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"Deal," he said
The key got theate, and then they were on St Philip Street
Ryder turned to Caitlin and presented her with the key with a ain and then snatched it fro froris pouch, a voodoo char to the enticing cleft between her breasts First the key and then ht, and felt himself stir in anticipation
She suddenly blushed as if she’d read his thoughts Before she could turn away, he grabbed her hand and felt her pull back from him--but just a little "Noe talk, that’s the deal How about Maguire’s?" he said, hoping the tavern was still there
She looked startled "It hasn’t been Maguire’s for almost a hundred years It’s called the Mississippi River Bottom, now…" She frowned "How did you know…?" Then she stopped, and after a moment she nodded warily
The tavern had two entrances--one on the street and one off the side courtyard Ryder ates to the courtyard automatically; that had been the main door when last he’d visited the place
He looked around curiously There were neon bar signs hung on the brick, but the building was still the sarew out of an ancient brick planter, though bigger now than ever
"Hasn’t changed," he said aloud, approvingly
"Since when?" she asked, watching hihty-four, it was"
Caitlin looked at him, jolted Shapeshifters weren’t ih the astral it arrested the aging process, so a shifter as able to shift often, providing he was able to stay out of other kinds of trouble, could live a long, long life
If Mallory was telling the truth--always a big "if" when you were dealing with a shifter--he was very good and had been around for a very long ti
He was still lost in reverie "This used to be a brothel, you knoeet little thing naed herself from that tree when her sailor man came back in a coffin"
Another jolt Caitlin knew that story--it was a staple of the local ghost tours But Ryder actually sounded as if he’d known her…
"Soy froot to finish, because he turned to her and said, "Let’s find out," just before he pulled her toward hih her instantly, from her lips to the very core of her; she felt she’d just burst into flah, she didn’t knohich--and his tongue was inside her ing, sliding so deep that she lost her balance He caught her, lifted her up and set her on the loall around the tree, bending her backward so he could crush her ainst the trunk, and he was stepping between her legs, pulling her hips forward against his, as he kissed her, deep and slow and hot, cupping her breasts in his hands Her nipples strained through her dress against his palms, and now he , sucking, until she lost her breath and turned to jelly inside Her legs rapped around his thighs, and the huge bulge of his arousal was rubbing against her She heard herself e, tongued her nipples through the thin cotton fabric, and she could feel hih their clothes
Someone spoke harshly somewhere near them, a deep, htly back fro
She heard her own name, and she looked past Ryder into the dark of the courtyard, too dazed to recognize hier
Caitlin felt a sharp jolt of dismay She was beyond flustered What had he seen? They’d been practically doing it against the tree She slipped fros were so shaky that they barely held her up; her
Beside her, Ryder seemed completely unperturbed, even relaxed "I believe it’s the Vaer took a sharp step forward and pulled Caitlin to his side "Are you all right?" he demanded Caitlin nodded, er "Do you realize you just left a crime scene?"
"You know very well if we’d stayed it would have beenrun," Ryder said cal aware that the two of the like old--well, not friends, but old ene
"That’s what you call watching out for her?" Jagger saidat the tree