Smoke and Mirrors Read online

  Come to think of it, he hadn't felt that ache even threaten to return. How did that happen?

  "My hero," she whispered as they hurried down the hall to the stage entrance.

  "Me? Nah, he just tripped over his own feet." Alexi prayed the stage lights and shadows hid the blush heating his face.

  "Hmm, maybe." She winked at him as they separated so she could go through the door first. "Keep it up, and we'll have to add a big red 'S' to your costume."

  Chapter Four

  Megan was flying high when she and Alexi came off stage after the midnight show, thanks to diet cherry cola and watching Alexi knock Dennis flat without laying a hand on him. There were some advantages to having Fae magic, after all. She had only flinched once, when it seemed Alexi had the same idea she did about tying Dennis' shoelaces together. It was a juvenile trick, but she wasn't about to complain when it worked so well.

  Who really cared, after all, that Dennis and Carmen were partners? She had a job waiting for her with Albert, the Aurora Borealis and his cruise ships. Between Florida, Hawaii and Vegas, she would be set for work and out of those two crumbs' reach and revenge for a good long time.

  And as an added bonus, Alexi was part of the bargain. He had emphasized to Albert that they were a package deal. Megan didn't know if Alexi did it to protect her from unwanted advances or to ensure his future, and she didn't care. Anything to keep Alexi in her life. If he was in it for the money and fame, she wouldn't complain.

  She would just have to work on making sure he stayed with her to be with her.

  Megan stumbled over air as she walked into her dressing room. She almost forgot to shut the door as she sank, stunned, into the closest folding chair.

  Had she actually been thinking about seducing Alexi?

  An image of Alexi sweeping her up in his arms and covering her face with kisses flashed through her mind. Megan closed her eyes and sighed and melted a little. Why hadn't that happened already? That's what she wanted to know. Was something wrong with her, that Alexi hadn't made a move on her yet?

  She had enjoyed those hot dreams about her and Alexi and either a big vat of chocolate or a hot tub or satin sheets. One of her semi-useless magic gifts meant she knew when she dreamed, and usually she had some control over what happened in those dreams. So if Alexi swept her off her feet into eternal bliss, that meant she definitely wanted it to happen.

  So how could she get it to happen in reality, while she and Alexi were both awake?

  "Yo, babe." Carmen rapped once on the door and flung it open. He spread his legs so he filled the doorway and crossed his arms. His impersonation of a confident man of business would have been more convincing if he didn't have flecks of pink foam sticking to his moustache. "We gotta talk about this afternoon. If Alexi is getting in the way of you and Dennis getting it on, well, the guy's gotta go."

  "Dennis has to go, not Alexi." She stood and mirrored his stance, arms crossed, ready for an argument. Carmen's intrusion had interrupted a really great daydream.

  "Dennis is my partner!" Carmen shook his head, as if dizzy. "Now come on, babe. I understand you playing hard to get with me, to make him jealous, but the game's over. Your main squeeze is back." He gestured around her dressing room. "He wants your dressing room in his office. More convenient for relaxing between shows." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

  "The answer is no. As in no way, not never, no how, nuh uh. Got it?"

  "What is your problem?"

  "You are." Alexi appeared in the doorway behind Carmen. His magic field flared bright blue. His eyes blazed gold. "What part of no don't you understand?"

  "Bottom line." Carmen's voice quavered and sweat beaded on his forehead. "This guy goes, or you both go. Got it?"

  "Got it." Megan nudged her two bins of props. "You want to take the empty one and clear our gear off the stage? I can get the other one out. I'll meet you outside in ten, okay?"

  "Sounds good." Alexi snagged the bin and headed down the hall toward the stage.

  "What the hey?" Carmen stumbled back two steps to sag against the opposite wall in the hall.

  "Good-bye." Megan swept the contents of the dressing table into the bin and tossed her street clothes on top of everything.

  "But...but...what about your contract? We were going to talk about the new conditions tonight." He watched her cross the hall, clear Alexi's few possessions out of the broom closet dressing room and toss them into the bin, too.

