Dangerous Lovers (163 page)

I’m a fucking L-O-S-E-R...that’s what!

Talking into his chest she answered, “Nothing happened. I’m just such a loser. I’ve never been to a party or a dance. I’ve never even worn a dress, or shoes other than those stupid boots for as long as I can remember. I’m not playing the sympathy card here, but that was my life. I don’t know how to dance. That’s why I’m worried about embarrassing you. All those people there will be so refined and then there will be me ... making a total fool out of myself. I may look okay, but I’ll still be a loser. I won’t know how to act in that setting. I don’t know what to even expect.”

“Okay, fair enough. I can teach you all of that. But will you at least agree to try the damn shoes on?”

She sniffed first, then laughed and said, “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Come.”

She sat on the coffee table and he knelt in front of her and helped her with the shoes. They had a platform so they weren’t as bad as she’d initially thought they would be.

“Well?” he asked.

Pretend Liasare. Act!

“Not too bad. I’m a tad wobbly though.”

He observed as she walked around the room.
Gods, the woman is exquisite, he thought. Everything about her is perfect. She is incredibly sexy in those shoes.

Jurek had a smile on his face as he stared at her. He wasn’t one to smile often, so this was certainly a rare occasion. Liasare looked at him for his opinion.

“How do I look?”

“Do you really have to ask?”

“What I mean is when I walk. Do I look like I’m about to crash and burn? I’ve seen women wearing these contraptions before that had no business wearing them and they looked like hell. I don’t want anyone thinking that about me.”

“No worries there,” he said curtly.
There won’t be anyone looking at you thinking you look like hell. Quite the opposite Davidson ... they’ll be thinking you’re an angel from heaven. Most likely I’ll have to beat them off with sticks all night.

“Really?”

“What do you want me to say? That you look like a graceful ballerina doing a fouette en tournant?”

“Very funny.”

“I’m not trying to be funny. You should know that by now. I’m not known for my robust sense of humor.”

“Right you are. So what should I expect?”

Chapter Eleven

Two nights later, Liasare and Jurek arrived at the soiree dressed to the nines--she in her burgundy dress, platforms and diamonds and he in his black pants, black sport coat and crisp white linen shirt, unbuttoned halfway down his chest. He had let her use his quarters to get ready as Jaylen had come to prepare Liasare’s hair. Liasare’s tiny room in which she slept, located off the locker room wouldn’t have suited; it was barely large enough to hold her cot. When she walked out to meet him, it was difficult to tell which one was more unnerved.

Liasare was instantly aroused when she looked at him.

Holy cannoli, I’m gonna have to go change my panties. Look at the man!

He oozed sexuality. She wanted to run her hands inside his shirt right before she tore it off of him. He was clean-shaven and his soft black hair was brushed back and had been neatly trimmed. It was still long, almost brushing his shoulders, and she was happy because she loved it like that. It made her want to tangle her fingers in it as she drew his face to hers. With those thoughts, his scent seemed to increase and envelop her. He lifted her hand to his mouth, but right before it reached his lips, he turned it over and placed a kiss on her palm and then on the inside of her wrist.

“You look more beautiful than I ever imagined,” he whispered.

Not as beautiful as you. Damn! That voice, that scent. Combustion time.

“Thanks,” she replied shyly. “Just don’t let me do a face plant.” She kept stealing glances beneath her lashes at him. He was so damned attractive it was difficult to tear her eyes away.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you. Ready?” he asked, his lips curving into a smile.

“As I’ll ever be.”
And then some,
she thought as she felt her damp panties between her legs when she began walking.

The place was packed with strange beings from places Liasare was unfamiliar with. Jurek would either whisper or send her telepathic messages of what she needed to know about who may be important. She would be his eyes and ears for the evening, concentrating on things he would be unable to. His arm was firmly around her waist and remained there for almost the entire evening. They mingled with Xanthians, which Liasare found most distasteful. Several times, Jurek squeezed her waist, indicating his displeasure at her actions or remarks.

“You must put these feelings aside and be a better performer Liasare. This is not a game,” he whispered harshly in her ear. Then he kissed her neck, intending to cover up their heated words as a lover’s quarrel.

“I’m trying dammit. It’s hard when those fuckers stink worse than...”

“Don’t say it. We need to come up with some other colorful metaphors for you. Shit, fuck and those other nasty words you employ shouldn’t come from such an exquisite mouth.”

“Okay, how about I call them McStinkies?”

His lips crashed into hers before she barely finished speaking and caught her off guard. Roughly pulling her into his arms, he kissed her mercilessly, showing no tenderness. Moving them behind a curtain and out of the view of everyone, he continued exploring her mouth. Liasare wasn’t expecting this, but the moment his lips touched hers, all bets were off. His lips were controlling, demanding. And that damn scent of his was making her nearly drunk with its exotic spiciness. She wrapped her arms around his neck and slid her fingers into his hair. If she were anywhere else, she would be unbuttoning his shirt too.

Liasare suddenly felt her feet leave the floor as he moved his hands beneath her ass and lifted her up in his arms, groaning into her mouth. Her lips felt swollen and bruised, but she couldn’t have cared less. She wanted more, and if it had to be here and now, then so be it. She was on fire for him, her skin burning from his touch, and all sane thoughts had fled her mind. The current that ran between them had burst into lethal flames and Liasare heard herself tell him, “I want more Jurek. Now.”

Her words brought him back to reality, to the present and to what he was about to do. He released her and gently pushed her away from him saying, “We have business to attend to.”

“Yeah, I guess we do,” she said, dropping her gaze to the floor.

