Through the Night Read online

  “Here she is,” Caleb said in that direct tone of his as both men stood to greet her. “There’s someone I want you to meet, Valerie. This is Chase Pierson, a close personal acquaintance of Steven Wilkes.”

  She’d already come to that conclusion after discovering the owner was the one to approve Pierson’s stay in the luxurious penthouse suite. She had no idea what all this had to do with her, but she was sure she’d find out soon. And then she was going to put as much distance between herself and Chase as possible because the man wreaked havoc with every one of her five senses.

  “Caleb was just telling me all kinds of good stuff about you,” he said with a playful wink as he stretched a hand toward her, an I dare you to touch me again glint in his eyes. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Nervous about what might happen if she came into skin-to-skin contact with him again, she couldn’t bring herself to touch him. “Chase and I already met down in the casino earlier,” she said in an attempt to disregard the need for a formal handshake. “He was quite lucky at the craps table.”

  Chase wasn’t about to let her off so easy, and kept his hand extended. “How about we consider this our official first meet?” he suggested, a devilish smile curving his lips.

  God, he was so damned determined, and he did it with such unabashed charm that if she ignored or refused his gesture, she’d come across as downright rude in front of Caleb—and he knew it, too. Praying that her earlier response to touching him was nothing more than a fluke, she took extra precautions and created a mental and physical block against the masculine energy emanating off him, then slipped her hand into his.

  Snap. Crackle. Pop. She heard the sound in her head, felt the electrical shock of his touch vibrate through her body. She’d tried, but there was no defending herself against the uncontrollable flash of heat that surged inside her or the way the air between them practically crackled with sexual tension. Illicit sensations sparked like wildfire in her veins, prickling her skin with goose bumps, while lust and desire merged and intensified, setting off a chain reaction of arousing quivers low and deep in her stomach.

  She sucked in a sharp breath before she could stop the sound from escaping and quickly pulled her hand from his grasp, which did little to break the bizarre spell this man seemed to have over her. He barged right past the defenses she’d erected, and that had never happened to her before. Her reaction to him was extremely unnerving, given that she was a psychic. However, the woman in her couldn’t help but find it all incredibly erotic and exciting.

  Knowing her gasp and the abruptness with which she’d ended the handshake hadn’t escaped Caleb’s shrewd gaze, Valerie went with the first thing that popped into her head. “Damn static electricity,” she muttered, rubbing her still-tingling palm against the fabric of her pants.

  Chase laughed, clearly amused with her excuse, and obviously not believing it for a second. “Yeah, there seems to be a lot of that going on today.”

  Caleb gave her an odd look, as if he was trying to figure out why she was behaving so strangely, then finally waved a hand at the chair beside her. “Have a seat, Valerie, and I’ll brief you on why you’re here.”

  Yes, she was definitely curious about that, especially since it appeared Chase was involved somehow, as well. They all sat down, and while Valerie kept her gaze focused on her boss, her awareness of the man reclining in his chair so casually next to her was as strong as ever.

  Thankfully, Caleb jumped right into business. “Chase is a treasure hunter, and Steven Wilkes has retained his services to recover a valuable historical item belonging to Al Capone.”

  Knowing that TRG and its members had no expertise in treasure hunting, she frowned in confusion. “Why is the Reliance Group involved?”

  “Actually, it’s not so much TRG’s services that are needed, but rather the gift you possess,” Caleb explained easily. “Steven has requested that you, specifically, assist Chase in acquiring this piece.”

  Valerie’s stomach fluttered at the thought of doing anything with this man. Just his mere presence next to her was throwing her off-kilter, and she couldn’t imagine what would happen if she were forced into close proximity with him. Well, yeah, she could imagine, and every single scenario that flitted through her mind was like an X-rated fantasy with him in the starring role.

  Her cheeks heated, and her entire body felt warm and flushed, even though the air-conditioning was on in the office. “What does my psychic gift have to do with finding an old antique?”

  “Steven is hoping that your talent, combined with Chase’s, will ultimately lead to the item that’s been elusive to Chase so far.”

  She finally glanced at Chase, met his too-seductive gaze, and raised a curious brow. “Your talent?” She had no doubt the man was an expert at many things, and she was dying to find out what this so-called skill of his was all about.

  His broad shoulders lifted in a casual shrug, while a slight gotcha smile made an appearance. “I have psychometric abilities.”

  Surprise rendered her momentarily speechless.

  Okay, she hadn’t seen that one coming. While she, as a clairvoyant, could touch a living being and see and feel things related to that person, Chase had the rare ability to hold an inanimate object in his hand and be able to read its history. They each possessed two separate, different psychic abilities, and depending on what they were searching for, their talents could complement each other.

  If it were anyone other than Chase, she would have jumped at the opportunity to be a part of something so fun and mysterious. Going on a hunt for treasure would be a nice change from the other cases she normally took on for TRG, which were darker, more emotionally draining, and usually dealt with shadier elements.

  But knowing just what kind of effect Chase had on her, she was reluctant to say yes. She took great care to keep people from getting too close because of her gift and a painful past that left her guarded, and yet he’d so easily ambushed her defenses and shaken her control.

