Fateful (24 page)

Concern for her flickered to life in his
eyes, but he didn’t release her from the overpowering stare.
“Danielle, please fight it,” he appealed gently.

“I’m trying,” she breathed weakly.

“What would happen if I let go of you
now?”

“I would drop to the floor.”

She could almost hear the disappointment in
his breathing. Clearly Ethan had been hoping his effect on her
would be weaker at night, but it wasn’t, it was stronger.

Ethan let his stimulating breath wash over
her again in a second attempt. She took it deeply into her lungs.
Her eyes rolled back and closed, her head lulled backward as her
body went limp, and she groaned in response.

“Fight it!” Ethan commanded, as he tightened
the arm around her waist and then curled the fingers of his other
hand around the back of her head to cradle it, but not force it up.
Ethan dipped his lips to the hollow below her chin to offer an
encouraging kiss, then spoke softly in her ear. “Fight, Danielle,
fight.” he ordered.

She moaned. She knew she had to fight and
knew that’s what he wanted from her. So she struggled against the
magic taking her, until finally she was able to lift her head. She
grasped fistfuls of his shirt into her trembling hands.

“That’s it! Yes, Danielle, spar with the
magic!”

She leaned her head against his firm chest,
exhausted. That took a lot more out of her than she’d anticipated,
but somehow she’d managed it. She rested herself from his power for
a moment, trying to control her breathing.

After a short rest, her determination
renewed, and she was ready to try again. Danielle met his eyes to
see if she could hold her success. She felt a little less weak this
time, but then a new sensation began to devour her. She felt an
incredible urge to kiss him, and pushed up onto her toes to reach
his mouth.

Ethan stopped her just inches away from his
delectable lips. “No, Danielle, that’s the curse talking.”

“Are you sure?” she whispered appealingly,
trying to go for a kiss again.

“Yes.” He chuckled softly as he
prevented her from kissing him again. “You
want
me to bite you, remember?”

“No, I want to kiss you,” she argued
dreamily, gliding her fingers along the sides of his attractive
face.

“Danielle, please get control of yourself. I
can’t let you kiss me now, definitely not on the lips. It wouldn’t
be safe,” he demanded capturing her wrists.

Having to fight this side of the curse
had never occurred to her, apparently being one aspect of it that
she’d neglected to discern—the part where the victim
asks
to be bitten. She understood it
now, but she really didn’t care anymore. She still wanted to kiss
him, and she didn’t want to fight it. Danielle had kissed him
before, so she couldn’t see how this was different.

She was practically throwing herself at him
now.

Ethan struggled with her pawing at him before
he sighed and shook his head—he wasn’t going to allow it. She was
lucky he did happen to be a true gentleman and would never take
advantage of her because, Heaven knows, she would have let him.

He lifted Danielle into his arms while she
struggled, playfully intoxicated and carried her to the bed, tucked
her in under the sheets tightly, and held her down. “Danielle, you
still need to fight it. I know you don’t want to, but you must
fight,” he demanded.

She knew what he was saying was true, she was
losing the battle and he would be forced to leave her. The thought
of him leaving, because of her, sobered her a little.

“Oh, Ethan…” she groaned. Danielle pulled one
hand free and reached for his face, but then stopped herself before
she touched him. She was fighting an internal battle brought on by
his seductive curse. She withdrew as she struggled to curb her
reaction, and rolled away from him, grasped her bed sheets and
tugged them up over her head. She had to gather herself. She had to
bridle the cravings from this intense magic.

She could feel him sitting on the bed next to
her. And she knew he was waiting patiently for her to gain control
of herself as he placed an encouraging hand on her waist.

Danielle waited under the sheets for her
breathing to become regular while she wrestled with herself
mentally. Her mind cleared gradually, but not completely. When she
felt like she was ready to continue, Danielle pulled the sheets
down, and rolled to face him again. She took one big breath in
through her nose and exhaled slowly through her mouth. “’Kay …
sorry … let’s try again,” she said softly.