  "The new conditions where I play nice with your new partner, share a dressing room with him and put up with him groping me--and probably your slimy friends ogling me, too, right? Oh, by the way, Carmen, I know about the video cameras in the chorus line's dressing room. If you don't want to sing soprano, I'd suggest taking them out, permanently." Megan fluttered her eyelashes at him as he sank closer to the ground. "Tell me the truth." She flinched when she heard whispers and realized she had an audience.

  This was good. If she could just get Carmen to tell the truth, something she could use in court if necessary.

  She lost her breath for a moment as flickers of blue magic circled Carmen's head. She couldn't work a truth spell to save her life. That meant Alexi's magic was stronger than she thought tonight, and he was protecting her. She definitely had to keep that man.

  "When I refused the new conditions in my contract, what would you have done?"

  "Tossed you out on your tight little tush and changed the locks so you couldn't get your gear," he babbled, as if the words were yanked out through his vocal chords.

  "It's okay for you to toss me, but it's not okay for me to walk?" She waggled her finger in his face and made tsking noises. "For shame, Carmy baby."

  "I got connections in this town," he squealed.

  "So does Albert Vitaglio," Alexi said, coming from the darkness with the full bin of magic equipment. "He thinks Megan is a real lady and deserves to be treated like one. Understand?"

  His tangled mane of white-blond hair took on a bluish cast for half a heartbeat. Blue sparks shot out to circle Carmen and pepper him in rapid-fire succession. Megan saw the man actually flinch a dozen times. It was all she could do not to cheer and count as each spark bit into him.

  "I understand," he whispered, and finished sliding to the floor.

  "Want to catch the late floor show over at the MGM?" Alexi asked. "My treat."

  "Only if you let me buy the champagne." She slapped the lid on the storage bin.

  "Your wish is my command." Alexi bowed, gesturing for her to go ahead of him. How he managed to look elegant with his arms full of plastic storage bin, she had no idea. Feeling breathless with shock at the speed, and so elated she had to check to see her feet were still touching the floor, Megan swept down the hall to the back door. She laughed, nearly crowing, when they reached the parking lot and her car.

  "You were great!" Alexi burst out with a hearty roar of laughter that sent sparks through the parking lot. Five of the eight dead parking lot lights came back to life.

  Megan dropped the storage bin and leaped to hug him. They dipped and swirled, waltzing around the parking lot. Touching Alexi, she could actually hear the Ether Orchestra, and for once the music matched her mood, heavy on violins and flutes.

  Alexi didn't kiss her, but Megan felt so good, she didn't mind at all.

  He came to her in her dreams that night and kissed her on her mouth, the curve of her ears, down her neck. His mouth tasted of moonlight and bittersweet dark chocolate, drowning her until her blood fizzed in her veins. They danced, floating under the moon on a platform of air.

  * * * *

  Alexi woke with a jolt, drowning in sweat and hovering eight inches off his bed. Frustration made sparks whiz and zing all around his room. Why did those exhilarating dreams about Megan always have to end just when things were about to explode?

  To work out his frustration, he went back to Knockers and used his extra-high levels of magic energy to jimmy those cameras Megan had mentioned. He honestly thought she didn't k
now about them, but he and several of the backstage men had been working in teams to foul the cameras so Carmen got absolutely nothing, no matter how much he spent on repairs and new equipment. Tomorrow, those cameras would fall at the most inopportune moment, when all the chorus girls were in their dressing room. Too bad he wouldn't have a camera there to catch the mob scene and whatever happened to Carmen. With luck, Dennis the Menace would get caught in the stampede.

  * * * *

  "Oh, hon, did you get laid last night?" Desdemona crooned, when she walked into Megan's bedroom.

  "Nope." Megan giggled, feeling as if she had finished off a six-pack of diet cherry cola. "Better."

  "Nothing's better than getting laid, if it's done right." Her roommate settled down on the end of the bed. "So, what happened? Alexi is triplets and they all showed up and gave a private little Chippendales show for you?"

