Free Slayer's Kiss: Shadow Slayer, Book 1 by Cassi Carver

realized he was the man she’d seen Gavin talking to last night in front of the bar. He had a swarthy complexion with dark, almond-shaped eyes and glossy black hair. Glossy like a feather , she mused, and something low in her belly clenched in delight.
    “Hi,” he said simply, but his eyes radiated heat, as if he knew somehow what she was thinking.
    “Hi.” Kara looked away and pressed number ten. “What floor?”
    The man glanced at the elevator buttons and smiled. “Looks like we’re heading the same direction.”
    How was it possible for him to make the simple statement sound like a come-on? And how pathetic was she that her panties were growing damp just being in the small enclosed space with him?
    It was his scent. It had to be. He and Gavin must use those stupid body wash products “infused with pheromones” a person could buy on any store shelf now. She’d had no idea that stuff actually worked.
    When the elevator opened, Kara got out and held the doors for him again as he shifted the box higher and stepped into the hallway. “Thanks.” He moved the box to his hip and extended his hand. “Julian Mercés.”
    She reached out to shake his hand, but as she did, the box tilted ominously and slid from Julian’s grasp, crashing to the floor and spilling assorted toiletry items over the carpeted walkway. Julian stopped, then he looked into Kara eyes and laughed, rich and seductive.
    At the other end of the hall, the door next to Kara’s popped open and Gavin walked out. He looked from Kara to Julian before his gaze came to rest on the box. “Having trouble, buddy?” His deep voice trailed over her like a kiss.
    Julian laughed again, his eyes darting back to Kara. “Just distracted, I guess.” The way he said it made Kara’s nipples tighten against her shirt.
    Gavin walked down the hall toward them, perusing Kara’s outfit from top to bottom, seeming to notice how the tight pebbles under her shirt threatened to poke through. “Hi, Kara,” he said. “Haven’t been home to change yet?”
    Crap. She should have borrowed sweats from Abbey to walk home. Half her neighbors probably thought she moonlighted as a call girl as it was. Coming from Gavin, though, the question was just plain rude. She wasn’t sure if he’d asked to let Julian know he’d already been with her, or to call her a slut, assuming she’d been out all night with another man. Either way, it didn’t matter. Getting involved with her neighbor was the last thing she needed.
    “Here, let me help,” she responded instead, bending over in her short leather skirt to start gathering the items.
    “Thanks.” Julian knelt down beside her with a warm smile. “I’m not usually such a klutz.”
    Kara glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, taking in the way his tan skin stretched over broad muscles. He looked like a living, breathing Zorro fantasy come to life. Everything about him screamed that he was a capable man who could take care of a woman’s needs. But he was softer than Gavin, somehow—more ready with a kind word, more open with his smile.
    “I don’t doubt your coordination for a minute.” Kara raked him with a hot gaze. She couldn’t help it. Her pussy was throbbing—an itch that could only be scratched by one of these men pounding it out of her.
    She froze. Take a breath, horn-dog .
    She dragged air in through her nose and let it out slowly through her mouth. Julian paused and licked his lips, and Kara got the impression again he knew exactly what she was thinking—and that he was thinking the same thing.
    Gavin reached down to retrieve a wrapped bar of soap. “I missed you this morning, neighbor. I locked the bottom lock when I left, assuming you had a key with you. Did I do good?”
    Yeah, he’d done her good, all right. But he hadn’t allowed her to return the favor. She couldn’t look at Gavin as she collected the towels and various bathroom items, most of which still had the tags on. “Yeah, thanks, Gavin.