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  They reached the parking lot and Kenna slowed her steps as a feeling of anxiousness washed over her. Her heart raced as a shiver of fear ran down her spine. She had no idea what was wrong with her. She’d never had this feeling before. And she didn’t think she had it this morning when she’d arrived at the hotel. But then she’d been rushing since she’d dragged her ass getting to work.

  Nick slowed and turned his head to look at her. “Kenna? Are you all right? Your face has gone white.”

  She nodded before she cleared her throat. “Yeah. I sort of feel a bit…weird.”

  “I hope you’re not coming down with something. Working that night shift must have really hit you hard.”

  “I guess so.”

  “A night in is probably the best thing for you. Especially a soak in the tub. Just make sure you have some wine or something to kill all the germs.”

  Pushing back the anxiousness, Kenna laughed as she picked up her pace again. “I don’t think having something alcoholic will do much to prevent me from getting a cold.”

  “Maybe not, but it’ll help you relax.”

  “All right, doctor. I’ll have some wine, as you prescribed.”

  “Good girl.”

  After unlocking the passenger door for Nick, Kenna came around to the driver’s side. She got into the car, then started the engine. She had to resist the urge to gun it and peel out of the parking lot. Nick didn’t seem to notice her agitation, which she was sure had to show on her face. She’d suddenly broken out in a cold sweat. Her gaze shifted to the corner of the lot where she’d found herself the night before as she put the car into reverse. Kenna had to bite her bottom lip to hold back a whimper that threatened to bubble out of her. It took everything in her to pull out of the space at a proper speed, then merge into traffic. That particular spot scared her for some unknown reason.

  Once she was away from the parking lot all the anxiety Kenna felt disappeared. It didn’t make any sense. She wasn’t the type of woman who was frightened easily. So this unfounded fear wasn’t her norm. Maybe she was coming down with something. That could be the only explanation. And she’d do as Nick suggested and have some wine. Maybe a glass or two or three.

  She dropped Nick off at the front of his apartment building, telling him she’d see him at work the next day. Kenna drove to her place, deciding she’d definitely have to call it an early night. Hopefully getting a full night’s sleep would have her feeling more like herself.

  Chapter Two

  Tor had managed to stay away for two whole days, but his luck ran out on the third. He seemed irresistibly drawn to the mortal, to Kenna. After wiping her memory a couple of nights ago he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. The last two mornings he’d woken up with his cock in his hand, stroking himself and on the verge of coming because he’d dreamed it was Kenna touching him, pleasuring him. He couldn’t get her out of his head.

  But today, he could no longer ignore his need to see her outside his dreams. He was driving himself crazy. He had to put himself out of his misery, even if he just looked at her once from a distance. Then he should be able to walk away. He hoped.

  Knowing there was no point in trying to talk himself out of it, Tor got into his car and drove out of the MacDonald Highlands community where he lived and headed for the Strip and the Luxor hotel. It was late morning, and from reading her memories, he knew Kenna would be at work. That late shift hadn’t been her normal one.

  Tor parked his car and headed into the hotel. He walked through the entrance and took a deep breath to see if he could filter Kenna’s scent from the myriad ones around him. He’d memorized it from the other night. But he didn’t have any luck. There were too many mortals.

  That didn’t stop Tor from heading in the direction where the reception desk would be. He wasn’t going to get too close. Just far enough to have an unobstructed view of Kenna, and maybe catch a whiff of her scent. He’d look his fill, then leave.

  As Tor drew nearer to where Kenna worked, he slowed, staying in the midst of the mortals who went about their business. He stared in the direction of the reception desk and spotted Kenna, busy talking to a patron of the hotel. His whole body seemed to come to attention, including his cock. Being this close to her made him crave her even more than he already had.

  He ran his gaze over Kenna, drinking her in. The sound of the man she spoke to raising his voice had Tor headed over to the reception desk before he could stop himself. He didn’t like the man’s tone. He had no right to talk to Kenna that way.

