Blackbird Broken (The Witch King's Crown #2) - Keri Arthur Page 0,16
thing. Not in this lifetime, anyway.
He turned at that moment, and our gazes met. Just for an instant, something flashed across his expression—a heated mix of relief, joy, and desire—but it was very quickly shut down. While he might have admitted his attraction, he’d also stated he had no intention of getting involved with the sister of a suspect. And he still did consider Max that, thanks to the fact he’d been in the area the day the coronation ring had been stolen from the British Museum.
Luc’s gaze flicked down my length; it felt like a caress and had heat stirring in all the right places. Or rather, wrong places when it came to this man.
“What happened to your clothes?” His voice was deep and velvety.
Everyone else looked around at this—Mo in warning. Obviously, the less said in the assessor’s presence, the better. “Long story. Is it safe to head upstairs to my room?”
“The stairs are safe,” my brother said, “But your room is pretty much a write-off.”
“Can I get to my wardrobe?”
“Not yet.”
“Grab something from mine,” Mo said. “We’ll worry about accessing your clothes later.”
I headed into her bedroom and wasn’t entirely surprised when Luc followed me. I dropped my knives onto her bed, then walked over to the wardrobe and began sifting through her clothes, looking for something that was more my style. Which was extremely difficult given her love of vibrant colors and patterns.
When it became obvious I wasn’t going to say anything, Luc said, “I take it things got nasty at the gate?”
I glanced briefly over my shoulder. As specimens of manhood went, he was pretty damn perfect. He was tall, with well-muscled arms and lovely wide shoulders combined with the lean but powerful frame of an athlete. His short hair was as black as sin, his eyes the most startling shade of jade, and his face … Simply saying gorgeous in no way did it justice. The man put angels to shame.
“You didn’t ask Max?”
“Didn’t have a chance—the assessor was already here when I arrived this morning.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t stay the night.” I pulled out a pair of flowery purple pants and matched them with a fluffy white sweater. “Especially when Max said you’d come back here after heading across to King’s Island.”
“I was intending to stay, but I got a call from Jason.”
“About what?”
“You answer my question, and I’ll answer yours.”
I snorted and walked over to the drawers. While I wasn’t about to start wearing Mo’s knickers or bras—the latter of which probably wouldn’t fit anyway—she did have a few support tank tops that would probably stretch enough to do the same job short-term. And they were an infinitely better choice than having my breasts freefalling. That would get real uncomfortable, real quick.
I took everything over to her bed then dropped the towel and reached for the tank. An odd sound had me glancing around. Luc had turned away.
A smile tugged at my lips. “I know Blackbirds were the chivalrous knights of old, but if I was worried about you seeing me naked, I’d have mentioned it.”
He crossed his arms and kept his back to me. “Of that I have no doubt.”
“Then why turn away?”
“It’s for my own good.” He paused. “Where did you get that scar running down your right side? It almost looks as if your skin has been melted.”
My smile grew. If he’d noticed the scar, then he obviously hadn’t turned as quickly as I’d thought. And while there was little chance a glimpse of bare butt would ever change his damn mind about the two of us, I couldn’t help hoping it at least made his nights—and his dreams—a little more uncomfortable.
“In a sense, it was—I got hit by a dark whip. By the time I told Mo, the damage was already done.”
“It was stupid to delay telling her.”
“So Mo informed me. What did Jason want?”
I didn’t have to see him rolling his eyes to know that’s exactly what he was doing right now. “Remember I asked him to look at the traffic and security cams to see if he could spot the car that dropped Tris off the day he was shot?”
“He found it?”
“Yep. I joined him last night to raid the place.”
I pulled on the fluffy sweater and then reached for the pants. “What did you find?”
“Not a whole lot—the place had basically been cleaned out by the time we got there.”
“Probably right after they shot Tris.” That seemed to be their modus operandi.