Page 7 of The Daughters of Nyx

“What the fuck!” Thea pulled me away, but the stranger steadied me with a hand on my side.

Tingles shot up my body at the connection. A dark grey coat slung over wide, muscled—or at least, Iassumedmuscled, based on how hard I hit him—shoulders. A deep red scarf sat snuggly over his neck, almost obscuring the gold of his skin.

“I am so sorry,” he said, and something in my chest tightened before unfurling. I finally took a chance to look up and meet a pair of striking hazel eyes. Copper hair, a shade lighter than the scarf around his neck, looked messy in a styled way, almost too red to be real. A crooked smile played across his bow-shaped lips.

But something changed in his eyes as our gazes met. Like a spark of familiarity, or the blossoming of somethingnew. He opened his mouth as if to say something, the smile slipping from his lips, but Thea tugged sharply on my arm.

“Sorry about that, dude, but we are late!” She started pulling me down the street, and I lost him in the sea of people.

I struggled to match her pace for a moment. His face was burned into the back of my mind. Like I’dseen him before. But I frowned.It’s not possible. And yet, the thought stayed with me as we rounded another corner and Thea huffed, slipping her arm from mine.

“What a douche,” she muttered. “But at least he apologised, I guess.”

I swallowed down a response, head still swimming. A strange warmth lingered in my veins, and I couldn’t help but think it was because of him.

“Ivy?” Thea snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Earth to Ivy.”

I shook my head and swatted her hand aside. “I’m here, no need to attack.”

Thea bumped her hip into mine with a smirk. “Were you lost in his handsome eyes?”

My cheeks burned. “Well, no—but…”

Thea laughed all the way to the hotel. We slipped into a nearby alley and jumped between questionable puddles and dumpsters as we made our way to the staff entrance.

Yet with each step, I couldn’t get the feel of his hands on me out of my head.

We came to a stop beside a couple of servers from the restaurant, who nodded in Thea’s direction before taking drags of their cigarettes. The smoke plumed in front of them and carried over to where we stood, dark and heavy as it filled my lungs.

I coughed and waved a hand in front of my face. “Welcome back to hell, I guess.”

Thea snickered. “Sexy hell, as Tommy might say.”

I tipped my head back and groaned. “I should have taken the day off.”

~

The lobby of theCamilla Hotelhad been renovated recently by the new owners, though their newest changes also meant replacing our basic uniforms with red, satin blouses and black miniskirts.Sexy yet classy,our new owner had said when he’d gotten our measurements.

I should have quit then and there.

Thea left me at the staff entrance with a roll of her eyes and a groan. Thankfully, she wore a black chef’s jacket and worked the line in the kitchen, which would almost be preferable if it weren’t for the fact that the head chef was handsy and was responsible for our new uniforms.

At least the lobby conveyed that we were more than big boobs in tight blouses.

I made my way to reception and offered Kacie, our night manager, a small smile. The thirty-eight-year-old mother of three looked almost ready to pass out, but she handed over her headset for phone calls and stood from the reception desk, stretching her arms over her head as she did.

“It’s been pretty quiet,” she said, offering me a sleepy smile. “We have a group of four checking in for three nights later. Last minute booking. Something about their apartment

not being ready yet. Anyway, I’m gonna take thirty, grab coffee. You want anything?”

I glanced between Kacie’s long, strawberry-blonde hair and thick, false-lashes, and the glaring white screen of the computer monitor before sighing. “Yeah, coffee would be great.”

“Extra shot?” she asked, grabbing her coat from behind the counter, shrugging it on.

“Yes, please.”

Kacie grinned and started for the staff door that led into a dim hallway thathadn’tbeen renovated when Tommy, the owner and head Chef, took over. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it had been renovated at all in the last century. There were, by mine and Thea’s count, three possible ghosts roaming that hallway alone.

---