“You know you could come through the front doors like a normal person?” He asked as he opened the doors and ushered me in, looking around to see if anyone saw me, but they didn’t. I already checked.
“And why would I want to risk alerting everyone in your guild that I’m seeing you here in your room?” The question was genuine. I didn’t see any angle that would be of use or help us in our endeavor to let his people know he was working with me on something, at the very least, meeting with me about a job for the guild.
He crossed his arms and rested his hip against the closed balcony doors. “Well, because then that would give me a chance to let all of them know you’re my girl and to not think about coming up to you for any reason.” His smug, sure smile almost made me weak, but I reminded myself that this was not a social call, and we had a job to accomplish.
In my lifeless monotone voice, I responded, “I don’t see how that would serve any purpose to our job.” I walked over to his sitting area and took a seat, my back to the balcony to face the door to his room. I didn’t want to be caught off guard if one of his housemates came barging into the room.
Rykon huffed as he came over and saw me eyeing up his door. “You know people will knock if they want to come in here.”
His statement came in loud and clear, but I tilted my head up and looked at him as I replied, “This is a house full of thieves. It would be unwise to let the main point of entry be unguarded.”
Instead of looking offended or upset with me, like I expected, he took a second to think about what I said and smiled. “I guess you’re right.” He laughed as he sat down across from me and folded his hands. “Since you aren’t here to be seduced, I’m guessing you’re here for the job. What did you want to talk to me about?”
This was why I liked Rykon. He always tried for he wanted first, but he understood the game and always could see it faster than the other two. He was smart like that.
“We have a lead on how to extract the king and we need to leave for a little trip. We should be gone for a week, two tops.” His eyes went wide as I continued, “I would advise you to dress in something that can handle multiple terrains and can withstand the chilly nights but also the heat during the day. We leave tomorrow at first light.”
I get up and head back to the balcony doors. My job here was done when I heard him calling out to me. “Wait!”
I turned around in exasperation. “If you are going to complain about not being able to go on a trip, I will tell you what I told Rossi. That is not my problem. I told-”
He lifted his hand for me to stop, and I closed my mouth. I gave him a dark look, as I raised my eyebrow at him in response. I can only be so nice for a job and these boys better figure it out fast. They were the soldiers, and I was the leader. They listened to me.
“Even if that idiot doesn’t understand, I do. I knew what I was signing up to when I agreed to your terms.” I let out a small breath, and I reminded myself why I liked him again. He was intelligent and able to connect dots so that I didn’t need to spell things out. I spoke too soon. “But nothing in our agreement did you mention not being able to ask questions and understand the full scope of what you are trying to accomplish, right?”
My jaw tightened as I bit out, “Questions?”
He had a cat-who-just-got-the-cream smile on his face before he motioned me back to the chairs. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction, so I kept standing and crossed my arms, waiting for his questions.
He saw my stance, rolled his eyes, but continued, “I only have a couple, so don’t get all pissy about it. Where are we going? What are we getting? And how is this going to help with the end goal?”
I had to admit he asked good questions. I uncrossed my arms and rattled out, “We are going to the badlands to visit an old librarian to prove our worth to get a book that will tell us where the true heir to the throne is, find this heir, and bring them back here to unseat the king with as little bloodshed as possible.”
I watched as the more I said, the more his mouth dropped open, until I finished and he looked like he was trying to capture a full trout into his mouth. I slowly took a few steps towards him, put my hand on his chin and lifted it, closing his mouth as I got closer to him. The smell of books and secrets came off him and my mouth watered. He stiffened but didn’t move a muscle as I bent towards his ear and whispered in a low husky tone, “Don’t be late.”
I did the same move that I pulled on Ajax and swiftly turned, marching to the balcony, my hair whipping him in the face as I left. I slid the lock open and went out the doors, this time not looking back because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to resist going back and kiss his sinful mouth like I wanted to.
No, I was going to play this smart. Guard my heart and keep the job at the forefront of my mind. I had only one more to visit and then I could go home and hopefully rub one out, because playing this cat-and-mouse game with these boys was driving me crazy.
Maybe Ruby was right about me not abstaining from sexual relations. I bet if I had a few encounters before I met with them, their alluring scents and delectable bodies wouldn’t affect me so much, but I knew I wouldn’t, couldn’t. It would feel… wrong. I don’t know why, I wasn't currently with any of them, but it just does. So no, I don’t get to have encounters, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t help myself out.
After this last visit, I had a feeling I was going to need to do just that. I hurried up onto his roof and made my way, roof by roof, over to the pleasure guild. Two down, one to go.
As soon as I got to the pleasure guild’s roof, I could smell Zayden’s incense. When I first smelled them, I was more worried about the smell covering up something or the scent making me smell which would call attention to myself. Something I always made sure not to do. Now I breathed it in deep. Memories of red hair, laughter, and sexual frustration flooded my mind. Mine, of course. The sexual frustration part.
Zayden used to only leave the window open a crack, but I’ve noticed that he has started to leave it wide open, like he was trying to entice me to come in. It’s the exact reason that I don’t want to. He’s a temptation that I’d want to scratch. Lose myself in, even for just a moment. Out of the three of them, Zayden was the sneaky, dangerous one, wrapped in a fun and silly package. I needed to remember that.
I slipped through the window just as Zayden pulled up his pants, but his muscular back was on display. He wasn’t big and bulky like Ajax or strong and carved like Rykon. Zayden was more of a lean toned look, his muscles there but not pulled too tight around his skin. He had the type of body that called for your hands to explore it, to find out how smooth that skin really was. To kiss it softly before you bit into the juiciness of him. I tightened my hands into fists, refusing the temptation my fingertips were begging for.
Zayden turned around, eyes widening a fraction as he took a step back when he saw me. Then his lips slowly turned into a wide mischievous grin. “Well, hello my lady and mistress. What do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
Short and sweet Mika, keep it short and sweet. Don’t get caught up in his web. I cleared my throat, “We are going on a trip to-”
He took a few steps closer to me and as he interrupted, “When you saywe,do you mean you and I?”
I shook my head as I watched him take another few steps closer. “No. It will be me, you, Ajax and Rykon.” His grin turned into a frown as he still worked his way closer. I didn’t want to step back because that meant that I was afraid of him, but he was getting into my space and that was making the room seem smaller, my face and body started to heat up.
“Well, that just won’t do.” He gazed at my face, searching for something.
