Divine Liaisons (10 page)

Chapter 15

I am such an idiot. I wasn't thinking fast enough. Right in the garage is the betraying Dodge Viper. If I'd only asked Dustin to look in the garage, I'd be with him now, instead of the Lethal Freak.

This time though,
if
he's telling the truth, which I think he is, I'll be close enough to Dustin to run to him, when my legs finally decide to come back to life.

Starting the Viper, reversing it out the garage not blocked by my car, music drowns out any attempt I'd have for interrogation.

Okay, I'm patient.

Using the journey to study him, noting we are taking the same route Dustin took, I watch him relaxing in his seat as if he was sitting in front of the TV, instead of driving an insanely fast throaty Dodge at a murderous speed.

He's too confident. I wonder how he'd like it if I broke his heart? He's intent on ruining my happiness. Well two can play at that game.

“
It's the injection you gave me, isn't it?”

He's too close, putting me down in his monochrome living room. I'm trying to distract myself by staying mentally alert.

“Hmmm?”

Sitting next to me, I now wish I hadn't said anything. He has one arm pinned either side of my legs, paused in his movement to answer me.

“That's why your name works when I'm with you. It's the infection,” I explain.

His eyes deepen, making the lightning flecks in them brighter.

“It's a long story. And in this, I'll admit I am being entirely selfish. Yes, I have tried to engineer your flight response around me, because when you flee, you're impossible to find.”

His focus is sharpening on my lips, “Your fight response, I left intact. I just needed to make sure you wouldn't run away. How else do I ever get you to sit still long enough to have a conversation?”

“A conversation, huh?” I arch my eyebrows, doing the sarcastic 'teeth on lip' suck.

His chuckle is delicious.

“You are astute. Far too astute.”

Moving again, he looks at the hearth; it flares to life with snaps and spits.

What the hell?

“
What would you like to drink? A hot drink, or alcohol?”

He's standing, winged black eyebrows shadowing his eyes into hollows because the lighting is so low in here.

“Coffee would be great, but I doubt I'd want to drink it through a straw.”

Smiling widely at me, his teeth are really white in comparison to his resin skin tone. Erra suits him. Erik was nothing to look at. When I don't want to kill him, he actually has a very nice smile.

“I'll give you a small amount of antidote to counteract the effects of your sedation.”

“
Shoot, you're so dang kind to me. You wouldn't stand a chance against me lucid and adrenalized.”

He loses the smile, twinkles flaring in the hollows of his eyes, “That's what I'm counting on.”

With him stalking away, I'm left alone to study raw stone walls, luxurious cream carpet, low slung couches, and interesting implements on the walls. You'd think they were ranch inspired, but the bridles aren't bridles, the metal hoops aren't from tackle, they're something else. This room is so spacious you could do two cartwheels without touching sides.

The fire crunches and flares, drawing my attention back to the hearth. How did he do that?

The windows reach the floor, and he's got a seriously big telescope aiming out into the night.

Voyeur.

A shadow darts through the arch, snaring my attention. He's walking toward me, having changed out of Erik's trousers, and back into snug black. Hmm, I can smell coffee.

Sitting next to me, he pushes my sleeve up, holding my wrist in a firm warm grip. Discomfort gags me when his other hand flicks over to reveal another syringe.

“Promise me you're not messing me up more,” I say.

“
My promise is meaningless. Proof is the only thing that'll satisfy you.”

Not the only thing. But he's next door, and I can't move yet.

He hides the insertion with his thumb, and I'm expecting pain, but none comes.

“
Give yourself two minutes, and you'll be able to walk around and hold things, but I doubt you'll have the strength to sprint.”

“
This is entirely unfair. What are you exactly? Because as things stand, I couldn't outrun you if I tried, so why not give me a fighting chance?”

“
You ask the wrong questions. In your shoes, I would ask who, not what. And I told you, I'd like a little conversation without you trying to claw my skin off.”

My reactions are diluted, and it's with muted frustration that I stare at him with my head heavy against the suede of the couch. He stares back; a wild storm in his gaze.

A man can say so much with just one look. It brands his words, liar.

“
It's time for you to let me go, Erra. I'm not yours. I have never been. Praying for it won't make it happen.”

Tragedy shutters his eyes to wasp black, “That's where you're wrong.”

“I'm not wrong.”

He's still holding my arm, the thumb rubbing slowly back and forth, distracting me.

He leans in, his eyes so close I can clearly see each individual constellation in the midnight of his irises.

“
If you dared to drop the anger, you'd know I do not lie. You wear your rage like armor. It's the only thing you've got to save you from us.”

“
Us? Ha.”

But his faint music is rubbing against my skin, trickling and pooling in the hollows of collar bones, and my heart is pounding. It's fear, not lust. Not a thrill of excitement.

Is it?

“
Nice try. Stop messing with my head.”

Except my voice is all windswept, throaty and needy. Ugh. What the hell did he just stick in my arm?

“Are you challenging me to give it my best shot?”

His voice is steady, running true, without a hint of emotion tarnishing his tone.

Am I? Yes, darn it. I am. There's nothing here. Prove it to him.

“
Yes,” I say. Smugly defiant; overly confident.

I just secretly flexed my other hand, and the strength is quickening back in my veins. I can fight back!

Keeping my wrist in his grasp, his fingers tighten, deliberately restraining me.

I should have known he'd do this. He depletes the inch of air between us, connecting lips, his other hand curling fingers around my throat, while he savages my mouth like a beast ripping a throat out.

