Dead Man Dating 1

The shot was muffled - silencer,I thought - yetthe sound still bounced off the walls and echoed down the alleyway. Tensing in expectation of the blood splatter, my eyes slammed closed.

Nothing happened.

When I opened them again, I was alone.

No Eric. No stranger. No blood. What the hell?

I stepped onto the street. No one appeared to have heard the gunshot, or if they had, they didn't care, continuing on their way with the typical zombielike trance of lifetime New Yorkers. The tourists were too busy staring upward, either dazzled bythe neon or trying to find their way to their hotels by way of the skyscrapers - a method similar to using the stars in places where stars could actually be seen.

I was dizzy with the adrenaline, both confused and frightened, so I wandered back into the alley, and I saw him.

Just a shadow, a slip of darkness against the light as he moved onto the street one block over.

I didn't think; I ran. If he vanished into the crowd, what would I do? How would I prove anything that had happened tonight? I didn't consider why I thought I needed to prove anything.

I burst out of the alley, and someone grabbed me around the waist. The force of my forward motion, and the sudden end to it, swung me about so fast, my feet lifted off the ground. A choked sound came from my throat, but I didn't have the air left to scream.

Even if I had, it wouldn't have mattered since he slapped his hand over my mouth and dragged me backward. I just couldn't win tonight.

"Why are you following me?" he asked.

"Why do you think?"

My lips moved, but the words were garbled. His body, rock-hard against mine, tensed.

"If I lift my hand, do you promise not to scream?"

Since screaming hadn't worked very well for me so far, I nodded, and the hand went away.

"You shot my date in the head!"

"What date?"

I blinked. "The guy in the alley."

"What guy?"

"Eric Leaventhall. Slim, blond, handsome."

He snorted.

"What does that mean?"

He didn't bother to answer, continuing to hold me aloft, my feet dangling near his knees. Hewas so much taller, so much broader, so much stronger, I felt helpless. And while that should have unnerved me, instead I got kind of annoyed.

"You mind?"

I swung my feet, almost cracking him in the shin, and he set me down but kept his arm around my waist.

I could neither see him nor run away.

"There wasn't any man," he said.

"Of course there was. He bought me a drink. He - he - "

I ran my tongue across my lip, felt the telltale ridge where my teeth had ravaged the skin when Eric kissed me. I wasn't crazy.

But this guy was.

"Let me go," I ordered.

Amazingly, he did, and I scampered out of his reach and spun around.

My first thought: What a shame. He was too gorgeous to be insane. As if beauty and lunacy were mutually exclusive.

As dark as Eric had been light, bulky where Eric had been slim, this man was large, hard, his hair shaggy, his face shadowed by at least two days' growth of beard. The clothes had obviously been slept in, a lot, though even before that, they'd been years away from new.

His blue work shirt had faded nearly to white from repeated washings. With it unbuttoned to his sternum, I saw the hint of a tattoo, though I couldn't tell what the shape was. The jeans were ancient, too, the boots scuffed and dusty, his black leather jacket a relic.

His eyes were as dark as mine, but he had longer lashes. Isn't that always the way? High cheekbones, a fine blade of a nose. I wasn't certain, but I thought I saw the sparkle of an earring. Nothing fancy or swingy, just a shiny silver stud piercing one lobe.

He was so different from anyone I'd ever encountered - exotic and wild - I had to remind myself he'd just murdered my date in cold blood. Except... Where was the blood?

According to him, there hadn't even been a date.

I was back to the eternal question - was he crazy, or was I?

"There was a man with me," I said, "and you killed him."

"If I had, you shouldn't be troubling your pretty little head."

My eyes narrowed, but he ignored me.

"That's the quickest way to getting it shot off," he continued.

"In other words, Eric troubled his pretty little head? About what?"

"I don't know any Eric. I walked through the alley. You were leaning against the wall. Figured you were high on something."

"I was - "

I broke off as I remembered what I'd been doing. Suddenly I was mortified. Why had I been making out with a stranger? Why had I been bringing him back to my apartment? Both behaviors were completely out of character.

With Eric no longer attached at the lip, I couldn't figure out why I'd been so enthralled by him.

"He was here," I repeated, "and you shot him."

The man cursed under his breath, a long stream of indecipherable Spanish that brought Ricky Ricardo to mind.

"Come along," he snapped, and stalked back in the direction I'd come.

On the opposite end of the alley he paused, knelt, peered at the ground. "No blood, no body." He lifted his gaze. "No shooting and no guy."

Joining him, I stared at the stained, but not with blood, asphalt.

"You want me to take you somewhere?" he asked.

I didn't answer as I inched closer to the wall. I'd been leaning here. Eric had been standing there. Crazy man with a gun had been there, so... I peered more closely at the brick and found the bullet hole.

"Aha!" I stuck my finger into it and glared at the guy triumphantly.

"Aha, what?"

