Chapter 3

ok so i know its been a while.. ive been threw hell and back.. so bare with me.. sooo im gonna attempt to give u guys a chapter once a day or atleatst once every other day..
ENJOY BARBZ... and of course leave feedback!!





It was one in the morning when Nicki dragged herself down the hallway to her apartment. She’d spent the best part of two hours answering questions, giving her statement to the police and avoiding reporters. Even through the fatigue was a nagging annoyance for the man called Nemesis.
Technically he saved her life again. If she’d been standing within ten feet of the antique shop when the bomb had gone off. She would certainly have met a nasty death.
Added to that was the fact he had shown in the short conversation they’d had, that he held no respect for her profession or her judgment.
“ you look like you had a rough night.”
Keys in had Nicki turned. Her across the hall neighbor, Mrs. Oxford, was standing in her open doorway, peering out through a pair of cherry red framed glasses.
“Mrs. Oxford, what are you doing up?”
“just finished watching David Letterman. That boy cracks me up.” at sixty-five, with a comfortable pension, lil Oxford kept her own hours and did as she pleased.
“ you look like you could use a drink.”
Nicki was about to refuse, when she realized a drink is what she needed. She smiled, dropped her keys in her pocket and crossed the hall.
“make it a double.”
“already got the hot water on. You just sit down and kick off your shoes.” Mrs. Oxford patted her hand then scurried off to the kitchen
“here you are.” she sat the drinks down. “ now what trouble have you been getting yourself into?”
“ it shows?”
Mrs. Oxford took a sip of her whiskey laced tea. “ your suit’s a mess” she leaned closer and took a sniff. “ smells like smoke. Got a smudge on your cheek, a run in you stocking and fire in your eyes. From the look of them, there’s got to be a man involved.”
“ the police department could use you. Mrs. Oxford.” nicki sipped her tea. “ I was doing a little leg work. The building I was checking out blew up.”
The lively interest in Mrs. Oxford’s eyes turned instantly to concern. “you’re not hurt?”
“ no. few bruises.” I  guess my ego suffered a little. I ran into the Nemesis.” Nicki hadn’t mentioned her first encounter, because he was painfully aware of her neighbor’s passionate admiration for the man in black.
Behind the thick frames, Mrs. Oxford’s eyes bulged. “ you actually saw him?”
“ I saw him, spoke to him and ended up being tossed to the concrete by him just before the building blew up.”
“ god.” Lil pressed a hand to her heart. “ that’s even more romantic than when I met Mr. Oxford at the pentagon rally.”
“it had nothing to do with romance. The man is impossible, very likely a maniac and certainly dangerous.”
“he’s a hero.” Mrs. Oxford shook a finger at Nicki. “ you haven’t learned to recognize heroes yet. that’s because we don’t have enough of them today.” she crossed her feet and grinned up at Nicki. “ so what does he look like?”
“ I cant really say what he looks like. It was dark and most of his face was masked.”
“ like zorro?” Mrs. Oxford said hopefully.
“ no well, I don’t know. Maybe.” she gave a little sigh and decided to indulge her neighbor. “ he’s six-one or six-two, I suppose, lean but well built.”
“what color is his hair?”
“it was covered. I could see his jaw line.” strong, tensed. “ and his mouth.” it had hovered for one long, exciting moment over hers. “ nothing special,” she said quickly, and gulped more tea.
“hmmmm.” Mrs. Oxford had her own ideas. She’d been married and widowed twice, and in between had enjoyed what she considered her fair share of affairs and romantic entanglements. She recognized the signs. “ his eyes? You can always tell the make of a man by his eyes. Though I’d rather look at his ass.”
Nicki chuckled. “ dark.”
“ dark what?”
“just dark. He keeps to the shadows.”
“slipping through the shadows to root out evil and protect the innocent. What’s more romantic than that?”
“he’s going against the system.”
“my point exactly, it doesn’t get bucked enough.”
“ im not saying he hasn’t helped a few people, but we have trained law enforcements for that.” she frowned into her mug. There hadn’t been any police around when she needed help. “ he doesn’t have any respect for the law.”
