Page 30 of Cinder
“I… um?—”
Jesus, who is this woman?
“Oh, I remember you,” the woman beside her says with a big smile. She turns to the scary Viking queen and adds, “She was with Lars earlier tonight.”
She steps forward and offers me her hand. Her wrist is covered from hand to elbow with bracelets, and jangles like Santa’s bells. “I’m Luna and this is Annika.”
Trying to control my nerves, I accept Luna’s hand and shake it, but I’m fully aware that Annika’s eyes have not left my face since she clocked me. I shift my gaze to her and see the suspicion burning like bright blue fire. But I smile and greet her warmly anyway.
I’m meant to be here.
“I’m Ella, it’s nice to meet you.”
Luna is bubbly and gives me a beaming smile. But Annika doesn’t. Which is no surprise.
“I just saw Lars heading toward the security room,” Luna says.
Which is good to know, because I will be going in the opposite direction. The last thing I need is to run into the suspicious enforcer again.
“Thanks, Luna.”
She grins, seemingly unaware of Annika’s unfriendly behavior.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, and this is how she always is with new people.
Or maybe she knows you’re here to steal back your watch and make a grab for the mythical recipe.
“I’ll catch you guys later,” I say, disappearing up the stairs and inside before Annika can burn any more holes into the back of my head.
Inside, the smell of pot and smoke and spilled whiskey mingles with sex and bad choices. In the dim light, I see a threesome taking place on the sofa beneath the staircase. A man lounges on a couch, his fly open, with a girl licking his balls. While a second girl hovers above his face and he licks her pussy. There is so much groaning, I can hear it over the blearing music.
Averting my gaze, I quickly make my way down the corridor leading to the library. The door is ajar, but the lights are off inside. Using my phone, I search the floor for my watch and I’m so engrossed in my hunt for the watch that when the lights flick on, I almost don’t realize it.
I look up, and my eyes connect with Lars who is sitting on the couch across the room, with a sexy smirk on his lips and my mom’s watch dangling from his finger.
“Looking for this, Princess?”
CHAPTER 15
Lars
She looks fucking adorable.
Because she wasn’t expecting me, her eyes flare with surprise. For a split second she doesn’t know what to do. So she bites her lip, which makes me want to walk over there and bend her over the couch and do all the things I’ve been thinking about doing to her since I first laid eyes on her.
But then she straightens her back, and her face hardens, and one eyebrow shoots up.
“Actually, yes.”
She stalks over to me and reaches for it, but I pull it away.
“Not yet, Little Firecracker. Not until you answer a few pressing questions I have.”
She glares at me and crosses her arms. “This again?”
“Yes, this again.”
She sighs heavily. “Okay Sherlock Holmes, what is it you want to know?”
