Page 12 of Sun-Kissed Fangs
A small bit of luck. No bruises this time.
“Did you know him?” Harper asked. “The way you two were talking, it seemed personal.”
“I know the people he works with. My boss knows his boss.”
Harper frowned. “You’re a cop?”
She didn’t look like a cop. Or act like one. Whenever Harper had seen Kieran around his friends from the station, it usually involved roughhousing rather than the calm charm Maya projected.
“I’m very far from a cop. And he was the one who took it personally. He got shoved to the ground by a girl, after all. Some men are sensitive to stuff like that.”
Harper couldn’t help but snort. Kieran hadn’t even been able to handle her kicking his ass at poker, especially since there had been plenty of witnesses.
“Kieran’s ego bruises easily. It’s surprisingly frail for a man his size. But he doesn’t lose fights. At least not the ones he starts. I actually found out recently that he and his friends sometimes come around here if they want to blow off steam. You don’t visit this part of town unless you’re looking for trouble.”
Maya raised an eyebrow. “Now hold on… That sounds like an accusation.”
“Well, youwerehanging around an empty parking lot after dark. Who knows what you were planning before the call for vigilantism took over?”
The words hadjustescaped when she realized how they might be received. This woman had stepped in to help, and now Harper’s teasing might be read as an insinuation that Maya was there to do something distasteful.
But she just smiled again. That unfair smile that made her gorgeous eyes look dull in comparison.
“Well, aren’t you a little spitfire.”
Heat flared into Harper’s face. Which itshouldn’t. She didn’t get flustered. And shecertainlydidn’t get tongue-tied.
Maya brushed her thumb over Harper’s cheek. “Blushing suits you better than shivering. You don’t look like you’re about to fall over anymore.”
That just made the heat even worse. And the blush she was evidently showing off must have gotten more obvious as a result, because Maya grinned.
“You feel okay to drive? Or do you want me to come up with an excuse to make more small talk?”
“No, that’s—” Harper choked on her ownvoice.
This wasnothow she usually acted. With a few choice words, she could have someone wrapped around her little finger, but this stranger had her acting like a bumbling teenager.
She was just rattled still. That was all.
“I can drive.” She turned away, scanning the ground. “I just… I dropped my keys before, and I don’t know where—”
Maya crouched and reached under the car. When she stood, the keys were dangling from her finger.
“How the hell did you see them?” Harper said, taking the keys. “It’s pitch-black under there. Do you have night vision or something?”
Though Maya’s smile stayed in place, it receded from her eyes.
“Got lucky, I guess.” She took a step back. “Drive safe, alright?”
Maya’s smile waned before she’d turned fully around. As though she was trying to get away as fast as possible; a complete switch from how she’d acted only seconds before.
Had Harper said something wrong? She didn’t think so. If she made a too-snappy comment, she could usually pinpoint it pretty quickly. At least in hindsight.
Maybe it was just her tone of voice. According to Kieran,attitudesnuck into everything she said. They’d had more than one fight about it, with him insisting she treat him with appropriate respect while Harper had argued she was doing just that.
But Maya hadn’t gotten angry. Just… sad.
“Wait!” Harper took a step forward, making Maya turn back to face her. This time, her startling gaze didn’t steal Harper’s voice. Instead, it rushed on without her knowing where it was going.
