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From the corner of her eye, she saw the valet turn green.
“I’ve got it,” she said, not looking back at Niko.
The valet darted a look toward her. She caught his scent, musky and distinct, and felt a bit of pity for him. One of the smaller predators, he looked like he was about ready to pass out. With a strained smile, she said, “We don’t have much. I think we can get everything ourselves.”
“Of course.” His voice was steady and some of the color had leached back into his face. “Prime, would you care to have your vehicle parked?”
Niko’s response was a low rumble that she instinctively tuned out, moving at a quick clip toward the doors that glided open as she drew near. The hotel was lovely, the lobby done in soft shades of white, cream and gold. A cocktail of scents rose to tease her nose and her ears picked up the sound of an air circulation unit, yet one more reason a hotel like this commanded high fees. Too many bodies in one place could tangle the scent layers, adding up to a headache-inducing miasma, but high-dollar facilities paid a pretty penny to install air circulators that worked continuously to keep the air in the building flowing, constantly circulating fresh air in.
The soft ripples of laughter coming from behind a wall, punctuated by voices, told Zee there was a lounge nearby and they had a steady flow of clientele.
Her skin pricked as Niko approached from behind, but she didn’t turn to look at him.
“Come on,” he said quietly, brushing his fingers down her arm.
She flinched at the light contact, damning herself for the reaction but unable to control it. It had just been a brush of his fingers. One could almost call the touch impersonal.
But her blood burned through her veins now and her nipples stabbed into her bra.
Swallowing around the lump that had formed in her throat, she stepped closer to the counter where the clerk waited for one reason alone—so he wouldn’t have any reason to touch her again. The less he touched her, the better. She didn’t know how long she could hold out against him but it would be humiliating in the extreme for her reaction to him to become so blatantly obvious in public.
The clerk’s gaze slid her way once more as he began to detail the hotel’s amenities. His smile was professional and polite, nothing at all inappropriate and yet Niko shifted, placing his body closer to hers.
Annoyed, she backed away and turned on her heel. “I’ll be by the elevators.”
As she walked away, she could feel Niko watching her and she had to fight the urge to curl in on herself.
The hard impact of his gaze finally lessened as she disappeared around the floating wall that separated the check-in desk from the elevators. As she waited, a young group exited the lounge and headed in her direction. It was an eclectic mix of men and women and judging by the men’s short haircuts and their erect carriage, Zee pegged them as military, possibly from an Air Command or Naval Watch base in the region. The air vibrated with their energy and not just because a few of them were Pretern, foxes mostly, but she caught the scent of predatory cats and maybe one of the Therian birds of prey, as well as an Atargarian kelpie.
They were full of youthful energy and confidence, full of life.
She’d felt like that for a brief, so brief period of time.
One of the men looked her way, a human, his eyes full of warmth and a sexy male appreciation she’d have to be blind to miss. When their gazes connected, a smile curved a mouth that was almost too pretty and he took a step in her direction.
One of the women stopped him.
Blood rushed Zee’s cheeks, because the woman was Therian and there was absolutely no need to speculate why she’d put a halt to any attempt at flirtation on her friend’s behalf.
A ripple went through the small group in the next moment.
Zee deliberately turned her back as a few murmurs rose, followed by a man’s voice saying, “Prime Whelan.”
Niko murmured a response, but over the dull roar of blood raging in Zee’s ears, she couldn’t pick the words apart well enough to understand what he’d said. Jabbing the up button for the elevator, she wrapped her arms around herself, keenly aware of the scrutiny, although nobody had looked directly at her after Niko’s presence had become known.
His scent filled her head, wrapped around her like an embrace as he moved to stand next to her.
The doors slid open and he stood back to let her step inside.
Although there was plenty of room, nobody moved to join them.
She silently cursed that fact.
Niko reached over to push the button for the top floor and his arm brushed against hers, sending a wave of sensation through her. She sucked in a breath of air and backed away, her heart lurching up into her throat before kicking up at a pace that had her blood rushing through her veins.
Heat pooled in her belly and just like that, she was lost in a tidal wave of desire.
The elevator doors slid shut and she reached out a hand to grip the cool metal of the railing to her right, thrown off balance by the sheer intensity of it, a storm of overwhelming, mindless need.
