Hard Candy [Anthology]

261 Pages·2016·0.89 MB·English

by  Knight Angela

Hard Candy
Angela Knight, Sheri Gilmore & Morgan Hawke
HERO SANDWICH

Angela Knight

Meg Jennings stepped out onto the roof of her apartment building, her boots
scraping on the concrete. Below, horns honked and an eighteen-wheeler growled
in acceleration as a fire truck wailed its way down the street.
Restless, she strode to the roof’s edge. All around her, the lights of Manhattan
glittered in the darkness as if the stars had showered down to earth. Meg stared
downward, brooding.
She’d had no choice except to break it off with Richard tonight. Much as she
loved him, she couldn’t keep tolerating his secrecy, his habit of disappearing, his
evasiveness. She couldn’t even remember the last time they’d actually ended a
date without him being called off by some mysterious phone call. Any
explanation he’d bothered to give afterward always had the ring of a lie.
Meg had lived a double life long enough to recognize the signs in somebody
else. She knew what she was doing in hers. She wasn’t at all sure she wanted to
know what Richard was doing with his.
Maybe he was a hero, risking his life in the pursuit of justice. But there was
something about Richard, something just a little bit dark, a little bit ruthless.
That sounded more like villain than hero to Meg -- and she wasn’t willing to go
down that particular road again. She didn’t like where it led.
Even so, the expression on his handsome face when she’d told him it was over
had stabbed into her soul. Pain and vulnerability were not emotions she
associated with Richard Drake, billionaire captain of industry.
She’d found herself explaining. “I just can’t live with the lies anymore,
Richard.”
A cool gleam of determination replaced the pain in those wolf-pale eyes. “We
all have our secrets, Meg. And we all tell lies.” Then he’d walked out.
Now she glowered at the city below. We all have our secrets. What the hell did
that mean?
With a huff, Meg stepped off the edge of the roof and into empty air. For an
instant, she fell like a rock. Then the generators in her suit started pumping out
lev-fields, and she rose slowly skyward like a soap bubble on the breeze.
Absently, she watched the traffic stream below her boots in a river of
headlights. Was this what Richard meant? Did he know what she was? And
would he tell anyone in that other life she suspected he led?
If he did, he might as well paint a target on her chest and declare open season.
Too many pissed-off villains -- and even a few heroes -- had sworn to take
revenge on Paparazzi for the photos she’d taken. If any of them ever found out
who she was, she wouldn’t have a prayer.
It was hard to believe Richard would deliberately endanger her that way. But
then, she didn’t really know him, did she? That was the whole problem.
Frowning, Meg stretched her body out in the air, letting the lev-fields cradle
her in invisible lines of force. With one hand, she checked the bag attached to
her equipment belt. Her camera gear was safely stowed, ready for the night’s
adventures. Taking a deep breath, she slowly flexed her toes, triggering the
acceleration controls in her boots. Instantly, she shot forward, propelled by the
levitation fields rippling around her.
It was ironic, really. If her father hadn’t been such an adrenaline junkie, he
could have been pulling in billions in patent proceeds. The American military
would have paid a great deal for a suit that could both levitate its wearer and turn
him invisible.
Unfortunately, exploiting his inventions had always held less appeal for Gerald
Jennings than committing crimes as the supervillain Bankbuster. He and his
partner Nightwolf had terrorized New York together, in between battles with
superheroes like Cougar and Lynx. Which was why Gerald was doing fifty in
Attica now instead of living the high life in Acapulco.
Meg was lucky she hadn’t gone down with him. When she’d turned fifteen,
Nightwolf had lost a fight with Cougar and gone to jail. Her father hated
working alone, so he gave her a lev-suit and forced her to become his sidekick,
Sneak Thief. For the next two years, she’d lived in a constant state of terror as
they used their suits in nighttime bank robberies.
Finally Meg could take no more. She told her father she’d robbed her last
bank. Enraged, Gerald beat her so badly, he had to take her to the hospital before
he robbed the bank he’d targeted. Cougar and Lynx caught him that very night.
Bankbuster’s conviction freed Meg from her life of crime, but it also left her
with a very big problem. Her mother was dead, and the money Gerald had left in
an offshore bank wouldn’t last long. Though she was old enough to go out on
her own by then, she had no way to support herself except minimum-wage jobs.
Meg briefly considered selling her own suit to the Army, but she didn’t know
how it worked. Besides, admitting she had Sneak Thief’s costume wasn’t exactly
a good move, given the charges hanging over her head. She had to find another
way to make a living.
Meg had been at a loss until the night she decided to take a camera along on
one of her flights through the city. She’d always loved shooting the New York
skyline from the air, but her subject that night proved a lot more exciting.
She was just about to snap a shot of the Empire State Building when a flash of
fire in the night sky caught her attention. When she flew over to investigate, it
turned out to be Megaman locked in battle with the Crimson Scorpion. Invisible,
Meg zipped around them, snapping pictures of their combat.
As soon as the fight was over, she made a beeline for one of the city’s
newspapers. The night editor bought the photos on the spot, despite his doubts
about the masked woman who’d taken them.
And so Paparazzi was born.
The question was, did Richard know her other identity -- and would he tell
anybody?

