Chapter 8
Max silently slid down the rope she'd dropped through the skylight. Looking around quietly she smiled at the furnishings. This person had good taste. As the saying goes curiosity killed the cat, Max found she couldn't help but get a better look at the place.
Creeping past a door, she froze as her eyes rested upon a familiar figure. Logan Cale. Of all the luck, she'd pick his place to rob. She started to creep back to the statue when he started talking. What he said froze her in her tracks.
"Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a streaming freedom video. Eyes Only cannot be bought or threatened and through the eyes only informant net a truth-speaker has come forward." He was Eyes Only. Max stifled a laugh at the thought; it just couldn't be true.
" The testimony of one fearless witness will soon lead to the indictment of Edgar Sonrisa for multiple counts of murder…" Max started to creep back again. Well now she had a target. She still couldn't get over the fact that some rich brat was Eyes Only. But what was even better was the fact that he probably wouldn't have become Eyes Only had Manticore left his family alone. Talk about creating monsters.
Max walked back over to the statue and picked it up letting out a little laugh.
"Can I help you?" a voice from behind her caught her off guard and she nearly dropped the statue.
"No I think I've got it covered actually." Max said sarcastically, turning around to meet the voice. It was Logan Cale.
Logan watched the invader quietly. He'd heard her come in but continued on with his broadcast anyway. Now as she turned around he could have sworn that his mouth hit the floor. It was her. The girl from that night. And she was just as gorgeous as ever. Her eyes still had the power to draw him in, and that cat suit wasn't helping either. He wished he had a lamp handy.
"You're a thief?" he blurted out in disbelief. All this time he'd thought she was there that night for the express purpose of killing his family and it turns out she was just a thief. It didn't make sense.
"Girls gotta make a living." She tried for wit but only succeeded in making the noises come out and form words. His eyes were pulling her in again. Max had the strange sensation that this night was going to end in failure too if things kept going the way they were. And not just failure on her current night job but on the bigger Manticore mission.
Logan fought the pull of her for exactly three seconds then gave in to it.
Max fought hard against his eyes but found that if he stared any longer he was going to have her on the ground again and not for the same reason as last time. Mercifully Logan broke the link.
"You have good taste." Max's mind flew at his words, in what…men. She had to get her mind out of the gutter, but as he gestured toward the statue, he flashed that same sexy smile and she was sure her face flushed.
"What you liked it cause it was shiny?" he questioned insulting her intelligence with a casual flair that she found incredibly appealing. Suddenly she found the nerve that seemed to have deserted her.
"No, because it's the Egyptian goddess Bast, the goddess who comprehends all goddesses, eye of Ra, protector, avenger, destroyer...giver of life who lives forever." She shot back smiling with just as much sex appeal as he had used to taunt her.
Logan was slightly thrown of guard by her comment and the way she smiled. She's just a girl. She's just a girl. Calm down. Logan chanted to his mixed up feelings and the blood that was rising in him as well.
"I'd love to hang and discuss art but I gotta jet…by the way love your show." She continued and started up the rope. Logan returned her smile and watched her as she started up the rope with Bast in hand. Regaining control of his legs he walked over to the rope and reached up to grab her ankle. Giving it a good tug she slipped and fell, right into his embrace.
"Wait." He said smiling mischievously. Max felt her heart do some funny dance in her chest as the breath from his word danced on her face. Her eyes flicked to his lips, she wanted nothing else then to find out how they tasted. The scent of him filled her nose and she closed her eyes breathing him in. His hands were busy tracing little circles on her back and she couldn't help but gasp a little as he roughly pulled her closer.
Logan was having a similar experience watching the way that Max reacted to all of his little advances. Locking his eyes on her lips, he watched as she quickly slid her tongue across them. She had to know what that did to him because when he pulled her closer she smiled knowingly after her first initial gasp. He had her exactly where he wanted her. In his arms, more then slightly aroused, and completely confused. He figured it was time to break the moment before he went too far. Because like it or not he didn't trust himself around her any more then she trusted herself around him.
"I'll be needing that back when you're done with it." Logan said his voice laid with undertones no breathing person could misinterpret. Max's eyes flew open in shock at his words. He couldn't have meant what she thought he did. They'd just met.
"The statue that is." He said smiling he knew she'd thought something else, that had been his plan and as understanding hit her hard he smiled at her growing fury.
Logan had just led her on. Max was furious and she threw the statue at the wall and pushed Logan backwards. Logan tripped on the rope tangled on the floor and fell grabbing Max and pulling her down with him.
"Got a lamp handy?" she questioned from her perch on top of him.
"Didn't know you liked it like that." Logan said trying to keep his cool as she played with the buttons on his shirt. It was her turn to tease him a bit.
"Comfortable?" she asked leaning in to whisper in his ear and letting her nose brush against his cheek as she did so. Logan couldn't respond, to do so would need words and he couldn't seem to find any. At his lack of words Max grew tired of the game and instead dared to look into his eyes.
She was instantly lost.
Logan noticed her eyes go dim and gain that far off dream-like quality. They were sad eyes. They didn't hold the fire they had before. Logan dared to reach up and touch her face. So many times this moment had played out in his dreams only to find that when he went to touch her she was gone.
His fingers met flesh, warm, smooth and soft. Her eyes grew scared like a doe that's just spotted danger in the form of a hunter. Logan was that hunter. Max started to rise but Logan grabbed her wrist.
"Its ok. I won't hurt you." He offered. Just then Peter walked in.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Peter demanded. Logan lost his grip on her wrist and he watched from the floor as she ran out of the room and crashed through one of his windows.
Like a cat she landed on her feet and Logan watched from the broken window as she hopped on a bike and rode off.
"Who was she?" Peter asked.
"I've been asking myself that question for almost four years now." Logan said with a simple smile then walked away leaving Peter staring out into the dark street below. He needed a shower a nice cold one.
