Atlantis Unmasked by Alyssa Day Page A

fighter. A commander now, even. Not a giggly teenager with her first crush on a man. No matter that he’d kissed her like a starving man devouring a feast, and she, the feast.
    Forget the damn kiss, already.
    â€œCoffee?” he prompted, amusement shimmering in his eyes, as if he could hear her ridiculous thoughts. Oh. God.
    â€œCan you read minds?” she blurted out.
    A slow, sexy smile spread over his face and every nerve ending in her body wanted to sing and dance. Even his teeth were gorgeous. Somehow, those sexy eyes and that sinful smile, combined with the sheer virile presence of the man, caused the scars to fade into insignificance.
    â€œIf I assure you that I cannot, may I have some of that coffee? It was a late night last night, and my head is not yet recovered.”
    The blush burned through her cheeks again, so she quickly turned away to find a clean mug. This first encounter was not going at all as planned. She was supposed to be smooth, capable, and in command, and she couldn’t even manage to give the poor man a cup of coffee.
    â€œCream and sugar?”
    â€œNo, thank you.”
    She handed him the mug and their fingers touched as he took it. A shock jolted through her at the contact, and her startled gaze flew up to meet his, but he showed no sign that he’d felt it. Probably just static electricity, not a sign of “someday my prince will come back from wherever he’d run away to ” nonsense.
    Not that she believed in princes.
    â€œWhy were you up so late?”
    He did a quick scan of the area, empty except for the two of them, then leaned forward. “The prince was born.”

Chapter 7

    Grace did a peculiar double take at his words. “The prince. Of course the prince was born,” she muttered, almost to herself, briefly closing her very expressive eyes.
    He ruthlessly stole those moments to drink in the sight of her, from the rich chestnut hair glowing in the sunlight, to the high cheekbones that reminded him of the Native American peoples of the Midwestern states, to her rich golden skin. Just seeing her again, seeing the lovely curves that perfectly balanced her long, lean body, was like a balm to his ravaged nerves.
    It terrified him.
    He’d been wrong to tell Ven he could handle working closely with Grace. There was nothing about this situation that he was going to be able to handle.
    She finally opened her eyes. “Is everybody okay? I felt . . .”
    â€œI’ll be fine,” he snapped.
    â€œWell, I’m glad,” she said, tilting her head and drawing those lovely dark brows together in puzzlement. “But I meant the baby and his mother. Are they well?”
    He ground his teeth together at his own stupidity. Ven would be laughing his ass off if he were here to witness this conversation. One sight of her exotically beautiful face and Alexios’s mind had turned into sautéed jellyfish. Which almost made sense after the bolt of electricity that had damn near sizzled his insides just from the touch of her fingers on the coffee mug. The exact same electricity that had turned him into a lightning rod when he’d kissed her.
    He thought he’d done a good job of hiding that reaction, though. Maybe.
    â€œThey are well. Riley, very recently wed to High Prince Conlan, had a difficult pregnancy, but both are well. Prince Aidan has an extremely large head, but they tell us that is normal with newborns.”
    She laughed, and the sound rang in his ears like Atlantean shell chimes. Liquid, melodious, and so rich in tone that he wanted to instantly become a funnier man so he could make her laugh all the time.
    He was in seriously deep trouble.
    â€œYes, it’s very normal. Poor Riley,” she said, grinning. “Because of course you came out and told her this, right?”
    â€œNo, I did not. However, Brennan may have pointed it out.”
    â€œI don’t think I’ve met Brennan. What’s he like,