Focusing, closing my eyes; I launch with the tension supporting my back, kneeing him, shoving his shoulder to twist him, slinking under him and onto the floor. I springboard up, and run.

Flung round like a lasso when he doesn't let go, the hand on my wrist flips me off my feet, hurled horizontally through the air and slammed back onto the couch. My breath is coming quick, gripping his hand, I shove back against his arms with every muscle straining.

His laughter swirls around us, his face almost glowing with cheer.

Diving under his elbow, twisting our arms so one of us has to let go, I brace against his back, digging my heels in, my arms contorting in an aching strain, fighting his strength for all I'm worth.

“You lost, Erra. Your kiss did nothing. Let go.”

Roughly drawn back past the underside of his arm, he rams the point of his elbow under my heart, winding me. Leaning into the elbow, his bulging muscles are clearly etched into his black shirt.

“I wasn't finished. Benefit of the doubt, Sarah. Play fair, or I won't either.”

This is tickling my hidden sadist.

I am going to break your heart into so many pieces you'll never fix it. I'm going to yo-yo you into despair.

Slumping against the gray padding, I stare up at him, deliberately injecting guile into my gaze.

“Okay. Try again. Put a little effort into it this time.” My tone is purring, husky, saturated with desire.

I can be anything you want. And just when you trust me, I'm going to slice your throat into a smile.

Arching his eyebrow, his mouth slashes into a half-smile. “Put some effort into it? Cruel
and
coy, how fetching.”

My breathing is still ragged from connecting to the chair, and it's working magic, because his gaze keeps darting down to my cleavage.

“Try me. Let my arms go, and
I'll
kiss
you
. If you're going to be sticking your tongue in my mouth, at least do it with some finesse.” I'm deliberately licking my lips, inhaling so my breasts brush against him, speaking and looking to his mouth as if I can't wait to delve in there and rape it.

His body is rigid tense, but he carefully loosens his grasp, keeping his hands poised to reclaim my wrists if need be. I guess the eye gouge left a lasting impression.

Still staring at his mouth to hide my mild victory from his eyes, I slip my hands to his face, cupping it, and ever so tenderly putting my lips to his.

Snaking closer, pressing myself squashed against him, getting him off balance, I tilt my head, softly sliding my tongue between his lips, waiting for them to part. When they do, I keep pushing forward, falling with him onto the floor, straddling legs on either side of his hips, still delicately holding his face, and kissing him as if it's the last wish of a dying woman.

Drawing back, I depress our lips together, satisfied with the way his breathing's changed, and the slackness of his hands. Using the moment, I lean all my weight on his wrists, pinning knees on his elbows.

Sitting erect, I stare down, “Nope, sorry. This is me, leaving.”

Ready to uncoil the adrenaline in my legs and flee, he rolls me over faster than static shock, and I'm fully held down under his weight.

Shit.

“Okay, let's see if I'm a fast learner.”

He put the growl on, his baritone vibrating through my chest, jamming up my insides with fluffy purring. Slanting his body so it's pressured between my legs, which is my own bloody fault for straddling him in the first place, he's holding my wrists down hard.

His kiss is murderously slow, so soft and deliberate, my body thrums into ecstatic frenzy.

Closing my eyes, hiding them, I'm holding fast to the belief it's fear, not attraction.

The sound coming off his skin is sending chirping crickets through my veins, and every time I inhale, it's sweet and wild. Melting syrup basting desert sky, sweet.

I'm dissolving from the inside. His soft touch slides over my tongue, flicking my palate, sucking my cheeks in with an inhale, letting them go when he moves back in, vacuuming my tongue into his sedating heat to tease it with a nip between teeth, setting it free only to suck my lip in and do the same thing, snaring it between teeth and sliding a seductive lick over it. Slowly he pulls away, my lip still in his mouth, finally letting it go.

I think I'm dizzy. The world is spinning, yet I know I'm lying still.

I'm mortified by the moan drumming its way out my throat when he slides his tongue from my jaw to my ear, sucking and nibbling the skin on my neck.

His voice is hoarse, barely discernible against the whooshing inside my ears. “If your nipples get any harder, you'll pierce through skin sweetheart.”

My world is tilting on its axis, and I'm afraid to speak. I'm afraid if I try, I'll be sick.

I'm weak.

A hand leaves my wrist, covering my breast, burning through the material and adhering to my skin. It's deceptively divine. If he takes his hand away, my skin will be stuck to it, leaving me raw. He's just going to have to keep it there now, so I don't die from hundred degree burns.

The ache is back. The deep slippery ache of desire. It's hollowing out my hips, eating its way down my legs.

This isn't supposed to happen. This can't be happening.

I barely have the strength to breathe; my chest heaving, fighting to get its equilibrium back; his lips and hands, and heavy pressure, aren't helping.

My ears have shells stuck on them, because I can hear the ocean thrashing. My entire body is snugly blanketed and lethargic.

Maybe it was in the syringe? Maybe he injected me with something that gives me two minutes of strength, and then plummets me back into catatonic.

“
Sarah?” He says it like a lover's caress. Slow and measured, deep and comforting.

“
Hmmm?”

“
You've been lying here without moving for ten minutes.”

“
No, I haven't.”

“
Open your eyes.”

“
Why?”

“
Open them.”

I don't want to. I just want to lie here in this chamber of bliss. The whole world is suddenly so peaceful, and now he wants to ruin it.