Then she sees me.
The smile dies.
Her eyes widen. Her shoulders go tense. And something inside me drops hard and fast, like missing a step on a staircase.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, voice clipped, guarded.
I swallow, hands in my coat pockets. “Everything okay? Can I help?”
She snorts softly as she turns back to the sink. “I’m fine. Just knocked it over.”
“That’s not what I asked,” I say. “Why didn’t you text me?”
She glances over her shoulder, brow furrowing as she washes her hands. “I don’t have your number.”
“Yes, you do.”
She turns fully now, drying her hands on a towel, eyes sharpening. “No, Dorian, I don’t.”
I take a few slow steps closer. “You and I both know you’re lying. You’ve never deleted my number, have you?”
She stands her ground, chin lifting, breath hitching like she’s trying not to show I’m right.
“You should’ve texted me,” I say softly.
“And told you what?” Her voice wavers. Her gaze drops to my mouth, then snaps back to my face.
I move closer.
She shifts her weight, thighs pressing together. The scent of her rises warm and sweet—roses and something else under it, something simmering low.
“Maybe thanked me,” I murmur. “For making you come.”
She swallows hard, eyes flashing. “You’re cocky. Besides, I think it was the other way around.”
I laugh. “Is it?”
Her breath shudders.
Her body’s giving her away—her pulse jumping at her throat, her fingers curling around the edge of the counter like she’s afraid she’ll reach for me otherwise.
“Don’t,” she whispers. “Don’t come closer.”
“Why?” My voice drops. “Tell me.”
“Because…” Her cheeks flush deep, her hand pressing to the edge of the sink like she needs something to hold on to. “It just occurred to me that I forgot to take my heat suppressant this morning.”
A slow fire rolls through me at the words.
I take another step until I can smell her hard enough to make my teeth ache.
She bites her bottom lip.
I’m lost.
I lift my hand, cup her cheek, feel the warmth there, the small tremble in her breath as she tilts her head back without meaning to.
Her skin calls to my mouth like a damn magnet.