  Yet there was no turning Caleb or his request down, because she didn’t think he’d appreciate or accept her explanation. I’m sorry, Caleb, but every time Chase touches me, I want to rip his clothes off and do wicked things with him.

  Oh, yeah, that would go over real well.

  Not.

  So, instead, she sucked up her own personal issues with Chase and put on a professional façade. “So, what does this job entail, and what, exactly, is this object we’ll be searching for?” Despite everything, she was intrigued.

  Before Caleb could reply, the BlackBerry sitting on the desk in front of him vibrated. He checked the message that came through, then cursed beneath his breath and abruptly stood. “I’m going to have to cut this meeting short. I’ve got a security problem down in the casino I need to take care of. I’ll let Chase fill you in on all the details, since this is essentially his deal, anyway. In fact, since it’s getting close to six, why don’t the two of you discuss everything over dinner?”

  “Great idea,” Chase said quickly and enthusiastically, not giving Valerie any say in the matter.

  Once Caleb was gone and she and Chase were alone, he glanced back at her, emitting too much male charm and confidence. “It looks like the two of us will be having that dinner after all, not to mention working together. Should make for an interesting few weeks, don’t you think?”

  Interesting was putting it mildly.

  With that knowing, sexy twinkle in his eyes, the man was nothing short of a rogue. While he seemed to look forward to their future interaction, she was wondering if she’d survive the sizzling attraction between them. Now that she’d learned of his psychometric abilities, she wondered if her fiery response to him was due to their combined psychic gifts, if the strong energy surrounding them was the reason why she was so super-sensitive to his touch.

  It was the only thing that made sense.

  Feeling restless and mentally unbalanced, she stood and took a few steps away from him. “Honestly, I know little
to nothing about antiques, so I’m not sure that I’ll be of much help to you.”

  He straightened from his chair, his expression suddenly serious. “I wouldn’t have agreed to take on a partner if I didn’t believe you’d be of some service, even before I knew who you were,” he said meaningfully, and in reference to their earlier run-in downstairs.

  He sounded so certain, and at this point she had to trust that both Caleb and Steven believed she’d make a difference to Chase’s quest for this unattainable antique. Which meant sharing a meal with Chase to get to know him, and the case, better.

  She checked her watch. “I guess I’ll go ahead and call the maître d’ at the hotel restaurant and reserve us a table for dinner.”

  He shook his head, drawing her gaze to the golden streaks in his tousled hair, the kind of natural highlights from time spent in the sun. “I’d rather we discuss everything in a private setting so there aren’t other people around to overhear our conversation. How about you come up to my suite say, about six thirty, and we’ll have dinner there and talk.”

  Where they’d be completely alone. She’d prefer an open, public area where she felt more in control of him and the situation, but he wasn’t offering her a choice, and that assertive attitude of his gave her a glimpse of yet another facet of his personality. The man was used to taking charge and probably didn’t hear the word no very often. Especially when it came to women.

  She tipped her head to the side and regarded him with a slight smile. “Do you always get what you want?”

  He looked initially surprised by her question, then laughed in a combination of amusement and sexy arrogance, the low, deep sound stroking across her skin like a silky caress. “Yeah, pretty much.”

  Dear Lord, that’s exactly what she was afraid of, because the heated look in his eyes clearly stated that he wanted her.

  Chapter Two

  Chase headed up to his suite at the Onyx, a smile on his lips and his mind completely occupied with the intriguing woman in Caleb’s office. The one who’d been assigned to assist him in acquiring what everyone believed to be nothing more than pieces of a walking cane Al Capone had custom designed, then had deliberately disassembled before being incarcerated for tax evasion back in the 1930s. Once the cane was restored to its original condition, it would be a unique piece of old-time gangster memorabilia for Steven’s extensive collection, just as the man wanted.

  But for Chase, that cane led to something far more priceless and valuable.

  When Steven Wilkes had recommended that Chase take on an assistant to help him with the search, he’d been annoyed by the suggestion that he couldn’t handle things on his own. As someone who went to great extremes to acquire rare, valuable antiquities, Chase didn’t play well with others, and he always worked solo.

  The fact of the matter was, he’d never needed a partner, not when his psychometric abilities usually led him to the object he coveted. Sometimes the discovery happened quickly and easily. Other times, like now, he had to work for it, which was fine with him. He enjoyed a good challenge, but this was the first time that the item in question remained just out of his reach.

  It was frustrating as hell, and the truth was, Chase needed a break of some kind, because every road he’d traveled down thus far resulted in a dead end, and he still had no other components to go with the top ivory piece of the cane he’d discovered, quite by accident, at an estate auction six months ago. He might possess the awesome ability to read tangible objects, but if he didn’t have something authentic to lead him to what he was searching for, then he was shit out of luck.

  That summed up his current position.

  But his situation wasn’t all bad, considering whom he’d be spending time with for the next few weeks, Chase thought as he let himself into the over-the-top opulent penthouse suite he’d been given for his stay in Vegas. Seeing Valerie walk into Caleb’s office and finding out she was his assistant had made the prospect of having a sidekick more tolerable and oh-so appealing. He was a guy who had no set rules against mixing business with pleasure. Hell, he was a rule-breaker to the extreme and lived by the motto that life was too short, and if it felt good, do it—and often.

