Fever

Her small sedan and a large, luxury pickup stood alone in the distance. She wondered briefly whom the white truck belonged to. As far as she knew, she was the only one left inside….

Roxie faltered when the occupant of the truck opened the door and stepped out. She stood with her mouth gaping in shock and disbelief.

She seemed so dumbfounded and shocked by his appearance, Ike almost felt sorry for her—almost. “You know, Roxie, if you’re going to bother with an alias as unique as Roxanne Smith, you should’ve at least rented a car. Not that it would’ve made a difference, I still would’ve found you, but at least it would’ve been more of a challenge.”

“Why are you here?”

Ike soaked up the sight of her like ice cream on a hot day. “Looking for you, obviously.” He nodded over her shoulder at the large building with the blue neon sign reading Plastitech Laboratories in blunt lettering. “But this is the last place I expected to find you.”

She just stood staring at him like an apparition out of a nightmare. Realizing she would make no further move toward him, Ike began walking in her direction. He stopped, his eyes narrowing on something over her right shoulder. “You better call off your watchdog, Roxie.”

Roxie turned to find Trey standing a few feet behind her. His brown eyes held some combination of fear and determination as his trembling hand rested on the hilt of the gun at his waist.

“Everything all right, Ms. Sanchez?” The question was directed at Roxie, but the guard never took his eyes off Ike.

Roxie felt her heart in her throat, imagining the confrontation that could ensue if she did not take control of this situation. “I’m fine, Trey.”

Trey took in the man with one sweeping glance. “You sure?”

Roxie struggled to conjure a smile, knowing she would never forgive herself if something happened to this young man because he was trying to protect her. “Yes, I’m fine.”

Trey hesitated for a moment longer, before slowly backing away.

Roxie turned back to Ike. “How did you find me?”

“Tessa? I think that’s her name.”

Her eyes widened in amazement, and her heart rate sped up. What does he know? “Tessa? What does she have to do with anything?”

“Nothing, except for her willingness to share information about you.”

Her mouth twisted in sarcasm. “You’re lying. Tessa would never talk to a stranger about me.”

“Maybe not a stranger, but she was quite willing to speak freely to your new boyfriend.”

“My what?”

He hunched his shoulders and tried to look innocent. The devilish smirk on his lips killed the effect.

She balled her fists by her side in an attempt to regain her composure. “What do you want?

A sensual smile spread across his lips. “You.”

Chapter 4

Ike’s eyebrows crinkled in confusion when he saw the look of panic fill her large, brown eyes. She was looking at him as if he were some kind of serial killer. “Hold on, lady, I don’t know what’s going through that pretty head of yours, but all I want is a little conversation.”

“What could we have to talk about?”

“Where you learned to count cards, for one. And, how you became so good at it, for seconds.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “After that, we’ll just play it by ear.”

There was no point in denying it any longer, Roxie thought, releasing a sigh of relief. The man was obviously not going to give up until his curiosity had been satisfied. Maybe if he had his answer, he would go away and leave her raging hormones in peace. “How did you know?”

“As unlikely as it seemed, it was the only reasonable explanation.”

She spread her arms in surrender. “Okay, you got me.”

Ike fought the urge to step forward and take her into his arms, knowing she had no idea how inviting she looked at that moment.

“It was a one-time deal. I won’t be back, so why don’t we just call it even, and go our separate ways?”

Ike quirked an eyebrow. The look in his dark eyes was sheer disappointment as if the thought of never seeing her again was unacceptable. Did she really think he would agree to that?

“Okay.” He turned as if planning to leave, and paused. “This is the part where I’m suppose to decide you are no threat to the Desert Rose and walk away, right?”

“I really wish you would, but I doubt it.”

He shook his head slowly. “Sorry, no deal. I still have too many unanswered questions.”

“Look, you made it perfectly clear I would not be welcomed back to the Desert Rose again. I got it. Now, you’re free to go off haunting someone else.”

His full lips tilted up in the corners. “Am I haunting you, Roxie?”

“What do you call this?”

