Body and Soul (Vanguard Towers #3) - Aiden Bates Page 0,1

high-pitched staccato, and I almost stumbled over him on my way to the kitchen. We were getting good at our morning acrobatics—he darted out of the way and I braced myself on the counter just in time, my robe flowing off my shoulders as I barely held my balance.

My boyfriend, Ian, had been a good cuddle buddy who kept me warm and held the nightmares at bay…for a while. Lately he’d been triggering stress and leaving me cold, even when he did deign to stay at my apartment, he said was “too messy”.

I sighed as I pushed aside paint-stained plates at the front of my cabinets to find a small bowl for Domino and poured out his breakfast kibbles while he mewed a melodic and woefully desperate song. He was barely three months old, all long legs, big ears, and huge green eyes, all dressed up for the ball and no date to take him. Except maybe one of his brothers or sisters—he’d been adopted along with three others, who all had homes in the Vanguard Tower, too.

In fact, our building was getting fuller by the day. Domino’s rescuer, Wyatt, had recently moved in with my brother, Eli. Their relationship was something I’d dreamed of, and nothing like what I had with Ian. I’d never seen Eli and Wyatt antagonize one another or get jealous over petty stuff. I’d never heard either of them raise their voice the way Ian did when I annoyed him.

Ian was getting to be more controlling and less…nurturing. I’d been considering ending things for a while now, but I hated being alone. Maybe control was better than nothing, but when I imagined saying that out loud to one of my brothers, I knew what they’d say— “You’re not alone, you’ve got us!” And I did, they were the solid, reliable, stabilizing force in my life. But…why couldn’t I also have a sweet kind of stability with someone intimate?

I wasn’t sure how to make it work with Ian, but I wasn’t sure how to end things either. I wasn’t much of a quitter.

And neither was Domino. He hoovered his kibbles way after his belly was full. Good—he was a little undernourished when he’d climbed out of the cardboard box Wyatt had brought him over in, and I was determined on bulking him up back to good health.

“Dang, boy—you can eat! Makes Papa proud.” I scratched the back of his neck.

There was a knock on the door and his fur stood on end and he jumped half a foot straight up in the air. Yeah, he was skittish like me, too.

“Hey, don’t worry, Domino. It’s just…well, you know who it is.” The hair on my arms was standing on end, too. Goosebumps.

I was just cold. Kimono, underwear and nothing else. I probably should have put on something a little more covering, but I’d pulled open the door before I thought twice, and here he was…

Ryland Masters.

All monochrome charm, never seen in anything but the black and white spectrum. The closest he got to color was a heather gray. Today it was a crisp white shirt and a black suit perfectly fitted to his body…and what a body. I’d been lusting over this hunky older man for years, and it was nasty on so many levels. He was my brother Hunter’s best friend and work partner at the FBI, he was fourteen years, three months and thirteen days older than me, he was a Capricorn and I was an Aries (doomed), and he was—

Huh…

He was staring at my crotch.

I quickly closed my kimono and cleared my throat as he blinked heavily, like waking from a trance. No way was the heat in his eyes meant for me. I was a well-adored member of the art scene and knew what it was like to have attention from plenty of men—especially older men, as it happened—but Ry? Nah, I’d been trying to flirt with him for years, and he’d given me next to nothing.

“You look…” He snapped his gaze onto mine and thrust the to-go chai latte toward me. “Tired.”

“Uh, thanks? You’re always so generous with your compliments in the morning.” I took the cup and gave him a sly smirk as I swept my hand to invite him in.

As per usual, he glanced over his shoulder and down the hall toward Hunter’s apartment. He was there to pick up his partner on his way into work, and I got ready to do our daily dance. He’d thank me for

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