Page 4 of Eye of the Hurricane
“You wanted to see me?” he asks, pointing to himself. The satisfaction in his tone is impossible to miss. He’s loving this. Of course, he is.
“Well… I was hoping…”Jesus, just spit it out. “I thought maybe you’d hook up with me,” I admit. His eyebrows raise up well under the loose curls sitting on his forehead. He bites back a laugh and I cross my arms.
“You want to… hook up?”Yes.“With me?”Clearly. “Tonight?”Not if you keep this up. He laughs but it comes out dry, like he’s in disbelief.
“Yes,” I say simply like the idea isn’t absolutely insane. His eyes drag over me, snagging at my lips for a few beats.
“Come here, then. Come sit with me,” he says, patting the bed next to him. My heart races in my chest. I knew Ares was into me but I never thought he would agree to this so easily.
I stand and walk over to him. Hetakes my hand and guides me to sit next to him. He pushes my hair gently out of my face, looking deep into my eyes. Just when I think he’s about to kiss me, he speaks instead.
“Are you okay, Kat?” he asks. The sincerity in his tone soothes the ache of the rejection I feel.
“I’m fine. Don’t you want me?” It comes out as more of a pout than I intend.
“You know I do. This just doesn’t seem like you,” he pushes deep brown waves out of his face. I throw myself on my back with a loud and dramatic groan. “What about your plan? You’re always talking about how this is not part of it.”
“Since when do you care about the plan?”
“Since when do you not?” he counters, looking down at me.
I let out another groan before sitting back up to face him. “The plan changed and it’s going to be a lot more work, which is fine. I’m fine. I just thought I was finally seeing the light at the end of this whole thing and now I don’t anymore.” I suck in a breath and shrug. “So I told Luna I wanted to have one fun night,” I admit.
Ares attempts to hold back the smile growing on his face, but he fails miserably.
“And your idea of a fun night was to show up at my house and ask me to fuck you?” The pleased look on his face is enough to want to punch him—and maybe kiss him?
“You have a dirty mouth,” I say, avoiding the real substance of what he said. He tilts his head to one side with the same self-assured grin on his face. It’s so cocky and sexy, I almost hate him for it.
“Are you drunk?” he asks, examining my face. I give a sheepish smile and pinch my fingers together to saya little bit. “I try to make a habit of not sleeping with drunk women.You know… consent,” he says in a joking tone. I can tell he’s not only trying to lighten the mood, but that he means it.
“Why do you have to be a good person?” I pout.
“Just part of the charm, honey,” he laughs.
Just then, there’s a knock at his door and I’m extremely aware of how incriminating this looks. Ares is in nothing but his boxers and I’m flushed from the alcohol.
“Who is it?” Ares calls out.
“Audra. I just want to talk.”
His eyes snap closed before answering. “I don’t want to talk right now,” he says. I whack his arm, glaring at him.
“If you don’t let me come in, I’m coming in anyways.”
“I’m not ready to talk yet,” he says.
She doesn’t listen, though, and I don’t blame her. She pushes the door open and her eyes flick between me and Ares. I can see her physically trying to stop herself from laughing at us; at him, really. Ares groans and throws his hand over his face.
“Hi, Audi,” I say, flashing her a bright smile.
“Hi, Katherine.” I can hear her still fighting off a laugh.
“You can call me Kat, you know?”
“Kat, right. I can do that.” She nods. “So, I came to talk. I see now that I’m not the only one hiding things,” she prods, looking between the two of us. So it looks about as incriminating as I thought.
“We’re not—I’m not—” Ares pauses, searching for words. “If I say we’re good, will you come back another time?” he asks, looking at me and then back to Audra. Clearly, he didn’t talk this out with her like I told him to.