“I told you, I’m curious by nature.”

Roxie studied the man standing before her. Really looked at him for the first time since the previous night. It had not escaped her notice that he seemed to be intentionally keeping a certain distance between them, his attempt to ease her, no doubt.

His soft, melodic voice could soothe the most troubled soul. And those eyes… Those intense, deep, dark pools seemed to cut right to her very core.

She sighed in defeat. “Okay, if I answer your questions, will you leave me alone?”

“If your answers satisfy my curiosity—yes,” Ike answered confidently as he pictured the cage door slam shut behind his victim. And the sweetest part of it was that she didn’t even realize she was caught.

Roxie looked around the small restaurant. The few tables that were spaciously scattered around the room were covered in floral tablecloths. Each table contained a small bouquet of fresh daisies.

The guitar player in the corner seemed lost in his own troubles as his fingers strummed a soft ballad Roxie did not recognize. The music was perfectly suited to the dimly lit room as couples engaged in quiet conversation at their respective tables.

She’d never been here before. Until Ike led her over the stone bridge and down a busy shopping avenue, she’d had no idea such a restaurant existed so close to her place of work.

Not that it mattered. If she had to guess, the doors probably did not open until the evening was well under way. This was not a business luncheon kind of restaurant. No, everything about the place spoke of a romantic hideaway.

Tessa often told her that she worked too hard. But then again, Tessa did not understand the environment of her work. When she was on the cusp of discovery it was near impossible to just pack it in and go home. What if the conditions were not the same the next day? Science, like her twin sister Nature, was extremely unpredictable.

Roxie twisted her lips as she wondered why Ike had chosen this particular setting for his second interrogation. Maybe he thinks this method will be more productive than that dragnet approach he took last time. “Do you come here often?” she asked as the waitress placed a small salad in front of her.

Ike smirked as if he knew a loaded question when he heard one. “No, not really. The casino takes up so much of my time I usually eat at Thorns.” He sat back, giving the waitress plenty of room to place Roxie’s salad on the table.

“The casino restaurant? That’s a five-star restaurant. Doesn’t that get expensive after a while?”

“Not when all your meals are on the house.”

She frowned as she began cutting the large spinach leaves. Something about this was not adding up. “Is that a usual perk of the job?”

“Probably not, but neither is the apartment suite I have on the tenth floor.” He chuckled, thinking nothing of the life he took for granted.

Bobby Kincaid had been his father’s best friend from the time they were boys. Every memory of every special occasion in Ike’s thirty-four years of life included Uncle Bobby standing before him with a gift-wrapped package. So, when Ike left the police force and Bobby offered him the gift of a beautiful apartment suite in his casino resort and a job, Ike accepted it as his birthright. No one had ever questioned it until now.

When he looked up again, Roxie had stopped eating, and was watching him with suspicious eyes. “Who are you?”

“What are you talking about?” Ike watched her expressive face shift between fear and anxiety.

“Why would Bobby Kincaid give an apartment to a security guard?”

“I’m not a security guard. I’m the head of the casino security task—”

“You say potato, I say patata—answer the question!”

“Bobby Kincaid is my godfather.” He watched her face, trying to understand why this was so important to her.

“Your godfather?”

Ike had a suspicion confirmed. It wasn’t him she was afraid of, it was Bobby. But why? This couldn’t be about what happened the other night. She’d never even met Bobby, so why was she so scared?

“I know how difficult counting cards can be, and you made it look like a walk in the park.” Ike spoke suddenly, trying to change the subject and get her mind off of whatever it was about Bobby that was troubling her so. “Hell, half the time it didn’t even seem as if you were paying attention to the table.”

Bobby Kincaid’s godson. She shrugged, and stabbed at a large hunk of lettuce. “It’s not that difficult when you have a photographic memory.”

Ike’s mouth spread in a smile of appreciation, and he paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. “Photographic memory?” His eyes drifted across the table as his mind took in this new information. “That explains a lot.” He finished chewing, reached for a stick of bread from the basket in the center of the table, and took a bite from the end.