  "No, better--" Megan stopped short, choking as the image filled her mind. "Well, almost better." She giggled again.

  Desdemona giggled with her, by the time she got to the end of the story. She loathed Dennis just as much as Megan, and her disdain for Carmen had only been muted by her need to get a paying gig on a regular basis.

  "Honey, it's nice that Albert is on your side and you only had a week on the contract, but jumping ship isn't going to look good, no matter how you slice it. No matter what a lecher Carmen was, the other bosses on the strip are going to only see the fact that you pulled out with a week left on your contract."

  "How many of them wait until there's only a week left, and assume that their employees don't have anywhere else to go?"

  "Oh." Desdemona nodded slowly, her eyes widening as she visibly put together the details.

  "And he admitted in front of witnesses that I was out if I didn't accept his new contract. That's sexual harassment and throwing me out. I was just taking him up on his word."

  "If you don't say anything, but those witnesses do, there's nothing Carmen can do to you. Girl, you rock!" She high-fived Megan, but her smile faded as she settled back on the end of the bed. "So, what are you doing until the new job starts?"

  "What do you think? I have to go shopping and get some new clothes. I'm going on a cruise, after all."

  "Some people are so lucky. If I hadn't decided to go for the comedy relief, I could have had Alexi." Desdemona pouted, but humor sparkled in her eyes.

  Not on your life. Megan laughed, taking her roommate's words as a joke, but that throb of panic startled her. Someone else taking Alexi as assistant, friend, partner and White Knight? Never!

  * * * *

  Cruises, Alexi decided halfway through the first trip, were not romantic. He didn't like all that water around him when he couldn't depend on his magic to keep him dry. And what was so romantic about rebellious fifteen-year-olds and randy old women dripping with fur and makeup following him everywhere he went? Just when he thought he had them classified--the teens giggled and drooled and the old women pinched his butt--they switched attack modes and confused him. He would have complained to Megan, but she was having her own problems fending off the bored fathers of the teenage girls, or the husbands of the old women.

  "I've had enough," he finally told her, when the ship returned to port and they stood on a high deck overlooking the gangway, watching their tormenters leave. "Either we use disguises offstage or we hide in our cabins and play poker."

  Megan snorted and looked away. Alexi caught a glimpse of her expression. She grinned and bit her lip. Frowning, he concentrated on her, hoping his magic was strong enough to catch her surface thoughts.

  If only I was Fixated, everything would be great.

  Strip poker leaped the gap between them, as strongly as if she had shouted it.

  Megan was interested in him? Alexi thought he could fly, even if all his magic had deserted him for good.

  So what if her interest was purely physical, carnal, totally focused on her gratification? He could win her over. He could woo her. They were friends already, weren't they? Lovers could become committed, couldn't they?

  Committed? Alexi nearly gasped in horror.

  He needed to be committed, as in a mental asylum, if he seriously considered binding his life to a woman.

  Yeah, that quiet voice at the back of his mind responded, but this is Megan. She's different. She's not hunting. She's not wonky from hormones. She doesn't know you're Fae. If she's considering jumping your bones, it's because she thinks you're hot, and not because she's got an itch that's going to last for the next thirty years. So what if you won't need to hide in a closet with her on a regular basis? It could be more fun if it's voluntary, right?

  Voluntary meant he'd have to work on winning her interest and keeping it.

  Alexi kind of liked that. Challenges made life interesting. Just how did he let Megan know he wanted to be lovers without getting thrown into the same category as Dennis?

  "What's wrong?" Megan asked, when she looked back at him. "Your--" She gestured, as if she could see his fluctuating magical field. "You look like something is bothering you."

  "I never learned to play poker," Alexi said, deciding to take the plunge.

  "Then why did you bring it up?"

  "Just something we can do when we're hiding in our cabins. Bad idea, huh?" He grinned, wondering just what strip poker entailed.

  "Oh, I'd be happy to teach you." She actually blushed, and he found that endearing.

  "Something tells me there's a lot you can teach me," he muttered.

