Leaning forward, Mina lowered her voice. “It’s still amazing. I swear I lost count the first night.”
“Seriously?” Gabby fanned a perfectly manicured hand in front of her face. “Does he have a brother?”
“He does, but I don’t think they talk. From what I can tell, he’s not on good terms with any of his family.”
“Really.” Gaze locked on something over Mina’s shoulder, Gabby raised an eyebrow. “I wonder who he’s with, then.”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t that your man back there?” With a jerk of her chin, Gabby indicated the back of the restaurant.
Mina twisted around, her heart pounding wildly as she scanned the occupied tables. And sure enough, there was Cyrus, seated in a booth with another man.
“Son of a bitch.”
Her ass was off the seat before she’d even formulated a plan. Drink in hand, she strolled through the tables, her muscles practically vibrating with restrained fury as she came to stand beside their table.
“Funny, I don’t remember your new office being at a table in Scorpio’s Tiger.”
It surprised her how steady her voice was, when what she wanted to do was scream and rage. Though she did get some satisfaction at theOh, craplook she caught in his eyes for a moment before his smooth, polished smile was firmly in place.
“Mina. What a lovely surprise.”
Lovely? The warm greeting caught her off guard. If he was hiding something, shouldn’t he be angry at being confronted? Upset? Annoyed? “I thought you had to work late, Cyrus.”
Instead of answering, he rolled right over her and gestured to the man on the opposite side of the table. “Mina, this is my brother, Adrian. He came to town rather unexpectedly for the ceremony.”
“Mina…Ouranos, I believe? I’ve seen some of your work.” Adrian’s smile flashed, but it was nothing like his brother’s.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. The two were so alike, they could have passed for twins. On the surface, the curves of their mouths were nearly identical.
But when Cyrus smiled, even his professional, somewhat detached smile, there was some warmth to it. And when he smiled ather, there was always that hint of something wicked but delicious in the gesture.
All of that was missing in his brother. His smile was cold. Dangerous, and not in the sexy, fuck-me-against-a-wall way she’d glimpsed in Cyrus. More in a slit your throat and not even break a sweat kind of way.
All in all, Adrian Banks gave off an aura of someone she wanted to stay far, far away from. Which made Cyrus the lesser of two evils, even if he had lied to her, and had her inching towards him.
Towards safety.
When she moved, Adrian’s gaze shifted and his smile deepened. Not that it changed Mina’s initial impression of him. If anything, it only made him seem more threatening.
“And who do we have here?”
“Gabrielle Lascher.” Easing around Mina, Gabby held out her hand. Which Adrian took, not for a shake, but to press his lips to her knuckles, causing Gabby to inhale sharply.
Fuck.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, Adrian. But we have a table waiting for us, so we really should go.” Clamping her hand down on Gabby’s arm, Mina squeezed, hoping her friend would get the silent message.
She didn’t.
“Nonsense,” Adrian said with a wave of his hand. “We have plenty of room and we haven’t even ordered yet. And I would much rather have dinner with two beautiful women than with my stuffy older brother.”
“Really, we don’t want to intrude.” But Mina’s protests went ignored.
Tugging herself out of Mina’s grasp, Gabby slid onto the bench beside Adrian, her focus riveted on him. Her flirty Gemini side was out in full force as she leaned in, a teasing smile in place. “You know, it’s funny, I was literally just telling Mina I wished Cyrus here had a brother. What a coincidence.”
The smile on Adrian’s face spread and he flicked a look at Cyrus that Mina couldn’t quite read. “Or perhaps the stars merely aligned for us to meet. I know I am feeling rather blessed by the gods at the moment.”