“ I think you’re wrong. I think he has great respect for it. He just interprets it differently than you do.” she patted Nicki’s hand. “ you’re a good girl, Nicki, a smart one but you’ve trained yourself to walk down a very narrow path. You should remember that this country was founded on rebellion. We need rebels, just as we need heroes. It would be a dull and sad world without them.”
“maybe.” though she was far from convinced. “ but we also need rules.”
“ oh, yes.” Mrs. Oxford grinned. “ we need rules. How else could we break them?”





Aubrey kept his eyes closed as his driver guided the limo across town. Through the night after the explosion and the day that followed, he had thought of a dozen reasons why he should cancel his date with Nicki Maraj.
They were all very practical, very logical, very sane reasons but he needed her.
She was interfering with his work, both day and night. Since the moment he had seen her, he hadn’t been able to think of anyone else.
She was a danger to him. He knew it, understood it and seemed unable to avoid it. Even after their encounter the night before when she had come within a hair’s breadth of making him lose control- of his temper and his desire- he wasn’t able to shove her out of his mind. To go on seeing her was to go on deceiving her. And himself.
But when the car pulled to the curb in front of her building. He got out, walked into the lobby and took the elevator up to her floor.
When Nicki heard the knock, she stopped pacing the living room. For the past twenty minutes she’d been asking herself why she had agreed to go out with a man she barely knew. She’d fallen for his charm, she admitted, that smooth careless charm with the hint of underlying danger.
The easy flattery he was so used to dispensing lodged in his throat. “you’re prompt” he managed.
“always.” she smiled at him. “ its like a disorder.” she closed the door behind her without inviting him in. it seemed safer that way.
A few moments later, she settled in the back of his limo and vowed to enjoy herself. “ do you always travel this way?”
“no, just when it seems more convenient.”
Unable to resist , she slipped off her shoes and let her feet sink into the carpet. “ I would. No hassling for cabs or scurrying to the subway.”
“but you miss a lot of life on, and under the streets.”
She turned to him. In his dark suit he looked elegant and successful.
“you’re not going to tell me you ride the subway.”
He only smiled. “ when it seems most convenient. You don’t believe money should be used as an insulator against reality?”
“no, no I don’t.” but she was surprised he didn’t. “ actually, I’ve never had enough to be tempted to try it.”
“you wouldn’t be.” he contented himself, or tried, by toying with the end of her hair. “ you could have gone into private practice with a dozen top firms but you didn’t.”
She shrugged it off. “ don’t think there aren’t moments when I question my own sanity.” she glanced out the window. “ where are we going?”
“ to dinner.”
“I’m relieved to hear that since I missed lunch. I meant where.”
“ here.” he took her hand as the limo stopped.
Nicki stifled a gasp as she stepped onto the curb, she had seen pictures of his home. But it was entirely different when you see it in person. It took up the whole block.
Gothic style. She’d read somewhere that Drake had purchased it before he’d been released from the hospital.
Towers rose up into the sky. High windows gleamed with the sun that was lowering slowly in the west. Terraces jutted out. The top story was dominated by a huge curving glass where one could stand and look out over the entire city.
“ I see you take the notion that man’s home is his castle literally.”
“I like the space, and privacy.”
 With a laugh she walked up to the carved doors at the entrance.
“ would you like a tour before we eat?”
“are you kidding?” she hooked her arm through his. “ where do we start?”
He took her floor by floor showcasing the whole castle
“its like something out of a movie,” she murmured.
“ I feel as thought should be wearing a hooped skirt and a powdered wig.”
“no.” he touched her hair again. “ I think it suits you just fine as it is.”
With a shake of her head she stepped further inside, then went with impulse and turned three quick circles.
“ its incredible, really. don’t you ever get the urge to dance in this room?”
“not until now.” surprising himself as much as her, he caught her around the waist and spun her into a waltz. Her hand lay on his shoulder, her other caught firmly in his. Their steps matched, though she gave no thought to them.
Where his hand gripped her waist, the silk was warm from her body. Her hair ran down her back making him ache to let his hand dive into it. Her scent as so tempting. He wondered if he would taste it if he pressed his lips to the long column of her throat.
She saw the change in his eyes, the deepening, the darkening of them as desire grew. As her steps matched his, so did her need. She leaned toward him wondering.
