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Emilia
Emilia managed to hold onto her professional demeanor, even though the long, awful day had her feeling like she was spiraling.
Ra’as Drayven wasn’t just sexy, he was damned near irresistible. But he was also a total dick. And Emilia had no respect or patience for bullies.
Good thing I don’t get crushes on assholes, she thought to herself. It will make it very easy to keep things professional.
She tried not to think about how his hands felt on her when he lifted her to her feet, or the intensity in his pale blue eyes.
Ra’as stalked into the house, and she followed, trying not to let her bags drag on the polished marble floors. Someone worked hard to keep them clean, and she didn’t want to make her new colleague’s job harder.
She was just taking in the high ceilings and the beautiful tapestries when Ra’as started up the curved staircase and she noticed his tail for the first time.
Emilia had never met a Kotenka before.
While his huge body and soft ears were alien enough in comparison to her Terran features, the tail was on a whole other level. It was long and elegant with a subtle, inky colored tuft on the end, like the tip of an artist’s brush.
As he climbed the stairs, it swung gracefully behind him as if urging her to check out his admittedly stellar ass.
I’m not going to look at it, she told herself, focusing her eyes on the paintings on the wall of the staircase.
The other Kotenka in the pictures seemed to be moving through time. The ones near the bottom of the staircase wore antiquated fashions, but as they traveled up to the top of the stairs, the clothing became more modern.
But the stern expression on each face never changed. The Drayvens were a serious family. That much was clear.
She felt a pang, wondering what it would be like growing up in a household like this one.
“The children’s rooms are on the right,” Drayven said when they reached the second-floor landing. “My rooms are to the left. You’ll have no reason to poke around in that wing, so I’d better not find you there.”
His words stung. He had no reason to suspect her of being nosy. They’d only met two minutes ago.
“Understood,” she said.
“Your rooms are upstairs,” he said, heading back to the stairs and starting up again.
This climb was shorter. When they reached the top of the stairs, he led her to the right. Her room seemed to be directly over the children’s.
“Here,” he said, throwing open a door and revealing an enormous room with a huge window seat overlooking the rear gardens.
She opened her mouth and closed it again, amazed. There were so many doors at the back of the room that they couldn’t all be closets. Was he being literal when he used the word rooms?
“The maid would have helped you get settled,” he said gruffly. “But she had to accompany the children to their archery lesson because you weren’t here on time.”
Even though he was berating her, the timbre of his deep voice tickled something inside her, like he was speaking in the perfect pitch to resonate with some deeper part of her.
“I’m very sorry I was late,” she said, brushing the thoughts aside and wondering why the hell he hadn’t taken them to their lesson. “The gadabout rental place didn’t want to give me the vehicle you reserved.”
“Why not?” he demanded.
“I, uh, I’m not sure,” she hedged, not wanting to bring up the subject, but uncertain what else to say. “It may have been because I’m a Terran.”
He sucked in a breath, and she glanced up to see his face transformed with rage.
A little voice in the back of her head suggested that maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy after all, if he could be so infuriated by injustice.
“I can’t believe they would inconvenience a VIP customer in this way,” he spat. “My firm will certainly not be doing business with that company anymore.”
Ah. So he was only angered that his own needs weren’t being met. That tracked. So much for injustice.
