Ryker’s hand cups my chin, tilting my face back toward him as I look anywhere but at his penetrating stare.
‘Why are you avoiding looking at me?’ he asks softly, his voice low and measured.
‘I’m not,’ I mutter, my eyes darting toward the far corner of the room, ‘I’m just checking out the house again, it’s pretty amazing.’
The firefighter smirks, leaning back slightly as his gaze roams over my face. ‘You’ve seen the house Eli, nearly all of it in fact.’
‘What haven’t I seen?’ I huff, my fingers digging into the muscles of my crossed arms, ‘some secret room? Do you have a magic closet with a hidden portal or something?’
Ryker shakes his head, his expression shifting, eyes darkening with a sudden seriousness as the air in the room thickens around us.
‘No,’ he murmurs, voice dropping an
