"The beds are comfortable," she muttered, stalking past him to the kitchen and the coffeepot she had prepared the night before.
"Yeah. They are." His voice was cool, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that the undercurrent she heard in it was more confusion than sleepiness.
She filled the coffeepot with water then turned back to him.
"Don't touch the pot. Do not get your own coffee first. First cup is mine. Understood?"
His eyes narrowed, his gaze flicking from the coffee to her before he nodded cautiously. "Fine."
"Good. I'm taking my shower. I need to go back to the office this morning." She turned and headed back to the bedroom.
"Why do you need to go back to the office? I thought you weren't working on the weekends." The suspicion in his voice hell, his voice itself seemed to grate across her nerves.
She paused at the door.
"Don't talk to me. Don't question me. No comments, no nothing until I drink my coffee." She shuddered at the effort it took to think. "Just . . . be invisible or something."
She moved into her room and slammed the bedroom door closed, ignoring the surprise on his face. She just couldn't handle thinking. If he spoke to her, if she was required to respond in any way, there was no way she could manage even a semblance of civility.
Waking up wasn't her favorite pastime. Especially in strange places, to the sight of a man she wanted to lick like candy.
She was an early riser, but a grouchy one. She could out-growl a Breed first thing in the morning any day of the week. And if anyone dared touch her coffee before she got that first fresh cup, then she could get rabid. It just tasted different after that, she swore it did. And it was her coffee, so she should know. That first cup was hers, or someone paid for it.
Okay, she was a bitch; she readily admitted to it. But hell, she went without sex for years, worked long hours and put up with no small amount of frustration in her job. She deserved to have a few quirks.
Half an hour later, dressed in a straight black skirt that fell below her knees and a white silk blouse, Ria wound her hair into its comfortable bun and pushed her feet into the leather shoes she wore in the office whichever office she happened to be working in at the time and headed back to the kitchen.
Her brain was in semi-working condition, and as long as Mercury hadn't messed with her coffee, then she could tolerate him. As long as he wasn't sleeping in front of her door again.
That was just odd. It wasn't as though she was actually in any danger, especially with two more Breeds parked outside her front door.
Mercury was standing in the kitchen reaching into the cabinet for a coffee cup as she entered the room. He was dressed in the black enforcers uniform that just looked way too good on him, his hair slightly damp from his own shower.
She snagged the cup as his hand came down and headed straight for the coffeepot. And if that was a chuckle she heard behind her, then she might end up kicking him.
Turning back with the steaming, full cup, she moved past him and headed to the dinette table that sat off the small kitchen.
As long as he didn't try to talk to her, she was fine.
The first sip of the dark, rich coffee was ambrosia that began firing her brain cells. The second and third had the heavy sluggishness in her mind beginning to ease. She was able to reach over and snag the remote then and flip on the wall-mounted television across from her for the morning news.
She was aware of Mercury carrying his own cup of coffee to the table and taking the seat to her left. He leaned back in his chair and watched her with silent amusement. She could handle silent amusement. As long as it stayed silent for just a little while longer.
Finally, the first infusion of caffeine was seeping into her bloodstream and making its way to her brain, when she turned to her silent companion.
"You forgot the pot," she informed him.
That golden brown brow lifted. "I was supposed to bring it with me?"
"Well, if you weren't here I would have just brought it with me." Didn't everyone? "So it's your job."
His lips twitched, but he didn't comment. Instead he rose, turned and moved to the kitchen. And Ria enjoyed the view. Those snug black mission pants did indeed mold over a very fine male Breed ass. The kind that just made your hands itch to cup and test the hard muscles beneath.
"You're a bitch in the morning, did you know that?" he asked as he returned with the coffeepot.
"Yeah well, get that first cup of coffee in me and you'll revise your opinion. I'm actually a demon from hell. You were just smart enough to stay out of my way."
He poured the coffee for her.