And damn if it wasn’t sexy as hell.
He slid his tablet toward her and pointed to a squatty, dark-haired man in the photo on the display. “That him?”
She shook her head. “I swear, if I have to spend another minute looking at pompous, entitled rich people drinking gallons of champagne and eating plates of thousand-dollar-an-ounce caviar, I’m going to scream.”
“You got something against rich people? Or just people having a good time?”
“I have nothing against people having a good time.”
“That’s a relief.” He chuckled and she made the mistake of looking up at him. He was staring at her now, studying her with an unhurried interest that made her stomach flip. “So, it’s only pompous, entitled rich people that make you want to scream?”
To mask her sudden awareness of him, she gave him an arch look. “If the shoe fits.”
“Excuse me?” He swiveled in his chair to face her full-on, his brows furrowed. “Did you just call me rich?”
Laughing, she picked up her half-empty mug of cold coffee and held it close as she looked at him. “Well, aren’t you? Rich, I mean.”
“Hell, no. Not me. I’m just a grunt trying to find my own way doing something I believe in.” He leaned back in his seat, looking casual and far too attractive for her peace of mind. “If you mean my family, though, they’ve done all right. But the Chases worked hard for everything they have. Most of the men in my family made their livings in public service. My father was the first of our line to join the Order.”
“I didn’t know that.” Kaya shrugged. “I’ve heard some of the Order commanders call him ‘Harvard’ so I guess I just assumed...”
“The nickname came from Rafe’s father, Dante. It wasn’t meant to be a compliment, but it stuck.” A grin pulled his mouth into a charming tilt. “Now only my father’s closest friends call him that.”
Kaya smiled, thinking about the easy friendship Aric seemed to have with Rafe. “I suppose it makes sense that you and Rafe are so close. You two act like brothers.”
He nodded. “In all the ways that matter, we are.”
She waited for his searching gaze to release her, but it only held firmer. That penetrating stare seemed as sharp as a razor as it studied her.
“What about you, Kaya?”
“What about me?” She glanced away when the intensity of his scrutiny became too much. Instead, she busied herself with another image from the reception taken before the party had erupted in chaos.
Aric’s eyes lingered on her, as steady and certain as a caress. “You’ve got friends in the Order, but who were your friends before you came here? Where is your family?”
“I have all the friends I need here at the command center. They’re the only family I need.”
“Is that why it means so much to you to be part of the team?” he asked gently. “Because the Order is the only family you have?”
“Yes.” A shaky breath leaked out of her before she could hold it back. “And because without the Order, I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
She surprised herself, giving him that truth. She’d been friends with Mira for longer than a year and she’d never said those words out loud to her.
But saying them to Aric felt safe somehow. Maybe because he would be leaving soon.
Maybe because he was looking at her with such care and genuine interest, she couldn’t deny him if she tried.
And that was a dangerous thing.
He leaned forward, shocking her when his hand covered hers atop the table. Her heart slammed against her ribs as his thumb stroked the backs of her fingers. She knew she should pull away from his uninvited touch, but God help her, she could hardly move.
She could hardly form a logical thought when his other hand reached up to caress her face. His palm was warm and strong against her cheek, his fingers achingly tender. But there was no softness in his eyes. They glowed with predatory hunger, amber flecks of light swiftly devouring the bright green of his irises.
Kaya swallowed. The shift in the air between them had changed so suddenly, turning into something dark and seductive. They had been on the verge of this same steep plummet earlier tonight in her quarters, before Niko’s call had interrupted them. She’d been counting that narrow escape as a blessing, but now she realized the postponement had only heightened the craving she had for this man.
For this powerful Breed male who was making her yearn for something more than just duty and drive. Aric’s heated, hungry gaze as it slid from her face down to the pulse that hammered frantically in the column of her throat made her long for all the things she’d never dreamed she could have.
And never would.
Not when a blood bond would lay all her secrets bare, leaving her nowhere to hide.
“Kaya.” He spoke her name in a hushed growl, otherworldly and dark. He drew her toward him.
Before she realized what she was doing, her whole body arched into his coaxing touch, moving slowly, unresistingly, into his kiss.
His lips brushed over hers, the motion unraveling something deep inside her. Heat spiraled along her nerve endings and into her blood, igniting a cauldron in her core. She gasped at the swiftness of her response to him. Arousal so powerful it staggered her. He captured her wordless cry with his mouth, his tongue spearing past her parted lips on a hungered moan.
Kaya didn’t fight the power he had over her senses.
She craved the feeling of surrender she felt in his arms.
She wanted him--so much so, the sound of laughter and conversation drifting down the corridor took several seconds to register in her mind.
Mira and Kellan.
