Page 102 of Close Quarter
Holy hell.Fae were born thieves. Rhys struggled not to stare as Silas worked.
Silas slid back out into the lobby and vanished around a corner. Rhys continued to not read the newspaper until he felt the press of Silas's fingers on his shoulder. "Back so soon?"
He leaned back and looked up at Silas, who stood behind him.
Not nearly as pale as before, Silas smiled and kneaded Rhys's shoulders. "Shall we go somewhere more private?" The rich, deep tone of that question fired Rhys's blood and dried his mouth.God.What this man did to him.
"Sure." He folded the newspaper, set it down, and then rose.
A number of folks in the lobby still watched them, some with admiration, others with curiosity.
A few with fear. He ignored them all and followed Silas to the elevators.
Rhys dropped his voice to a near whisper.
"I'm going to fuck you so damn hard the next time I get a chance."
When the elevator opened, Silas pushed him inside. "I'll hold you to that." He hit the button for deck four before he leaned against the wall.
"Thanks for providing such an enticing distraction."
"I think that was your kiss." He still felt that warmth of Silas's lips, the plunging of his tongue.
"I've never kissed anyone in public like that before."
Rhys would have laughed, but the seriousness in Silas's tone and in his expression spoke truth.
"Not even Isatis?"
"No, not even Isatis."
The elevator opened. Once more Rhys had to rush to follow Silas before the doors closed on him. In two thousand years? Never a passionate kiss in public?
There was no lie in those words, though.
"I've changed you." How could that be possible?
Silas drew a piece of paper from his back pocket and unfolded it. "You have, yes." He paused, as if choosing his next words. "Mind you, that is not such a bad thing." He handed the paper to Rhys.
Room numbers. All the unoccupied rooms on the ship, the ones the staff didn't need to clean until they arrived in New York. One hundred five in all.
"This is a crap-load of rooms."
"Ah, however, all but twenty-five are external." Silas pointed to a second column.
So they were.
They searched, very carefully, starting with the cabins on deck four. Nothing.
Nor on five or six. Seven had no cabins, and eight only had balcony rooms. As they exited the elevator on nine, Rhys's skin itched. His room was on this deck.
"I think I'm going to be very wigged out if they're my neighbors."
Silas scanned the room list. "There's only one unoccupied interior room on this level."
Much to Rhys's relief, it was like all the others. Empty of anything other than furniture, fixtures, and towels.
Two unoccupied rooms stood next to each other on deck ten. As they approached, Silas clasped Rhys's wrist. Pulled him to a stop.