Cougar had chosen his vantage point carefully, right on the edge of the rooftop.
He figured he’d be silhouetted against the streetlights below.
Easy for anybody flying overhead to spot.
“Think she’ll show?” Lynx asked. The communications unit in Cougar’s mask
was so good, it sounded as if his brother was whispering right in his ear.
“Tonight?” Cougar shrugged. “Who knows? Eventually? Yeah, eventually.”
Lynx grunted. “Hope she doesn’t take too long. We’ve got more important
things to do.”
“Patience, Grasshopper. She’s had this coming for a while. And I mean to
make sure she gets it.”
There was no sound for a moment except the roar of traffic from below. A jet
screamed by overhead. Finally, Lynx asked, “Isn’t that a little extreme? I mean,
it’s not like she’s Nightwolf. She’s just a photographer.”
“What, you enjoy being a joke on Leno?” The photo in the New York Daily
Journal had been taken immediately after last night’s brawl with Battle Ax.
Unfortunately, the brotherly arm Cougar had thrown around Lynx’s shoulders
had looked like something entirely different to people who’d been speculating
about their sexual preferences for years. Everybody from Jon Stewart to Conan
O’Brien had riffed on it.
In the shadows of the building’s rooftop elevator, Lynx shifted his weight,
boots scraping on the cement roof. Cougar’s animal-acute hearing picked up the
sound clearly. “People have been making those jokes since we started out. Like
you always say, that’s what happens when you run around in leather. Paparazzi
was only doing her job.”
“That’s not what you said when Jay said we make a cute couple.”
“I was ticked. Look, Cougar, pissing us off isn’t against the law, so we can’t
take her to jail. What the hell are we going to do with her once we do catch her?”
Cougar smiled slowly. “I’ll think of something.”

Years of experience had taught Meg the perfect flying height if she wanted to
spot supers in action. Even so, sometimes she circled the city for hours without
seeing anything worth shooting. It was the luck of the ...
What was that?
She braked into a hover, attention caught by a human shape standing on a
rooftop, silhouetted against the lights. The guy was so broad-shouldered, he just
had to be superpowered. Meg shot down for an invisible fly-by.
He stood with one leg bent, bracing a boot against the low rooftop wall. Soft
brown leather armor emphasized his narrow waist and the contrasting width of
powerful shoulders. A leather helmet in the shape of a cat’s head covered his
face. The cat’s roaring jaws framed his lower face and the grim line of his
mouth. She’d always found that mouth perversely sexy.
Cougar.
Meg’s heart began to pound as her instinct to run like hell battled her need for
a closer look. New York’s premier hero had fascinated her since she was a scared
fifteen-year-old watching him battle her father. Every time Gerald had reeled
under one of those powerful punches, guilt, terror, and hope had warred in her
soul. Secretly, she’d dreamed Cougar would rescue her.
And in the end, he’d done just that.
Meg was twenty-three now, and Cougar still starred in her fantasies, though
her dreams had taken a distinctly adult turn these days. He was just so ... male,
so dominant, so hard-edged and grimly handsome. You just knew he’d be the
type to go for handcuffs and kinky sex.
She’d even told Richard about those fantasies one night after three glasses of
really good champagne. Richard being Richard, he’d offered to rent a costume,
but she hadn’t been quite that drunk.
Now there he stood in the flesh. Cougar. All by himself. Not fighting anybody.
She could actually get close and just look at him, instead of snapping a shot and
fleeing for her life.
Meg drifted down to hover ten feet away. Taking her time, she floated closer,
slowly enough to avoid creating a rush of air that would betray her to Cougar’s
hyperhuman senses. He didn’t seem aware of her presence. He just stared down
at the street below as though watching something, still as a hunting cat.
Damn, he was big. Had to be six-four at least. Meg was willing to bet his
armor wasn’t padded, either. It exposed his arms from shoulders down to the
beginning of his clawed gauntlets, and those biceps were mouthwatering. Eyeing
the elegant curve of hard, tanned skin, Meg imagined what he’d look like naked,
all that glorious brawn on display. His body must be as delicious as Richard’s.
Except Cougar was a good guy. She wasn’t so sure about Richard.

