“I owe you a coffee.” It was the least she could do. There was a Starbucks close. Then she’d say goodbye.
“What?” His attention shifted from the street to her, causing an unexpected awareness to sweep through her. Oh, boy.
“You dropped your coffee.” She flicked her thumb over her shoulder to their wasted coffee, trying to regain her equilibrium.
“We both did,” he countered, sliding his hands into his jeans pockets. A whiff of his cool masculine scent enfolded her, reminding her of a rain-soaked amber forest entwined with bergamot. She ought to know since she worked with plants in the rain. But darn, his smell could be her undoing.
“So you’re here on holiday?” she dove into speech, a little rattled at the effect he was having on her as they headed down the street toward the border of Greenwich and the West Village.
“No. Work.”
“Oh. What do you do?”
He lifted a hand and massaged his temple. “Locating…artifacts.”
“Like an archeologist?” She pounced on one of her favorite subjects. She’d always been curious about old finds and antiquities. Had her life been different, she would have gone to college and chosen it for her major. “You work for a museum?”
He stopped on the sidewalk and glanced around, then back at her. “Can we talk?”
About to tell him they were, except he appeared dead-serious. Leya frowned. What couldhepossibly want to talk toherabout?
“I don’t know anything about artifacts,” she said. “Plants and revamping a garden is more my thing—”
“Yo, Leya!”
At the familiar voice, she pivoted, and a small body skidded past them.
“Whoa, hold it there, mister.” She grabbed the nine-year-old by his arm before he skedaddled away. “What are you doing out this late, Kelvin Holmes?”
“It’s not late, Leyathi Laghari-Park,” he lobbed back, not in the least bit fazed by her stern tone—the little imp!
“It’s ten and late foryou.” She cut him a gimlet stare. Having watched out for the exuberant youngster since he was three, she knew the mischief he could get into. Besides, his parents were friends and her neighbors.
“I wanted an orange drink, Penny refused. She said only a miracle would make the soda appear without her moving, so I made the phenomenon happen!” He held up the beverage and beamed, revealing deep dimples on his dusky face.
Leya hid a smile. The boy was too cocky for his own good.
Her gaze bumped into Aerén’s amused one. “Give the lad a break,” he said.
“Yeah, Leya, listen to your boyfriend.Give the lad a break,” Kel parroted with a cheeky grin.
Heat scorched her face. “Okay, Mister Smarty Pants, that’s enough. Let’s get you back home and have a talk with your babysitter. Jesus Christ—” She hastily pressed her nose into her biceps at the sudden stench crowding her.
“Eww! Something stinks!” Kel voiced her thoughts out loud, twisting his face and making gagging sounds. “Like rotten eggs.”
“Leya,” Aerén grasped her arm, an urgency about him. “Take the boy and go home.”
“What is it?” she choked out.
“Trouble.”
“Yay!” Kel cried.
“No!” they both said simultaneously.
She grabbed Kel’s hand so he didn’t hightail it to find said trouble.
“Leya, how far to your residence?”
