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I nodded, my mouth hanging open. On the walls were over ten canvases, each over six feet tall and wide. I didn’t know how to describe it, except breathtaking. Each piece was filled with bright, vibrant colors with different swirls and designs that one could most likely only accomplish with certain, ahem, body parts on a woman.
Thora ran up and squealed. “You guys made it!” She hugged Juliet and then me. “How was your vacation? You went to Dallas, I heard?” Before I could answer, she turned towards the wall with her paintings on them. “What do you think? Be honest. Do you like it? Is it weird? Oh, God, you hate it.” She trailed off.
“Thora, this is the most beautiful thing I have seen.” I squeezed her hand. “Really, I had no idea you were this talented. This is amazing.”
Hey eyes teared up, and she shook her head. “That means so much to me. I’ve worked really hard the past three years on these. I was so scared to show them to the world, but then my brothers convinced me I needed to do it.” She cleared her throat, her smile stretching from here to Texas. She peeked over my shoulder and bounced on her feet. “Speaking of, come meet one of my brothers.” She grabbed our hands and dragged us towards the bar.
A large, uncomfortably familiar-looking man sat with his back to us. Thora walked up and poked him in his side. “I knew I would find you here. Get up and meet my friends, you big log.”
The man stood and chuckled, pulling Thora into a bear hug. Eros put Thora down, surprise lighting up his face when he saw me standing there. “Well, I’ll be damned! Lara Croft, is that you?”
“Lara Croft?” Thora raised her eyebrows and looked back and forth between us. “No, this is Nova, and Juliet, my friends from work. Well, my bosses, but you know.” She laughed.
I was at a loss for words. No words were coming out of my mouth, just a slight gasp.
“You good?” Juliet touched my arm.
Was I good? No, I wasn’t good. Because if Eros was Thora’s brother, then that meant—
“Cian! You’re late, but here, so that’s OK.” Thora rushed behind me with her arms open.
I didn’t want to look. I didn’t want to turn around and see him. This couldn’t be happening. Wait, howcouldthis be happening? Was Thora a spy? He had said his sister was a private detective. I gripped Juliet’s arm, a heavy feeling in my stomach. What in the mindfuck was happening?
“What are you doing here, Nova?” the deep voice that had haunted my dreams purred from behind me.
What would happen if I just made a beeline for the door? Would it be too obvious that I was avoiding the situation?
Scratch that. Badasses didn’t run from their problems. They hit them over the head with a baseball bat.
I turned to face Cian, ready to wipe that smug grin off of his face.
Chapter Fourteen
“Following me, Nova?” Cian leaned against the bar and took a sip of his drink. Why did he have to look so good? He had this air of confidence around him that was intoxicating. It made me want to do bad things to him, one of them being wrapping my hands around his neck and choking him.
I laughed politely. “I forgot how funny you were, Cian.” I glanced at Thora, who had the decency to look confused. “Can we have a word?” I pointed at him and then at the back of the room. He was going to get a piece of my mind. Had this whole thing been a setup? Had Thora been playing us for fools? She couldn’t have. She seemed so genuine. I didn’t know what was going on here, but I was about to find out.
Juliet’s mouth hung open, and then she quickly recovered. “Oh—oh, this is good.” She snickered and ignored the death stare I gave her. I walked to the back of the room where there was a small nook to the side where nobody could see, Cian right behind me.
“What the hell is going on here, Cian?”Tell me this is just a coincidence. Tell me this is the universe just messing with me again.
He looked me up and down, his gaze lingering on my lips for far too long. “I’m here supporting my sister, Nova. That’s all.”
I scoffed. “Your sister Thora? The one you said was a private investigator? The one who just happens to work for me?”
“She does? That’s interesting.”
Oh, OK, so we were playing stupid now. Of course he knew she worked for me. It had probably been his idea all along.
“Did you make this happen?” Heat was rushing up my neck to the tips of my ears. “Did you plant her at my company, like some sort of spy?” I was sputtering by the time I finished my question, which only made my whole body warmer.
“Why exactly would I do that?” He sipped on his drink, a drop of liquor lingering on his lips before he licked it away with his tongue.
I tapped my finger against my chin. “Hm, let me think. Oh!” I held my hand up. “Because last time I saw you, you said you would do anything for revenge. And let’s not forget about you basically calling me dog food for Ryzen.”
He looked down, his grin no longer cocky. “My apologies. I shouldn’t have said that.” You could feel the tension rolling off of his body, and I took a step back. “We can talk about that later, but for now do not mention this to Thora, otherwise—”
I held up my hand and cut him off before he could finish. “Are you threatening me?” It was like I had been thrown against a wall, all the air leaving my body. First Ryzen, now Cian? “I will not stand here and let another man threaten me, I swear to—”
