“And if I said Laz was also interested and is now staring intently at us trying to figure out if we’re talking about what he thinks we’re talking about?”
“Would you judge me if that was already item ten?”
“I didn’t judge you that we were on the less plausible list.”
“Is it because I was also on yours?”
“You were the only list.”
A throat cleared. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if Dav’s talking about lists, things must be going well.”
Davarox smirked at Laz. “Rosalind is not allowed to think about work. We are going to help distract her.”
Lazerath’s tail thumped against the floor. “Okay, things are going really well.”
Rosalind glanced up at Lazerath, then Dav, then back again. Her blunt teeth scraped over her lower lip. “It’s not going to get complicated, is it? This is just a one-time thing.”
“We’ve shared before,” Dav said simply. “It can be whatever you want, and it will stop whenever you say the word.”
She glanced over her shoulder, and Laz and Dav pretended they weren’t watching Mozke give a very animated approval of Rosalind’s choices. Which truly was high praise that they trusted them with her.
“Okay. One night.” Then, mostly to herself, she mumbled, “I can do this.”
With a grin, Lazerath offered her his arm. “One night, Rosalind, to forget about work and fix all our sads.”
She slipped her hand around his elbow and stood. As Dav dropped to the ground to follow, a hand popped into his periphery.
He stared at it, then traced up the shimmery gauze-clad human arm until he met Rosalind’s gaze.
Waiting. Fearless.
Dav slid his palm into hers, and with that cool touch, it felt like everything in his body settled. Like he could breathe fully, completely, even as the three of them walked back through the crowd toward the door drawing curious eyes.
And for the first time in his life, he easily ignored them.
6
ITEM TEN
Lazerath
Davarox was magic.
Well, he didn’thavemagic in the physical sense of the word, but hewasmagic in the metaphysical sense. Because there was a beautiful human on Laz’s arm as she held Dav’s hand on the other side.
But there was a sense of rightness, one that he’d felt immediately upon seeing her, even before knowing her name.
Rosalind.
That’s what it was like inside his chest. An unfurling of rose petals and a thorny vine that was already building a cage around his heart to protect her?—
It.His heart, not her. Because he could behave and not fall hard and fast with ridiculous ideas like soulbonding with a human who his best friend was also interested in. A bestfriend who had done his sexy hair tuck and flirted about lists, which now had the gorgeous woman walking home with them.
Lazerath could behave. He could have a night of fun. He could have no attachments and go back to the bakery the next day just like he’d done those other times he’d had a one-night thing.
But then they were standing in his bedchamber and he forgot what he was supposed to do with his tail, especially when there was a human in his home who didnothave a tail?—
“Oh, fuck,” Laz blurted, breaking the awkward silence as Dav and Rosalind whipped their gazes to him. “I just realized… I mean… are human women different down there than?—”
