His chest vibrated in front of my gaze, the white shirt stretched lovingly over his muscles. His laughter was a pure delight. He raised his right hand and tapped one finger on the edge of my hat. “Take it off. I’d like to see you now.” It was a soft order.
My fingers twitched as I peered back to the other occupants of the bar. They weren’t looking this way, and we were in the back. But my father had always told me to keep my hair up around men. He said I was too pretty for my own good. Whatever that meant.
“Are you hideous under there?” he teased playfully, sensing my hesitation.
I ground my teeth together and yanked my ball cap off. My long red waves fell over my shoulders to the middle of my back in a rush of freedom. I shook my head a little, so they weren’t as crushed, and then I peered up into the face of the bossy corporate man.
The crushed skyscrapers outside the base must have swayed, a strong wind rattling their infested dwellings, because the world danced a beautiful melody under my feet and my knees weakened. The axis that I judged all men upon tilted and crashed. I couldn’t move. I could barely breathe.
He. Was. Magnificent.
His skin was the color of cocoa mixed with rare marshmallows, perfectly tan from a distinctive heritage. His eyes tilted just at the ends, like an Egyptian god. His nose was strong like his jawline was proud. The lips that created such beautiful tones from regular words were lush and red. And his hair… it was tawny with golden highlights, the loose curls down to his giant shoulders. He appeared near my age, a little older. Probably thirty.
But his eyes held my attention.
I stared. And he stared right back, not looking away.
Gold eyes with flecks of amber held my brown gaze.
His penetrating gaze was extraordinary against his complexion. This man was flawless.
Time passed—flew, really.
Maybe a second. Maybe a minute. Maybe ten.
Neither of us spoke.
My mouth finally bobbed. I croaked, “Yeah, you’ll do.”
His blink was so slow it was near lethargic. “Yes. I suppose you’ll do, too.” Those golden eyes with amber splashes ran down my slim frame, his perfect eyebrows pinching together. “I may be too much for you, though.” His words were quiet, not bragging—just truthful.
“There’s only one way to find out.” I gestured toward the front door. “After you.”
Any hesitancy evaporated from his gaze, his attention sharpening on my eyes. “Actually, I’d love to see how you snuck in here. Those front doors are locked.”
I shrugged and turned back the way I had come in. “Follow me then.” I waved my hat in the air and peered over my shoulder. “But we’re not going to my quarters right now. Not unless you’d like to meet my overbearing father. He’s working in there right now.”
His words were dry. “As much fun as that sounds, I’d rather not.”
I snickered and opened the back door. “I didn’t think you would. He would be a mood killer.” Understatement.
My father would probably pull one of his deadly swords and ruin the handsome corporate man’s face. That would be the real tragedy. This ugly world needed beauty like his. And my father would laugh with glee, wiping it away, if he saw this man headed to my bedroom.
Shadows danced at our feet as we walked down the ivory hallway. I glanced back quickly, palming the handle of the knife strapped to my right thigh. But I paused in pulling it, eyeing the two Corporate Army soldiers who trailed us. “They’re yours?”
“Yes.” He didn’t even look back. “The others will be along shortly.”
Others? How many guards did this man warrant?
He eyed the next door I stopped in front of and evaluated the room through the window. “We’re going in here?”
“Yeah. It’s our exit.” I opened the door to the food locker, the blast of cold air ruffling my hair. “This way.”
He plucked an apple from a bin and munched as he followed. “Are there any more exits to the bar?”
“One other one. But it smells. No one goes that way unless you’re unloading trash.”
“The trash shoot.”
“Yes.”
“Too small to enter from.”
I grinned and punched in the code at the back door. “Not for me.”
He leaned forward and pressed his chest to my back, and grabbed the door handle. His heat burned against my chilled shoulder. “Allow me.”
The door swung open with ease as he pushed.
I usually had to put a little muscle into it.
“Thank you,” I whispered. I stepped into the warmth outside the cooling unit.
“Where to now?” he asked, peering around the loading dock.
I pointed to the door ten feet away. “That’ll take us to the lobby.”
He raked his gaze back to his men and tossed them the apple core, finished with his snack. He barely tipped his head to the door and flicked one finger. They were shutting the door to the walk-in refrigerator and leaving us alone on the dock in a blink, disappearing back to the bar.
My brows rose. “No guards?”
Godric snorted. “There are always guards outside of New City.”
When we stepped through the door into the lobby, I choked on air.
He repeated himself, “Always guards.”
I hurried to put my ball cap back on. All thirty-plus of the Corporate Army soldiers who had been in the bar were now waiting in the lobby. Their eyes were averted from us while they surveyed the Liberated Army roaming the main floor.
I sputtered, “They’re all for you?”
“Yes,” Godric muttered, not too pleased with it. He placed a proprietary palm at the small of my back, guiding us to the center of the guards. They were all buff like the man I was with, but Godric still seemed so much more. It made me take pause and wonder if I really would be able to make the cut in this army.
I leaned toward him as they all started moving—us with them. I whispered, “What the hell do you do within the corporations to get stuck with this much detail?”
Golden eyes peered down at me. “Remember my overbearing ass of a father?”
I nodded.
He flicked a hand at the guards, full of arrogance. “This is his doing.”
“Ah.” I nodded again as if he hadn’t evaded the question rather beautifully.