Loki's Game Read Free Page B

her with his too-full lips and his bright, white teeth.
    “More tea?” he asked, already pouring before she could answer. “So tell me something,” he continued in an obvious attempt to put her mind at ease, “what made you answer such a vague advertisement?”
    “Curiosity,” she replied with a noncommittal shrug. “Masochism,” she added and she heard his cup rattle on its saucer as he held in his laughter. “But mostly I think it’s because I don’t have a job.”
    “Again, points for honesty.”
    “Can I ask you a question?”
    “Of course.” An enigmatic smile played across his lips and his eyes glimmered with something wicked. Her throat went dry.
    “Why would you post such a vague ad?”
    “Those are the requirements.”
    “But I still have no idea what the job is!”
    The good humor never left his eyes. “Consider it an engagement.” He placed his cup to the side and rose. “Come, walk with me and I will try to help you understand.”
    She boggled at him, but did as he asked. Rowan extended his elbow and she slipped her hand through, and the urge to giggle swept over her again. Even beneath the fabric of his coat, his skin burned against her fingers. “Your résumé says you were a curator,” he said, leading her through the door. “What happened?”
    “The museum lost its funding and closed.” She sighed. “The collection was scattered amongst the investors and returned to owners.” Lily shrugged one shoulder, trying to hide her disappointment. “There isn’t much call for an art history major anywhere else.”
    A low, vibrating chuckle escaped him, shimmering through her and all the way to the tips of her toes. Every cell in her body grew hotly aware of him, of his side brushing against the back of her hand as they walked.
    “Your professors trained you well.” Lily grinned at the compliment, and covered the motion with her hand. She didn’t want to appear too eager or too smitten. Besides, in her experience, compliments were usually followed by less pleasant things. “Now what of your family?” he asked. Shaking the butterflies from her stomach, she dared a glance up at him. His profile wasn’t one that could be considered perfect, but it was still enough to make her want to get closer—to completely derail her brain.
    “My parents live in Tampa,” she said. “I was already in Atlanta, so they left Charleston when my dad retired. I’m an only child.”
    “I am sorry to hear that. Being an only child can be lonely.”
    “‘You know this from experience?”
    “I do.”
    “What of your parents?” she asked.
    “Deceased.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Do not be,” he said, and laid a hand over her fingers, still curled at the crook of his elbow. The contact sizzled. “They lived long, full lives and wherever they are, I know they are together.” They entered a room that she realized a moment too late was an elevator…not that it mattered. She wasn’t the type to be interested in intimate contact against the wall of a moving elevator. At least, she hadn’t been before. Lily reminded herself of his potential for being a psychopath, but the idea only heightened her desire for him. He didn’t have to actually murder her… there were so many other ways he could kill her.
    “You were close?” she asked, and cleared her throat to shuffle the thoughts from her mind. He punched a button to take them upstairs—to the second of three floors in this sprawling monster of a house.
    “We were. My father was my best friend. He taught me everything I know.”
    Conversation fell aside as the doors opened and they entered a gallery of glass cases. Lily’s eyes widened as she took in the collection.
    “Oh, my God,” she said with a breathy gasp, “how did you get all of this?”
    “My father’s legacy,” Rowan said. “Please, have a look around.”
    Lily gasped, her eyes widening in awe. The items in the cases were breathtaking—bits of history thought to be lost forever.