"A bullet hole. You shot him." I frowned, remembering the no blood, no body problem. "Or at leastat him. You missed."

He joined me, then poked his finger into one, two, three other holes. "So did a lot of people."

I yanked my hand away, more miffed than scared. "I know what happened."

"Listen,chica, I didn't see any guy."

"I am not crazy. And I don't do drugs."

"Maybe you should."

At my glare, he lifted his hands in surrender. "I meant prescription ones. You need help."

Maybe I did.DefinitelyI did if I'd not only imagined Eric but also his murder. Did I miss my dad even more than I thought?

Frustrated, I shoved my hand into the pocket of my dress. My fingers brushed paper and I remembered.

I'd printed out the last e-mail from Eric.

Withdrawing the sheet, I thrust it at the man. "I'm not nuts, and here's the proof."

The guy narrowed his eyes, read the words, scowled. Then he pulled out his gun and pointed it at me.

Why had I never learned to leave well enough alone?

"Let's go." He flicked the barrel of the gun toward the street.

"Wh-where?"

"Your place."

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

"You don't get to think."

"You're kidnapping me?"

"What was your first clue?"

If I wasn't so scared, I might have found him funny.

He lost patience and grabbed me by the arm. "Either take me to your place, or I'll take you to mine."

I doubted I'd care for his place. At least in my own I'd be surrounded by the familiar and have a hope in hell of escape.

"Mine," I murmured. "On West Twenty-fourth."

His eyebrows lifted. He obviously knew the neighborhood. Swell. Now he'd want money in addition to...whatever else he wanted.

My kidnapper set his left arm over my shoulders and I tensed, trying to inch away, but he wouldn't let me. Instead, he drew me close, then slid his right hand beneath his jacket and pressed the gun to my ribs.

I guess there'd be no shouting for help. He'd obviously done this before.

"Who are you?" I asked as we stepped onto the street.

"Chavez."

"Is that your first name or your last?"

"Both."

"Right."

He shrugged, the movement rubbing his side against mine, making the gun skitter across my skin. I flinched, and he tightened his hold.

"Relaje," he murmured in that voice that would have been seductive if he hadn't been kidnapping me at gunpoint. "I don't want to hurt you,chica."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"You'll be safer with me. I promise."

I snorted my opinion of that, and I could have sworn he laughed. The sound became a cough as I glanced up.

As the neon lights spilled over us, his face resembled something carved on a western mountainside. Not a hint of emotion - no humor, definitely no compassion. How could I possibly be safer with him? Right now the most frightening thing in my worldwas him.

"What's your name?" he asked.

I debated ignoring the question, but since he was dragging me home, he'd find out anyway. And did I really want him to continue calling mechica in a voice that reminded me of tequila on a scalding summer night?

"Kit," I said, though not very nicely.

"What kind of name is Kit?"

"Nickname. My whole name is longer than your - " I paused and he stared down at me from on high.

"Arm," I finished, and his lips twitched.

"What is Kit short for?"

"My father called me - "

My voice broke suddenly, embarrassingly. My father's death was too new, too painful, too private to talk about with a kidnapper.

"Kitten," Chavez blurted.

I stopped walking. "How did you know that?"

"Fits."

No one but my father had ever thought I resembled a kitten. Strange, and disturbing, that this stranger saw it, too.

We continued on silently. Every once in a while I couldn't stop myself from looking at him. He was everything foreign to me; I should be frightened. Instead that foreignness had turned my fear toward fascination.Especially when his hair shifted, a streetlight blared, and his earring sparkled.

A tiny silver cross. How strange.

I lowered my gaze, saw where we were, and paused, indicating the building on the other side of the street with a dip of my chin. "This is it."

He scowled. "You've got a doorman."

"So?"

"Don't even think about tipping him off. Say I'm your boyfriend."

"Right. Out of the blue I come home with a boyfriend like you."

"What's wrong with me?"

"Besides the gun? The leather? The earring and the - "

I stopped short of mentioning his tattoo. I wasn't sure it was there, and I didn't want him thinking I'd been staring at his chest.

"The killing," I finished.

"I didn't kill anyone." His eyes narrowed. "Yet. If we're both lucky, I'll get what I want and be out of your hair in a few days."

"A few days?" I shouted, managing to startle several passersby.

"Shh!" He jerked me more tightly against him. "I won't hurt you as long as you help me out."

"That's what all the psycho kidnappers say right before they kill someone."

"You have a lot of experience with psycho kidnappers?"

"I think I'm going to."

His lips tightened. "I'm not crazy."

"Which is what all the crazy people say."

He glanced at the sky, as if asking for guidance. For some reason, that calmed me. If he believed in the divine, he couldn't be all bad.

"I'll tell you whatever you want to know." Chavez lowered his gaze from the heavens to my face.

"Inside."

Since Ididn't have much choice, and he had the gun, I let him lead me across the street.