Free Death Angel (Death Angel Series Book 1) by Raquel Dove

hint. It reminded her of being outside. He had on the same type of black suit that he had on every time she had seen him. Her eyes traveled from the obviously chiseled chest hidden by that suit up to his eyes as they looked back at her with a startling intensity.
    “Come in,” he said, after they had spent a moment staring into each other’s eyes. It took Gabrielle a moment for the words to register.
    “I…oh, she lives with you?” Gabrielle said, suddenly understanding what he was saying without using too many words. She was quickly learning that he used as few as possible.
    “Yes,” he said, stepping aside just slightly so that she could see inside the open door behind him. “She will be pleased to see you, I think.”
    Gabrielle smiled at him and to her great surprise, he smiled back. It wasn’t a big smile, and it only lasted a moment, but she had seen it. His lips had curled ever so slightly upward at the corners and she felt her gut growing even hotter than it already was. He was absolutely gorgeous when he smiled.
    “Come in,” he said, motioning for her to enter his home, “I'll show you to her quarters.”
    Gabrielle didn’t know how, but she found the will to move her shaky legs in the direction of the door. As she walked through, she was stunned at what she found. She had thought that her quarters were nice, she couldn’t have imagined anything being much nicer. But what she saw just inside his home was incredible. There was green everywhere she looked, interspersed with blooms of flowers that scented the air delicately. She had smelled the hint of the flowers in Mr. Black's scent and she knew this is where it must have come from. There was a small fountain that occupied the middle of the large space that was scattered with plants and shrubs and what looked like grass covering the ground. She couldn’t understand how such a thing could exist without direct sunlight, but here it was. It was a very large space, and to one side she even saw what looked like a little pond fed by a small waterfall.
    “How…,” Gabrielle managed to gasp, though she thought she had voiced the thought only to herself.
    “It is customary for nobles to have an indoor garden. I am proud to say my family has been cultivating this one for many centuries,” he said, coming up just behind Gabrielle. She could feel him there, just behind her, hovering so close that she thought he would reach out and touch her. Somehow, his presence had completely erased the awe that she had at seeing this indoor garden and had her focusing entirely on him. She was so focused on him, his presence, his scent, his voice as it rumbled just behind her, that she didn’t even notice the other person that had entered the area until he spoke.
    “Sir, did you forget something?” the man said, with a little bow of his head towards Mr. Black. He was a short man with a nearly bald head, save for a few wisps of white hair. His body was mostly scrawny, but he had a belly that stuck out like he had a basketball under his shirt. He wore a very simple outfit, resembling scrubs, in all black. He had no discernible expression on his face, but Gabrielle felt a peacefulness in him that she immediately liked.
    “No,” he said. Gabrielle could hear a change in his voice when he talked to the man. It wasn’t as deep. It didn’t hold that strange emotion that Gabrielle hadn’t yet been able to place. It was empty, authoritarian. Though Gabrielle liked to hear the way he spoke to her even better, she still found this way made her knees want to buckle.
    “Miss Gabrielle is here to see Aracella,” he said. “Get her some refreshments and show her to my sister's room.”
    With those words, Gabrielle felt him step away from where he had been standing, so terribly close to her. She turned around to look at him before she even had time to think about what she was doing.
    “I must leave,” he said, looking over his shoulder at her. “An urgent matter I must attend