The Unlikeable Demon Hunter (Nava Katz #1)(62)

I dropped my voice to a whisper. "You'll kill them?"

Drio looked at me like I'd been dropped on my head.

"Like murder is an unreasonable assumption with you."

"They're human," he said. "We won't hurt them." He stood, stretching his arms over his head and causing his shirt to ride up, giving me a tantalizing glimpse of olive skin and six-pack. "I think a little subtle interrogation is in order today. In case we've missed anything."

"Why get subtle now?" Rohan joked. "Amp up the fact finding. By any means necessary."

Drio snapped off a salute, clearly happy to have free reign. "Ciao, ragazzi." He grabbed his jacket and left.

I stuffed my laptop back into my bag.

Rohan rolled his neck out a couple of times. The corded muscles across his shoulder rippled with the movement. "Nava?"

"What?" I zipped up the bag.

He caught my hand, forcing me to turn toward him. "I'm sorry. There is no universe in which I think you're furniture. I meant the role. And I appreciate you're facing a double standard that sucks balls. That's why I fought Mandelbaum to keep you."

Rasha, rabbis, and Executive alike worshipped Rohan. Him going to bat for me was worth a lot. I focused on that and not the damage he'd done last night. "Accepted and appreciated." I flicked the zipper. "I wish I didn't need anyone to stick up for me."

"I know." He paused. "Anything else you wish?"

"If we weren't committed Rasha doing whatever the mission demands, then that would be quite the loaded question."



       
         
       
        

I'd made it to the second chorus of "I Will Survive" in my head before he answered. "Is that what we are?"

Now it was my turn to remain silent.

He rubbed a knuckle over his forehead.

"You look tired," I said. He gave me a wan smile. "Do you want a massage?"

A teasing glint lit his eyes. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

"You looked …  your neck …  tense." I blushed, stammering like an idiot.

"I'd love a massage. It's only fair considering you put half of the knots there." He sat down on the sofa.

Sitting beside him, I stretched out my hands in preparation. I'd given massages a million times with tap friends to work out leg cramps. I was a regular Florence Nightingale here, with the bonus of wiping all traces of Poppy and Lily off of him, branding my scent and my touch into his brain.

"Just a sec." Rohan unbuttoned his shirt, letting it fall off his shoulders.

I swallowed, then warmed up his neck and shoulders, relaxing his muscles. Gradually I applied a deeper pressure on the upward strokes, making circular kneading motions over his entire upper back.

I focused on his tattoo as I worked on the tension in his neck and shoulders, latching on to the black ink as a safe harbor. I pressed the pad of my thumb into his clavicle and he sighed. Still using my thumbs, I applied sustained pressure to the muscles that rotated the shoulder.

His breathing slowed with every touch. In my hands, he became languid, pliant. It would be so easy to lean in and bite the nape of his neck. Let my fingers trail around his front, down the dusting of hair from his navel into his pants.

He'd probably be hard.

Hot.

Rohan groaned, the sound rolling through my hands into my very core. I crossed my legs against the desperate bolt of need that spiked through me. Yes, it would be so easy to turn this into something else, but my brain kept replaying the image of Poppy's cat-like smile and those indentations in the carpet. The memory of him telling Lily he always loved her.

The nightmare of feeling summarily dismissed in every way imaginable last night.

Rohan jerked. "Ow. Careful."

"Sorry." I massaged him a moment longer then patted him between the shoulder blades.

He twisted around to face me. "Done?"

"Yup."

He stretched. "Thanks."

I picked up my bag. "Have a good day." I yawned. "I need a nap."

Rohan frowned. "Big plans?"

"Yeah." Me and the TV. I placed a hand on his now-tense shoulder. "Hey, don't undo all my good massaging."

Are you jealous? Do I care? Fine questions that I had no answers to. 

He stood up, regarding me for a long moment. Chin up, I met his gaze, ready to take on any lecture but all he said was, "Be careful."

"Yup." I almost asked him what he was up to, but I didn't want to know. "Later, Snowflake."

"Bye."

I closed the door to his suite behind me, sagging against the door, my head bowed. Then I straightened my spine and headed downstairs to my room.