Page 16 of The Daughters of Nyx

Standing, I took the invoices and moved to one of the filing cabinets behind me, giving him full view of the curves he’d be working with. “Unfortunately, I’m on the late shift this evening,” I replied, watching him from the corner of my eye.

His expression shifted, but not in disgust like I’d come to expect. The hazel of his eyes turned more amber as they roamed the length of my body, from the dark-grey stockings, up the pencil skirt that ended above the knees and tightened around my butt and thighs, to the deep-red blouse, tucked in at the waist, which—despite the Spanx—revealed the soft

rolls of my stomach. But as his eyes found mine, there wasn’t any aversion; no clearing of the throat and rescinding the invitation.

Instead, his tongue darted out to wet his lips. “I’d be more than happy to wait.” Desire glistened in his eyes, like I was the last meal he’d ever eat.

I quickly averted my eyes and turned away before he could catch the reddefinitelycolouring my cheeks. Clearing my throat, I pushed the invoices inside a drawer and slammed it shut. “I don’t know if it would be appropriate, Mr. Archer. And I’m sure you have much better ways to spend your time.”

He chuckled darkly, but it was his friend who responded. “Trust me,” he muttered, and I turned to face him as his cheeks turned a darker shade of red than mine. “There’s nowhere else he’d rather be.”

Jesus fucking Christ.Their stares were panty-dropping, fuck-me-in-an-elevator stares. I had to clench my thighs to stop from imagining anythingelse.

What would it be like to be with both of them?

The thought caught me off guard, and I shook my head. Before I could reply to either of them, the blonde’s phone buzzed with a text. He pulled his gaze from me and checked the screen with a frown.

“We have to go, man,” he murmured. “It’s Grey.”

Rowan groaned and pushed off the desk. “Tonight. Ten. You, me, tequila!” he said, walking towards the elevators backwards, eyes levelled on me.

I didn’t finish until eleven, but he didn’t need to know that. Instead, I threw my hands up in defeat and released a sigh. “Sure, pick me up at the front desk.”

A cheeky grin played at his lips, and when he turned, the elevatordingedits arrival. I released a sigh and sat. As the elevator swallowed him and the blonde, I dropped my head into my hands.

What the hell am I doing?

I didn’t know, but frisky Ivy needed to cool it. This was the last thing we needed.

6

MAEVE

I paced the length of the bedroom,mindwhirling with what we’d learnt last night. I hadn’t been able to get her out of my head since seeing her in the lobby.

What were the chances that we would find her working at the same hotel we were staying in?

I shook my head and scrubbed a hand through my wet hair. Even with the curtains drawn, I could feel the heat of the sun, the warm rays burning the delicate skin of my immortal body. There was some truth to the myths surrounding vampires: sunlight was uncomfortable, though the longer you lived, the easier it became.

Mages worked to create ways to help vampires enter daylight, but even that magic was beyond our time. They

couldn’t explain how born vampires survived the sun, nor could they replicate that kind of magic for those Changed.

Frustration made me pause by the window. Though it didn’t burn nearly as bad as when I Changed, it still hurt like a bitch, and it limited what I could do in terms of convincing Ivy to return with us to Avalon.

The door to the second room opened and closed with a loudsnap, followed by the voices of Rowan and Adrian.

“You really know how to push people, huh?” the Prince said. As I entered the bedroom, my gaze brushed over Elias, who barely looked up from the reports he was reading.

Rowan dropped his coat onto one of the beds. “I don’t know what to say, she just—”

“She what?” I interrupted.

Adrian spun to face me. “He’s referring to Ivy.”

“Snitch,” Rowan muttered, shaking his head. “He’s mad that I asked her out first.”

That caught Elias’s attention. “What?” The shifter dropped the reports and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Are you stupid?”

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