He stopped. For a moment they stood. A man and a woman caught in an embrace, on a brink of something neither of them understood.
“ I.. my head is spinning.”
Very slowly his hand slipped away from her waist and the embrace was broken. “ then I’d better feed you.”
“yes.” she nearly managed a smile. “ you’d better.”
They dined on sautéed shrimp flavored with orange and rosemary. Though he’d shown her the enormous dining room with its heavy mahogany servers and sideboards. They took their dinner to a small table by a curved window. between sips of champagne, they could watch the sunset over the city. On the table, between the, were two slender white candles and a single red rose.
“its beautiful here,” she commented. “ the city. You can see all its possible, and none of its problems.”
“sometimes it helps to take a step back.” he stared out the city himself, then turned away dismissing it. “ or else those problems could eat you alive.”
“but you’re still aware of them. I know you donate a lot of money to the homeless and rehabilitation centers, and other charities.”
“its easy to give money away when you have more than you need.”
“that sounds cynical.”
“ realistic.” his smile was cool and easy. “ I’m a business man, Nicki. Donations are tax deductible.”
She frowned, studying him. “ it’s a pity, I think if people were only generous when it benefited them.”
“now you sound like an idealist.”
She tapped her finger against the champagne glass. “ that’s the second time in a matter of days you accused me of that. I don’t think I like it.”
“it wasn’t meant as an insult, just an observation.”
He glanced up when Mark came in with dessert. “ we wont need anything else tonight.”
The big man shrugged. “ okay.”
Nicki noted that Mark moved with a certain grace about him. Thoughtfully she dipped her spoon into her chocolate dessert. “ is he your driver or your butler?” she asked.
“both. And neither.” he topped off her wine. “ you might say he’s an associate from a former life.”
Curious, she lifted a brow. “ which means?”
“he was a pick pocket I arrested a time or two when I was a cop. Then he was a snitch. Now…. He drives my car and answers my door, among other things.”
“its hard to imagine you working the streets.”
“ yes I suppose it is.”
“how long were you a cop?”
“one night too long,” he said flatly, then reached for her hand. “ would you like to see the roof?”
“yes I would.”
Rather than the stairs, he took her up in a small smoked glass elevator. “ all the comforts,” she said. “ im surprised the place doesn’t come equipped with a dungeon and secret passageways.”
“oh, but it does. Perhaps I’ll show you…another time.”
Another time, she thought. Did she want there to be another time? It had definitely been a fascinating evening
“what are you thinking?”
She decided it was best to be perfectly honest. “ I was wondering who you were, and if I wanted to stick around long enough to find out.”
The doors to the elevator whispered open, but he stayed where he was. “ and do you?”
“I’m not sure,” she stepped out. With a sound of surprise and pleasure, she moved toward the curve of the glass.
“its spectacular.” she turned to him smiling. “ just beautiful.”
“it gets better.” he pushed a button on the wall. Silently, magically, the curved glass parted. Taking her hand, he led her onto the stone terrace beyond.
Setting her palms on the stone railing, she leaned out into the hot wind that stirred the air.
“ at dawn, when its clear, the buildings are pearly gray and rose. And the sun turns the glass into fire.”
She looked at him and the city he faced. “ is that why you bought the house, for the view?”
“ I grew up a few blocks from here. Whenever we walked in the park, my aunt would always point it out to me. She loved this house. When I came back and learned they were gone… I began to think about this house. It seemed right that I take it, live in it.”
She laid a hand over his on the rail. “ there is nothing more difficult, is there, than to lose people you love and need.”
“no.” when he looked at her, he saw that her eyes were dark with her own memories and with sympathy for his. He brought a hand to her face, skimming back her hair with his fingers, molding her jaw line with his palm. Her hand flattered up to light on his wrist and trembled. Her voice was just as unsteady.
“I should go.”
“yes, you should,” but he kept his hand on her face, his eyes on hers as he shifted to trap her body between his and the stone railing. His free hand slid gently up her throat until her face was framed. “ have you ever been compelled to take a step that you knew was a mistake? You knew, but you couldn’t stop.”
“I….no. no, I don’t like to make mistakes.” but she already knew she was about to make one.
