to let Jade know if any of the other apartments came up for rent. Hazel rapped Jade on the shoulder, “Come on, boss lady, watch the news. I don’t care what these bozos say; you helped get that nutty bitch off the streets.” Dutifully, Jade watched the talking head as he recounted the damage done to plain clothes officer Eric Rodriguez who was currently on disability leave. The leering voyeur then cut to a society 68

Melissa Glisan page picture of the impeccably coiffed and outfitted Desiree, cheekily holding the arm of Lieutenant Oliver. Jade grinned wickedly and slanted a glance at the now fuming blond cop. Do him good, she grinned, getting taken down a peg or two for having dated the loon. It did rankle that the public would never know just how many lives Desiree ruined in her insane desire to be the center of the universe. All I want is to be the center of one man’s daily life, she mourned, wiping tables. Maybe Kady was right, maybe this was a sign that Iago was just using her for sex. She should take the older woman’s advice, if he did come back, no sex for a week. The front door opened and reflexively Jade looked up, it wasn’t Iago, but she still smiled in welcome at the person walking in, seating him and taking his drink order before returning to the bar. “Hazel, you got everything here, right?” The older woman’s bright eyes looked her over. “You are looking peaked Miss Jade, go do your accounts and have a nap, I’ll mind things here until closing. Shoo!” The older woman flapped her thin arms and chased Jade from the bar. Retreating behind the bi-fold doors, Jade picked up her small music player and eyed the ledger book. Never were her books in such excellent shape. With nothing else to occupy her mind in the long nights since Iago disappeared, she’d had plenty of time to catch every account up to speed. The hell with it, Jade snapped off her office light and headed up the stairs to her apartment. Standing on the landing in front of her door she felt her heart race, she hadn’t left the lights on. Reaching into the alcove next to the door for the familiar feel of her wood bat, her hand closed on empty air. Where was her bat? Hazel disliked having it behind the bar, said it gave her ‘the willies.’ Jade had taken to keeping it in her office or in the umbrella stand tucked to the side of her apartment door. Gripping her music player, Jade slowly opened the door and peered in. Everything looked okay; maybe she had left the lights on after all. Stepping into the room, Jade closed the door and locked it behind her when the smell of something cooking caught her nose. Cooking food in her apartment? Toeing off her shoes, Jade padded barefoot into the kitchen in time to see Iago wearing nothing but a ridiculously frilled apron removing something hot from the oven. 69

FOOL’S GOLD She couldn’t say what was more shocking, the virile naked male, the scent of appetizing cooked food or the atrocious apron. Somehow the damned man made even that thing look sexy. His hair was a little longer, roguish, but the rest was unchanged. “Why didn’t you call?” She felt entitled to a pound of flesh for being ignored. Having two hundred pounds of prime male made up for day one, not all seven. He turned and smiled, lighting up his face with boyish charm. The rugged planes and lines faded against the backdrop of his brilliant blue eyes. They had somehow lost that faded, denim color she remembered. “Oh good, you’re home in time for dinner.” Blinking owlishly Jade allowed Iago to hustle her to a seat in her small dining alcove. Deftly he set the table and placed a steaming dish of seasoned fish in front of her. Impishly, Jade ducked her head and looked under the table, but a strategically placed tablecloth fouled her view of her dining companion. “Iago, what is going on?” Jade plopped her elbow on the table and placed her chin in hand. While she could literally eat him up, the naked dinner thing was a bit over the top. “Dinner,” he answered with a slow smile. Uh, huh, she thought, experimentally sampling a bit of the fish and vegetables. Before Jade knew it, she’d demolished the meal. Looking hopefully at her empty plate, she fantasized about seconds. “Maybe another night,” he smiled, taking her plate away to the kitchen. Jade pouted then caught the view from the rear as he moved towards the kitchen. Maybe two days…it should be a sin for a man to have an ass that perfect, another appetite gloated. Still sporting the frilled apron, Iago carried a small tray from the kitchen and placed it on the coffee table in the living area. He picked up a remote and pushed a few buttons. Curious, Jade walked over. “What now?” “I thought we’d watch a movie.” He sat on the couch and poured a cup of coffee to go with dessert. “Cheesecake, you awesome man, how did you know?” Greedily, Jade tucked into the couch and her dessert. “Gimme a good action movie with explosions and guns, and this will be a perfect night.” Her world was getting better, she thought, happily eyeing up the expanse of sleek male leg revealed by the silly apron. This was shaping up to be 70

