Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
She blew out a breath and shifted in her seat. “Okay, so call me forward, but I’m not one for playing coy. I kind of got the vibe from you that you were into me.”
He held back a sigh.
“You’re not one of those guys who flirts with every breath he takes. It’s a deliberate thing with you, and . . .” She trailed off with an awkward grimace. “It wasn’t my imagination, right?”
“No,” he admitted.
Her brow furrowed. “So then, what changed? You met the siren and just lost interest in me?”
The siren. There was something depersonalizing in the way she spoke those words. It rubbed him up the wrong way. “Meeting Naomi changed things, yes.”
Draya’s expression cooled. “And you couldn’t have told me that? Couldn’t have sat me down and explained that despite all the flirting that previously went on, nothing was going to happen between us?”
Luka bristled, as did his demons. She spoke as though he owed her something. Not once when a woman had flirted with him had he felt that she was then obligated to follow through on it in some way. That line of thinking was pure bullshit.
“You showed some interest in one of my bartenders when you first started working here,” he reminded her. “Then you withdrew it. Did he get on your case over that?”
She pressed her lips tight together. “No.” An almost indiscernible mumble.
“Would you have thought it fair or acceptable if he had?”
She looked away. “No.”
“No, because flirting doesn’t always mean someone has intentions to take it further, or that they have to,” he pointed out.
“It seemed like you meant to.”
Luka arched a brow. “Why? Did I say something in particular that made you think that?” He knew he hadn’t.
She opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally answering. “You didn’t, no.”
“Did I put out a warning to others that you weren’t to be touched?”
“No.”
“Did I do anything to give you a solid indication that my intention was to make a move on you?”
She heaved an annoyed sigh. “No, it was just a feeling I got.” And she seemed to believe that that “feeling” was all that counted.
“We can both agree that I didn’t lead you on with false promises, then?”
“Yes,” she replied, her voice tart. “But when we talked, there was something there. A connection.”
Those words had him doing an internal double-take. “A connection?”
“You felt it,” she insisted. “We both did.”
His inner demons stared at her, nonplussed. “Draya, I can honestly tell you that I felt no such thing,” Luka bluntly stated. “I can also tell you that, Naomi or no Naomi, I would have made no move on you. I don’t want a woman in my life who’d not only try to get an in with me through my anchor but wouldn’t respect my need for privacy.”
Her eyes went diamond-hard. “You’re pretty big-headed to think that my being friendly with Ella has anything to do with you.”
His patience wearing thin, Luka leaned forward in his seat, bracing his lower arms on the table. “Don’t insult my intelligence. You plied her with personal questions about me, so your purpose for seeking her out was more than fucking obvious.”
Draya snapped her mouth shut. “I see no point in continuing this conversation. It’s not making our situation any better.”
“We don’t have a situation. There’s no we at all. I’m your employer, nothing more. Unless, of course, you’d like to quit your job. Is that where this is going?”
She paused. “Miss out on the tips I get here? No. No, I’m not quitting.”
“Then keep things professional from here on out and stay away from Ella. If you don’t, you won’t merely be fired, Draya. I don’t tolerate anyone fucking with my anchor.”
The she-demon swallowed hard, her eyes flickering, and then haughtily squared her shoulders. “Understood.” She rose from her chair, her back ramrod straight. “I’d like to get back to work now.”
Luka flicked a hand toward the door. “Then go.”
She turned stiffly toward it and calmly left the room.
The twins returned, closing the door behind them.
“She’s not a happy bunny right now,” Nikandr noted. “Neither are you,” he added, studying Luka’s expression. “What did she say that put that look on your face?”
Luka relaxed in his chair. “Several things I didn’t like.” He brought the brothers up to speed, giving them a short summary of the conversation.
Nikandr scowled. “I get that her ego will have taken a hit when you chose to pursue Naomi rather than her; that’s understandable. But believing that anyone—male or female—is obligated to take flirting further is a messed-up mindset.”
Mikhail nodded hard. “Fuck, I flirt all the time. It means shit.”
“To be fair, bro, I don’t think women always realize it’s supposed to be flirting—you’re not that good at it,” teased Nikandr, his lips tipping up when Mikhail cursed him in Russian.