Page 28 of Santa's Wish
"How the fuck is that good news?" Boz asked. I was surprised I saw the bigger picture before he did with his brilliant mind.
This wasn't a conversation for the middle of the hallway. Granted, some of my tenants could hear us regardless, but I liked the appearance of privacy. I pushed my way inside and shut the door while he continued to stare at me in disbelief. I slid the pizzaboxes onto his kitchen counter and turned to face him, placing both hands on his shoulders.
"They can't hurt you now that you're coworkers. If they did, the empress would be back in Boston so fast?—"
"He didn't hurt me at all, remember? His fucking friend dropped me."
I released his shoulders. My brain worked better when I had one hand on my hip. With the other, I tapped my bottom lip with my index finger, recalling memories of past job-related intrigue between vampires and humans. "I still think it's fine. You'll make it look like he's embezzling from the empress, she'll kill him, and he'll never hurt you again. Easy peasy."
"That only works if he is embezzling from the empress!" Boz whisper-shouted, like every vampire in the building couldn't hear him, or maybe he thought his employers had bugged the apartment.
"If you're going to live long enough for Colette to turn you, I need you to think like a vampire."
He laughed. "She said the same thing this afternoon during our debrief."
Colette would protect Boz from other vampires, but too many humans and shifters worked at Imperial Accounting, enough to make me suspicious. What if one secretly supported the financial advisor who had attacked us, Boz, in the street?
I'd kept myself so far removed from the empress, Ididn't know where to begin to help Boz with his problem. "Have you told Colette what happened?" I asked.
"No! Why would I?"
"It could be a coincidence," I said, mulling it over. "Or it could be they wanted you dead before you started your job. It would have delayed the investigation at least two more months, since you were the only one who passed Colette's test. It's too close to the holidays to start the interview process again. Colette would have needed to recruit a new candidate pool next year."
Boz swallowed hard and nodded. "You have a point." He paled. "This past weekend, I went to my parents' place. I went shopping with my mom! Were they in any danger?"
I didn't want to scare him with the truth. "Ask Colette to give you a security detail, if she hasn't already done so."
"They do that?" Boz frowned. "I will. But you didn't come over to talk about my problems." He pointed at the pizza. "And you brought food, though my stomach is still in knots. Will it be good for breakfast?"
I shrugged. "No idea."
"That's right. You can't eat it." Boz's cheeks tinged pink as he walked past me to the wall of cupboards to grab himself a plate. "I'll serve myself a piece and then we can find something to watch. Go have a seat." He shooed me to the living room.
Instead of sitting in the middle of the couch, Ipicked the corner without an end table, since I didn't need it. Boz still had the coffee table, if he wanted to live dangerously and sit beside me.
He surprised me by setting his plate in the middle of the low table and sitting close enough for me to feel his body heat through his lounge pants and sweater.
The pizza looked as good as it smelled. The meat and tomato sauce pooled around the bottom crust like a crime scene. It was the kind of pizza that required a fork. After a few bites, Boz gave up the formality of sitting on the couch and fell to his knees on the floor to devour it.
I imagined him sucking my cock with the same fervor. I had to move, lest I bite his neck while he ate. Until he finished, I paced behind the couch.
"I'm sorry," he said, wiping his face with a paper napkin. "I thought I wasn't hungry, but I also stress eat, and it's so good …"
"No need to apologize," I said.
"Does it make you uncomfortable, watching me eat?"
"It made me too comfortable," I said. "I've already imagined several other uses for your mouth tonight."
"Oh." He blinked and sat up. "Oh!" He scrambled back onto the couch, and his fork clattered to rest on his empty plate. "I'm such a pig! I'm so sorry!"
"You made me jealous of a piece of pizza," I corrected him. "No one's done that before."
I returned to my spot on the couch, turning toward him and draping my legs over his. "What did you want to watch on television?"
"You?" He drew his hand up and hesitated before cupping my cheek. "I want to watch you."
I couldn't argue with that, especially when his marinara-coated lips pressed against mine.