He thought about the heated words exchanged in his office, and he couldn’t help feeling as if he’d been handled by her. Despite all the subtle threats and innuendoes he’d thrown at Roxie, she’d known all along that she was never in any real danger. He looked at the woman across the table from him. “So, how long have you been a professional hustler?”

Roxie sat back in her chair. She’d been watching his face the entire time, and knew long before his mouth open that something nasty was going to come out. “You probably think that is an insult.”

“It’s certainly not a compliment,” he mumbled.

“I guess that depends on who you ask.” Her brown eyes narrowed until they were just slits of topaz fire. “Anyway, I’m not a hustler. At least, not anymore.”

“But you once were?”

“When I was a kid.”

He gave her a disbelieving look.

“Really. I used to hustle cards when I was a kid.”

He smirked. “With that memory of yours, you just couldn’t resist the urge, huh?”

She finished chewing a bit of salad. “Actually, it was more the urge to eat.”

He frowned thoughtfully, beginning to understand.

“I was homeless.” She pointed her fork at him. “Although, I must admit it was by choice. I could’ve stayed in the state girls’ home they put me in after my grandmother died, but that really wasn’t the place for someone small and innocent.” Her eyes flashed to his. “Trust me, I’d been there before.”

Ike listened in silence, seeming not to know what to say.

“My mother left me there when I was five. It was hell,” she said softly, putting all her attention into the small salad. “My grandmother found me, and three years later she died and I was back in there again. But I knew from day one I wouldn’t stay. I thought I stood a better chance on my own, and I was right.”

She felt her hands trembling as she buttered a roll. Why was she telling this man all her personal information? It was not like her. But deep inside her heart, she knew the truth. Some part of her desperately wanted Ike’s approval, his understanding. But why? He was Bobby Kincaid’s godson. Not exactly a neutral third party, and the last man she should’ve trusted.

She wanted him to understand she was not a thief by nature, but by necessity. “But I haven’t done anything like that in years, at least not until last night. And that I did for personal reasons.”

Ike quietly ate, taking in all she’d said. He tried to imagine what life must’ve been like for her. But even with his jaded experiences, he could not contemplate living on the street at so young an age.

“Must think I’m pretty pathetic, huh? Once a thief, always a thief, right?”

“No.” He wiped his mouth. “I’m not exactly the one to throw stones. Considering I was reared by a pair of number runners.”

Her head snapped up. And he saw something like hope in her eyes. “Really?”

He saw the light of recognition on her face and knew he’d managed to lift her a little. “Just how do you think Bobby Kincaid came to be my godfather?”

“Hadn’t really thought about it.”

“He and my dad use to hang tight back in the day. There are both legit now, but I can remember…”

Roxie forced herself to look deep into his eyes, and was glad she did when she found no judgment there.

“Sometimes, when a person feels there is no way out…they’ll make a way.” He shrugged. “Desperate people do desperate things.”

He understands. Roxie felt her heart skip a beat sensing some unspoken kinship.

“Okay.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Tell me about these personal reasons.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s no one’s business but my own. Hence the word personal. Ask me something else.”

“Okay, why the Desert Rose?”

Roxie swallowed hard, and took a sip from her wineglass. “Why not the Desert Rose? Everyone knows it’s one of the most profitable casinos off the strip.”

“Then you had to know, as well, that the Desert Rose has a reputation for dealing harshly with people who are caught cheating.”

She laughed and gestured to the room around them, indicating the soft music and comfortable atmosphere. “I can see that. If I’d known this was how you dealt with my type, I would’ve visited you a long time ago.”

Ike smiled, unable to deny her good humor. “Okay, point taken. But I don’t consider you in that category. After all, you didn’t actually take anything.” He held up a finger. “Speaking of which, why didn’t you take it? You had almost…what? Twenty, thirty Gs, sitting on the table. I couldn’t prove anything, so why did you run?”

“I didn’t run!”

“Well, you certainly considered it.”

