She hadn’t even had time to braid it before running. It still hung down her back in a riot of carefully arranged curls as the front and sides fell from where it was secured at the crown of her head.
“This is a f**king mess,” Cullen sighed roughly as he lifted his cup, pausing at his lips as amusement flickered in his gaze. “Amusing, but a f**king mess.”
Her eyes narrowed at the casual arrogance in his voice.
“And what has you so damned amused?” Leaning forward, her forearms braced on the counter as her gaze narrowed on him, Gypsy promised herself she wouldn’t tell him what a complete ass**le he was being.
“You have me amused.” Once he made that cryptic comment, the cup touched his lips and he sipped from the heated liquid.
He didn’t appear in any hurry to tell her exactly what had him so damned amused at her expense, though.
As he returned the cup to the counter, still watching her silently, Gypsy sat back on her stool, her head tilting to the side.
Crossing her arms over her br**sts, she watched him angrily, waiting, and it wasn’t patiently.
He merely stared back at her with a hint of a smile on his face.
“What kind of game are you playing with me?” she asked him, suspicion beginning to grow within her. “And why?”
She’d known him for years, had worked for him at the Navajo Covert Law Enforcement office for the last few years. He had been a friend of her brother’s, though he hadn’t arrived in Window Rock until after Mark’s death. He’d quickly become a friend of her parents’, and of hers and Kandy’s. She had always known he was arrogant, but this cool, merciless amusement she hadn’t seen in him before.
“No game, Gypsy,” he promised, flashing her a quick smile as he lifted the coffee cup to his lips once again and sipped. Lowering it, he sat back as well. “My only intent is to do whatever I can to help you. I knew Mark was an informant for an unidentified group that aided the Breeds, and I greatly admired him for it. Just as I’ve always suspected you were as well.”
Well, didn’t he just know a whole lot of nothing.
At least, according to him.
“You aren’t part of that group, then?” She had wondered, she had hoped he was part of it, just for her own safety.
“Don’t ask questions.” His voice hardened, as did his gaze. “You’re only going to waste our time, and we don’t have long before that Breed you ran from finds you.”
“I took the scent blocker.” Her head was shaking before she could stop it.
“There are instances when the scent blocker doesn’t work,” he informed her, his voice still as hard as stone, his gaze icy. “I rather doubt it’s working now. Any Breed who gets within a quarter mile of this place will know a Breed mate is in the vicinity once he catches the scent of Mating Heat I’m sure is rolling off you at the moment. At the most, we may have an hour before he arrives, simply because it should take that long before a team passes by here. If we’re lucky.”
If they were lucky.
The irritation along her flesh was growing worse, amplifying the longer she sat there. The arousal Rule had left burning within her not only was still there, but it too was worse than it had been before she left her apartment.
And she’d read of those symptoms in the past, in the tabloids and gossip rags that carried the outrageous stories of “Breed Mating Heat.”
“What’s going on? Mating Heat is supposed to be a rumor, nothing more.” Could that really be what was going on inside her? She could feel a difference in her body that didn’t make sense, in the arousal and physical need for him. But it wasn’t supposed to be real . . .
She might not have a lot of experience in arousal or sex, but even she knew she shouldn’t be growing painfully aroused without a reason. And she’d left her reason in the shower after he’d jumped from her as though she sickened him.
“Are there other instances when the blocker doesn’t work? I searched his suite a few weeks ago; could he have somehow learned I was in his rooms?” she probed when he didn’t answer her. There wasn’t a chance Rule had learned she worked with the Unknown, but he could have somehow learned she was in his rooms.
“I doubt he has a clue.” That gleam of curious amusement. “If he had, then he would certainly not have taken you to his bed. Instead, he would have charged you for crimes against Breed Law.” A quick glance at his watch. “I would guess you have perhaps forty-five minutes now.”
He wasn’t helping her.
“Then if we’re short on time, perhaps you should tell me, if I’m his perfect special mate,” she sneered, “why am I here instead? Why would he be searching for me at all when he was the one who rejected me?” Her breath hitched involuntarily as the pain ambushed her, thickening her voice, pushing tears closer to the surface. “How did I mess up, Cullen?”
Surprise registered on his face as sympathy filled his gaze now. “You’re always so certain you’re the one who’s messed up,” he said gently. “You’ve done nothing wrong, Gypsy. Maybe you finally realized there was more to life than vengeance when you slept with your Breed.”
If she had, then she’d found out quickly just how wrong she was, hadn’t she?
She rubbed at her arms nervously, the sensitivity increasing as she felt wariness rising inside her. And perhaps even a hint of fear.