Chapter 19
Blaze thought she’d prepared herself to resist Zane Greystone. But when she opened her front door to him the following night, it was like the sun had suddenly come out on the darkest of rainy days.
He looked even better than he’d looked the night before. Mouth-watering, in casual jeans and a dark blue button-down shirt that made his eyes look like deep blue lakes you could just dive into and drown. His blond hair was still artfully tousled in that just-got-out-of-bed-and-could-be-talked-into-going-right-back style that made her want to run her fingers through it.
Even as she told herself that was a bad, bad idea, golden happy warmth was spreading through her, and she got that urge to wrap herself around him and soak up more of it. Again.
Was it magic? Or just that he was so damn sexy?
Blaze, who prided herself on being calm and cool, especially around men, was thiiiis close to throwing herself at him and begging him to ravish her on the front porch.
It was embarrassing—and dangerous.
Good thing he had his hands full already. With a bouquet of flowers and a pizza box.
He’d brought her flowers. No one had brought her flowers… well, ever. She shoved that thought out of her mind and got busy being cynical.
He must want the Dragonfly of Morocco pretty bad, if he was willing to suck up to her this much just to get a look at it. Blaze raised one eyebrow, trying to look badass and get her breathing under control.
“This isn’t a date,” she informed him. “It’s a business appointment.”
“Of course it is.” There went the killer smile. “I’ve heard business associates often bring flowers or small gifts to important meetings. As a sign of respect.”
“You mean, as a sign of sucking up and trying to get a bargain.”
He handed her the bouquet, the smile deepening. “I hope you like tropical flowers.”
Blaze took the flowers. They embraced her with their rich, velvety, sensuous fragrance.
Flowers were impersonal, right? So she should resist the urge to bury her face in them and soak in their exotic scent? And also, to bury her face in the hollow of Zane’s shoulder and soak in his exotic scent.
He held out the box. “And I brought pizza.”
Blaze folded her arms across her chest, despite the flowers. “Business associates do not bring pizza.”
“Depends on the business,” he pointed out. “Those computer software geniuses get pizza all the time, when they’re not playing hopscotch on their indoor playgrounds.”
“Software geeks do not play hopscotch at work.”
“Sure they do. I saw it online. Right next to the rock-climbing wall this software company had in their atrium.”
She was not having dinner with this man. Casual, friendly, datelike dinner. “This is a business appointment to examine one artifact. Which will take ten minutes.”
“Have you eaten?”
Blaze sighed and gave up. “No,” she admitted. “What’s on the pizza?”
“Half pepperoni, half veggie. In case you’re vegetarian.” He paused. “Please tell me you’re not vegetarian.”
That made her laugh, and she spoke without thinking. “Years of dreaming about me, and you don’t even know if I eat meat?”
His eyes grew smoky and intense. “We weren’t eating in my dreams.”
Whoa. That sent shivers right down to her core. “Um, okay.” Damn. His chest somehow looked even bigger and more muscly than it had when she tore his shirt off.
Zane raised his eyebrows and held the pizza box out.
Oh. Right. She was staring. “I guess you’d better come in.”
She needed to get this over with fast. Because Zane Greystone was the kind of trouble she didn’t need. Ripped, yummy, wrong-side-of-the-law trouble with unknown powers and an unknown agenda.
So she really wasn’t sure how she ended up sitting with him at the granite breakfast bar in her kitchen, the flowers in a vase on the counter top, sharing a pizza and wrangling over who got the pepperoni.
“If you didn’t want to eat veggies, you should have gotten all pepperoni and damn the consequences,” she told him, snagging another meat-covered slice out from under his hand.
“I was trying to be thoughtful,” he said. “Impressing you with my attentiveness to your potential needs and desires.”
Blaze almost choked on a pepperoni. She took a sip of water, swallowing hard. This crazy-beautiful man—crazy-beautiful thief, she reminded herself—was trying to impress her?
For the Dragonfly of Morocco, of course. Not because he really cared about her. And even if he did, that was the last thing she needed right now. Someone else to protect and keep out of the line of fire.
Or someone else to betray her. No thank you.
“You’re only going to be here long enough to look over the Dragonfly of Morocco,” she said. “How much impressing did you think you’d need to do?”
He took a slice of veggie pizza, poking dubiously at a piece of roasted zucchini. “You don’t seem very impressed so far, so probably a lot.” His lips quirked, and a slight dimple flashed in his left cheek. Blaze barely resisted the urge to reach out and touch it.
“But why bother?” She didn’t say we’re never going to see each other again, but he answered as if he’d heard it anyway.
“I promised to help you fight Silas and the coven,” he said.
She’d never thought he meant it. “It’s not your battle.”
“I’m making it my battle.” He put the pizza down. “You need someone to protect you.” Before she could tell him she didn’t need protecting, he added softly, “You could use someone on your side.”
An unexpected wave of loneliness washed over Blaze, disarming her completely. It was so long since she’d had anyone on her side. She’d lived alone, keeping people at arm’s length, not wanting to expose them to the danger and uncertainty of her life.
Figuring, if the coven came after her, she’d die alone, too.
She couldn’t afford to let herself believe he really meant what he was saying. She’d been able to handle the loneliness when she thought there was no other choice, but if she let herself believe there was one…
She pushed the pizza box away, and her feelings along with it. “We might as well do this,” she said. “I’ll take you to the artifact room.”