  Tor stepped up beside the man in time to hear him say, “Since you’re totally useless, I’d like to speak to your manager.”

  “I’m sorry, sir,” Kenna responded. “It’s the hotel’s policy not to give out that kind of information about our guests.”

  “I don’t give a shit if it is. Let me speak to someone who has more authority than you.”

  Tor turned to face the man. “I think you need to be a little more respectful. She already told you it’s against the hotel’s policy. Take that for your answer and leave.”

  The man rounded on him. “Who the hell do you think you are? You’re obviously not hotel security.”

  “No, but I could be the man to throw you out of here on your ass.” Tor leaned closer to the mortal and glared into his eyes. “Leave.”

  The man must have seen something in Tor’s eyes. His demeanor swiftly changed from aggression to scared shitless. He mumbled what sounded like an apology to Kenna, then walked away at a fast clip. Tor followed him with his gaze until he disappeared from sight.

  “Thanks,” Kenna said. “I had a feeling he wasn’t going to let it go.”

  Tor turned to face her. “You’re welcome. I’m glad I was around to help.”

  Kenna couldn’t tear her gaze off the man who stood on the other side of the counter. He was totally gorgeous, looked as if he belonged in a fashion magazine. He also was the type of man she was attracted to with his short, black hair, standing at least six-foot-six in height with a well-muscled body. And it didn’t help that his brown-eyed gaze seemed to eat her up as he stared at her. Of course her body reacted. An ache throbbed deep inside her pussy. Her nipples grew taut beneath her blouse. She had to resist the urge to cross her arms over her breasts to hide them.

  “Was there anything I can help you with?” she asked.

  His gaze met hers. “You can tell me your name.”

  His deep voice seemed to go right through her to her pussy. He had the tiniest of accents, but she couldn’t place what it was. “I’m Kenna,” she said, a little too breathy for her liking. She pointed at her name tag, which he obviously hadn’t looked at.

  “Hello, Kenna. I’m Tor.” He reached across the counter with his hand open.

  Kenna placed hers in his. A jolt of desire shot through her as he closed his fingers around hers and shook her hand. Her heart raced. Maybe Nick had been right. She did need to get laid, especially if she was this turned-on from a simple handshake.

  “Hi,” she said stupidly.

  Tor brushed his thumb along the inside of her wrist as he released her. “Maybe once you get off work we can continue this conversation.”

  Kenna blinked. Had he just asked her out? “I don’t get off until five.”

  “I’ll come back then. We can have something to eat at one of the restaurants here.”

  “Sure. I’d love to.”

  “Until then, Kenna.”

  She sighed to herself when Tor turned around and walked away, getting her first look at his muscular ass in his tight-fitting jeans. It looked hard enough to bounce a quarter off it. She practically licked her lips, thinking how good it would feel to fondle his butt.

  “I think you have some drool at the corner of your mouth.”

  Kenna reluctantly tore her gaze off Tor’s retreating back and looked at Nick who stood at the counter. “No, I don’t.”

  “Well, you might as well have, given the way you were ogling that guy’s backside.”
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br />   “At least I might have a chance to see more of it. Tor just asked me out for dinner after work.”

  Nick gazed in the direction Tor had gone, then looked back at Kenna. “Holy crap, you worked fast. I said you needed a man, but I didn’t think you’d actually taken me seriously.”

  She smiled. “It wasn’t as if I’d planned it. A patron gave me a bit of a hard time and Tor happened to show up to put the guy in his place. We then got to talking and he asked me out. There was no way I would turn him down.”

  “That’s my girl. Now just make sure you get laid tonight and you’ll be all set.”

  Kenna rolled her eyes. “I never said I’d hop in the sack with him on the first date.”

  “Why the hell not? You’re attracted to him. He obviously is to you as well or he wouldn’t have asked you out. Go have some fun.”

  “I’ll see how the date goes first before I make a decision about sleeping with him. Who knows, Tor could be a jerk and I’ll want to ditch him after the meal.”