His palm was warm against her skin. His eyes were dark so intense. For a moment she blinked, assaulted by a powerful sense of déjà vu. But she’d never been here before, she assured herself as he skimmed him thumb over her jaw line.
“neither do I.”
She moaned and shut her eyes, but he only brushed his lips over her brow. The light whisper of contact sent a reaction through her. In the hot night she shuddered while his mouth moved gently over her temple.
“I want you.” his voice was rough and tense as his fingers tightened in her hair. “ I can barely breathe from wanting you. You’re my mistake, Nicki. The one I never thought I would make.”
His mouth came down on hers, hard and hungry, with none of the teasing seduction she had expected and told herself she would have resisted. This was the reckless and dangerous man she had caught only a glimpse of.
He frightened her. He fascinated her. He seduced her. With no hesitation, no caution, no thought, she responded, meeting power after power and need after need. She didn’t feel the rough stone against her back, only the hard length of him as his body pressed against hers.
With a groan of pleasure she pulled him closer until she could feel his heart thudding against hers.
She was more than he had dreamed of. Her mouth was heated, demanding. Her hands slid under his jacket, fingers flexing even as her head fell back in a taunting surrender that drove him mad.
A pulse hammered in her throat, enticing him to press his lips there and explore the new texture, the new flavor, before he brought his mouth back to hers. With teeth he nipped, with tongue he soothed, pushing them closer to the edge of reason. He swallowed her gasp as he stroked his hands down her, seeking, cupping, molding.
He felt her shudder, then his own before he forced himself to grip tight to a last thin line of control. Very cautiously he backed away.
Dazed Nicki brought a hand to her head. Fighting to catch her breath, she stared at him.
She turned, leaning over the rail. “ I don’t think I’m ready for this.” she managed.
“no. I don’t think I’m ready for you, either. But there wont be any going back.”
She shook her head. Her palms were pressed so hard against the stone. “I’ll have to think about that.”
“once you’ve turned certain corners, there’s no place to go but forward.”
Calmer, she turned back to him. It was time, past time to set the ground rules. “ Drake, however it might appear after what just happened. I don’t have affairs with men I hardly know.”
“ good.” he too was calmer. His decision was made. “ when we have ours, I want it to be exclusive.”
Her voice chilled. “ obviously I’m not making myself clear. I haven’t decided if I want to be involved with you, and I’m along way from that involvement to end up in bed.”
“ you are involved with me.” reaching out, he cupped the back of her neck before she could escape. “ and we both want that involvement to end up in bed.”
Very deliberately, she reached up and removed his hand. “ I realize you’re use to women falling at your feet. I have no intention of joining the horde. And I make up my own mind.”
“ should I kiss you again?”
“no.” she threw her hand up and planted it on his chest. In an instant she was reminded of how she had stood, just like this, with the man called Nemesis. The comparison left her shaking.
“ no it was a lovely evening , Drake.” she took a long breath. “ I mean that. I enjoyed the company, the dinner and….and the view. I’d hate to see you spoil it completely by being arrogant and argumentative.”
“ its not being either to accept the inevitable. I don’t have to like it to accept it. Something flickered in his eyes. “ there’s such a thing as destiny Nicki. I had a long time to consider, and come to terms with that.”
His brow drew together in a frown as he looked at her. “ god help both of us, but you’re apart of mine.” he looked back, then offered a hand. “ I’ll take you home.”

Chapter 2

At 11:45 am, Nicki was cooling her heels at the twenty fifth precinct. She wasn’t particularly surprised to have been summoned there. The four gang members who hand gunned down Franko Sanchez was being held in separate cells. That way they could sweat out the charges of murder one, accessory to murder, illegal possession of firearms, possession of controlled substances, and all the other charges on the arrest sheet. And they could sweat them out individually, with no opportunity to back each other’s stories.
She’d gotten the call from Sly Pablo’s  public defense attorney at nine sharp. This would make the third meeting between them. At each  previous encounter, she had held firm against a deal. But she had noted that each time they sat in the conference room together, Pablo sweated freely.
Instinct told her he did indeed have something to trade but was afraid.
