She stumbled back. “Look, we had that…moment earlier, but I am not losing my head like that again. So no touching me, and no calling me babe.”
He still wore that smile. “I know what that moment was about, so don’t sweat it.”
She blinked, surprised because she had no idea what it was about and she had participated in it. “What was it?”
“Comfort sex. Not that we got to the sex part, but you needed comfort. And I was handy.”
And yummy and hot and… “Yeah, that was it. Sure, that explains a lot.” But it didn’t really, because she had been righteously aroused, which had nothing to do with wanting comfort.
“So, you don’t have to look at me like I’m going to eat you.” He arched one eyebrow. “Or kiss you again.”
Gods, why did he have to say it like that? “Yeah, you did kiss me. And…a lot more. What’s your excuse?”
That smile disappeared. Interesting. She thought he’d be all cocky or patronizing, like I just wanted to make you feel better. What a great guy I am, huh? But no, he looked unsettled. And she remembered that he’d seemed just as shocked by what had exploded between them. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I wish I knew. All I can tell you is that it won’t happen again.”
She felt some relief at the confident tone of his voice. “No, it won’t.”
“Let’s focus on the matter at hand. I haven’t had reason to deal with Fringers in recent years, so they may not recognize me. I can do a couple of things to help matters.”
He scrubbed his fingers through his hair, moving his part to the side and mussing it in general. It made him look like he’d just gotten out of bed, which only complemented his bedroom eyes. Then he waved his fingers in front of his eyes and, amazingly, Dragon flames ignited in them. The sight tightened her throat and woke her Dragon.
Purr…
“How’d you create…that illusion.” She’d never seen a Deuce do that before, not that she was around many of them. “All right, since you have an answer for everything, how do I explain you?”
He arched one eyebrow. “Booty call weekend?”
She shoved him, not that he moved much. “You think I go around telling everyone I hook up with out-of-town guys?” She rubbed her finger across her mouth in thought. “But yeah, maybe you’re someone I met in Naples while on business, my?—”
“Lover. We haven’t been able to keep our hands off each other since we met at the?—”
“Landscape nursery where I was buying plants. You work there. And we’re just friends.”
He was watching her finger move across her lips. “We’re more than friends if you’re bringing me here.”
We’re more than friends, reverberated inside her. “Fine. But no hands all over. What happens in the Fringe stays in the Fringe. For-friggin’-ever. It’s why I don’t date Fringers. Usually things don’t work out, and it’s awkward every time you see the person.”
“Is that where the booty call weekends come in?”
She let out an exasperated sound. “They’re not booty call weekends. I don’t go looking for a hookup. I travel all over Florida to find new accounts.”
“Accounts for what?”
“My jewelry business. Running the books for the farm is my obligation, and I don’t mind doing it, but my passion is designing and making jewelry. I started taking weekend trips to visit small galleries and jewelry shops to see if I could actually sell my products. I now have a dozen shops who carry my pieces, and I’m adding more all the time. Crescent-owned shops started requesting specific jewelry, like the gods’ symbols.”
Kade gave her a that’s cool kind of nod. “Mia wears a piece with the symbol of Linnea, Deuce goddess of order and chaos. One of yours?”
“Maybe.” She gave him a devilish smile. “Wouldn’t that just kill her to know she was wearing something I, a lowly Castanega Fringer, made?” She touched the pendant at her throat. “These are my most popular, the symbol I created for Crescents.”
Which invited him to lean close and take the pendant in his fingers to study the crescent moon with a diamond at the bottom point. Enough that she felt his body heat and the brush of his hair against her chin. His scent awakened her Dragon, awakened parts of her better left dormant.
All his attention was on the pendant. “It’s simple but elegant.”
She cleared her throat. “Exactly what I was aiming for. Mundanes like them too, even if they don’t know the meaning. I call my business Luca, after the high god who oversaw Lucifera.”
He rubbed his thumb across the gold, then met her gaze. “Your passion shows.”
She couldn’t breathe for a moment. There was something compelling about the word passion coming out of that made-for-sin mouth that was a fraction of an inch away from hers. The insane urge to trace her finger across his fine scar that did indeed make him look a bit dangerous assailed her. She stepped back, reclaiming the pendant. And her sanity.