  And touching Valerie felt good. Really good.

  These days, not many things took Chase by surprise, but he was still a little taken aback by the surge of heat and lust that accompanied both their handshakes. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so instantly and overwhelmingly attracted to a woman. He’d forgotten how exciting it felt to be so enticed and tempted. How fun it was to have to work to get a lady’s attention beyond the normal flirtatious grin and charming conversation. How much he loved the thrill of the chase because it made the surrender that much hotter.

  He’d never lacked for female companionship or offers of no-strings-attached sex—like the redhead earlier at the craps table who’d made it clear with her actions and words that she was more than willing to spend an evening in his bed—but his interaction with that other woman had been too easy. Too trite. Too predictable. And no challenge whatsoever.

  Valerie provided that sexual stimulation he’d been missing for a while now, both mentally and physically, and there was no doubt in his mind that the awareness was reciprocated. He’d seen the flash of desire in her eyes, had felt the wild beat of her pulse beneath his fingers when his hand clasped hers, along with something more. So why not let their attraction take its natural course and see where it led?

  He supposed their joined psychic abilities were partly responsible for heightening the sensual vibes between them, but he’d also been blown away on a gut level as well. He didn’t know the complexities of how psychometry meshed with other extrasensory perceptions, but there was no denying that this thing with Valerie was different from anything else he’d ever experienced with a woman.

  Everything about Valerie fascinated him, even if he couldn’t come up with a logical rationale to justify their strong visceral connection. Then again, he’d long ago stopped dissecting his gift and trying to find a scientific reason to explain how a lightning strike had been the catalyst for his unusual talent of reading historical objects.

  As his wise old grandfather had once told him, sometimes there were no clear and easy answers to life’s mysteries, and you just had to accept the unexplained. Unfortunately, his family didn’t feel the same way. His parents, brother, and sister had long ago disowned him because they believed he made a living as a charlatan, and someone who preyed on others’ misfortunes.

  There was no convincing his close-minded and judgmental family otherwise. He’d tried, only to have his father issue him an ultimatum to get a respectable job. But Chase wasn’t cut out to be a doctor or lawyer, as his parents expected, and by saying no to his father’s demands, he’d found himself essentially written off as their son.

  It was just another painful reminder of how he’d always been the black sheep, and never really fit into the Pierson family dynamic. Instead of his parents accepting him for who he was, they’d turned their backs on him without ever trying to understand what had happened to him the day he was struck by lightning.

  He hadn’t asked to become psychic as a result of that accident, and he would gladly have traded all the wealth he’d amassed in the years since he discovered his talent if only he could go back in time, change the events of the past, and save his childhood best friend. Doug’s death on that very same day would haunt Chase for the rest of his life—especially since it should have been him who died that fateful day.

  While some people turned to alcohol or drugs to cope and numb the pain of that kind of loss, for Chase, it was all about going on high-risk adventures and the surge of adrenaline that pumped through his blood when he faced the possibility of danger head-on. It was the only thing that made him feel alive and allowed him to forget the past for a while, and eased the pain of survivor’s guilt.

  But no matter what wild and reckless activity he indulged in, once the exhilaration ebbed, there was no escaping the
deeper level of anguish and regret that weighed so heavily on his conscience. Despite his fun and exciting profession, he was always aware that something more meaningful and significant was missing from his life. Chase was hopeful that maybe, just maybe, this elusive treasure of Capone’s would finally fill that empty void deep inside his soul, and allow him the contentment he’d been searching years for.

  With a little over a half hour until Valerie arrived at his suite, he fired up his laptop and pulled up his notes on the missing pieces of Capone’s cane. He knew every written detail by heart, but he reread them anyway, always hoping he’d come across some subtle clue he’d missed somewhere along the way that would give him the aha moment he was looking for. But again, nothing new came to light, confirming that he’d well and truly exhausted all his own personal connections.

  Which made Valerie’s presence on this case all the more necessary, he admitted grudgingly.

  Releasing a heavy sigh, he closed the document and checked his e-mail. A message came through from Tony Angeletti, Steven’s newly hired curator, who was managing Steven’s extensive collection of mobster memorabilia and was in the process of getting the pieces logged and ready for an upcoming exhibit at the Onyx. Tony seemed just as excited as Steven was to be able to display Capone’s cane in its entirety, and had been Chase’s main contact over the past month.

  As Chase had requested, the e-mail contained hotel reservations and flight times for his trip to San Francisco the following afternoon—his and Valerie’s first stop to reassess the information he’d discovered through his own personal investigation and see where it led, based on Valerie’s intuition.

  At 6:30 sharp, a knock sounded on the penthouse door. He shut down his computer and walked across the marbled entryway just as she knocked a second time.

  As soon as he opened the door to greet Valerie, that inexplicable pulse of awareness they shared hit him like a blast of sexual heat and spiraled right to his groin. Her eyes widened ever so slightly, and he knew she’d felt that strange electrical charge on her end, too.