Melissa Glisan worth day three and four of the seven he had avoided her. “I rented a nice romantic comedy, there’s too much violence on TV these days,” he fussed, arranging cups and plates. Jade’s jaw hung open in shock. He looked over and grinned wickedly. “Just kidding, Flora blabbed, got a kung-fu flick, how’s that?” “Damn Kady to hell,” Jade grumped, pulling a cushion to her lap and cuddling it close. “Why?” Iago’s grin grew. “Because she made me promise to make you suffer for a full week without sex.” Unbidden her eyes found his bare leg and feasted traveling up the white expanse of lace to his powerful chest. “Why are you wearing that frilled nightmare?” This time he laughed, a warm intimate sound that made shivers slant up and down her spine. “I thought you’d never ask.” He stood and slowly freed the ties, letting it slip down his powerful body. It was the world’s fastest striptease but one that nearly made Jade’s eyes cross as she watched the fluttering material slide down his golden form. “You don’t need a bouncer anymore and since I’ve retired, I figured I’d audition for house boy.” Iago dropped to his knees and stalked around the table on his and knees, his muscles rippled in the light. Jade felt her mouth go dry as she fought the urge to join him on the floor for a bit of naked wrestling. “A week,” she lamented running hungry hands over his shoulders as he knelt before her. “Why wait?” Temptation called to her in deep dark sin-filled tones with beguiling blue eyes. “Because I want to make sure I’ve got the real thing this time,” she whispered. “You never called, not once in seven nights. Not even a post card. I thought you just wanted me for sex.” Jade pulled back, resting her elbows on her knees. Iago captured a hand and kissed the palm. “I’m sorry, but I had to make it look good for Internal Affairs. Eric is young and stupid but doesn’t deserve to lose an entire career before it began. That, and your young friend who was as much a victim as those who died.” “You managed to save both of them?” Jade was stunned, impressed but still a 71

FOOL’S GOLD little jealous. “One golden tragic hero, at your command.” Iago tucked her open hand against his heart so she could feel the way his heart stumbled in his chest as he leaned in to kiss the line of her jaw, the sweep of a cheek before nibbling the underside of her full bottom lip. “Good as gold?” She wrapped her arms around his neck, reveling in his nearness, his scent going straight to her head and lower, but she had to ask, had to know. “The only fool here is me, Jade. I love you. Your spirit and fire in bed and out, nothing compares to you.” “Mmmm…good answer, Detective. You know I love you. What other woman would have gone through so much to save your ass?” she teased. When he made to sit innocently next to her on the couch she squawked. “What are you doing?” “You made a promise, no sex–one week remember?” He smiled and demurely folded his hands in his lap. “According to a former president, tasting isn’t sex.” Jade’s green eyes glowed with intent as she took a bite of cheesecake and buried her nose in his lap, tasting the long length of her man. Iago stiffened as the soft cool dessert was swirled around his rod by her hot, slick tongue. Her hands cupped him as she urged him harder with lips and tongue. When small drops of moisture beaded the soft head of his shaft, she deftly captured it on the end of her tongue, savoring the flavor. “Maybe you’re right,” she grinned, rubbing her face against the incredibly soft skin of his erection. “We should wait.” With a roar he scooped her up and headed for the bedroom, dessert and movie forgotten.

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Melissa Glisan

About the Author

Clutching a bowl of popcorn, wide-eyed and fixated on Chiller Theater and Terminal Stare at the age of five, Melissa knew that horror and cleavage were inexplicably bound, today she lives it. When she isn’t pecking at the keyboard she enjoys maintaining the family graveyard, swamp hikes and lurking in the hills of Southern Pennsylvania.

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