It struck her that this man was the source of the danger vibes. She could feel it in the way her body flushed with warmth, the way her skin tingled, the way her pulse leaped.
“Y-yes?” Dolt. Not only had she stammered, but she’d sounded all breathless, like a Renfield meeting her first vampire.
The dishdasha guy turned to the other man. “Leave us.” His commanding tone made her jump, but the T-shirted guy merely held up his hands.
“Hey, dude, I’m supposed to be here. What’s your deal?”
She eyed the blond. “Josh?”
“Yup. I was just heading to the hotel to meet you.” He gave Dishdasha a pointed look, and wow, Val could have mentioned that his buddy was movie-star hot and bore the physical confidence of a freaking Navy SEAL. “This asshole bothering you?”
“Uh…” Yet another intelligent response. God, she was lame.
The air seemed to shimmer with aggression, and there was that danger sensation again, making her skin tingle and her heart race. Something was going on here, but what, she didn’t know. All she knew was that two impossibly gorgeous men were staring each other down like rival tomcats, and she was in the middle of it all.
Something primal and feminine in her got excited, overriding her brain, which screamed that there was no way anything so abnormal could be good. After a long, tense moment, the man wearing the dishdasha bowed his head and turned to Serena.
“My name is Byzam al-Majid. Val sent me to assist you in your search.”
Josh snorted. “You gonna to buy that? Because this guy has scam written all over his strangely smooth forehead.”
The situation was weird; she couldn’t deny that, and she knew damned good and well that if Val was going to send someone other than Josh, he would have contacted her.
Smiling politely, she clutched her knapsack closer to her body. “I don’t mean to be rude, Mr. al-Majid, but you understand that I’ll need to contact Val about this.”
“Of course.” He bowed and backed away. “I’ll be in touch.”
She felt a strange sense of relief as he melted away into the night… until she realized she was now alone with the other man, the one who emanated erotic strength and fierce sensuality.
Swallowing, she looked up as he towered over her, one corner of his lush mouth tilted in the cockiest grin she’d ever seen. She dropped her gaze to broad shoulders that tested the limits of his tee’s elasticity, let herself admire his deep chest and narrow waist, made for a woman to wrap her legs around.
Val had said Josh was an ex-Guardian, and she could imagine him making the most of his warrior build to battle demons and satisfy a woman’s needs in bed.
He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.…
Normally she’d take the opportunity to flirt, to let her wild side have a little fun. But just standing next to him brought the sensation of danger flaring to life within her. She had no doubt that he was dangerous in a lethal, animal way… and that the true menace was to everything that made her a woman. Especially her virginity.
Oh, yes, this man was scary, in more ways than she could count, or probably imagine.
Five
Wraith allowed himself a moment to revel in his victory but he didn’t get cocky. This wasn’t over yet. Still, the evidence of Serena’s attraction surrounded him: a faint, musky aroma of arousal mixed with her own clean, vanilla-almond scent. Oh, yeah, she wanted him.
So much for not getting cocky. But hey, were-leopards couldn’t change their spots, right?
Shadows had swallowed up Byzam—what a bullshit name—but Wraith kept his eyes peeled. “We should go before he comes back. Something about him wasn’t right.”
Serena narrowed her gaze at him, but her tone was teasing when she said, “How do I know you’re any safer?”
Winking, he turned on the charm. “You don’t.”
“Well, at least you’re honest.”
“Not nearly as often as I should be.”
She cocked a blond eyebrow. “Good to know. I’ll keep my guard up, even if you are a friend of Val’s and an ex-Guardian.”
Guardian. Yeah, that had been an interesting revelation. He’d had to leave Val too quickly to extract much detail from his mind, but once he got to Josh in his hotel room, he’d spent a little extra time learning what the guy’s deal was. Then he’d made Josh believe he’d already met with Serena and needed to head home. Hopefully, the real Josh was already checked out of the hotel and on a plane bound for Italy.
Serena would be all his.