When he imagined escorting her back to the Tower, crying and bruised, he simply couldn’t do it.
He would have to in the morning, but he could give her a few more hours of reprieve. He could give themboththat.
After a long silence, Theodore finally replied, “You sure, Kaz?”
He found himself cupping the side of her head again. The tips of his claw-caps tangled in the damp strands of her hair when he gruffly answered, “Yes. Just… find out where Ruby is. We’ll be ready in the morning.”
His skin prickled with awareness. He knew without looking that Atria was peering up at him through damp lashes.
“Fine,” Theodore allowed, voice tight with disapproval, “but if anything happens toeitherof you, I’m going to rip your fucking head off.”
Kaz let out a long sigh. “Got it.”
Theodore disconnected the call. Silence descended on them, broken only by the low whirring sounds of the heater and their breathing.
Into that soft, tense quiet, he heard her murmur, “Thank you, Kaz.”
ChapterFourteen
Atria hadno reason to be grateful to the orc.Half-orc.
He had been pushy, rude, and handsy. He planned to drag her back to the Elvish Protectorate whether she consented to it or not.
All of that was true, but she was still thankful when he ended the phone call with his brother —the sovereign, gods help me —and sat there quietly for a moment. He hadn’t gotten her much, but she wasn’t entirely ignorant to the hierarchy. She knew that the small concession hedidget on her behalf had been a risk. Brother or not, she doubted very many people were given leave to freely disagree with the sovereign.
But he had, and now she had a chance—
“Don’t even think about it.” His voice, dark and smooth as molasses, rumbled through his chest and into her.
“I wasn’t thinking about anything,” she lied.
His arms loosened around her. Hands, big as shovels and tipped with razor sharp claw-caps, closed over her hips to gently set her back on her feet. Now that she knew he wasn’t going to kill her, it was suddenly a lot harder to ignore how warm those hands were, or how her nerves jumped whenever he touched her. “Uh-huh. You definitely weren’t thinking about trying to escape tonight. Absolutely not. You wereprobablythinking about how best to apologize for giving me so much trouble and thinking I’m a liar.”
“Excuse me?” Her indignation immediately swept away the tears and despair that had choked her only a moment ago. “What was Isupposedto think when a strange man comes barreling into my life with an insane story? Really think about it. If it was any other man, would you expect me to follow him blindly?”
Something dark glittered in Kaz’s eyes when he answered, “You follow another man into a dark parking lot and we’re going to have a very long, very uncomfortable conversation, princess.”
“See? It wasn’t unreasonable for me to react how I did. I didn’tknowyou.”
“Yes, you’ve made that abundantly clear.” His hands flexed on her hips when he leaned forward, putting them almost nose to nose. “I still want an apology.”
“You aren’t getting one.”
Was that a shadow of a smile? No, it must have been her imagination. She had her doubts that a man like Kaz even knew how to smile.
“Fine then,” he graciously allowed. Tilting his head down a bit, he angled his faintly bruised andbarelycut forehead toward her. “I want a kiss. Where you rammed my head into the car.”
Atria’s stomach took yet another exhilarating tumble. “Are youfive?”
“I think it’s not a bad trade for saving your life tonight,” he argued, completely unfazed by her withering question. “Just one kiss.”
It was stupid and obviously meant to rile her up. So why was she so tempted?
It’s not like it’s a real kiss, anyway. Maybe if you do it, he’ll let the whole thing go.
Making sure he could see her rolling her eyes, Atria leaned forward to carefully press her lips against the tiny wound she inflicted. His skin was warm, and when she was this close, the citrusy undertone of his scent was much stronger. Her lashes fluttered as she took one deep breath in. Her stomach swooped and then a trickle of delicious, syrupy warmth began to drip through her veins.
He had the personality of a brick, but he smelledgood.
