Page 90 of Duty

Spinning back around to face whoever was waiting for her at table fifteen, Haven froze on the spot at the man sitting there. She should have known.

Goddammit.

That strange feeling from earlier that made her think Andino had been watching her from somewhere in the crowd had left after a while. She’d gotten lost in work, and stopped looking to see if he was actually there or not. She wouldn’t say she had forgotten—her mind simply put him and his possible presence on the backburner while she went back to doing her fucking job. Clearly, that had been a mistake on her part.

Here he is.

“Andino,” Haven greeted, sliding in beside his table and ignoring the patrons at the booth next to his. “I’d like to say I’m surprised to see you here, but I can’t say that I am.”

He glanced sideways at her, all striking green eyes, a strong jaw relaxed in his smile, and an aloof attitude that made her think cool, calm, and always collected. Wasn’t that Andino in a nutshell? She didn’t think this man knew how to be fucking emotional.

Goddamn him, too.

He looked good.

He’d ditched the usual three-piece suit for dark wash jeans, a plain white T-shirt, and a black leather jacket with the sleeves pushed up his forearms. And those arms. God, she loved his arms—next to his face and his cock, she swore they were his best fucking feature.

“You were expecting me?” he asked smoothly, arching a brow.

Haven saw that trap for what it was, and refused to walk into it. There was no way in hell she was about to explain to this man that, yes, she absolutely had felt his presence from the moment he walked into her business. Frankly, she didn’t know how to deal with that. She wasn’t at all sure that he would know what to do with it.

And did he really need that information?

Haven didn’t think so.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

Andino’s attention went back to the stage, and she felt the loss of his gaze instantly. The buzzing through her nerves, the humming on her skin, and the tightness in her chest was gone the moment he looked away from her. The heat traveling through her body was quick to leave, too—a coldness remained in its wake.

Look at me again, she wanted to say.

Make me feel like that again.

Only you do that to me.

Haven kept quiet.

She was a damn mess. It had been her who chose to walk away from Andino, and not the other way around. She did that for good reasons—all good reasons! Him showing up, and looking at her should not make a difference to why she had chosen to walk away.

And yet …

Here she was.

Entirely fucked.

All because of him.

Andino nodded at the stage subtly, saying, “Watching the show.”

Haven stiffened, but didn’t bother to look at what he was talking about. She didn’t need to look at the stage to know it was one of her girls dancing—Marney, actually, who specialized in erotic dancing with little tricks, but more sensual moves and things of that nature. She was a favorite of the patrons, and—

“She’s new, isn’t she?” he asked quietly, passing Haven another glance.

She couldn’t tell if he was actually interested in watching Marney, or just trying to see if he could piss Haven off. He was succeeding. She’d never really felt jealousy before—didn’t have time for nonsense like that.

And yet, there she was.

Green all over.