She leaned forward across the table. “Look, why don’t you just ask your questions so I can satisfy your curiosity and get rid of you once and for all.” Before I start hoping for the impossible.

He smiled and said nothing. She was becoming more and more interesting by the minute. She was glaring at him so fiercely, he didn’t have the heart to tell her this was only the beginning of their relationship, not the end.

“Why did you quit the game so abruptly?”

Roxie twisted her mouth in irritation. “I didn’t run, but…” She wasn’t about to admit that he’d scared her right out the front door. “Sometimes, strategic retreat is necessary.”

They both held their peace as the waitress cleared away Roxie’s salad plate and replaced it with entrées of chicken parmesan, and chicken cordon-bleu.

“Retreat? Are you implying that you plan to try again?” Ike asked.

“Maybe.”

“But you said you would stay away from the Desert Rose.”

“Who said anything about the Desert Rose?”

He studied her thoughtfully. “What exactly are we talking about here?”

“Am I making you nervous?”

“A little. I thought you were after some quick cash, but I’m starting to realize there is more here than meets the eye. Just what are you after?”

“That’s personal, remember? You just wanted to know how I took the tables.” She hid the satisfied smirk, as she watched his eyes dart around. His brain was trying to work it all out. He was probably remembering every word they’d said to each other over the past two days.

She was certain she’d said nothing to give herself away, but strangely enough she wanted to confess all. It was as if all her secrets were suddenly weighing her down, and he was a safe place to settle her load. There was absolutely no reason to trust this man, a friend to her enemy, and yet there was something about him that screamed safe.

Roxie was unable to stop the smile that touched her lips. “Still curious?”

His dark eyes raced over every feature of her face. “More than ever.”

She cut into her chicken parmesan, and thought how much better her evening was turning out than what she had planned. A little late-night TV, and a pasta salad didn’t hold a candle to the company of this fascinating and charming man. This too charming man—and that was the problem.

He seemed to know just what to say to put her at ease, something few could do. He was compassionate, and understanding and a complete surprise. He was making her want things she shouldn’t want, especially not from him.

Roxie gently placed her fork on the table. “Okay, how about you answer a question for me?”

Ike gestured for her to go ahead.

“Other than your own personal curiosity, why did you come looking for me? Did Bobby Kincaid send you?”

The answer to the question was yes, but he knew that would be the wrong answer to give. Despite how comfortable she appeared to be now, he remembered the look of pure fear on her face when he first stepped out of his truck in the laboratory parking lot.

Ike knew his godfather’s reputation, but unlike most, he knew there was little truth to most of the rumors. Bobby was a Vegas personality as much as Tom Jones, or Siegfried and Roy. And like all celebrities, what the press didn’t know, they made up. Nonetheless, Roxie’s fear was real. Which meant she’d obviously heard some of those rumors. Or was it something more? What was she really after?

“Yes,” he answered.

“Why?”

He sighed. “He wanted to know the same thing I did. How you did it. You have to consider it from his point of view. He thought you may have been using some kind of new technology.”

“And what will you tell him?”

Ike had a sudden desperate need in his gut to comfort and reassure her that he was not the enemy. “That his fears were unfounded.”

She watched him with suspicious eyes. “So, you’ve decided I’m not a threat?”

Other than to my peace of mind? “No. Like you said, you weren’t looking to make a quick buck, you were there for personal reasons.” He decided to play a hunch. “Besides, I don’t think the Desert Rose was your real target. The more I talk to you, I think you were after Bobby.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

She toyed with her scalloped potatoes. “You’re not concerned?”

“Why should I be? Bobby was taking care of himself long before I was born.”

Roxie fought to keep the truth behind her sealed lips, but she wanted to tell him. She wanted to blurt out everything.

“Would you stop looking at me like that?” he asked without ever looking away from the food on his plate.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Is there another shoe, Ike? I mean, what’s in this for you?”

He smiled that wonderful, sensual smile and Roxie fought to ignore its erotic pull. “I have my own personal reasons.”

“What—”

He held up a finger and shook his head. “Hence the word personal, remember?”

“Fair enough.”

