Page 35 of Tooth and Nail

Ari’s eyes widened. “You know what? I’m just never ever going to take anything anyone says on face value again. What do you think of that?”

Eoghan laughed. “Actually, that was going to be the next thing I told you.”

Ari chuckled and shook his head.

Chapter Nine

Eoghan’s drive into the office the next morning came way too early. By the time he’d gotten home the night before, stuffed with his favorite Korean food, he’d felt too heavy to sleep. When he finally laid his head on his pillow, it had been after midnight. When his alarm went off at five-thirty, he’d rolled over and slammed his hand down on it. He’d dragged his ass out of bed, brewed a big cup of heaven, and drank the whole thing on the way to the office. Once there, he’d gone to the gym, worked out until his muscles were screaming, and taken a shower. He found Ari at the coffeepot, looking freshly washed himself, and ready to start the day.

“Did you just get out of the shower?” Ari asked, leaning back against the counter as he lifted his coffee to his mouth.

Eoghan poured a cup and ran a hand through his spiky, damp locks. “Yeah, I did my workout here at the office this morning.”

“I didn’t realize we had a gym.”

“That’s because I never finished our tour yesterday. We should remedy that.” He paused as he prepared his coffee, finally giving Ari a sidelong glance. “So, how do you feel about everything you saw and heard yesterday? I know it was probably a lot to download.”

Ari snorted. “That’s a loaded question if I’ve ever heard one. Honestly, if I was telling the tale, someone would lock me up. A six-foot honeybee who invented the PC.”

He looked down at his feet and let out a bark of laughter before sipping his coffee. When he looked up again, his eyeswere dancing, smile lines creasing the corners of his eyes. Today they looked green rather than hazel to Eoghan. Then again, his partner was wearing a heather green T-shirt and black cargos which he filled out so well, it made his mouth water. Like yesterday, his beard was trimmed and shiny, looking so silky, all he wanted to do was run his fingertips through it. He lifted his coffee cup, discreetly letting his eyes wander over his muscles. On Ari’s left bicep, black ink peeked out of the short sleeve, and Eoghan was beyond tempted to reach out and pull it up just to get a better look at what it was. He couldn’t tell at this angle…and…he was getting horny again. He cleared his throat.

“So, about that tour. The gym is on the level below administration. The chief isn’t here yet. There’s nothing to do until she gets here, so let’s do that now.” He pointed to the cabinet above the coffeepot. “There’s some paper cups and lids in that cabinet. Let’s take our coffee with us and I’ll show you,” Eoghan said.

“Sure.”

They transferred their coffee to paper cups and headed side by side to the elevators. Eoghan didn’t know what it was about the tall man beside him, other than how nice it felt to have someone big and strong at his side. He wasn’t a small man but it still felt strange to be dwarfed. Even in the Charger, he’d noticed how Ari had to push the seat all the way back and fold his long legs into the car to fit. He found the man incredibly sexy and just for a minute, let himself think how well they’d fit together in bed, a thought he’d sure never had about Glad.

The moment they stepped out of the elevator at the gym level, the scent of food hit his senses. “This level has the cafeteria, gym, sauna, and a boxing ring. No pool unfortunately,” Eoghan said. “We also have a small medicalfacility here with a doctor on staff. You want to go meet her? You should,” he decided without waiting for an answer.

“You have your own doctor?” Ari looked at him, a little startled.

“As you’ve probably guessed, there are some injuries that might be hard to explain to a civilian medical team.” When Ari’s eyes widened, he couldn’t help but shake his head. “Don’t worry. We’re rarely injured, and Doctor Patterson is really good when we are.” He pushed open the door marked with a red cross and entered the doctor’s suite. Just inside was a desk and several closed doors. A few chairs were situated against the wall but there was no receptionist. He walked over and pushed a bell on the wall and almost immediately, the door was opened by a short, round woman with striking red hair, wearing glasses.

“Sapphire?” the doc asked. “Is everything okay? Oh, who do we have here?”

“Doctor Patterson, this is my new partner, Aristotle Brown. I’m just showing him around and I thought we’d better stop in.”

She squinted at him and leaned closer, lifting a finger to touch his right cheek before dropping it and glancing over at Ari.“Hmm…I take it you showed him how we do things around here, Sapphire.” She lifted an eyebrow and pointed to Ari’s busted lip. “Your lip is split and your partner’s cheek is bruised. What happened?”

Ari immediately lifted his finger, touching the small cut. “Oh, we just got in a dustup with a couple of vamps last night,” he explained. “No biggie.”

“Good,” she said. “Are you transferring from somewhere or new to the I.S.R. team?”

“Totally new to the I.S.R.,” Ari replied. “In fact, yesterday if you would have told me vampires are real, I would have called you crazy.”

She nodded. “Well then, I’m going to need to start a chart on you.” She was craning her neck to look up at him. “My, you are a tall one. Six three, about 205 pounds, right?”

“210…but how did you—”

“Okay. Well, now you know where to find me,” she said, waving her hand. “I don’t know what cases you’re working on right now but if you ever have any questions your partner or the chief can’t answer, feel free to drop in.” She began to walk away but turned around with a little frown creasing her brow. “You may need some inoculations when you come back for your tracker. I’ll talk to Priest. That’s all.” She pivoted and strolled away.

“Tracker?” Ari asked.

“I’ll explain,” Eoghan said, taking his forearm. “Let’s leave the doctor to her business.”

“Sure. Thank you, ma’am,” Ari said, sounding confused. He met Eoghan’s gaze. “Inoculations? Against what? No, let me guess…um,vampire venom, bumblebee stings, ten-foot-tall lizard alien thingies with rattlers for tails from numbered planets?” He blinked. “Am I warm?”

Eoghan snorted. “Nope. You’re an ass. Let’s go.” They paused just outside the door. “Every I.S.R. marshal gets a tracker inserted under the skin back here.” He tapped his left shoulder. “We do it for no other reason than to make sure if we get in a desperate situation, we can be found quickly.”

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