I smiled innocently.
“Press five, please.”
She turned toward the panel and blinked hard.
“Holy shit.” Her eyes climbed the glowing numbers. “There are fifty-two floors?” She looked genuinely offended by the betrayal. “This building does not look that tall from outside.”
I stepped in behind her, settling close enough for her scent to curl around me, and breathed in deep.
“There are actually ten more below us,” I murmured near her ear. Her back stiffened against my chest.
I pointed toward the thin red line dividing the buttons.
“This separates the underground levels from the main tower.”
“Oh.” The word escaped her in a small breath. “Th-that’s cool.”
That shaky little stutter nearly unraveled me.
I leaned closer without thinking, breathing her in while she stared at the panel and pretended she didn’t notice how close I’d gotten.
My mind immediately betrayed me.
The car. Her straddling me. The sounds she made while feeding. The way she clung to me like she’d die if I stopped touching her.
The elevator dinged open before I could spiral any further.
“Wow!”
She slipped under my arm and darted out before I could recover, leaving me standing there, staring after her, while my body tried to remember how to function normally.
I hung my head for one second.Get yourself together.
“What’s that?” Her voice echoed excitedly down the hall.
I followed the sound and found her pressed up against a glass wall, palms braced against it while her eyes flew around the room behind the glass.
I chuckled softly.
“This room stores discontinued robotics projects. Some failed in testing. Some worked but weren’t profitable enough to sell.”
She barely heard me. Her eyes rapidly bounced from machine to machine while her lips moved under her breath.
“But if they shifted the axle there…” She leaned closer to the glass. “And replaced that plate with a wheel strut…”
A slow grin spread across her face.
“Oh my god,” she whispered to herself, almost gleeful now. “These idiots thought this was junk.”
I stared at her instead of the room.
Of all the expensive technology on this floor, the thing lighting her up most was the scrap pile. My mouth twitched upward before I could stop it.
“Come on,” I said. “There’s more to see.”
She turned toward me slowly, her lower lip pushed out just slightly, and those absolutely devastating puppy-dog eyes locked onto me like she knew exactly what they did to people.
I’d watched hardened criminals beg and cry for their lives. I was the one who stayed stone faced and brutal when it came time for their life to end without blinking.
