Page 17

At times, his feet left the ground, Tobias managing a couple of moves that spun him right around the pole. One even had him dangling upside down, the muscles in his arms bulging. And all the while, my cock throbbed insistently, the hard line no doubt clearly visible.

He finished with a bow. “So… something like that,” he said. “Only with music and fewer clothes.”

“It was…”

He tilted his head, clearly with no intention of letting me off the hook. When I stayed silent, his gaze dropped to where my cock pushed against my jeans. He wanted me to know he’d noticed, a smile hovering on his lips. “It was what?”

“Different. It was different. Not at all useful, but different.” I pushed myself away from the fire engine. “Can I borrow your axe? I’ll go see to that bookshelf.”

“Knock yourself out.”

I could feel Tobias’ gaze on me as I headed to the door, but refused to give him the satisfaction of turning around.

Chapter Five

August

I’d slipped up earlier by being too slow to respond to my name. I knew it, and Keaton knew it. He didn’t, however, from what I could tell, know I knew he knew. It was all getting unnecessarily complicated.

It had forced me to fall back on a distraction tactic as old as time: sex. Or at least the promise of it. Keaton certainly hadn’t been able to take his eyes off me, and the tent in his jeans said the last thing on his mind was names. I just needed to maintain the facade for a few more hours and everything would be golden. Literally. I was already thinking about who might be interested in buying that ring.

We’d built a fire in the room with the fire engine, the concrete floor making it less likely to spread than anywhere else in the building. The gap in the metal shutter also provided ventilation. Although that same gap meant keeping one eye open and weapons within easy reach in case anything squeezed itself through there, whether animal or biter. I’d shared my food, dinner comprising dried and cured meat.

Keaton seemed grateful, but I doubted he’d look back the next day and think, well, at least I got a meal out of it. The firelight threw his face into stark contrast, making an interesting face even more interesting. When he caught me staring, I feigned a coquettish embarrassment before wrenching my gaze away.

“So…” Keaton said after I’d stared into the flames for a couple of minutes without speaking. “How about you tell me something about yourself? Just to pass the time.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Tell me about little Tobias? Where you grew up… your family… that sort of thing.”

I had as many growing-up stories as I had fingers on both hands. I pondered which one Keaton would appreciate, or if not appreciate, which would have him feeling the sorriest for me. “There’s not much to tell.”

“There must be something. You didn’t pop out of a cabbage patch.”

I laughed, lacing it with just the right amount of bitterness. “I may as well have done.” I shifted my position to sitting cross-legged, hands resting lightly on my knees. “I was abandoned as a baby. Not in a cabbage patch; that would have been more scenic. In a graveyard. One just outside a community.” Last time I’d told this version of the story, I’d been left at the foot of a lion statue. The time before that, it had been someone’s doorstep. It was fun coming up with different variations on a theme. “It was a freezing cold night,” I said. “It’s a miracle I survived.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t get eaten.”

“That, as well. Apparently, I was silent. Like I somehow knew that if I cried, it would be the end of me.”

“Who found you?”

I had to be careful here. If I claimed it was a Mr. and Mrs. Breeze who’d found me, Keaton would immediately become suspicious. “I don’t know. I got passed around a lot as a child.”

“Passed around? What do you mean?”

“As in no one really wanted me. An extra mouth to feed. That sort of thing.”

“I’m sorry.” Keaton sounded genuinely sad about it.

I shrugged. “It’s fine. As soon as I was old enough to look after myself, that’s what I did.” I held my hands out toward the fire. “It taught me a valuable lesson.”

“What’s that?”

“Independence… the need not to rely on others.” I pulled the bag I’d retrieved from the bike closer. “Hey! I’ve just remembered what else I’ve got in here.”

Keaton leaned forward. “What’s that?”