Chapter Eleven

“Should we really have left them alone?” Pepper held fast to Finn’s hand as he took the lead. She thought they’d head into the casino, but he’d bypassed all of it and they walked out the front doors. Las Vegas at sundown came to life with all the flashing lights burning neon to chase off the gathering gloom.

“I’d be more worried about the demon. Your stage manager is more powerful than you give her credit for.” Finn guided her around the thickening crowds as hundreds transitioned from one casino or show to another. The coolness that came with evening brought out the masses.

“I followed some of the conversation the two of you were having.” They had spoken in circles, never quite touching on what they really meant, yet they seemed to speak the same language.

“Did you?” He nodded, and turned down a side street away from the strip.

“Where are we going?”

“Some place quiet and—” a car glided up next to them, “—to meet the car.”

The black limousine was sleek and expensive, but if Finn really was over two hundred years old, money probably wasn’t an issue. The driver slipped out of the front and walked around to greet them. Finn made a point of shaking his hand. He did those little things, like touching her inside the theatre.

“Where can I take you, sir?”

“A long drive would be nice.” Finn opened the door and motioned Pepper inside.

She hesitated and covered his hand on the handle. “We’re not running, right? You’re not whisking me away to the airport to make some daring escape?”

Surprise rippled across his face. “No. Though under other circumstances, I would think that the best idea. I’m simply taking you away from the casino because I have to think and I need you to be out of casino’s reach for a bit.”

Trusting the answer, if not the man, she slid across the soft leather seat. Finn slid in next to her and the driver pulled away from the curb. The privacy window remained closed and they were alone, boxed in silence.

It soon became apparent that Finn meant he needed to think quietly, instead of discussing things with her. “What did he want?” she asked.

“What did who want?”

“The demon. You said he possessed me. I don’t remember the slot machines or the game we played, and I went from the elevator to the theatre in the blink of an eye. So the only reason to possess me was to talk to you. What did he want?” As creepy as the idea of a demon walking around in her body was, she needed to know. Everyone had been hell bent on making decisions about her life lately. She was a game piece in play and she didn’t care for it at all.

“He offered me a proposal—a way to remove my mother’s spell and perhaps do you some good at the same time. But it’s a sketchy idea at best and no doubt it has more to do with what he wants than what I do.”

Pepper shifted to sit sideways. “One, my situation is easily resolvable. I return to my position as a dancer. Two, do you really want to remove what your mother did to you. Doesn’t it keep you alive? Three, making decisions for me without involving me is the fastest way to get a smack in the head.”

He blinked, a startled look appearing in his expression. “I wasn’t making decisions for you.”

“No? That’s why you hustled me out of there without asking if I wanted to go. It’s why you discussed me with Heidi as though it’s your decision what happens to me. And it’s why you’re even now sitting here turning circles in your mind over what to do about me.” Folding her arms, she waited for his defense.

Finn frowned. “All right, guilty as charged. But I want to help you. Is that a crime?” 

“No. But you should make sure I want help before you start scheming. You came to Las Vegas to deal with your mother, but you don’t seem to want to do that. Instead, you’ve focused almost exclusively on me. Why is that?” Three sizzling kisses were hardly the stuff relationships were made of, but she could fall in love with him far too easily. But not if he were a bully. She refused to fall for a bully.

He studied her. “Didn’t you tell me you wanted a chance to have a life if it existed?” 

“Of course. Who doesn’t want a chance to do whatever they want? But I already have that choice. I can leave and see the outside world, and maybe hold off a miserable death for several months with the tea or I can just go back to the theatre—neither of which requires you to do anything at all.” Maybe she was being unfair, but she was hardly some helpless damsel in distress.

“Fair enough. I despise both of your choices. I’d like to volunteer a third option, if you don’t mind.” Snark punctuated his solicitous tone. “Assuming you’re not too attached to the idea of death or being a showgirl forever.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being a showgirl.” But her outrage couldn’t hold up against his bland look and she laughed. “All right, thirty years of it might be enough. What is your third option?”

