There was a pause, the faint sound of her moving around her brother’s home. I pictured her curling into her bed, lining the blankets just right, smoothing back her pillows. Making her small, precise order in a world that had never given her enough of it.
“I got your flowers. They were perfect.”
“You deserve perfect, Eva.”
“Did you know gardenias are supposed to mean secret love?”
“I do now,” I replied. I didn’t know flowers meant anything at all, honestly. I just saw them and thought of her, of the little smile she got whenever I gifted her anything.
She hummed, pleased. “I wish you could’ve been there today. Watching rehearsal, I mean.”
I was, I thought, hidden behind one of the curtains, unable to stay away from her all day. But aloud, I said, “Maybe I can come sometime soon.”
“That would be great!” Eva paused before saying, “You sound tired.”
“I’ve… I’ve had a long day.” I hated lying to her, but she didn’t need to know I wasn’t tired. I was simply thinking through all our logistics one more time before I walked in and introduced several men to the angel of death.
“Oh,” Eva said quickly, her voice tightening. “I can let you go. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
I softened without meaning to. It was automatic with her, the way my body responded. The way the sharp edges dulled. “Eva. You can call me anytime.”
Her breath caught. “Okay.”
Glancing at my watch, I cursed under my breath. “I’ve gotta tie up some work things, baby, but I’ll text you.”
“Sounds good. I’ve got to shower anyway.”
Fuck.
It was crazy how two little words could make me so fucking hard.Eva. Shower.That wasn’t something we’d tried yet, but it was on my very long list of places I wanted to consume Eva. The vision of her with her hands pressed against my tiles and her wet hair wrapped around my fist while I thrust into her from behind made my balls tighten.
“Send me a picture.”
“Sorry, you’re working, so I can’t,” she said, and I could hear the grin through the phone.
That little minx.
She loved to toy with me—until her punishment came back to bite her in the ass, usually in the form of edging because I loved listening to her beg me to let her come.
“Eva. Picture.”
“Sorry, what?”
“Eva—”
“I can hardly hear you, Alek. Bad signal or something.”
“Eva,” I growled.
“Bye, Alek.”
The hanging up sound echoed in my ears as I stared at my phone, no longer seeing my girlfriend’s picture lighting up the screen like she should have been.
“You done pretending to be human?” Nikolai asked, raising an eyebrow.
I glared but said nothing. I picked up my gun from my desk, checking the weight of it, its familiar comfort settling into my palm.
Nikolai drove us to the North Dock, his stupid pop music playing too loudly. Normally, I would have turned it off and insisted on silence, but I was too focused on the mission tonight to care about his terrible singing.
