Blood Trial Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #1) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,34

both your questions.” Smiling, I swung my pack to the front and dug for my glasses. He’d turned my hunger for food into hunger for time between the sheets, so I’d go to the agency first to read the paper.

I slipped my thick-rimmed glasses on and dropped the case back into my bag. When I looked up, his mouth was slightly ajar. He blinked at me.

Whatever.

I glanced down the street again.

“Basi, is that you?”

I searched for the speaker. A real smile widened my face. “Rhys? Hey!”

Rhys scanned me head to toe. “You got the job?”

I shrugged a shoulder, remembering my boss was behind me. “Seems like it.”

He wore suit pants today. Shirt untucked. Not neat and tidy like Kyros. Casual and comfortable. “You got a job too?” I asked.

“Sure did. Got lucky with a car sales yard.” Rhys stared over my head, and when he looked back, I made a face only he could see, darting my eyes pointedly to where Kyros lurked.

Amusement flitted over his handsome face. “Are you heading out for lunch?”

He was going to save me from Kyros? My hero. “I’d planned to. Sister Sushi.”

“The bacon and avocado roll?”

“I never knew that sushi combo existed. I’m obsessed.” I laughed, and Rhys sucked in a breath at the husky sound.

His eyes darkened. “Join me then. My shout. You can tell me about your job. We can swap war stories.”

Hells yes! I was on a budget. If I ate a few rolls on his dime, I wouldn’t need dinner. And Kyros just made me hot and bothered. I’d redirect that heat to the boy next door. He wouldn’t lead me directly to hell without passing GO.

“It’s a date.” I smiled archly.

“Miss Tetley.” Kyros’s rumbling voice vibrated through me. “You have work to do.”

The outrageous words took a few beats to register. “You’re fucking me?”

“Not yet.”

He couldn’t say that. That wasn’t legal… was it?

“My break is two until four.” I protested.

“Is there a problem?”

I jumped at Rhys’s voice. Shit. Forgot he was here. The amused glint in Kyros’s eyes suggested he might have noticed.

His eyes hardened, settling on Rhys for a beat before returning to me. The warning was clear. And though Kyros’s assholery made me want to throttle him, I had to remember all the dodgy shit happening in his tower.

I smoothed my expression, turning to Rhys. “Apparently something has come up. How about I grab your number? We can head out another time. Maybe this weekend?”

His cheeks reddened. Adorable.

I pulled out my pen, batting my lashes. “I have no paper. You’ll have to write on my arm.”

He chuckled. Rhys reached for my hand, flipping it over to slide calloused hands up my forearm. Mmm. I shivered. That slow stroke was a promise of hidden talents. Consider me pleasantly surprised.

Rhys took his time about jotting his number on my skin—which I doubly appreciated because I knew it would be killing the butthole behind me.

“Thanks.” I met his eyes.

“Talk soon, Basi,” he replied.

After that forearm play, I was game for more than talking. What was it with forearms lately?

Rhys was swept up into the stream of pedestrians and quickly lost from sight.

“Are you done playing with the boy?”

If he expected me to back down, he could think again. Rich people had zero qualms about speaking their minds. I whirled on Kyros. “You just cock-blocked me! That’s low.”

He grinned.

Had I expected an apology? Not for a second.

“Don’t complain when I return the favour,” I said savagely, stomping back in the direction of the tower.

Straight into a passer-by.

This time the coffee splashed down my arm.

Kyros darted out a hand and gripped my forearm as I found my feet again.

“So sorry,” I gasped at the person through the pain of hot coffee on my skin. Ouch.

The young man wasn’t looking at me though. He stared at the man still gripping me. Breathing hard, the male dropped his gaze to the ground, entire body trembling.

Crap. I was shaking too.

Looking at Kyros would evaporate me into the same submissive heap. And that was a fucking crazy thing to even think. Yet the truth of it was infallible in my mind.

“Kyros,” I murmured without budging. My knees trembled on the verge of collapse. “I stepped into this man, not the other way around.”

His hand slipped down to my wrist, but he shifted it back to circle my forearm.

I sucked in a breath. “I’d like to wash the hot coffee off my body. Just when you’re ready.”

That did it. Grunting, Kyros tugged me toward the alcove of