“Allowing you a happy, healthy and long life to explore everything else out there. I don’t know if it’s possible, but your stage manager seemed to think I had the solution.”

“You sound so dispassionate about it.”

“Do I?” Finn shrugged. “Very little in life excites me, Pepper. It hasn’t for a long time. But you do. So can we stop arguing about what I should or shouldn’t do and figure out what the solution is?”

“She said you didn’t need answers. You needed power.”

He stiffened and stared at her. “Power.”

“That’s what the demon wanted, what your mother gave you. The power?” Nausea swam in her stomach—whether from her disease or the situation, she had no idea.

“In a manner of speaking.” Finn wasn’t looking at her now. His attention seemed somewhere in the distance. “He wanted me to remove the protections on the Midnight Mystery Lounge, and leave the casino intact.”

“What?” Pepper grabbed his arm. “You can’t do that. It could hurt the girls, the spells holding their curses together. It could hurt Heidi.”

“I think that’s the point. I think that is exactly why he went to all the trouble of getting me here. He wants to get at your stage manager. You’re the leverage he needs to get us both to do what he wants.” Finn shook his head.

“Promise me that no matter what happens, that’s not an option.”

“I can’t promise that.”

“If you don’t, I’ll go back tonight and ask Heidi for my curse and we’re done.” It wasn’t an idle threat. This wasn’t some drawing room drama where plots and schemes needed to be played all the way out. If Finn destroyed the lounge, he would hurt or destroy everyone she cared about…

To dream it? Costs nothing. To achieve it? Maybe everything.

“She knows,” Pepper whispered, horrified. “She knows what that demon wants you to do. She asked me about whether I really wanted a life outside, that to achieve it could cost me everything I value.”

“And to heal you requires power. Connor wants the power in the lounge drained. He doesn’t care what I do with it. But with it, I’d have what you need to be free. That much power could cure anything.”

It didn’t make sense. “I thought they—the Overseers—controlled everything. Why does he need you to take the power from the lounge?”

“Because he doesn’t control everything.” Finn seemed to smile, but it was a humorless, dour expression. “He doesn’t control her. That’s what he needs from me.” 

“No.” Pepper shook her head. “Absolutely not. Never. Ever. No. Not like this.” She leaned forward and knocked on the privacy glass and waited for it to open. “Return us to the Arcana Royale please.”

The driver didn’t respond immediately.

“Take us back,” Finn confirmed and the driver nodded, closing the glass again. “Pepper…”

“No. Forget it. It’s not an option.”

He said nothing, the silence stretching across her nerves like a rash.

“Finn, I’m serious. We’re having fun and I like you, but this isn’t an option.” Her heart beat faster. He wouldn’t do it without her knowledge, would he? Why wouldn’t he? It’s not like I know him. I should have told Heidi no from the beginning.

Finn leaned back in the seat. “Are we really having fun driving in circles in a limo? I’d rather be at Disney World.”

“Don’t change the subject.” She rounded on him. Why wouldn’t he take her seriously?

“No?”

“No,” she repeated.

“Okay. If you don’t want to change the subject, let’s change the activity.” He slid a hand around the back of her neck and dragged her toward him. She balled up her fists against his chest intending to shove him away, but the moment their lips touched, her resistance melted.

Damn the man could kiss.

What an effective way to end an argument. Every time Pepper opened her mouth to rebuke him, he kissed her. He kissed her in the car. He kissed her in the lobby. She was so flustered, he managed to get her into the elevator and made her forget her intentions to march back into the lounge. Chances were good that Connor was still there dancing whatever dance he and the witch Heidi had going on. Better to keep Pepper a safe distance from all of it.

He walked her back to the room and paused at his door. “I still owe you a dinner. Room service can bring us up a lovely picnic.”

“Hmm.” Her eyes sparkled against the flush of her cheeks. “You’re sneaky.”

Finn laughed. “Maybe. But I don’t want you to be alone tonight. Nothing will happen unless you want it too.” He’d proven that when she’d asked him to stop that morning. He sure as hell hadn’t wanted to, but he’d managed. He’d manage tonight if he had to. The room had two queen size beds in it. She could have one and he would sleep in the other.

