Surely Evette was blowing things out of proportion. Yes, it was possible Kir was interested in something more, but no one went from platonic to serious in three days. And three very silent days at that!

A yelp and the quick scuffle of feet ripped her from her distracting thoughts in time to see a man and woman laughing off a near collision at the bar.

But it was the woman perched on a barstool and nursing a martini opposite them that made her heartbeat slow and her senses sharpen. The woman’s eyes were downcast, and her profile partially obscured by a thick wave of auburn hair as she stood and grabbed her purse, but she looked frustratingly familiar.

“Cassie?” Evette’s voice ripped her attention away from the woman. “You okay?”

“Yeah, fine.” She motioned to the man and woman who’d somehow turned their near collision into a conversation. “They just startled me.”

“Well, good. ’Cause you’ve got about five seconds to brace.” She dipped her head toward Kir who was stalking their way. “I’ll leave you to it. Take all the time you need.”

Well, shoot. She needed more than five seconds. More like five hours just to steady herself. And it’d be a whole lot easier if she had a wingman to keep things balanced.

She glanced over her shoulder, but the woman was gone, the seat she’d vacated already filled with another waiting patron.

Kir moved in all of a heartbeat later, his hands easily sliding to her hips and his body nearly touching. “Everything all right, milaya?”

Darling.

Now that she knew what it meant, she couldn’t stop the shiver that moved through her. Especially when paired with the husky rasp of his voice. She nodded. “I’m fine. I just got a little overwhelmed, that’s all.”

“Overwhelmed at what?”

“At everything. You. Your family.” She swallowed hard, uncertain what to say next. As locations for frank discussions went, standing beside a crowded bar wasn’t ideal. “I just think we need to talk.”

His gaze roamed her face, his scrutiny so intense that holding his stare was a challenge. When he finally spoke, there was an implacable determination in his voice. “We will have dessert, and then I will take you home. I will let you ask me whatever you want, and I will answer what I can.”

Her breath rushed out on a sigh of relief, and her shoulders relaxed for the first time since she’d headed for the restroom. “Good. Thank you.”

“But Cassie?”

“Hmm?”

He cupped one side of her face and leaned in close enough his warm breath whispered across her face. “You should understand upfront. We’ll be doing much more than talking.”

Chapter Ten

Cassie was quiet. Too quiet for Kir’s liking. Quiet for her meant she was thinking, and the outcome of her thoughts had already derailed things for them once.

Kir exited off the main roadway onto the backstreets of Marigny, the only sound to break the silence between them the low strains of Nothing But Thieves’ “Last Orders.”