Chapter Ten

Marissa tossed her head, sendingher new dangly earrings dancing against her throat as she stepped up to the bar tucked into a corner of the mansion's garden parlor. Setting her empty glass on the counter, she smiled brilliantly at the bartender. "Another Cosmopolitan, please."

"Yes, miss." The white-jacketed fellow kept his eyes studiously pinned on his blender, but even with the don't-gawp-at-her precaution, his cheeks turned splotchy with color.

She tucked back another smile. She looked hot tonight, knew it and felt it, dressed in a clingy, short cocktail dress, plain black in color and simple in design, with only a row of rhinestones edging the scooped neckline and plunging back. Rarely did she show so much of her back due to the ugly birthmark near her spine…and some of her vertebrae appeared sort of lumpy. Luckily, the back of the dress didn't plummet low enough to expose all of that, but definitely low enough to make a bra impossible. Her boobs were young and firm, though, so the look worked. She also had exceptionally perky nipples, which made the whole braless-thing obvious, and, well…extremely sexy.

She leaned an elbow against the bar while she waited for her drink, scanning the room. Heck, the half a million bucks she'd been offered today was probably chump change to these people. The garden parlor was as elegant as every other room in this mansion she would call home for the next year. Huge fake palm trees soared in every corner, fainting couches and daintily flowered chairs were arranged artfully on plush, velvety emerald carpet, cut crystal vases filled with a rainbow selection of fresh roses sat on every available surface, along with branching silver candelabra. Exquisite crown molding and heavily brocaded curtains framed floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a view of…yep, that was a cave out there. Freaky.

As a part of their negotiation meeting with Toni Parthen, she and Hadley had been given a tour of the facilities, starting with the non-classified areas of the research institute. She'd watched from behind glass as white-lab-coated scientists puttered about in their quest to understand certain genetic anomalies. Fascinating. Apparently, it was also dangerous; the institute had gone toe-to-toe with pharmaceutical companies in the past—their lab topside had even been sabotaged—which explained the need for underground secrecy and security. How she, Hadley, and Kendra played into this was more frightening than Marissa had originally imagined. She'd assumed they'd been kidnapped for white slavery purposes, but the three of them had actually been marked for illegal genetic testing by the institute's competitors. Thank goodness the institute's security unit had discovered the plan and come to the rescue.

After their tour of the lab, Marissa and Hadley had been taken around the town itself, and she'd been shocked to find out just how much was down here: a movie theatre, a clothing store, a hospital for treating the support staff, a large apartment building for the single residents, a cheery white picket fence neighborhood for the families with children, a grocery store, schoolhouse and library. There was even a water park, for God's sake, and more she probably hadn't seen. The only restaurant in town, however, was a diner, plus pub food at a joint called Garwald's Pub, and pastries at ?lsi's Coffee Shop, so her skills were undeniably needed. The community was going to build her a brand new restaurant from the ground up according to all of her own specifications, and wasn't that a great way to cut her teeth in the business? Make all of her mistakes down here before she had to face the harsh restaurant critics up top in San Diego.

"Here you go, miss." The bartender set her drink by her elbow.

She thanked him with another blush-inspiring smile, and took a sip, observing everyone over the rim of her class. The cocktail shindig was in full swing, people mingling, chatting, laughing. Most of the partygoers were the higher-ups of the community, as well as the lip-smacking treats of the Warrior Class. Her rescuers were here: Sedge, husband to Kimberly, whom she'd met over legal contracts this morning, and Thomal, balanced on a pair of crutches. The gorgeous blond had been mobbed earlier in the evening by the new hires, and although he'd been courteous to all of his female fans, it'd soon become obvious that his interest was focused on one.

No surprise it was Hadley.

The woman had cleaned up…wow, remarkably well. Shiny, honey-colored hair tumbled down to her shoulders in a multi-layered cut that probably took forever to style, but which accentuated her heart-shaped face and uptilted almond-shaped blue eyes beautifully. She was tall for a woman, her legs to-the-moon long, and her body was proportioned in what The Commodores had probably envisioned when they wrote Brick House: 36-24-36, what a winning hand, yay! Slim-waisted, full in the hips and bust. Definitely, wow. But mostly, Hadley seemed to own some kind of…ethereal quality that did more to draw the eye than even her beauty.

Weird, but Marissa could count on one hand the number of times she hadn't been the prettiest girl in any given room, and she'd certainly never had to go head-to-head with every female, like now. The eight other new hires were all ridiculously eye-catching, not to mention the women who already lived here. And yet…not an ounce of competitiveness seemed to exist among them. Just the opposite. The ten of them had been like a bunch of sorority sisters up on the third floor, getting ready for tonight's bash, racing back and forth between each other's rooms, sharing clothes, helping with makeup and hair. They'd become instant friends, which was…kinda strange.

Marissa had always been well liked; she generally made herself amenable to others because of the terrible relationship she had with her sister. But for herself, she'd never connected to women as quickly and deeply as she had with these, especially Hadley. Toni Parthen, too, owner of the beautiful face Marissa had first seen last night when the van doors had opened. As co-leader of this community, Toni obviously wielded a great deal of power here, yet she'd treated Marissa like an equal, a friend, even pulling her aside at one point and privately admitting to having gone through a similar ball gag experience.

All in all, the year she was going to spend in ??ran? was shaping up to be pretty great. She'd ended up here on the tail end of the most horrific night of her life, but, damn, if she wasn't going to turn that into something good.

