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When she raised her gaze to his once more, she expected his mien to be triumphant, one which gloried in the fact he could arouse her to such levels. Instead, he appeared almost sad, possibly even regretful.
Confusion swirled and when she tugged, his gentle hand fell away. A deep breath centered her. At every turn, this demon didn’t do what she expected. That must be why she felt such an attraction for him. She usually figured others out in short order. Yet she suspected his layers had layers. Damn if she didn’t want to unwrap and explore each of them.
“Ready?”
His husky word affected her far more than she wanted to admit, so she forced a light tone. “To face Mel or to go?”
The seducer slipped away, replaced by a set to his jaw. “I have to place my order first, then we can go.” He stepped away and approached the wall where they’d entered, which slid open at his approach.
She began to trail behind, curious at his changeable nature. Did he really desire her, or could she merely be a conquest, a fuck for an evening, one easily discarded? She stopped. Why should she care? Her life couldn’t support a...relationship.
Good Lord. Where had that idea come from?
“Excuse us.”
Startled, Caro’s gaze whipped to the two shifters who had been in the shop earlier, the ones Mel said she didn’t like. Caro blocked their path to the exit, and she hurriedly moved, mortified at having been caught daydreaming. Twice now she’d lost situational awareness around Ryn.
The two shifters paced toward the egress door. The male held open the heavy glass pane for the other. Before she proceeded through the door, the female sniffed. With a snarky snarl, she said, “I guess they really did need a room.”
Their chuckles cut off when the door shut.
Caro’s cheeks heated. Assholes. But correct assholes. She probably stank of her desire. Stupid to forget what world she lived in.
Carol pulled out her phone to try to cover for her discomfort. With his demon’s senses, Ryn had to know as well, not that she’d given him any other signal than to push her on the table and have his way with her. Preferably blindfolded.
Dammit. She needed to get the idea out of her head. For distraction while Ryn placed his order with Mel, she opened her email app.
Right at the top was what she’d been waiting for, a message from Cheese at Hebert Security with “Target location acquired” as the subject. Caro wanted to do a little dance. Since the night with the vampires, she’d been at the usual haunts and no bad biters came through. Now she could hopefully shut down the biggest blood smuggler in North America.
“All done.” Ryn appeared at her side. “Are you ready?”
To avoid him seeing the message, she locked her screen and shoved the phone into her pocket. “Sure. Later Mel. Call me when the rest comes in.” Along with her order of spelled ammunition, she’d ordered some plastic explosive, essentially C-4, and she’d paid extra for a more expensive chemical which would make the formulation more stable. Anyone with any knowledge of explosives knew stability was worth the price.
“I’ll give you a ring.” Mel slid her a sly side-eye. “I don’t think you’llneedanything else but call if you do.”
A couple of months ago, she’d helped Mel out with a problematic competitor, one who didn’t take no for an answer when he said he wanted to buy her shop. Mel probably hadn’t needed the assistance in offing the little cockroach of a sorcerer. By using Caro, however, Mel didn’t have to worry about someone taking umbrage against her for killing him. Neat and tidy, Caro squished the bug, never to be found again, and no one to discover who or why. A Kavenaugh specialty.
Now she and Mel had grown into friends of sorts, though hardly the type to go gossip about lovers over a bottle of wine. Apparently just snark over counters when one had been caught with wet panties.
Caro rolled her eyes and with a deadpan tone said, “Thanks. I’ll let you know.”
While she and Ryn exited the shop, Cheese’s email popped back to her memory. Though disappointed she’d have to wait to view the contents until she’d accomplished the task for Ryn and bought her fish, the anticipation of an upcoming victory for people like her sister had energy zinging through her.
He held the heavy glass door for her, and they stepped into a short vestibule. The next door, one of heavy steel with a breakout bar, let them out onto a busy parking lot. “I didn’t bring a car today.”
“Took a shared ride?” He swept his hand to the right.
“No. That exceeds my trust limit.”
He laughed, the sound rich in his throat. “I understand that.” Then he sobered. “How’d you get here, then?”
“The store’s only about ten miles from my apartment and the morning was nice. I walked. Thought I might take a cable car today, then walk back.”
“Touristy, eh?”
“Never rode one in life.” She shrugged, then shot him a side-eye. “Might as well experience it in death.”
While his body positioning steered her down a sidewalk, he laughed and shook his head. “Didn’t think you were the kind to let a little death stop you.”