Shit, how can he do this? Hot one minute, cold the next. What an asshole!

She wanted to be away from this place. She needed to save face, unfortunately right now, the only thing she wanted was to suck face...his face, all night long.

Why does he have to be so damn hot?

“Here.” He ran his thumb along her lip, wiping her lipstick so it wasn’t smeared. Then he straightened her hair. He took her clutch out of her hand and retrieved her lipstick and handed it to her so she could reapply it. Her hand was shaking so badly he grabbed it from her and did it for her. He grabbed a tissue out of her clutch and wiped his mouth. “Did I get it all?” he asked gruffly. She nodded as she reached out to brush his hair back into place with her hands. Thinking the better of it, she jerked her hands back to her sides. Touching him again would only add to her misery.

As she turned to walk away, he pulled her to him saying, “You and I are, well, it’s complicated Liasare.”

“Everything with you is complicated Jurek. Why don’t we just go back to being trainee and trainer? That way I understand the boundaries. No misconceptions. It’s less confusing then.” She headed back to the party.

***

An hour had passed when Liasare excused herself to use the restroom.

When she was walking back to the party, she saw two men in the corridor walking toward her. They were wearing nondescript clothing and as she got closer she gasped. One of them was her brother.

“Tommy!” He had no reaction, but continued to move forward.

“Thomas, stop!” Still, no reaction. She ran after him and pulled his arm, still eliciting no reaction from him. “Tommy stop. It’s me, your sister,” she shouted. They were close enough to the party that people were now turning to look. Instead of moving into the party room, the two men turned down another corridor and continued to walk.

Liasare ran ahead of them and turned to face them, walking backwards, reaching out to grab Tommy’s arm. As she did so, he stopped, pulled a weapon from his belt and said in a monotone, “Cease or I will fire.”

“Tommy, it’s me, your sister. Look at me dammit.”

She looked at his eyes to see nothing but dark emptiness. There was no recognition, nothing.

She moved to grab him again and he discharged his weapon.

The bullet entered her chest on the left side, but she was so shocked she simply stood there and stared at him as he stepped around her and kept walking. She sensed Jurek’s presence before she saw him and then her legs folded under her.

***

Voices, screaming, pain, fire, softness, warmth, comfort.
Sleep now.

Liasare awoke in Jurek’s bed. He was still sleeping. She needed to get up because she had to use the restroom...now. She slid out of bed and on the way gingerly felt her chest to find, no surprise there, the wound was healed. Her muscles felt slightly sore, but that was about it. It was handy to have a supernatural healer as a friend, she guessed. At least he was good for that.

When she was finished, she headed back to the bedroom to find Jurek sitting up.

“Care to enlighten me on what happened last night?”

“I was shot.”

“I do realize that. I am the one who healed you,” sarcasm lacing his words.

“I came out of the restroom and I saw these two men that had that vacant look in their eyes. Do you remember that day you saw me at the warehouse? I saw these two guys there that acted like they were drugged, like zombies. That’s exactly how these two men acted when I saw them. Vacant eyes. But Jurek, one of the men was my brother.”

“
What
? And you didn’t come to get me? Bloody fucking hell Davidson! Can’t you follow orders one fucking time? We’ve been over this a dozen times. And what’s the first thing you do? You abso-fucking-lutely screw it up! Goddammit!”

She’d never seen him this furious. Things started flying across the room, large things and small things. The violence in the room was near to exploding. She was terribly frightened by this side of him and she didn’t know what to do. Dodging the flying objects, she darted back into the bathroom, trying to escape him. The door crashed open behind her, ripped from its hinges, and he stood there as the room vibrated around him.

“You know what you are Davidson? You’re a massive fucking disaster waiting to happen. For the life of me, I don’t have a bloody damn idea of why I’m keeping you here because you’re about to fuck up everything I’ve done to smithereens.” The bathroom mirror came hurling off the wall and crashed to the floor in front of them into a hundred pieces, glass flying everywhere as Liasare screamed.

“I’m giving you one last chance. You screw up one more thing and you’re out. You got it? One more thing!”

Something in her mind finally snapped. Her eyes narrowed as a red haze began to form and her fear was replaced by rage so fierce she barely recognized her own voice as she fumed, “Yeah? Well, fuck you Jurek Herdekian. I didn’t even want to go to that damn fucking
SWARAYYY
. YOU’RE the one who begged me to go. ‘
I promise I won’t act like an ass. I’ll be the perfect gentleman.’
Blah, blah, blah. Well, fuck you and your promises.
You
didn’t keep them either. If I recall correctly, a
gentleman
doesn’t exactly seduce his date in the middle of a party behind a curtain and then suddenly call it off saying, ‘
It’s complicated.
’ So I’d say we’re even.”

“
Seduce
you? I
kissed
you Davidson. That’s it. I didn’t fucking seduce you. Christ! Why don’t you grow up already and quit acting like a little brat who wants her own way and start following my orders dammit?”

The shower door flew off the hinges and crashed to the floor behind them, making her jump.

“STOP THAT! That’s so wrong, on so many levels, for you to do that. You’re the one that’s acting like a little kid throwing a fucking temper tantrum.”

She marched out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, which was a huge mess. She was headed out the door when she realized she was wearing a pair of thong underwear and nothing else. Now
she
was furious.

Liasare headed for Jurek’s closet, in search of something to wear. She was so angry she was yanking items out of drawers, looking for something, anything she could put on that would fit. Sweats, shorts, even boxers...but she came up short. She headed back to the bathroom to get his robe. He stood there in his boxers, legs spread and arms crossed, watching her.