Page 10 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

“Why do you want to know about Sarah?”

“She and I got to talking last night. Stayed up most of the night trading barbs.” He got a dreamy sort of look on his face. “So, tell me, how do I convince her to meet me and let me take her on a date.”

“No.”

Murmur pouted. “What? Why not? I’m aniceguy. I helped rescue you. I even got a dent in my shiny white armor playing knight to your damsel in distress.”

“I know, that’s why I won’t tell you about Sarah. She’d eat you alive,” I said, grinning at Murmur.

Honestly, I wouldn’t tell him a damn thing without her permission. Anything he wanted to know, he would have to learn from her.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Murmur said, opening a door that looked like an office breakroom.

“I’m listening.” I watched him select two pods of coffee from the tray.

He lifted one, showing the mocha label to me for my approval, then popped it into the coffeemaker.

“You give me a little inside information about your bestie. I will give you a little inside information aboutmybestie. Then we can be one big bestie family.” Murmur’s smile was bright and playful.

He was tall, lean, had long dark hair that paired well with his quick wit and his lightheartedly obnoxious attitude. He might have been perfect for Sarah, but that was her call to make, not mine. She had always preferred that people find out about her from her.

“But what if I don’t want to get to know your bestie?” I countered. “What if I just want to go home and pretend none of this happened, and that you and your bestie don’t exist?” I smiled as Murmur handed me the warm cup and a handful of different individual creamers to pick from.

“That argument would have been much more convincing if I didn’t just see you two gazing into each other’s eyes. Or if I didn’t witness you go a little weak in the knees when he defended you against his ex.” Murmur grabbed his own coffee and sat at the little table, motioning for me to sit across from him.

“Sif and Rune dated?” I asked, taking a seat.

“Ha! I knew you were interested. And yes. But that is over.”

Damn, he was tricky.

I took a sip of the coffee and let it warm me from the inside while I took a moment to think.

“Maybe that just confirms that I don’t want to get involved. He lives with his ex. There is clearly a lot of drama there. Maybe I have a nice, sweet, uncomplicated boyfriend at home waiting for me,” I said, looking into my cup instead of at him in case he could read the lie on my face.

“Maybe, but doubtful.” Murmur smirked. “You don’t strike me as the type who likes nice, sweet, or even uncomplicated. You strike me as the type who wants hot, thrilling, and maybe even dangerous. I am hoping Sarah is the type who prefers the sexy, rakishly handsome, charming type.”

“Then why are you bothering?” I smiled at him.

“You’re mean. I knew I liked you.”

Before I could say anything else, Rune came into the kitchen. He still looked annoyed and, sadly, he had his shirt back on.

“Are you ready to go home?” he asked.

“Yes, please.” I took another long drink of my coffee. It burned my mouth. But what was a little scorching in the name of caffeine?

I followed Rune as he speed-walked back down yet another hall, headed to what I hoped was a garage.

“Hey, you know how you are freakishly tall, and someone recently beat me to a pulp, drugged me, and knocked me unconscious twice in the last twelve hours?” I asked, slightly out of breath.

“Yeah?” Rune said, looking down at me.

“Yeah, well, so I am not in peak form right now, and my legs are shorter than yours. Slow down!”

“Sorry.” Rune slowed his pace considerably. “I move fast when I am pissed off.”

“Hey, if you don’t want to take me home, it’s cool. You could just hand me back my phone, and I will Uber my way home.”

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