Page 46 of Vex
"You have that pretty human stashed away, why are you here?" Zane asked with a smirk as he joined Vex on the patio behind his home. The space was elegant granite fitted in intricate patterns, with comfortable seating arranged to take advantage of the spectacular valley view. Flowering vines filled the air with sweet perfume, the perfect place for entertaining. "Or do I finally get to meet her?"
Vex growled.
The sound rumbled from his chest before he could stop it, purely reflexive and completely revealing. The thought of Zane meeting Luisa, of his charming brother turning that practiced smile on his mate, made smoke threaten to curl from his fingertips.
"Oh, it must be true love!" Zane laughed.
The delighted expression on his brother's face was insufferable. Zane looked like he'd just discovered the most entertaining secret in the galaxy, his eyes bright with mischief.
It could be. Maybe it was. Maybe it would be.
If he could figure out how to touch his mate.
"I can't visit my brother?" Vex asked.
"You can do anything you want. I don't see why you would though, when you have a beautiful woman—I'm assuming she's a beautiful woman—waiting for you back home." Zane's grin was pure wickedness.
"She had business to attend to," he said. "I thought I might visit."
"Business." Zane was doubtful.
She was on a call with her contact at the IDA filling them in on the data she'd found and what she'd destroyed. He couldn't tell Zane that.
Luisa's professional competence was one of the things he admired most about her, but it was also another barrier between them. She had a life, a career, responsibilities that existed completely independent of him. She didn't need him the way his dragon insisted she should.
"I don't think your mate should be able to think of business at this point in the relationship."
"How did you—I never said." With the looming threat of Luisa leaving at the end of the month, or sooner if she grew tired of him, Vex hadn't said a word to anyone of the true nature of their relationship.
He wanted to shout it from the skies.
But he was afraid.
Vex, who'd faced down armed criminals and negotiated with hostile governments, was terrified of a slip of a woman who barely reached his shoulder. Afraid she'd leave. Afraid she'd stay for the wrong reasons. Afraid he'd somehow damage the fragile trust they'd built by wanting too much, too fast.
He didn't know how to be afraid, and he certainly didn't like it.
"I've never seen you dance with a woman twice. Moving one into your home after a week-long vacation? You'd only do that with your mate." Zane looked insufferably pleased with his own deductive abilities. "Have you introduced her to Mother?"
"I haven't introduced her to anyone yet. She's not—we're not … How?"
Zane's eyes widened, and his grin turned into an open-mouthed smile. "Surely you know … how? Don't tell me?—"
"Yes, I know how. Just because some dragons need to taste every woman that crosses their path doesn't mean the rest of us have … insufficient needs."
"So what's the matter?" Zane leaned forward in his chair, suddenly serious despite the lingering amusement in his eyes.
"We met, and it was …" Fiery. Passionate. Perfect.
A lie.
Every moment of their initial connection had been built on deception, on the roles they'd been playing for their mission. The dissolute lord and his pampered mistress had chemistry that could have set the casino on fire. But what did Vex of Vemion and Luisa of Aetis have? They were still figuring that out, still stumbling through the awkward process of learning who they really were when the masks came off.
He'd been playing a part. She'd been hiding herself. Now they were exposed, and every move felt all the more real.
"The spark's left already?" Zane seemed doubtful.
"I want her more than anything." The words were ragged. "But I don't know … how."
