Page 178 of Star Claimed Omega
She tapped her screen and shrugged. ‘Great reviews, baby. I’ll come with you.’
‘Fokk,me too,’ Kaal grunted. ‘I need a kickass pick me up.’
The trio of Signet executives prowled through the station, took an elevator, and, following Miral, headed toward a small neon sign that announced their destination: theKahawa Metro.
The scent hit Santi first, a full-throated roast, laced with cardamom and sun-pressed citrus.
‘Hellyeah,’ he growled as he stalked through the doors.
The air inside the café was warm with steam and soul.
He grinned with anticipation until his eyes fell on a silhouette behind the bar, apron tied at the waist.
He slowed his roll, heart slamming under his jumpsuit.
She was familiar to him like the back of his hand, tresses shorter but unmistakablyhers.
She was moving, pouring, wiping, fokkin alive?
He blinked once more, staring at her spine, at her frame, body, curves, hips, and thighs, which he’d never excise from his mind.
‘The fokk?’
Santi stumbled forward two steps before his world blurred.
His breath came out in staccato bursts, his chest seized, and for a moment, he bent over, clutching his knees to stop his head spinning.
When he stood upright again, she was still in front of him.
Still real, her back to him, oblivious of his presence.
His lips scarcely moved, but still his rasp edged out. ‘Soleil?’
She froze, her spine braced, then she whipped around.
Her inhale was audible, piercing, a gasp that tore through his spine like lightning.
They locked eyes.
Time stopped, and all noise faded.
Everything vanished except her.
She blinked, raked him from head to toe.
‘Mi sol.’
She took a breath at his raw rasp, her face blanched, and then she swiveled away, keeping her stance calm, controlled, and freakin’ poised.
She reached for another customer’s mug and began pouringkahawa.
Like he wasn’t there.
As if he hadn’t just clawed his way through weeks of suffering, thinking she was dead.
He clutched his chest, his soul cracking, the scars he’d worked on torn off, leaving him bleeding and exposed.
A wild tear hit him, and he whirled around, full of fire, his eyes burning as he pinned down Miral.
