“Gabriel, you’re half fae. What do you think?” I called, noting that Gabriel leant against the far wall. Away from Max.
He had a wide smile though. “I’ve already told him how good he smells. Although not quite as adamantly as you pair. Maybe it is a fae thing.”
We all turned to look at Nick, who was watching the whole thing unfold with an impressive glare. His gaze narrowed to where I still stood, brushing up against Max.
Ohh.
I took another sniff just to see if my theory was correct, letting my nose trail up the side of Max’s throat.
Max laughed again, setting his big hands on my shoulders and moving me back out of his space. “Any closer and I’m going to have a big problem.”
Before I could comment, Nick was suddenly between us, edging me even further back and away from Max. My smile grew so wide my cheeks hurt. I caught Axel staring at me out of the corner of my eye and turned to find his knowing look directed my way.
“What?” I mouthed, shrugging. Granted, we should all be focusing on the case, not Max’s delicious scent, but I needed a moment to regroup after that interview with Zane, and this was doing it for me.
I watched with delight as Nick leant in and took a hesitant sniff of Max’s throat.
“Well?” I asked, all patience disappearing.
“He smells good.” He shrugged. “I imagine it’s an expensive aftershave, though. That’s all.” He gave me a look that suggested I was overreacting. And maybe I was overdoing it, but to be fair, Max did smell really fucking good.
Maybe I could get some of thisaftershavefor Nick.
“Where did you get it?” I wasn’t a huge fan of shopping this side of the gateway—it was a whole different experience to what I was used to—but I could always get Axel to go for me.
I looked back at Max, waiting for his answer, surprised when he rubbed the back of his neck, two spots of colour appearing on his cheeks.
“Jake got it for me,” he muttered, almost too quiet to hear. “I don’t tend to bother, what with being sensitive to smells and everything. He said this one was easier on the senses.”
“I’ll say.” The words tumbled out and I nudged Axel, who laughed. “Who’s Jake? Boyfriend?” Another option occurred to me, and I took a huge step back out of his space. “You haven’t got a possessive mate, have you?” I’d seen how shifters got over their mates and had no wish to inadvertently get in the middle of that, even if it was a little harmless flirting.
Max leant back against the table. “Jake’s my best friend and housemate.” He said it almost as if it were the worst thing in the world, and I shot a look at Axel who gave the barest of shrugs this time. Whatever the story was there, it had nothing to do with me.
But maybe it was a sign to keep my flirting to a minimum. What I thought of as harmless fun might not go down too well in the non-human community, and I was here to solve a problem, not create more.
“If you don’t need me for anything else, I need to get back to Midnight.” Nick’s voice was a lot less friendly than it’d been earlier and I turned to find him looking anywhere but at me.
Max immediately straightened. Professionalism back in full force. “Of course. Thank you for coming in today, Nick.” He shook his hand, and then Gabriel pulled him in for a quick hug. He whispered something in Nick’s ear that made Max cough, but I didn’t possess shifter hearing so it was lost on me.
Unfortunately.
But whatever it was made Nick’s stiff shoulders relax. He then turned and gave Axel a warm smile, and that… prickled, for want of a better word. The reminder that he and Axel had fucked on more than one occasion was unwelcome, as was the feeling it brought with it.
Shaking it off, I waited for Nick to face me. When he did, and his brown eyes met mine, my breath caught. Whatever I’d seen in his eyes was there and gone in a flash, but its effect on me lingered. Desire? Jealousy? Confusion? Maybe a mix of all three, but all of it had been replaced by a carefully controlled blank expression.
I hated it.
“Midnight is your club now, right?” I asked, not sure what I was trying to do, but not wanting him to leave with that look on his face.
“It is.” His eyes narrowed. “Why?”
I shrugged, trying to adopt an air of nonchalance that Axel pulled off so well. “I thought I’d like to make the most of my time this side of the gateway. I’ve never been to a paranormal club before.” I felt Axel’s gaze boring into me from the side, probably wondering what I was doing, because this wasn’t like me.
I ignored him.
Nick drew his bottom lip been his teeth slowly, studying me. “It’s still closed.”
Maybe I’d read this whole thing wrong?
