Page 29 of Hired for Research
“Don’t worry, Ma’am. I’ll be sure you get home safe and sound and unmolested.”
Evelyn huffed, her attention on the menu as she muttered, “Well, where’s the fun in that?”
Jett almost groaned at the way his cock throbbed, wholly agreeing with her, but he doubted she meant it the way he wanted her to. She might have been willing to allow a kiss in the moment before they were interrupted, but he didn’t think she was making a pass at him with the comment, so he chose to ignore it.
She tapped on a different drink than the one she’d already had, the glass delivered to the table a frosty blue with smoke rising from the surface. He’d never felt the need to try any of the alcohol even though he knew it would be easy to get it and unlikely he’d be punished, but when her tongue slipped out to lick away the drop on her lip after she took a drink, he suddenly had a dying need to know what it tasted like.
Preferably on her.
Would the sweetness of her scent transfer to her taste?
Would the drink enhance the vanilla, or blend with it into something new?
If he stared at her any longer he was going to do something foolish, so he turned his attention to the darkness beyond the window.
“I’ve wanted to come up here during a storm since the place opened, but I haven’t had the chance to. Could you imagine what it would be like to sit in here and watch lighting crawl across the sky as rain pelts the glass?”
He saw Evelyn turn to look out the glass with him from the corner of his eye as she hummed.
“It would be spectacular. They should put a glass roof over the patio and a couple of chimineas. With a soft lounge area to cuddle into, I’m not sure I’d ever leave.”
His chuckle was forced. If that was all it would take to get her to consider staying Eden, he’d build her a place like that anywhere she wanted.
Mentally slapping himself, he shook his head and turned his attention to the interior of the bar instead. He was getting too sappy, and way too attached to a woman he barely knew. Maybe his age and the natural drive to mate were getting to him.
The bar had continued to fill after they’d arrived, and he couldn’t spot any open tables. The bar was crowded, with the line four and five deep in some places, and the dance floor at the opposite end of the building was starting to fill up. He liked Twinkle, but he had to admit that he preferred the patio, which tended to stay more mellow than the wild writhing that eventually happened when the drinks had flowed for long enough.
He also favored not being bombarded with so many scents. Omega sweetness overlaid alpha musk, beta neutrality being lost beneath the stronger smells. It was hard to ignore his own arousal with other’s pheromones in the air.
“Can we go out there?”
At first he thought the soft question was about the dance floor he was staring at, but when he looked back at Evelyn her gaze was still turned out the window.
“Sure, but you’ll want to bundle up. The wind is stronger up here.”
He slid from the seat and stood to shrug back into his own coat as she did the same. Once he was sure she was zipped up and as ready as she could be, he led her past more booths along the wall until they reached the sliding door that stood open in better weather. There was a small, enclosed area just beyond with another door to keep any stray gusts from entering the bar, but he could already feel the temperature difference as soon as they stepped through and let the first door close.
Hands gripping the neck of her coat to hold it tight around her, Evelyn’s dark eyes slid up to meet his, and she gave a short nod when he hesitated to open the outer door.
“Let’s do this.”
13. Evelyn
Her lungs seized from the cold as soon as she passed from the safety of the clear walls protecting the interior door. The wind beat against her, tugging at her coat and finding all the little places to slip in and send chills across her flesh.
It was worth it though.
The view beyond the rooftop was breathtaking in its own right. Unlimited stars spread above and around, the river a short distance away reflecting the view and making it seem like a trail of twinkling lights split the land. There were a few lights shining from homes close to the water, but the city was behind her, leaving the vista beyond the river one of unbroken nature.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Mrs. Nevouto wants to maintain as much of the natural beauty as she can, so she’s kept all the building to this side of the river for now. Eventually Eden will have to expand, but there’s talk of keeping a section of the river and field beyond as a kind of preserve. She doesn’t want Eden to turn out the way the other cities have.”
Evelyn hummed. In the light of day she doubted the view would be as unsullied, but the darkness hid the few signs of civilization. Having grown up in the city, it wasn’t something she’d ever seen beyond pictures, but with it before her, she found it to be something she didn’t want to give up.
“I agree. I wish all the cities had been planned by people more environmentally conscious. We should know better than to keep crowding together and pushing out nature, but the majority don’t seem to have learned their lesson. I wonder if there’s a way to bring even a portion of what you have here back to the other cities.”
“If there was someone determined to find a way, I’m sure there would be. It would take a lot of money and convincing though.”