  Nick shook his head. “That wouldn’t stop me.”

  Kenna chuckled. “Of course not. You’re a man whore, after all.”

  “Whatever. I’m on break. You want to go on yours?”

  “Sure. Just let me get one of the girls from the office to cover for me.”

  After a quick phone call, Kenna was on her way to the Pyramid Café inside the hotel with Nick. As her friend talked, her thoughts drifted to Tor and their date later that day. She looked forward to getting to know him better.

  * * * * *

  Tor returned home after he left the Luxor. He had no idea how it had gone from him just wanting to watch Kenna from a distance to asking her out for dinner that evening. He hadn’t been able to stop himself. Just being near her again, he hadn’t been able to think straight. Speaking to her had made him want more than only staring at her from afar.

  In his very long life, Tor had never wanted a woman as much as he wanted Kenna. He wasn’t celibate by any means, but he usually slept with women who didn’t want a serious relationship. Ones who were quite happy to fall into bed with him to scratch an itch, then not see him for a month or more, though recently that hadn’t really satisfied him.

  Inside the house, Tor headed to the upper floor and to the room he’d set up as a small temple to Anubis. He worshipped the god of the underworld every day, leaving food and drink on an altar. This way it kept the bond between him and Anubis strong. Not that Tor had any problem with that since Anubis was part of the pantheon of gods Tor had already worshipped from the time he was a small boy in Egypt of old.

  He pushed open the door to the room and stepped inside. Tor had painted the walls in a shade of brown that reminded him of the stone used for the temples in Egypt. The artifacts placed throughout the space were just as ancient as he was, all dedicated to Anubis. Some, like the pieces of stone with hieroglyphs carved on them, hanging on the walls, were old, but were purchased in the 1920s when the British had come to Egypt to excavate tombs. Back then the pieces found had been sold instead of being given to the Egyptian people. Tor had purchased anything he’d found that referred to the god of the underworld. At least in his possession they’d remain in the same condition as the day he’d bought them. He respected the rich culture of the land of his birth. Even though he no longer lived there, and hadn’t for many years, Tor still considered himself Egyptian.

  Tor.

  He stood straighter as Anubis’ voice filled his head. “Yes.” Only inside this mini temple was Tor able to communicate with the god.

  While you are out hunting evildoers, you need to stay extra vigilant. Another one of my warriors has tangled with a demon who has escaped the underworld. There are more out there, hunting you and the others.

  “How did they escape the underworld? I’ve never had to worry about their kind in the mortal realm before.”

  I don’t know. Nor do I know how many escaped. The one that my other warrior dispatched had a couple of spells in his arsenal. One locked my warrior in his half-human and half-jackal form. The other was a spelled dagger that prevented him from healing, causing him to remain weak and vulnerable. Just be prepared if a demon finds you.

  “I’ll be on my guard.”

  And one last thing before I go, if you find your mate, ease her into your world.

  “Mate?” This was the first Tor had ever heard Anubis say his warriors would have one. “How will I know a woman is mine?”

  You’ll know. During intimate moments a change will come over you. An urge that will be hard to ignore will accompany it. You must resist until the one meant for you knows and accepts what you truly are.

  With that, Tor felt Anubis’ presence leave him. He shook his head. The god of the underworld could be cryptic at the best of times, and this must be one of them. A mate? The thousands of years Tor had lived as a warrior of Anubis, he’d thought he’d always remain alone. The idea of having a woman of his own hadn’t been an option as far as he was concerned. He was immortal. What mortal woman would want to stay with him when she’d grow old and die while he remained the same? Obviously, that wouldn’t be an issue if Anubis wanted Tor to bring his mate into his world. At least that was what Tor thought the god meant by all that. Was there a chance Kenna was his? His reaction to her made him think there was a possibility. But he’d have to wait and find out.