When she left the conference room, her head was pounding. There was tight sick feeling in her gut that always plagued her when she dealt with Pablo’s type. He was nineteen, for God’s sake, she thought as she tossed her visitor’s badge to the desk sergeant. He viciously gunned down another human being. She knew he felt no remorse. The demons considered drive bys a kind of tribal ritual. And she, as a representative of the law, had to bargain with him.
That was the way the system worked, she reminded herself as she stepped out of the stuffy station house into the steamy afternoon. She would trade Pablo like a poker chip and hope to finesse bigger game. In the end, Pablo would pay by spending the rest of his youth and most of his adult life in a cage.
She hoped Franko Sanchez’s family would feel justice had been served.
“ bad day?”
Still frowning, she turned, shaded her eyes and focused on Drake Graham.
“ oh hello. What are you doing here?”
“waiting for you.”
She lifted her brow, cautiously debating the proper response. Today he wore a gray suit, very trim and quietly expensive. Though the humidity was intense, his white shirt appeared crisp. He looked precisely like what he was. A successful, wealthy business man. Until you looked at his eyes, Nicki thought. When you did, you could see that women were drawn to him for a much more basic reason than money and position.
She responded with the only question that seemed apt.
“why?”
He smiled at that. He had seen her caution and her evaluation clearly and was as amused as he was impressed by it.
“ to invite you to lunch.”
“ oh, well that’s very nice, but..”
“ you do eat, don’t you?”
He was laughing at her. There was no mistaking it.
“yes, almost everyday. But at the moment, I’m working.”
“you’re a dedicated public servant aren’t you, Nicki?”
“ I like to think so.”
 There was just enough sarcasm in his tone to put her back up. She stepped to the curb and lifted an arm to hail a cab. A bus chugged by streaming  exhaust. “ it was kind of you to leave your limo for me last night.” she turned and looked at him. “ but it wasn’t necessary.”
“ I often do what others consider unnecessary.” he took her hand and, with only the slightest pressure, brought her arm down to her side. “ if not lunch, dinner.”
“ that sounds more like a command than a request.’’
She would have tugged her hand away, but it seemed foolish to engage in a childish test of wills on a public street. “ either way, I have to refuse. I’m working late tonight.”
“ tomorrow then.” he smiled charmingly. “ a request, counselor.”
It was difficult not to smile back when he was looking at her with humor  and was it loneliness? In his eyes.
“Mr. Graham. Drake.” she corrected herself before he could. “ persistent men usually annoy me. And you’re no exception. But for some reason, I think I’d like to have dinner with you.”
“I’ll pick you up at seven. I keep early hours.”
“fine. I’ll give you my address.”
“ I know it.”
“of course.”  his driver had dropped her off at her doorstep the night before. “ if you’ll give me back my hand, I’d like to hail a cab.”
He didn’t oblige immediately, but looked down at her hand, it was small delicate in appearance, like the rest of her. Drake made himself smile as he wondered how a single meeting of palms could have jolted his system so outrageously.
“ I’ll see you tomorrow.” he released her hand and stepped away.
She only nodded, not trusting her voice. When she slipped into a cab, she turned back. But he was already gone.



It was after ten when Nicki walked up to the antique store. It was closed, of course, and she hadn’t expected to find anything. She had written her report and passed the details of her interview with Pablo on to her superior. But she hadn’t been able to resist a look for herself.
In this upscale part of town, people were lingering over dinner or enjoying a play. A few couples wandered by on their way to a club or a restaurant. Streetlights shot out pools of security.
It was foolish, she supposed, to have been drawn here. Normal, Nicki reminded herself. There was nothing here to cause that itch between her shoulder blades. Yet even as she scanned the street, the adjoining buildings to assure herself no one was paying any attention to her, the feeling of being watched persisted.
She was giving herself the creeps, Nicki decided these little licks of fear were left over from her night in the alley, and she didn’t care for it. Most of her life she had been cared for, looked after even pampered by her older sister. Though she would always be grateful to Tasha, she had made a commitment when she left Denver for Urbana. To leave her mark.
Determine to fight her own uneasiness, she skirted around the building, walking quickly through the short, narrow alley between the antique store and the boutique beside it.
The rear of the building was as secure and unforthcoming as the front. There was one window, enforced with steel bars, and a pair of wide doors, triple bolted
“ you don’t look stupid.”