“Finn…”

“Just say yes or I’ll kiss you until you do.” He leaned toward her and her eyes widened. She stopped him with a hand against his chest.

“You like to win, don’t you?”

“Only when it’s important.”

“So, I’m important?” She challenged him, but she didn’t make any move to walk away. He opened the door and held it open. She curled her fingers against his chest, he held steady against the caress. With a coquettish smile, she walked inside.

He closed the door behind them and walked a circuit around the room. No traces of magic or spell work could be seen or felt. Pepper walked over to the table by the windows and didn’t bother to hide her amusement at his explorations.

“You look like you’re checking the place for dust bunnies,” said Pepper.

“Magic dust bunnies,” Finn corrected.

“You haven’t answered my question. I’m important?”

“I thought my actions spoke for themselves.” He grabbed the menu off the dresser next to the dark television and sat on the bed. Joining her at the table would be preferable, but that was exactly why he didn’t join her. “What do you fancy?”

“Finn, you’re avoiding the question. We’ve only just met and barely know each other. What am I to you? For thirty years, I’ve woken up each evening and painted on whatever glitter and feathers were needed for the night. I wear thirty-pound headpieces. And I’ve danced nude. You don’t know me, so what am I to you?” Pepper crossed one leg over the other, her mutinous expression daring him to be outraged.

He flipped the menu open, ignoring the growing stiffness of his cock at the idea of her nude on stage. “Sorry I missed it.” The erotic image played havoc with his concentration. Pretending interest in the menu, he enjoyed the way her mouth fell open and she gawked at him. “Would you care for pizza? You seem to like junk food.”

She pouted at having her question side-stepped yet again. “Spinach and mushroom with white sauce, not red.” 

Suppressing another smile, he reached for the phone and called in their order. Pepper drummed her fingers against her knee, glaring at him the whole time. He dragged the order out adding drinks and desert, amused by her impatience.

“What kind of game are you playing, Finn?”

“It’s not a game.” He flipped the menu closed and clasped his hands together. “Pepper, I’ve lived for over two hundred years, but I’ve never been more alive than I have been in the last three days. So yes, you are important to me. I want you to have a chance to live. Really live. And if my mother’s curse can cure you somehow, I’m all for it.”

“You don’t know if it can or what it would do to you if it did. And I won’t sacrifice my friends or Heidi. I can’t. She gave me a life when I had none. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t even be here to know you. So if what you’re saying is true, then you owe her too.” She slipped off the chair and knelt at his feet. “I’ll beg if I have to.”

Taking hold of her arms, he stood and pulled her to her feet. “You don’t have to beg, you just have to be patient and let me figure this out. The demon you saw wants something from me. Whatever battle is being played out between him and Heidi, they’ve put you right in the middle of it. She knows it. Now we know it. She’s given us permission to act if I can’t figure out another way, but for now? Give me some time to think.” This close, he inhaled the heady scent of her perfume. Cherry blossoms, vanilla and a hint of some other exotic spice. Warm, alive and so damn sweet. “You should sit back down.”

“I like you.” No artifice colored her words.

“I like you too.” He glided his hands up and down her arms, mostly to keep them busy. “If you want to argue some more, I could kiss you again.”

“I don’t want to argue.” She sighed. “I want to treat tonight like it’s the last one we might be together because you never know. It just might—”

He fastened his mouth to hers in a slow kiss and drank in the flavor of her. She went soft and silky in his arms and he pulled her close, careful not to crush her. The ever present air of fragility heightened every time he touched her.

Two hundred years of living had hardly prepared him for the moment his heart would stop. But it would for this woman and it savaged him every time she mentioned dying or going back to the curse as if discussing the weather. He wanted her to have a future. She deserved a future.

Gods help him, he wanted to be a part of her future.

Nuzzling kisses along her jaw to her ear, he murmured, “Will you ask me to stop this time?”

Looping her arms around his neck, she threaded her fingers through his hair and dragged his mouth back to hers. “No. I don’t want you to stop this time.”

Music to his ears.