  Leaving the temple, Tor shut the door behind him, his thoughts turning to the demons Anubis had warned him about. It did not bode well for mortals to have those creatures roaming free amongst them. Demons were cruel and vicious, took joy in the pain of others. If one was to actually find Tor, he’d be more than happy to send the demon to the underworld to face Anubis. The spells gave Tor pause, though. He had no magic available to him to counteract whatever the demon would use on him. The gifts Anubis had given Tor were immortality, the ability to shape-shift to take down evildoers and send them to the underworld and to will any weapon he needed into his hand. Magic spells weren’t part of the package.

  With time to kill before he could go back to the Luxor to meet up with Kenna, Tor decided some sword practice was what he needed to make the hours pass more quickly. He headed for his room to change into some other clothes. He’d have a strenuous workout, then take a shower before getting ready for his very first date. And if he was lucky, he’d get a chance to see if Kenna could actually be his.

  * * * * *

  Kenna had to force herself to stop looking at the clock on the computer screen in front of her every few minutes. It wasn’t going to make the end of her shift come any sooner, nor have Tor show up.

  For the rest of the day, she’d only gone through the motions of what were her duties at work, her mind half the time a million miles away, focused on the man she looked forward to seeing again.

  Twenty minutes before Kenna’s shift was to end, her manager, Carol, came behind the reception desk to talk to her. Carol was part of the reason Kenna loved her job so much. The other woman was a dream to work with. Having started at the bottom and working her way up to her current management position, Carol didn’t look down her nose at any of those under her since she’d been in their place at one time. She was also about ten years older than Kenna.

  “So I heard you had a bit of a run-in with someone who wanted to give you a hard time,” Carol said.

  Kenna knew exactly who Carol referred to—the man Tor had chased off. “How did you learn about that?”

  Her manager chuckled. “I received an irate phone call from him. He wanted me to suspend you without pay, and to make sure guests like the one who was rude to him were never allowed in the Luxor. I’m interested to hear about this other man.” Carol winked.

  Kenna smiled and shook her head. “I can’t believe the idiot called you, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since he didn’t want to take no for an answer, no matter how many times I told him it was against hotel policy. I’d thought for sure Tor would have shut him up.”

  “Tor, huh? I take it this is the gues
t he talked about?”

  “Yeah, though Tor isn’t a guest. At least I’m pretty sure he isn’t. I’ll find out once he takes me out for dinner at the end of my shift.”

  “In that case, I’d better hang around to see this knight in shining armor who saved you from the idiot. So what does Tor look like?”

  “Tall, dark, handsome, and as Nick would say, built like a brick shithouse.”

  “Oh, he sounds delicious. I can always go for some eye candy. You know old married ladies like me need to get some of that every now and then.”

  “As if you don’t have any of that every day. I’ve met your husband, remember? Malcolm is gorgeous, and you know it.”

  Carol laughed. “True, but I can still appreciate other good-looking men.”

  “That’s true,” Kenna said with a laugh.

  “And I think your tall, dark and sexy just arrived,” Carol said as she jerked her head to a spot behind Kenna. “Wow. With that tanned skin and dark looks, he really is exotic-looking.”

  Kenna turned around to see Tor headed toward the reception desk. “Yeah, he is. Plus, he has a slight accent I can’t place.”

  Carol nudged her in the side. “Hon, whatever you do, don’t let that one go. There aren’t too many like him around, especially ones who aren’t taken. If you’re not careful some other woman will snap him up.”

  She watched Tor come closer. “Don’t worry. I plan to hold on to him. I just have to make it past this first date.”

  “You’ll do fine. He’s about five minutes early, but you can go. I don’t mind covering until the next shift starts. Have fun.”

  “Thanks, Carol,” Kenna said as she grabbed her purse. She then walked around the counter to meet Tor.

  He was dressed in a dark-gray, button-down shirt tucked into black jeans. He looked sexy as hell. Kenna wanted to sink her hands into the sides of his thick, black hair and plunder his mouth as she rubbed up against his sinfully hard body. Her pussy clenched just from thinking about it. Maybe sleeping with Tor on the first date wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. It had been a while since a man had given her a good orgasm.