Page 21 of The Desert Prince's Jewel
I can’t speak, can barely breathe, as we stare into each other’s eyes, our faces so close, his breath ghosting against my lips. To my surprise, I search his eyes and find something familiar, swirling with his fear.
Lust.
It makes no sense. Isn’t it usually love at first sight, not lust at first punch? But for once, I’m certain we may be feeling the same thing underneath our other warring emotions.
We inch closer, closer still, until–
“Whoa!” I shout, falling backward as I hold onto Mateo for dear life.
I land on my back, Mateo on top of me, and above us, a gaggle of unfamiliar baristas and one familiar barista with red highlights.
“Um!? I’m so sorry! I just figured you’d answer me by now because me and this cute guy exchanged numbers just now, and you always answer a new boyfriend alert text, Mateo,” the redhead rambles, trying to help us up as he continues at a rapid pace, “And this random guy answered–Sorry!I mean Carl from night shift. Carl, right? Anyway, I circled back and your car was still here, so I was convinced the cafe was getting robbed, but it ended up being a night shift guy, and then we noticed thebroken frother ended up on the floor somehow wedged between the closet and the toppled over bean box. And, well, anyway, I’m Cyril, but everyone calls me Cy! Nice to finally meet you, stalker hottie– I-I mean Ranbir! You’re an excellent customer, you know. And don’t mind Mateo, he has commitment issues and–”
“Shut up!” Mateo shouts, trying to leap up to silence his friend. Somehow, my body refused to release him so that he could stand.
The amount of word vomit the fire-headed barista, Cy, just spat is enough to make me sick. I stand, taking Mateo with me in my arms. He yanks away and hides behind his co-worker. It doesn’t hide much from me because Mateo’s much taller than Cy, and I find it oddly endearing, as Mateo’s clearly embarrassed on Cy’s oblivious behalf.
“But–” Cy starts up again only to be silenced with a whack to the head.
“Cy, shut up! Y’all, get to work; I appreciate your help. And Ranbir, thank you. I have to go!” Mateo spits out sentences in rapid succession, leaving me spinning.
Or maybe that’s the result of a concussion from my head slamming against the floor.
Unable to find my bearings, I decide it’s time to call it a night. I have somewhere to be anyway, and now Mateo will be on my mind when I must focus on catching the border-hopping art thief, Dimitri Kontos, in the act. I start to walk away, but then I stop when Cy begins to speak.
Swallowing, his pronounced Adam’s apple bobbing, Cy nudges Mateo and tugs on his arm, “Need me to drop you off at the gala? Sorry, man, about swinging the door open before warning ya’.”
Mateo takes a long time to speak, as if he’s the one concussed, shrugging as he murmurs, “Nawh, but at Bonnie’s would be great after a bath at New Boy Toy’s place, if you can manage it? You know my car’s on its last leg, so if I don’t want it tobecome terminal, I need to stack some cash. I was going to meet everyone there, but I volunteered to drive the van with the full-time crew.”
I raise an eyebrow, despite trying to appear perfectly neutral as I force myself to walk away. But my interest is most definitely piqued. I don’t miss how Mateo refers to his car as if it’s a terminally ill patient, and I suppress a smile as well at that.
An art gallery catering gig? It can’t be at the gala I’ve somehow managed to get into tonight. The coincidence seems too cosmic, even for us, who are tied together by a tragic fate.
But if so, I can’t deny the sudden surge within my soul, demanding I protect Mateo within that den of thieves.
CHAPTER TEN
RANBIR
“Let’s get this over with,” Kunal says, running his claws through his shoulder-length black hair that slips through his fingers like a glossy wave. His green eyes, circled with a ring of stormcloud gray, narrow at Rohan through the rearview mirror. They’re as sharp as the swords he usually wears holstered to his tail back home as a royal guardsmen.
“What’s so funny? Enlighten us, Rohan,” he asks with a dry snort, annoyance seeping into the stale air with a healthy dose of his venom.
We don’t have to disguise ourselves as much as usual tonight, and I recoil from the scent of Kunal’s rage leaking from his fangs.
Rohan’s ear-splitting laughter pitches higher, and I kick the back of the front passenger’s seat in annoyance. Kunal is uncharacteristically vocal as he pulls into the museum’s bustling parking lot in a luxury rental, so we can blend in by standing out.I’m unsure how they convinced Layla to let us leave early, but bless them both.
The eldest among us flashes his lover a rye grin, red eyes flecked with shards of sky blue glinting in the dim street lights as we step out of the rental truck. He’s grown out his beard again, and I must admit, he looks better like that. Just like Kunal does tonight, allowing his hair to hang freely and not in his severe top-knot.
Smack!
I whip around in confusion, only to groan with frustration. Kunal, the shortest of our trio, grips a handful of his much taller partner’s hair, his hand poised to smack him on the back of his head again.
“This isn’t funny!” he shouts, making a scene.
Rohan bucks him off, “Keep your hands to yourself, Kunal! What, you’re not up for a night of playing security while our prince hunts for a thief unattended? Mr. Rule Follower can’t bend the rules just for tonight? Even by our master’s command?”
Kunal’s gaze flicks to me, losing all of its aggression as he bites his bottom lip. “This thief or gang or whatever our joint intelligence hinted at got into Nagat undetected, your… Ranbir,” he still struggles to call me by my name and not my title. “I don’t think it’s wise for us to separate.”