Ah, there was another one of her rescuers across the room: Bull Skull Gábor. The cleft in his chin was shaded tonight with a five o'clock shadowing of sexy beard stubble. The women who liked their bad boys oh-so-very bad had flocked to him. He was one of those young and mouthy types who seriously needed a woman to help him grow up, but who'd probably turn out great once he'd hooked up with said woman. Not her, thank you very much.

She wasn't looking for a project, just a man to have fun with and, to be frank about it, give her a good ride in the sack. She hadn't been laid in, God… Was it six months now? Her breakup from her last boyfriend, Gary, had no doubt left her feeling gun-shy about men. Finding out that he'd cheated on her with her sister, Natalie, probably had a big something to do with that. Right. Not getting serious, nope, just fun, fun, fun.

Enter Dev Nichita.

She found tall-muscled-and-edible standing near a palm tree and talking to buffed-out aerobics instructor Abby Fiske.

Marissa felt her belly flutter at the memory of what it'd been like to have Dev's solid body on top of her in the van, his masculine hips spreading her legs wide. There'd been a substantial bulge at the juncture of his thighs, and now that she wasn't in fear for her life, the thought of that bulge put him at the top of her list of available roll in the hay candidates. She'd bet he was the type of lover who'd finally give her what she was looking for in bed.

Dev's head angled slightly, his dark hair brushing the collar of his shirt, his gold hoop earring catching a diamond spark of candlelight. His gaze captured hers. His eyes, she saw now, were a remarkable silver, shining with a mischievous glitter designed to make a woman's heart do the wild thing in her chest.

She turned aside and leaned in to smell the bouquet of pink roses sitting on the bar. She smiled secretly. She could feel him staring at her. Her skin heated and prickled. Now he was crossing to her. She plucked a rose petal and pressed it to her nose. She hadn't been able to wear her regular perfume tonight; something about the cave air making synthetic scents smell bad or something. A rose would be a nice substitute. She smoothed the petal slowly down her throat.

The bartender fumbled his strainer.

Dev's hand came around her body and plucked the petal from her fingers. "Don't do that." His voice was a silky rumble in her ear, his breath a shivering caress over her flesh. "You'll ruin yourself."

She turned around, her belly flipping a full somersault as she peered up at him through the feathery wisps of her bangs. He looked to-die-for handsome in a charcoal-colored suit and vivid blue dress shirt, his gray-striped tie complementing the silver in his eyes to perfection. The shape of his face was carved into an image at once proud and unrefined, his nose a straight blade, his cheekbones sculpted into arrogance, the set of his bearded jaw rugged. Powerful across the shoulders and chest, there was something untamed about this man, a feral aura exuding from him that no trappings of civilization could ever hide. Being around him seemed to raise every fine hair on her body. Would taking him to her bed promise her a one-way ticket to heaven or hell? Either one would be fine with her.

"It's Marissa, right?" His off-center smile went straight to her melting belly…no, lower. "How're you holding up after last night?"

"Oh, okay, I suppose. Done with adventures for a while, though, for sure."

His smile grew, and she glimpsed a set of pointy canines.

Her pulse leapt. He was probably a neck-nibbler extraordinaire. "And you said your name's Dev." She sipped her Cosmo. "Is that short for Devlin?"

"No."

"Devin?"

He set his empty cocktail glass on the bar. "Devid."

She quirked her brows. "That's unusual."

"Also, hated. Please don't call me that."

"Ah, okay." She let a teasing glint enter her gaze. "Only if I need to scold you."

One of his black brows climbed lazily. "Now what makes you think you'd ever need to scold me, sweetheart?"

"Oh," she murmured, stepping close to him and tilting her face up to give him a deep look. "Because the devil dances in your eyes, Dev Nichita."

His nostrils quivered. He took a step back from her, his jaw flexing once. "A Dewar's on the rocks, Ivard, if you wouldn't mind." His voice sounded strained. He cleared his throat. "They say you're staying on to open a restaurant in ??ran?. Glad to hear it."

She glanced slantwise at him. "For reasons of the restaurant or because I'm staying?"

He laughed. "Both. I mean, I definitely like to eat."

"Yes, I can tell," she dead-panned. "You weigh a ton." She fought to keep her lips from twitching as Dev's cheeks went up in flames.

"Hey, I…in the van…" He threw out his hands. "Totally uncalled for. I have no excuse."

She chuckled throatily. If only he knew how eager she was for a repeat performance.

A diminutive blonde sidled up to the bar. "A gin and tonic please, Bombay Sapphire again. Hi, Marissa," she sang out, then her gaze landed on Dev, and one side of her mouth lifted. "My, goodness. Dr. Parthen wasn't kidding when she said one of the perks of living here is that all the single men are gorgeous." She giggled.

How true. "Dev Nichita," Marissa introduced, gesturing between the two, "this is Chelsea Bryant, the new cinema manager."

"Hi ho!" Chelsea swept her refreshed drink off the bar. "Nice to meet you."

Marissa caught back a frown as she watched the doll-like blonde rock unsteadily on her high heels. "How many gin and tonics have you had, Chelsea?"

"What…? This is only my third."

Uh, oh. The woman couldn't weigh more than ninety-five pounds.

Dev cast an amused glance at Marissa as he claimed his own drink from the bar, simultaneously reaching out to shake Chelsea's hand. "Nice to meet you, too," he said, smiling broadly.

"Hey, are you one of the security guys who—My Lord!" Chelsea squeaked. "Look how big your teeth are!"

"Oh, um, no…" Dev straightened, his lips melting closed over his teeth. "Not really."

"No, really." Chelsea waved over Beverly, the new jewelry designer, and Hadley, who Marissa had found out was an event planner. "You have to see this guy's teeth. They're like fangs, I swear."