At the voice, she jumped back and would have tumbled into a line of garbage can if a hand hadn’t snagged her wrist. She opened her mouth to scream, brought her hand up to fight, when she recognized her companion.
“you.” he was in black, hardly visible in the dark. But she knew.
“ I would have thought you’d had your fill of back alleys.”
He didn’t release her, though he knew he should . His fingers wrapped around her wrist.
“ you’ve been watching me.”
“ there are some women its difficult to look away from.” he pulled her closer, just a tug on her wrist, and stunned both of them. His voice was low and rough. She could see anger in the gleam of his eyes. She found the combination oddly compelling.
“ what are you doing?”
Her mouth was so dry it ached. He had pulled her so close that their thighs met. To put some distance between them and gain some control, she put her hand to his chest.
“ that’s my business.”
“ your business is to prepare cases and try them in court, not to play detective.”
“ I’m not playing detective..” she broke off, eyes narrowing. “ how do you know I’m a lawyer?”
“I know a great deal about you, Miss. Maraj.” his smile was thin and humorless. “ thats my business. I don’t think your sister worked two jobs to put you through law school, and saw you graduate at the top of your class to have you sneaking around back entrances of locked buildings. Especially when that building is a front for some ugly particularly ugly commerce.”
“you know about this place?”
“as I said, I know a great deal.”
She would handle his intrusion into her life later. Now, she had a job to do. “ if you have any information any proof about this suspected drug operation, its your duty to give that information to the D.A’s office.”
“I’m very aware of my duty. It doesn’t include making deals with scum.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks. She didn’t even question how he knew about her interview with Pablo.
“ I work within the law,” she snapped at him “ which is more than you can say. You put on a mask and play captain America, making up your own rules. That makes you  part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
In the slits of his mask, his eyes narrowed. “ you seemed grateful enough for my solution a few nights ago.”
Her chin came up, she wished she could face him on her own ground, in the light. “ I’ve already thanked you for your help, unnecessary though it was.”
“ are you always so cocky, Miss Maraj?”
“confident.” she corrected
“and do you always win in court?”
“ I have an excellent record.”
“ do you always win?” he repeated.
“no, but that’s not my point.”
“ that’s exactly the point. There’s a war in this city, Miss. Maraj.”
“and you’ve have appointed yourself general of the good guys.”
He didn’t smile. “ no I fight alone.”
“don’t you..”
But he cut her off swiftly, putting a glove hand over her mouth. He listened but not with his ears. It wasn’t something he heard, but something he felt. Before she had even begun to struggle against him, he pulled her aside and shoved her down beneath him behind the wall of the next building.
“what are you doing?”
The explosion that came on the tail of her words made her ears ring. Beneath her the ground trembled as the antique store exploded.
“ are you alright?” when she didn’t answer, only trembled she took her face in his hand and turned it to his. “Nicki, are you alright?”
He repeated her name a few times before the glossy look left her eyes. “ yes,” she managed. “ are you?”
“ don’t you read papers?” there was the faintest of smiles around his mouth. “ I’m invulnerable.”
“right.” with a little smile she tried to sit up. Fitted against hers. His face was only inches away. He wondered what would happen to both of them if he closed that distance and let his mouth meet hers.
He was going to kiss her, Nicki realized and went perfectly still. Emotion swarmed through her. Not anger, as she’d expected. But excitement, raw and wild. It pumped through her so quickly it blocked everything else.
Her fingers brushed against his mask. He pulled back from her touch as if he’d been slapped. Shifting he rose then helped her to her feet. Fighting humiliation and fury, she stepped around the wall towards the rear of the antique shop.
“ they’ve beaten you this time,” he murmured. “ there wont be anything left for you to find, no papers, no drugs, no records.”
“ they’ve destroyed a building,” she said between her teeth. She hadn’t wanted to be kissed, she told herself. She’d been shaken up, dazed, a victim of temporary insanity. “ but someone owns it, and I’ll find out who that someone is.”
“this was meant as a warning, Miss Maraj. One you might want to consider.”
“I wont be frightened off. Not by exploding buildings or by you.” she turned to face him, but wasn’t surprised that he was gone.