She was right in front of him. He could smell her. The hint of jasmine in her
floral shampoo blended with the rich, complex scent of woman.
Aroused woman.
But good as his feline senses were, Cougar couldn’t see her. She was
completely invisible.
Wait for it, he told himself. Let her get closer. He had only one shot at this. If
he blew it, she’d make damn sure he never got close again. And he wanted to get
very, very close. It was a good thing he wore armor over his groin, or she’d have
seen his hungry erection.
Cougar spared a thought for Lynx, ready to pounce from the shadows. They
hadn’t dreamed she’d be brazen enough to approach him head-on. He doubted
his brother was even aware she was here. The serum they’d taken as teenagers
had given Lynx speed and agility instead of acute senses and superstrength.
Cougar breathed in slowly. The light breeze brought more of that wonderful
female scent, as though she was coming closer, flying right up to the edge of the
roof he stood on.
Wait for it.

Meg wondered what color his eyes were behind his mask’s opaque eye slits.
The only thing she could really see of him was the lower half of his face.
She’d always thought Cougar had a grim, hard mouth, but now she realized his
upper lip had a deliciously sensual curve, while the lower pouted ever so slightly.
God, she wanted to kiss him.
Why not?
Why not just zip in, steal a kiss, and zoom off before he could grab her? He’d
never know who it was. Hell, he might not even be sure what happened.
Her heart thudded an eager adrenalin beat. It was so risky. If he got those big
hands on her ...
She’d love it.
No, Meg, you would not, she told herself sternly. You’d go to jail.
Well, probably not. It wasn’t against the law to steal a kiss, and he didn’t know
she’d been Sneak Thief. Where was the harm? Besides, Cougar might be big and
strong, but speed was Lynx’s talent. She was pretty sure she could fly off before
he could catch her.
Meg floated closer. One inch. Two. Sloooowly. Holding her breath. She could
smell him now, leather and man. His armor was exquisitely made in contrasting
shades of warm brown, trimmed in metallic gold. It looked faintly Roman and
extremely butch, unlike the spandex many heroes wore. She’d seen it stop
bullets, so it had to be made of something more than just leather.
Her gaze focused on his seductive mouth. She licked her lips. Her heartbeat
thundered. She was close enough now to reach out and kiss him. Tensing, ready
to fly, Meg leaned forward the few inches she’d need to make contact with those
velvet lips ...
Powerful arms snapped around her like the jaws of a trap springing shut. She
slammed against Cougar’s chest so hard, the breath left her in a stunned whoof.
As Meg gasped, a white grin spread across the mouth she’d wanted so badly to
taste. “You’ve been a bad, bad girl, Paparazzi.”

She went nuts in his arms, shrieking and bucking against him. Cougar held on,
though his eyes insisted he had an armful of nothing.
“Jesus, you got her?” Lynx leaped from his hiding place and ran to help.
“She ...” Cougar almost lost his grip when invisible teeth fastened on his lower
lip. He squeezed once, just hard enough to make her let go. Glaring at what his
eyes insisted was empty air, he snarled, “Don’t do that again!”
“Fuck you!” she screamed in his face. “Let me go! I haven’t done anything
wrong!”
“I wouldn’t go that far --” He bared his teeth. “-- Sneaky.” At the nickname,
she froze against him. “Oh, yeah, I know who you are. It’s been six years, but I
still recognize that scent.”
“Whose scent?” Lynx stared at him and his invisible prisoner as if trying to
decide how to help restrain her.
“Sneak Thief’s.” Cougar backed away from the roof edge and turned to face
his partner, holding his captive tight as she started squirming again. “Grab her
shoulders. We need to get her out of this suit so we can see what the hell we’re
doing.”
“Wait, Paparazzi is Sneak Thief?” Lynx grimaced, belatedly putting two and
two together as he groped for the girl. “Flies, invisible -- oh, hell, you’re right.
Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’ll explain later.” She was beginning to panic -- he could smell it in her scent.
He bared his teeth at her in his most savage expression. “Give it up, Sneaky.
Even if you get away, I’ll just hunt you down. And by the time I find you, I’ll be
pissed off.”
She went warily still, obviously intimidated. Being a good guy had never
stopped him from cultivating a nasty reputation. “OK, try it now,” he told Lynx.
His brother slid an arm down, worked it between him and his prisoner, and
coiled tight around what seemed to be her waist. The other hand found a grip
around what was probably her shoulders, judging from the position. “Got her.”
Cougar grinned wickedly. “Good. Let’s get her out of this suit.” Slowly, taking
his time, he started searching for the zipper.

Panic beat at her like huge, battering wings until Meg wanted to throw up. She
was going to jail. Never mind that she’d been a kid afraid of her father, they