  Her blush darkened.

  Chapter Five

  Megan curled up on the tiny sofa in her hotel room and looked out through the balcony doors, overlooking a long stretch of beach. So what if the angle was wrong to see the water? It was still a first class suite. Albert had gone all out, arranging their between-cruise accommodations. Unfortunately, Alexi was in another wing of the hotel.

  On the other hand, with the daydreams she had about Alexi, maybe it was a good thing he was far out of reach. Megan sighed as she slid into another romantic interlude in her mind.

  The radio played Rachmaninoff. Alexi bowed to her, his long hair tangled by the breeze. Shadows filled the room. The two of them stood in a pool of moonlight that turned all their features silver. Alexi's skin was cool when he took hold of her hand and drew her close to him. He rested one hand lightly on her hip and twined the fingers of the other through hers, so their palms pressed together. She felt his pulse in his wrist, pressed against hers.

  They danced, slowly circling within the puddle of moonlight. Their bodies never touched, except where their palms touched and fingers intertwined and where his hand rested on her hip. Alexi didn't speak, but his eyes, filled with liquid fire, held her gaze prisoner. Any moment now, he would lean forward and brush his lips against hers, softer than rose petals, hot enough to scorch. She would feel it down to her soul.

  She leaped from the sofa and picked up the novel she had bought at the dock that afternoon. Tormenting herself with daydreams of Alexi wasn't going to get her a good night's sleep. She had a long day ahead of her tomorrow, when the next cruise started.

  * * * *

  "Why was tonight harder than the whole last cruise?" Megan muttered, as she and Alexi settled into the cubbyhole dressing room behind stage. Applause penetrated the walls.

  "Maybe because it's getting old?" He leaned against the wall, stretching his arms to the ceiling. Megan watched, despite scolding herself about temptation. Some men were so graceful, it just wasn't fair. Alexi burst out laughing.

  "What's so funny?" She bent over to slide her shoes off.

  "Nope, stop. We have one more gig for the night." He held out a hand.

  "What gig?"

  "Private performance."

  "Alexi, you know I truly appreciate you being a go-getter, promoting our act, but..." She sighed. There was nothing she wanted more than to hold his hand, but she knew that would only lead to disappointment.

  "Trust me. Am I your best pal, or what?"

  "
Of course you are." She forced a smile, when she wanted to blurt that she wanted to be more than just pals.

  She let him take hold and pull her to her feet. "Close your eyes," he ordered, heading for the door.

  "What?"

  "After we get out on the deck, at least." He grinned, a teasing light in his eyes.

  Megan seriously considered backing away. Then a shiver of anticipation raced up her spine and cut through the weariness from doing three shows in a row with tough audiences. She held on tighter. And closed her eyes when he said to.

  She regretted her cooperation when Alexi led her up the first set of stairs. And the second. And when some people they passed going across the deck laughed. At least, she thought they crossed the deck. Her sense of direction deserted her about two minutes into their little adventure.

  Then again, did she really care? She liked the feel of Alexi's hand gripping hers. Despite the scolding she gave herself the other night, she let her imagination take over. How would Alexi's warm, strong, gentle hands feel all over her body?

  Massage, she firmly told herself. I could use a really good, deep massage. Her imagination added massage oil, and she hurried to add, Just my shoulders and back.

  "You are really tense," Alexi murmured. "Maybe I should make you an appointment for a massage, instead of this."

  "No!" Megan almost stopped short, jolted by the panic that shot through her. Whatever Alexi had planned, her gut instinct told her it would be more fun than having one of those fake Swedish girls pummel her body until it gave in and relaxed.

  Another flight of stairs. The sound of voices and music faded. The breeze off the water grew stronger, meaning fewer walls and obstructions. Where was he taking her?

  Carmen's threat of having "connections" flicked through her mind. Was this some weird, delayed punishment for walking out on her contract a few days early?

  Stupid. She nearly laughed. Alexi isn't a hit man. That nasty little voice answered, Yeah, he still hasn't hit on me.