Page 55 of Eye Candy

“She’s a client,” Mike broke his silence. “You shouldn’t talk to her like that.”

“It’s fine,” I spoke before Fang could reply to him. “I don’t mind.” I took a step toward Fang, tossing Mike a glance over my shoulder. “You’re fine waiting out here, right?”

“I think I should come in this time.” Mike tried to take a step in, but Fang wouldn’t move. It occurred to me then that they were both obscenely tall. Mike had the muscle and a few extra inches, but that muscle was what made him look so much bigger.

“Ah, see, to me, it sounds like she wants you to wait out here,” Fang spoke, unimpressed by Mike’s posturing. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep her safe. I wouldn’t leave a mark on her… unless she wanted me to.” With that, he shut the door in Mike’s face and locked it. He grinned his uncanny smile at me and asked, “Do you think we made him sufficiently jealous?” He started walking.

“Jealous? I wasn’t—”

“Please. Don’t lie to me, Princess.” Still with the princess nickname, I see. We turned into the stairwell once we reached it, starting to head up. I’d been working out every day, growing stronger, so hopefully the trip up wouldn’t wind me as much this time. “You have feelings for him, don’t you?”

“I…” I couldn’t answer him.

“And you have feelings for the other man who’s not here, the one I told you to be careful of. Where is he, by the way?” Fang spoke so matter-of-factly about me having feelings for more than one guy. Then again, he dealt with Lola before, andshe had her own harem, so maybe it wasn’t as unusual for someone like him.

Swallowing hard, I muttered, “He’s in the hospital. He got shot saving my life.”

“He did?”

“Yeah. Someone’s out to get me. No one knows who yet.”

“Now that you mention it, I did see something about that. When I heard you were going to talk to the press, I tuned in. One of the news stations was broadcasting it live.” Fang glanced at me as we continued up. “You look so much better with your hair like this.”

See what I mean about Fang not being afraid to give compliments?

“I’m glad he was the one who took a bullet for you,” Fang finished as we came upon the fifth floor, where his living space was. He opened the door for me, letting me walk in first. “I was concerned about him, but it seems he would do anything for you, including possibly dying.” His legs halted, and he turned to face me, a serious expression on his grimy face. “But you don’t want to think about that, do you?” He was so dirty that white tuft of hair by his left temple was more gray than anything else.

“No,” I said, shaking my head once. “I need him to be okay.”

“I’m sure he will be. Just give him some time. I have the feeling only death could take him from you.” I was about to ask him what the hell he meant by that when he glanced down at himself and muttered, “Oh, look at me. I’m filthy. Let me hop in the shower for a minute, and then I can show you what I have. Feel free to grab anything you want from the kitchen.”

He said nothing else to me as he walked off. The door to the bathroom was on the same wall as the one that opened up to the stairwell, and he disappeared behind it shortly—though, I noticed he didn’t shut the door fully once he was inside. He left it cracked.

I had to tear my gaze away from the door, moving to the other side of the wide-open space. Instead of finding something in the kitchen, I went to study some of his work. Most of what was in here, dotting the space between areas of the loft, were smaller sculptures.

They were pretty cool, not going to lie. No taller than two feet, though most of them were a lot smaller than that. Some were abstract, and I couldn’t make out what they were supposed to be. Others were lifelike replicas of various things. A rose, complete with thorns and all. A miniature car, whose metal wheels could turn, I found out after touching it and trying to roll it around on its small stand.

The last one I stood before was a skull. No, not a skull… more like a mask. A full skeletal mask that covered your whole face, save for a small area around your eyes. Its shiny silver metal sparkled, though the only light in the loft came in through the windows on either side. Nothing direct.

It was the opposite of plain, and it reminded me of—God, what was it called? Sugar skulls? All intricate and pretty. The metal mask had a gilded design on it, gorgeous right down to where the teeth were.

I must’ve stared at it for a while, because I heard Fang’s voice behind me: “That’s one of my favorite pieces.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard him speak so close behind me. Whirling on him, I was about to tell him not to sneak up on me, but then I noticed he wore nothing but atowel around his waist, so in the end, all I could do was stare at him—or his body, rather.

Fang was tall and lean, but he wasn’t super skinny. His chest and abdomen were defined in all the ways they should be; flat and smooth, and glistening with water. He obviously didn’t dry himself off before coming out here, otherwise he wouldn’t be so… wet.

Either Fang was oblivious to me checking him out, or it’s what he was hoping for by strolling out here wearing nothing but a towel, because his gray eyes were fixated on the mask behind me as he went on, “It started off as a prototype. Sylvester Luciano hired me to make something for Lola. I started with this, but… the end product was a little different.”

After the story she told me, I have the feeling I know exactly why Lola would need a metal mask like that.

Then Fang’s gaze shifted to me, and a smirk grew on his lips. He flashed me his silver fangs with a mischievous smile as he ran a hand down his chest, tapping a finger against his abdomen. “I suppose I should go put some clothes on.”

I wanted to smack myself when I let out a breath and it sounded audibly uneven. I was making it more than obvious that I was attracted to this guy, that something about his craziness pulled me in. He was a stranger to me, but I just couldn’t fight the way I wanted to be close to him, how I was seconds from telling him he didn’t need to put any clothes on. Sure, we could have this meeting naked.

But, uh, it probably wasn’t the time for that, so I didn’t say anything to him.

The smirk only grew on Fang’s face with my silence, and after staring at me for another thirty seconds, he turned and walked toward the bedroom area of the loft. Since there wereno walls, I could see every movement he made as he walked around his large bed and stopped in front of a tall dresser. He pulled out a black shirt, along with a pair of black pants and equally dark boxer briefs.

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