“Did you say it with creepy lights glimmering in your eyes, and your magical wings shadowing around your shoulders?”
He looked at her in surprise. “Iamthe leader of my clan.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” She sighed. “Okay. So, if the answer was ‘We have no record of anyone accessing the vault, I guess someone broke in and we don’t know how’, they would have told you?”
“They would have no reason not to.”
“So they do know who did it.”
He froze. Shadows deepened around him—cold and dark.
Gee,she thought.I wonder why the rest of your clan is so freaked out by the thought of upsetting you.
“They know,” he whispered.
“And it’s so bad they’re scrambling to figure out the best way to tell you.”
Corin swore. “I need to fix this.”
“I’ll add it to your schedule.”
He turned a look on her that was so full of longing and wonder and self-recrimination that her heart leaped into her throat. “How did I ever think I could survive without you?”
“Oh,nowyou regret chasing me away,” she joked.
“I regret everything.” His voice was low and dangerous, but his fingers massaging her ankles were perfectly firm and gentle. “I regret lying to you. I regret every step I have taken to be the dragon I thought needed to be the head of my clan. The formidable Corin Blackburn. A role I have played so well.” He let out a heavy breath. “And where did it get me? I’ve terrified everyone under me so thoroughly, they won’t even give me a straight answer. And the person who actually kept everyone in line all these years … was you.”
His gaze went distant. Whatever he was thinking about, it made him tighten his hold on her legs. The shadows surrounding him retreated. “I didn’t even see you doing it,” he said quietly. “How did I not notice?”
She shrugged, then bit back a moan as he pulled himself out of his thoughts and ran hard fingers along the knots in her calves. “Um.Um.That was part of the job, sir—Corin.I wouldn’t have been a good assistant if I was getting in your face all the time.”
“I never appreciated what you did for me.” He dug deeper into the knot, his fingers firm and sensitive. “That ends now.”
How did he know exactly where the sorest parts of her feet and ankles were? She found herself sliding down until she was almost lying on the sofa, all liquid and melty.
“I like the sound of that,” she said. “It’s nice to be appreciated.”
“Why did you never say anything?”
“Did you not just hear me? You not noticing I was doing anything meant I was doing it right.”
“You are mymate.” He grumbled beneath his breath. “That means that from now on if you catch me doing something stupid like not honoring everything you do for me, you tell me.”
“Is that an order, sir?”
“Miss Flores. Yes, it is.” He leaned towards her, trapping her legs and pinning her against the arm of the sofa. “And when you tell me, I’ll make sure toappreciateyou properly. The way you deserve. The way you have deserved since the moment you walked into my life.”
It was so hard to move in the face of all hishim-ness, but she managed it. Maya straightened, slowly, pushing herself upright until she was staring slightly downwards into Corin’s face. “You walked intomylife. I’d already been running that office for years.”
“And I’m a fool for not seeing it.”
“A fool who’s in a much better mood than he was when the evening started.”
“Of course I am. I’m with the most important woman in the world.” He buried his face in her shoulder and breathed deeply.
Maya eyed him thoughtfully. “Another technique to add to my toolbox,” she mused, deliberately teasing.
“Excuse me?”
