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“Get to the point, Ares. I’d like to go upstairs and close not only my door but also my eyes.”
“Right.” He looked up before his gaze descended back on mine. Then he bit his lip in a way that lit a fire inside. Although they were twins, Rio didn’t have such an effect on me. What a backstabbing universe we lived in.
“I was wondering—”
“If?” I yawned, waving my hand to continue because I really wanted to see my bed and sleep for ages. Was it really that hard to keep up a conversation?
His eyes hardened. My thighs clenched. There was something about his authoritativeness. That right there was probably that separated Ares from Rio.
Wrong, Dita. So wrong.
“Tired?”
I pursed my lips. “How perceptive of you.”
“Amazing, aren’t I?” he retorted with a sarcastic bite.
I turned around, ready to end this useless encounter. “If you don’t mind, I’m off to bed.”
“Wait!” He rushed out, the wariness in his eyes standing out. Gone was the dominant Ares I’d known best. “We’re, uh, looking for volunteers at The Zoo.”
I lifted one brow. “Are you that desperate?”
He flexed his jaws at the dig and shrugged, noncommittal, as if it didn’t hurt asking for my help. “The sanctuary is where I adopted Hopitles and Asclepius from.”
“Acele-what-us?”
The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile. “Ace. It’s just Ace for friends.”
The snake. Right. “You guys are so weird with names. Rich people,” I muttered.
“Money’s not mine, D. I just live here, and God forbid I ask—” Ares countered but lost his bark. “Anyway, it’s not doing so well. The sanctuary, I mean.”
Animals. Weren’t they a weakness to us all?
“What’s going to happen otherwise?”
“They’ll shut the doors.” The tension in his shoulders thickened while he splayed his fingers through his black mane. “If they don’t reel in any donors, they’ll probably shut it down for good. And the snakes…they’ll get transferred or, well, euthanized.”
That was awful. But so was Ares. “And that’s my business because…?”
He dipped his head and his eyes blackened out with a looming undercurrent. “I’m making it yours.”
I rolled my eyes but pinched the door handle tight. That smoldering look of his made me dumb. “This is getting old, Ares.”
His hand came over my head, holding himself inches from me. My heels hit the door as I backed up. He looked criminally sexy and dangerous at the same time.
“I’ll make you,” he said.
I shook my head as if he was talking gibberish. It certainly didn’t transform into a dirty promise in my head. I did not like Ares talking like that. Although I felt the iron bar poking my back, it barely contained the pleasure I felt from being cocooned by his lean build.
“Not going to happen tonight,” I challenged and added, just to be clear. “Or any other night, for that matter.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Arrogant son of a bitch.
He leaned in, his hot breath against my lips. My heart pounded in my chest. He muted the saxophones from the bar’s playlist still drumming in my ears. Suddenly, my cells were dancing to his rhythm instead of the constant music in my loins.
