Unleashed Read Free Page B

flush, but she still didn’t give him an answer.
    The woman was a private investigator, a specialist in digging into other people’s business. That she was so guarded and protective of her own privacy made excellent fodder for him to tease her.
    â€œFine, keep your secrets.” Sobering, he sighed. “At least tell me who’s hired you this time. Perhaps I can help.”
    Her work was how they’d met in the first place. Someone had hired her to ferret out information about a colleague of his, and her meddling had brought her to his attention. He’d developed a soft spot for his fox and had occasionally fed her intel to assist in her investigations. It behooved her to tell him what he wanted to know.
    Hesitating for a long moment, she shrugged and capitulated. “Who hired me isn’t important. Who I’m looking for is. Do you know Felicia Tamryn?”
    â€œTam? Yes, I know her.” A grifter of the first order. She was a cheetah-shifter who could make a man fall in love with her with a single glance . . . and rob him blind before he could blink.
    Gea’s brown eyes locked on him. “Have you seen her?”
    â€œNot recently.” He frowned, groping through his memory to find the last one he had of Tam. “Not for a few months, at least, but we don’t always move in the same circles.”
    Gea hummed in her throat. “If you happen to see her, don’t tell her I’m looking. Or that anyone might want to find her.”
    He chuckled. “Scared she’ll outrun you?”
    â€œShe is a cheetah.”
    â€œTouché.” His chuckle turned into a laugh, and he wrapped an arm around his stomach. For some reason, the thought of his little fox trying to run down a big cat amused him to no end.
    â€œShe might be fast, but that doesn’t mean I can’t catch her.” Huffing, she picked up a pillow and threw it at his head. “I’m leaving now.”
    Getting his laughter under control, he couldn’t resist a last dig. “It was lovely seeing you again, dearheart. Do come again. And I’ll make you come again. And again.”
    Her body stiffened, but heated awareness flashed in her gaze. She crossed her arms to cover hardened nipples that thrust against her shirt. “Good-bye, Quill.”
    He grinned and shook his head as she darted out the door, but any desire to linger in bed went with her. Rising, he moved to the window and pushed aside the curtain. From here, he could see the gleam of her pale hair under the streetlights until she pulled a black cap on and was engulfed by the darkness of the Vermilion.
    Forcing himself to look away, he glanced out over the rest of the city. New Chicago at night was all towering mercurite skyrises and glittering lights. The Lakeshore District and downtown had been built over the rubble of the old city after urban riots had destroyed everything in the last great war. As close as it was in kilometers, that gleaming elegance was a world away from where he grew up in the Vermilion.
    Now he was somewhere in between those worlds. His headquarters were right on the edge of the Vermilion, far enough away that his legitimate business associates felt safe coming here, close enough that his seedier contacts didn’t have to stray far from their own territory. It had worked out well for him, and he liked that his penthouse flat took up the entire top floor of the building. Work was always close by if he needed to take care of something, but he could lock himself away if he required some peace.
    While he was glad to have clawed his way out of the gutter, a part of him would always belong in the Vermilion. It was in his attitude toward business, cutthroat and unapologetic. He’d use whatever advantages he could to ensure he was never at anyone’s mercy again. Now he had the power, and he’d do whatever it took to keep it and ensure his fortune thrived.
    He shook himself out of his reverie