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I dig deep into my social training to keep my cold demeanor, even when my body is screaming at me to grab her and show her just how much I’ve thought about her. “Noted.”

“Are you here for business orpleasure?” she says, reaching out a hand to toy idly with the collar of my jacket. I simultaneously want to slap it away and beg her to pull me closer. My analytical mind can tell she’s fucking with me for some reason, but my body doesn’t care.

“I’m here to present some of my research and attend the conference’s events. So unless you find listening to me speak on obstetric innovations and ethics erotic, it’s for business,” I say in as much of a monotone as possible.

“You’d be surprised what I’m into, Phelix,” Mezli practically purrs. “Speaking of which—Eden, you almost done in here?” She yells over my shoulder into the hygiene room and the warmth of her breath caresses my cheek. I almost stagger at the wave of arousal that crashes over me. Dammit, I have to get out of here before I do something I’ll regret. I’m not sure if I want to yell at her for acting like nothing bad happened between us or bend her over the sink and fuck her, but either would be a terrible decision.

“Almost! Can you help me with my fastener? It’s stuck and I can’t reach the damned thing,” Eden replies from the room behind me. Right, I’m still lurking in the hygiene room, stuck between the human I had an unhealthy attachment to and my mate who abandoned me.

“Duty calls.” Mezli slips past me in the doorway, her body brushing against my chest. I suppress a groan and the desire to pull her back against me. I shake my head to try to clear my senses, but everything is still lust-fogged.

“I won’t keep you from your pressing business.” Itake a step out into the hallway and then pause, looking back over my shoulder. “Will I see you around the conference?” Dammit, what am I doing?

“Oh, you’ll be seeingmuchmore of me,” Mezli replies in a low drawl. Then, as if nothing had passed between us at all, she heads inside and calls out to Eden. “You sure you don’t want to just leave the jumpsuit down?”

Is Eden her lover? Are they going to have sex once I leave? Anger coils in my chest as I storm away, the memory of another evening four years ago coming back to haunt me.

I was wrong. She hasn’t changed at all. Mezli’s still thexalawho will fuck someone else, even when her mate is nearby.

6

As soon as Phelix disappears into the stream of convention goers, I dart toward a half-dressed Eden. My mind barely registers the smooth expanse of her exposed back and the hint of her black panties as she blinks at me over her shoulder with a sheepish look.

“Sorry, that sounded like it was going well. But I really am stuck.” Eden worries her plump lower lip between her teeth.

I nod and hold a hand up to her in acknowledgement before racing into one of the hygiene stalls to violently heave up the remains of my dinner. My mind flashes to the image of losing my meal all over the Nafar’s pristine marble floor as the lady of the house gaped at me in horror. Apparently, the mere sight ofPhelix is enough to trigger that reaction again. Fuck, this isn’t good. How am I supposed to seduce him when being around him makes me anxious enough to puke?

“Mezli, are you alright?!” Eden’s voice is tight with concern on the other side of the stall door.

“Never better,” I mumble, more to myself than to her, wiping off my mouth and shakily standing again. Plastering a smile back on my face, I open the stall door and head past her to wash my mouth and hands in the gleaming metal sink. She trails after me and in the mirror I can see her mouth is open like adrestgasping for air. Fina always looks like that after I’ve said something completely scandalous, and thinking about my best friend makes my grin a little more genuine. No offense to Eden, but I wish Fina were the one here with me. I learned after she moved here that one of Fina’s hugs is the quickest way for me to calm down. I wonder if a hug from Eden would have the same effect…she looks even softer than Fina, so I bet it’d be nice.

Once my mouth no longer tastes horrendous, I dry off and turn to address the nervous human waiting for some kind of explanation. “That went well, don’t you think?” I say cheerily, rolling my shoulders back and relaxing my posture to one of trained ease. Eden gawks at me, her mouth opening and closing as if she’s trying to think of a good reply to my nonchalance after being sick.

“Oh right! Let me get that fastener for you.” I step behind her and quickly zip up the back of her pale green jumpsuit. My fingers accidentally brush against her freckled, silky skin when I get to the nape of her neck and she shivers slightly, the fine hairs on her neck standing up. If she’s so reactive to a small, innocent touch like that, I wonder how she’d react if I touched her elsewhere…

Shit, focus! You’re not here to seduce the woman working with you. Being around Phelix must’ve set off some mating hormonereaction in me, because now I’m absurdly turned on. Horny and nauseous, what a delightful combination.

“Thank you. Are you sure you’re feeling okay? Maybe I should examine you. Your color looks a bit gray, which I’m pretty sure isn’t good for a nexxit.”

“I’m perfectly fine. Though, you can examine me as much as you want, Dr. Mori,” I reply far too flirtatiously, clasping both sets of arms behind my back to press my chest out. Her thick, expressive eyebrows dart up and now she’s the one who’s changing colors slightly, a rosy tinge painting her cheeks. It could just be the flood of bonding signals still coursing through my system after being around my mate, but damn, she’s sexy, in a naive, eager kind of way. I’d definitely let her play doctor with me. Shit, what were we talking about?

“Now’s probably not the best time,” she says with a chuckle. I catch her eyes darting away from the neckline of my dress, and she flushes even darker. How adorable.

“True, a public hygiene room probably isn’t the best place for that. I’d much rather have somewhere private where you can take your time and be thorough in your examinations.” I can’t resist giving her a wink, and her sputtering, breathy reaction makes it totally worth it. “As far as—” I lower my voice and look around dramatically before leaning in to whisper, “the mission goes…” Eden shivers again and now I’m distracted with the thoughts of running my tongue along her neck.

Goddess, I’ve got to get myself under control. I take a step back, trying to ignore the way Phelix’s lingering musk mingled with Eden’s delicate scent fogs my mind. “That went about as well as it could have. Surprisingly well, to be honest. Guess he’s desperate after four years of self-imposed celibacy. Did you hear how he wanted to know if he’d see me again?”

The laugh that bubbles out of me is tinged with dark pleasure, relishing how much I’d surprised him. I’ve worked hard to shed the skin of the meek, miserable girl I was at our disastrous first meeting. That girl is dead—replaced by a powerfulxalawho’ll never make herself smaller for the bullshit of nexxit aristocracy ever again. Let him choke on the shock of how much of axalaI am, if he finds it objectionable. He tried to seem unimpressed, but the tent in his pants indicated otherwise.

“Were you able to see any of the contents of his bag when you bumped into him?” I add, before I let my mind delve too deep into the fantasy of stepping on Phelix’s broad chest and grinding the sharp point of my heel in until he begs for mercy.

“Not really. There were a handful of datapads, but I couldn’t tell if any of them were what we’re looking for. I’m not exactly a tech expert,” Eden says with a shrug. “From a glance, they looked like the kind coded to a genetic lock. We won’t be able to open them and look for the files without his biosignature.”

“Damn. Hopefully, our ‘friends’ will have some ideas about that. We have a while until we’re due to meet with them, though. So, what do you say? Should we bother the mighty Lord Nafar more or ditch the conference’s undoubtedly dull welcome party and go grab a drink at the bar instead?”

“Umm, probably best to leave him wanting more? If we push more tonight, he might get suspicious. We have the rest of the week to lure him in, so let’s give him some time to think about you. I wish the agents had given us some kind of earpiece or monitoring device so we could just ask for help right away for the lock.”

I’d had the same thought, but am glad they’re not monitoring us. It creeps me out to think about Agent Asshole listening in. “I know, right? If they’re going to wrangle us into their mess, they could at least give us some fun gadgets. Like a lipstick that canknock out someone with a kiss or…a vibrator that doubles as a listening device!”

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