Page 36 of Wicked Ways

Oh, she just bet they did. “You think going in those rooms, alone, is really a good idea?” No sane person would think it was. Did Cain have some kind of death wish? Just walking into a den of vampires?

In. Sane.

“You knew I was hunting,” he told her, voice expressionless.

Yeah, and she was liking this hunting of his less and less.

“There’s a place in Miami that we can try tonight,” Cain revealed. “A feeding room at the beach.”

Miami, huh? That one would be close to her recently created dating profile’s fictional home. “I’m coming with you.”

Cain’s jaw tightened. “The hell you are.”

“The vampires aren’t going to tell you anything!”

“Trust me, baby, I’ve got some pretty good methods of persuasion.” His lips peeled back in a smile that showed his sharp teeth.

“They’ll tell me more.” A human, a woman—they’d never think she was a threat. “I’ll go inside and say I’m looking for my boyfriend.” She eased to the side, ignoring the faint ache between her thighs.

The growl that broke past Cain’s lips had the hair on her nape rising, but Miranda held her ground. “I can get more information with my cover story than you’ll get by threatening it out of the vampires.” The prospect of strolling into a vampire feeding room made her mouth dry up, but it was better than doing nothing.

“You go in there,” Cain rumbled, “and you could get killed.”

She lifted her eyebrows. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to do a really good job of watching my ass, won’t you?”

His teeth snapped together. “Baby, watching your ass is already one of my top priorities.”

So he’d proven very well minutes before. Her gaze darted to Santiago. Did he know what they’d been doing before he’d interrupted?

“What the hell?” Sam’s disgruntled voice called out as he pushed past Santiago and strode into the office. “Who said it was okay to have some kind of party in my office?”

Technically, it wasn’t his office, but Miranda refrained from pointing out that obvious fact. Sam had his eye on the sheriff’s position, and, sooner or later, the office probably would be his.

“And what the hell happened to my desk?” He ran his hand over the deep groves that Cain’s claws had created. “Looks like some jerkoff took a knife to it.” He cursed under his breath. “McMillan is going to be pissed.”

Miranda kept her eyes averted and hoped that her cheeks weren’t flaming too much.

The chair squeaked as Sam threw his body onto the leather. “And what’s this shit? Hell. Miranda.”

She finally glanced his way, only to see that Sam was glowering at the computer screen. “I’ll be damned,” he said.

Cain leaned in closer to study the screen, too. And he swore. “Fuck. We never did get around to talking about just what you were doing in here.”

Sam looked up at him, brows raised. “I’ll tell you what she was doing. Setting a trap for Roberts, with herself as bait.”

Cain’s head whipped toward her. “No, she wasn’t.”

“Uh, actually?” Miranda cleared her throat. “I was.” She jerked her thumb toward Santiago. “The FBI took my computer, so I had to use Sam’s. I made a profile, one guaranteed to snag Paul’s attention.” If he were still hunting on that site, and her gut said that he was. He’d already chosen three women from that particular online dating spot.

“We’ve tried making profiles before.” This announcement came from Santiago. “The guy won’t bite⁠—”

“He bit me.” Online and in the flesh. “And I can get him to take another bite. Just give me some time.”

“I don’t like this plan,” Sam said very clearly.

Yes, but what was new with that? If there was any chance of danger to her, Sam would never be on board with her idea. But he wasn’t the one making the call on this. Miranda held Cain’s gaze and waited.

After a moment, he gave a slow nod. “You’ll have your chance, Miranda.”