ChasingShadows by Erin Richards

here again.” Her eyes razed them. “Damn, they know how to grow ‘em in
San Jose,” she said in a sultry burr, eyeing Juliana suggestively. “And you’re
definitely my type.”
    Juliana stifled a gasp. Alex shifted his head and arched an
eyebrow as he chuckled under his breath.
    “Jaz!” The young woman flung another shout over her shoulder.
“Bet she spent the night at her sugar daddy’s.” She flounced away, leaving the
front door wide open, giving them a peek inside.
    “See anything?” Juliana squeezed between Alex and the porch
wall. He moved aside to allow her a full view through the doorway.
    Craning their necks, they peered into the sparsely furnished
room. “Probably college girls pooling their money to pay the rent.”
    Juliana stepped a foot over the threshold.
    Alex seized her arm, shaking his head. “Can’t enter without
an invite or warrant.”
    His fingers danced on her bare skin before he dropped her
arm. Heat skittered down her spine.
    “Receiving anything?”
    “Nothing useful.” Other than the blonde having interesting
sex acts with Juliana on her mind, she’d read nothing helpful. The blonde woman
barely tolerated Jasmine and had no clue whom Jasmine knew or what she did away
from home.
    The woman reappeared in the entry, eyes rolling. “She didn’t
come home last night.”
    Juliana struggled to keep her telepathy centered on the
woman. Any slight hiccup and Alex’s thoughts would fly into her mind.
    “Do you know where she is?” Alex asked.
    “Beats me.” Her gaze raked Juliana from head to toe.
    “Who’s the sugar daddy you mentioned? Grantham Chamber?”
    “That old windbag?” The blonde woman snorted. “Wrong weekend
of the month.”
    “Someone else?”
    “Yeah. New guy she’s doing. Don’t know him, never met him,
don’t even know his name.” She yawned wide. “Now, can I go back to bed?”
    She started to push the door shut, but Alex inserted his
foot between the door and the jamb.
    “What?” Her twinkling eyes once again strayed to Juliana. “Care
to join me?”
    “No thanks, honey. Another time.” Juliana threw the woman a
teasing smile, unable to resist flirting.
    Alex thrust a couple business cards at her. “Give one to
Jasmine and tell her to call me. Keep the other for yourself. Call if you hear
from her.”
    She held out her palm toward Juliana. “Where’s yours?”
    “Fresh out, hon.”
    A pout spread across the woman’s face before she whisked the
door shut.
    Juliana’s laughter held until they were inside Alex’s SUV. To
her astonishment, Alex’s familiar deep laugh joined hers.
    “‘Another time’?” he mocked.
    His laughing eyes blazed her insides. She loved to hear him
laugh, and the way his face lit up. If she could keep him in a good mood, life
would be awesome.
    “I couldn’t resist. She’s too cute.” Juliana giggled.
    “Is that why you stayed away for twelve years?”
    “No!” She burst out in a fresh peal of laughter.
    “Good.” The word must have slipped, because Alex’s face
sobered and he hastily turned away.
    Wings of apprehension fluttered in her stomach. She knew
exactly what he meant. She couldn’t allow them to grow close again. Nor could
she forget the kiss they’d shared in the heat of the moment. The kiss indelibly
stamped on her mind next to the imprint of their first kiss from years ago. But
no future existed for them together. Her heritage saw to that.
    Or was there a future? Did she dare dream? No! She couldn’t
risk putting him through a life with a crazy psychic. Couldn’t risk buckling
herself onto that rollercoaster life.
    Her thoughts whirled uncontrollably, and she blurted out,
“Feels like old times, doesn’t it?” She tossed him a tenuous smile and absently
straightened her skirt as if it were mangling her insides into knots.
    “It’s not.” He stared through the windshield, his face a
mask of winter’s ice.
    She watched the vein pulsing on his neck, willing it to stop.
“We still