Max rubbed his jaw. “If you were a shifter, you know what I’d say, right?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, but I’m not. And neither is he.” I threw my arms in the air. “I don’t know what it is about him, but I just…” I sighed, defeated. “I want him.” Wanted to have him in my bed again and not have to rush off the next morning. I wanted to feel his magic skate along my skin like exploring fingers and—
That thought drew me up short. Is that what this was? I wanted Dathal because his magic made me feel alive?
The idea that I was that fucking shallow left a nasty taste in my mouth, but I couldn’t rule it out. Sex with him had been off-the-charts amazing. He’d made me feel more alive than I had in six years. Of course I’d crave more of that. But was that all it was?
I shook my head. “Ignore me. You’ve got more than enough on your plate without me whining about something that won’t matter in a few weeks.”
“Won’t it?” Max asked, crossing his arms and scrutinising me. I wanted to squirm in my chair and wondered if this was what it felt like to be questioned by him in an interview room. “When this is all done and Dathal returns home, will it really be that easy to forget about him and move on?”
“Yes?”
Max snorted but didn’t call me out on the fact that I sounded less than convincing.
“It’s just the way it is,” I added, and he sighed again, all traces of amusement vanishing.
“I guess it is. Sometimes life just sucks.”
Couldn’t argue with him there.
Maybe another night with Dathal would give me some much-needed perspective and the novelty would wear off, leaving us to have a bit of fun and then go our separate ways.
Goddess permitting.
I stood. “On that cheery note,” I said, and Max chuckled. “I need to get going. If you need me for anything else, I’m more than happy to help.”
“Thank you.”
He escorted me out of the building and a police car pulled into the car park as we walked across to my car. Max’s shoulders stiffened as the driver opened the door and got out. I recognised him. I’d seen him in Midnight a few times, although not recently.
“Jake.” Max smiled as Jake Allen walked over to us, but it seemed dimmer than his usual cheery grin.
I glanced over at Jake—he had sunglasses on but his smile curved wide. “Max.” He turned that smile my way and wow, it was a killer. “Nick, right? The new owner of Midnight?”
“Yeah. Well, new manager, anyway.” If my mind wasn’t full of a silver-haired fae, then I’d be tempted to flirt a little. Although it didn’t take a shifter to sense the tension between him and Max. “Right,” I said, clearing my throat. “I’ll be off.”
Max’s gaze snapped to me, his expression smoothing out. “Thanks again for coming in. I’ll be in touch if we need you for anything else.”
I left the pair of them to it, whatever it was they were doing with their silent stand-off in the car park.
None of my business, I reminded myself.
I had more than enough of my own to occupy my thoughts, like how I wanted to play it when Dathal eventually came back through the gateway.
Imagining various scenarios kept me busy all the way back to Midnight, but I was no closer to deciphering my thoughts and feelings when I pulled into Midnight’s car park. So I did what any adult would do. I shoved them to the back of my mind to deal with later.
NICK
I wasn’t expectingthe knock on my door Wednesday night, but as I hurried along the hall to answer it, a weird tingle crept over my skin and I knew without even opening it who would be on the other side.
My heart rate increased, awareness like an electric current thrumming through my veins.
Dathal stood on my doorstep, looking rumpled and windswept and so fucking hot I had to swallow before finding my voice.
“Hey.” I smiled, couldn’t help it. “Got to say, you’re the last person I expected to see tonight.” But the most welcome sight. “How did you get here?” I hadn’t heard a car pull up. But then I’d only just got out of the shower.
“Axel dropped me off.” He grinned back at me. “I don’t have long. We only got back about an hour ago, and we have to return in the morning, but I wanted to see you.”