Ike found it a little surprising that she was willing to drop the issue so easily. He didn’t think she was particularly fair-minded enough for that. But the fact that she did let it go suited his purpose just fine. He had no diplomatic way of explaining to her that he knew with complete certainty that she would be his next lover.

He’d known that since before her salad plate was taken away. But first, he had to discover what her aversion to Bobby was all about. He instinctively knew that would be the greatest stepping stone between them.

Chapter 5

As the night wore on, Roxie found herself relaxing much more than she ever expected, or even wanted. There was something about Ike Bancroft that her soul found very comforting. It could’ve been his sensual, almost musical voice that caused his words to roll over her in waves. Or the look of understanding she saw in his eyes so many times when she spoke of her past.

Whoever he was now, Ike had seen hard times. It was hard to tell what he’d been through with his stoic demeanor, and his careful ways, but there was something deeper and darker living inside him. Something that not only spoke to Roxie, but truly heard her, as well.

She found herself telling him about her background, things only Tessa and Theo knew. She doubted he would judge her. And although he said little, it was enough to let her know she was not being condemned for the acts of her childhood.

She’d just finished telling him about how Tessa and Theo found her, when he sat back in his chair and wiped his mouth with his linen napkin. “Wow, I can’t believe you managed to make it on your own for so long.”

She chuckled with little humor. “Looking back on it, neither can I. I guess the angels were watching over me.”

“What made you trust the Sanchezes?”

Her mouth tilted up at the corner as she remembered those two pairs of compassionate eyes looking down on her with concern. “What choice did I have? It was either trust them, or take my chances with the creep on the corner.”

“The creep on the corner?”

“Yeah, there was some old guy that would hang around when I worked the crowd. I changed locations four times trying to shake him, but he would always find me.” She shivered involuntarily. “The way he looked at me…I can still see him like it was yesterday. I had nightmares about him for years.”

Ike learned forward and took her hand, wanting to draw her pain into himself. She was as cold as ice. “Roxie, did he…”

She shook her head adamantly. “No, he never got the chance.” She smiled to herself as she remembered. “I started noticing this Hispanic couple everywhere I went. At first, I thought it was just coincidence. I mean, the man would feed the pigeons, while the lady sat on a bench knitting. But then, I realized they would turn up whenever the monster did.”

Ike did not miss the fact that she’d referred to the man as the monster.

“This particular day…” She paused to take a sip of wine. “This particular day, he finally attempted to approach me. But Tessa and Theo cut him off, and got to my table first. They introduced themselves, and explained that they wanted to help me. At first, I didn’t trust them. Back then, I didn’t trust anyone. But then I looked into Tessa’s eyes and knew she would never hurt me. There is something about eyes that are very honest, don’t you think?” She glanced up at the dark, honest eyes staring back at her.

He shrugged. “So, you went home with them, and never looked back.”

“It wasn’t quite that easy. At first, they let me come and go as I please. I guess they wanted me to know that I was not their prisoner or something. Most times, I still slept on the street, and only went to their house on really cold nights. Even then, I didn’t get much sleep, but finally, after a few months. I started staying every night. Then eventually, I would leave my stuff, and so on.”

Ike shook his head. “I don’t know. If I had been in your situation, I don’t think I could’ve trusted even them.”

“You have to trust someone, Ike.”

“No, you don’t.”

She stared at him, wondering if she’d misread all that compassion.

“Roxie, I’ve seen things in the military, on the police force. Things that would make you wonder why God even bothered. People can be horrible and cruel.”

“But they can also be loving and kind.”

“Sorry, I’ve seen more of the horrible and cruel than the loving and kind.”

“Are you telling me there is no one you trust?”

“My mother, my fa—”

“No, I mean someone who is not related to you by blood?”

“Bobby. I trust Bobby.” To a point.

“You shouldn’t.” The words slipped out before she could stop them.

“Okay, what is it, Roxie?” He folded his arms on the table. “You’re dying to tell me something. You might as well get it out of your system. What is it about Bobby that irks you so?”