Page 132 of Mud

“Hello, sweetness. You smell nice,” he said, his eyes scrolling down to my wet hair and the white towel wrapped around my torso, which barely fell to my thighs.

“What…what-what-what are you doing here?!” I said when I found my voice.

“Close the door, will you? I don’t have any silver coins on me. That guy is not going to let me stay if he finds me here.” And he jumped off the windowsill.

“You arenotstaying here,” I said when his words registered and my lungs began to function semi-normally again, but I stepped inside and pushed the door closed anyway. Because if Vuvu found him here, he might not letmestay, either, and I couldn’t afford that. Not when I didn’t even have clothes to wear at the moment.

Fuck! I’m naked, I’m naked, I’m naked!

Dropping my boots, I brought my wet clothes in front of me, hoping to shield as much of the towel as I could, cheeks flushed.

“My, my, sweetness,” the asshole said, pulling down the window as he continued to look at me. “You still look really good wet.”

His words were slow, like a damn caress in my ear, and every inch of my skin rose in goose bumps despite my better judgment.

“How the hell did you even get here?! Getout,” I said through gritted teeth.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he calmly said and slammed the window down all the way.

My brain was having trouble catching up.Taland is here-Taland is here-how in the fuck is Taland here?!

Well aware that I wasn’t going to get an answer, and my panic wasn’t going to change anything about this moment. So, I took a step closer, and because the room was so small, only the bed stood between us now.

“So, kill me then and be done with it,” I said, angry now, so angry. Everything continued to take the most absurd turns when I least expected it and I was so sick of it.

Make some sense for once!I thought at nobody and nothing in particular.

But Taland was really here, and despite what he’d said in the Tree of Abundance, my death was the only reason why. That made me sick, too—and tired. So fucking tired of expecting it. So tired of finding him everywhere I turned.

I mean, it was bad enough that he was actually in the Iris Roe, but here, in this very room, in this inn?

“I can’t do that, either, sweetness,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets slowly, leaning his head to the side, biting his lip, watching me like he was imagining me naked.

My cheeks were so red they radiated heat on their own.

“I am not going to help you break into the vault,” I said, wishing I hadn’t washed my clothes. Wishing I had magic to dry them. Wishing I could just walk out of here, and wishing I stayed right where I was.

He overwhelmed me with so many feelings so fast it was almost funny.

“So you said,” Taland said, completely unfazed. “Your clothes are wet. They’re soaking your towel. Drop them.”

“No.”Fuck, no.

He grinned wider. “Afraid the towel will fall off?” I saidnothing, the words stuck in my throat. “Not like I haven’t seen everything there is to see about you, sweetness. And touched.” His eyes scrolled down to my naked legs. “And licked.”

Fuck, it was so hard to breathe in here right now.

“Please just leave, Taland.” I hated that I sounded so weak, but fuck it. Iwasweak when it came to him. That didn’t mean I was going to let that stop me.

“But I can’t. Night City is a very dangerous place. I need a roof over my head, too. Lucky you happened to have those coins with you.” He arched a brow, his eyes bloodshot. “What did you give away in exchange?”

I bit my tongue and just continued to stare him dead in the eye—and damn it, it was not fair that he was so gorgeous. That face was going to be the death of me for real. With those dark eyes and sharp cheeks and heaven-made lips that tasted like cotton candy, he was made to fuck with my head. I was convinced of it. He could make me set the whole world on fire without much effort, and I’d do it while smiling.

Taland Tivoux was the most dangerous being in the world as far as I was concerned. And once I got my silly heart and all thosefeelingsunder control again, I was going to figure out how to get away from him.

That—and once my clothes dried, of course.

“C’mon, I’m trying to be nice here. What did you give away in exchange for the coins?”

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