“Your medical center sounds very new age.”
“You might say that.” He leaned back on his stool and stretched his legs, letting his calves “accidentally” brush hers. Her heat shot straight to his dick. “And what brings you to Egypt? Obviously, something to do with the artifact I brought.”
Serena practically bounced in her seat. “Val didn’t tell you?”
“He just told me you needed the key. I’m guessing you’re searching for something in the catacombs?”
“Possibly.”
Wraith watched her over the rim of his glass. “So evasive,” he murmured as he put the glass down. “Why?”
“Well…” She braced her forearms on the bar top, leaned in, and lowered her voice with dramatic, conspiratorial flare. “I don’t know if I should be telling the competition what the prize is. I wouldn’t want you taking it from under me.”
Oh, he’d be taking the prize, from under her or from on top. Either would work for him. “No worries. I’m on vacation, and if I don’t get paid, I don’t do the work.” He shot her a stern look. “And why are you traipsing around Egypt by yourself? That’s dangerous, you know. As tonight should have proved.”
“Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?”
He shrugged. “I can take care of myself.”
“And you think I can’t?”
He grinned, enjoying playing clueless when he knew damned good and well that, thanks to her charm, she could take care of herself. “Does Val know you have demons after you?”
Her eyes flared. “They aren’t after me—”
“Bullshit. I saw how the khnive watched you. Why is that?”
“I have no idea.”
“Then I think Val should know,” he said. “He’d be pissed if he knew you were in danger.”
“You can’t tell him!”
Her panic gave him the opening he needed. “Then I have a proposal. You let me tag along on your little treasure hunt, and I’ll keep my trap shut.”
“Absolutely not.”
He took a swig of whiskey. “I guess you don’t want the key that badly.”
Angry red splotches put color in her cheeks. “That’s blackmail.”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“I’m intrigued,” he said, and it wasn’t a lie. “It’s not often I find someone who does the same job I do. I mean, you’ve got the stuffy archaeologist types, but they do everything so slowly. So carefully.” He took her glass from her, took her fingers in his, and studied her fingernails. Short, square, strong. Not manicured, and kept in the perfect condition to be functional instead of pretty. “But you don’t do slow and careful, do you? You like the hunt. The chase. You like to jump in. Use your hands. You crave the rush. The burn.” His own adrenaline pumped through him at the mere thought of the rush of the hunt and chase, whether it be for blood, sex, or an ancient artifact.
A slow flush worked its way up from her neck to her scalp, and yeah, she was getting excited too. Aroused. He waited for her denial, but she surprised him by leaning in aggressively, mischief dancing in her chocolate eyes.
“You’re wrong about one thing,” she purred.
He angled inward so their faces were only inches apart. “And what’s that?”
“I don’t like it,” she said, her voice breathy and husky and bed-me-baby hot. “I love it.”
His eyes were riveted on her, his heart pounding hard. “Then it looks like we have even more in common than I thought.”
Taking her hand out of his, she sat back and studied him, seeming far more composed than he was. “I still don’t get why you want to do this.”
“Like I said, I’m free with my schedule. And why wouldn’t I want to hang out with someone I find so interesting? Not to mention beautiful.” Gods, he might as well be reading poetry to her, as foreign as his flattery was sounding. Foreign, but not insincere.
Something passed over her face, an emotion he couldn’t name. “Look,” she sighed, “I should warn you now that I’m not available. Romantically.”
“That’s okay. Neither am I.”
Her brows rose. “You’re married?”
“Nope.”
“Girlfriend?”
“Uh-uh.”
“Boyfriend?”
He shuddered. Any Seminus who had a thing for males would be in a lot of trouble, since they could only orgasm with a female, and if they didn’t get that release daily—several times daily—they would die.
“Not even close.”
“Then what?” She grimaced. “Or is that something I shouldn’t ask?”
“Depends. I’ll tell you why if you’ll tell me why.” He knew, but he wanted to see how she explained herself to men, wanted to get a read on how she felt about being celibate. As for his excuse, he couldn’t very well tell the truth, that his goal for the last eighty years had been to go through s’genesis so he could be as recklessly free with females as possible, with no ties he cared about and no worries other than where he was going to find his next fuck.
That hadn’t turned out so well.
He just prayed that this turned out better.
? Uploaded by Coral ?
Six