Ethan leaned forward to let his
enchanting eyes pierced right through her again.
Dang it!
She really did want him to
bite her now. She clenched her teeth,
I
can fight it. I must fight it!

Danielle attempted to distract herself this
time by talking to him. “So what are you feeling right now? How is
this affecting you?” she asked through gritted teeth as she fought
the craving to kiss him, and give up her life to him.

“This isn’t a piece of cake for me either.
You smell much more appetizing to me right now. It’s a good thing
I’m not thirsty or I might have bitten you earlier. And,” he added
slowly, “it is very tempting for me to take advantage of the effect
my powers have on you.”

She leaned up onto her elbows, but kept her
teeth held together tightly. It took so much effort to control
herself. She believed he had to be fighting as hard as she was,
even though he appeared to be in more control than her.

“We can’t kiss right now, can we?” She wasn’t
really asking, she already knew the answer as she was beginning to
understand.

“No. That would be flirting with temptation,
which is never a smart thing to do. The layers of this curse are
powerful and intense. I can control some aspects of it if I keep my
eyes and the full potency of my breath from you, but—you can taste
it when I kiss you, can’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I can taste you too, and that would be
disastrous at night with this curse.”

She moaned. “Is there any hope for us?” she
asked desperately; dropping back into her pillow as she ran fingers
through her hair in frustration.

“I think there is because we
are
fighting it right
now.”

“True, but we couldn’t do this all
night.”

“Probably not. However, I believe we could go
longer if I kept the pure essence of it from you, which definitely
means no kissing,” he conceded. “I think we now know what happens
at night. It is stronger, but we can fight it, and that’s good…. Do
you want me to leave now?”

“Um, no … yes … no…. Honestly, I don’t know
what I want,” she admitted angrily, then rolled away from him and
threw a fist into her pillow.

Ethan placed his comforting hands on her
shoulders and whispered in her ear. “Danielle, I will find the cure
to this curse, I promise.” He kissed her hair fleetly as his
fingers combed through her locks. Then rubbing her back, he spoke
softly into her ear again. “I’m leaving now. You did great, be
proud of yourself. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He left through the
window without another word.

Danielle lay in her bed, alone in her room,
feeling utterly alone as she sank into sudden depression. She was
living in her own fairytale, and felt like Cinderella—when the
clock strikes midnight the magic ends. Except in her case, the
magic begins and the fairytale ends. Her handsome, yet cursed
Prince Charming is then forced to leave her before he is tempted to
kill her, with her, all the while begging him to do it. What a
twisted fairytale.

* * * * *

Danielle awoke feeling the same bruising
frustrations still punching her.

And she had to fight back.

She didn’t normally exercise two days in a
row, but she was driven with a maddening need this morning.
Danielle was glad the fairy juice had worked so well on her
overtaxed muscles. She felt none of the stiffness from the day
before that she certainly should have.

Hastily getting dressed into her workout
clothing, she didn’t bother to eat breakfast before heading
straight for the garden, armed with her portable iPod dock. She set
her iPod, which was loaded with head-banging, screaming music, into
the dock and pressed play. Danielle had the need to bash something,
even if it was just the air. This behavior wasn’t very “girly” of
her, but it was something learned from five years of karate
training, rather than a trait that came naturally to her.

The lush, fragrant garden remained cheerful
despite her hostile mood.

She skipped the Pilates and yoga parts of her
routine, which were inappropriately relaxing for her current mood.
She hit play aggressively, closed her eyes, and settled into
guarding stance while she waited for the hard music to begin.

The cheery garden seemed to resent the music
as it pounded its way through the once calm air.

Danielle threw all of her energy into each
punch, block and kick. She fiercely clobbered the air through
several banging songs until she began to get tired. She didn’t want
to overwork her muscles again so she started her cool down.

Feeling her heart rate slow, she thought of
Ethan, and felt her eyebrows draw together. She’d forgotten that he
could be there watching. Shocked at herself for forgetting such an
obvious thing, she opened her eyes abruptly. He was there,
peacefully lying on the grass a few feet in front of her with a
smile spread across his noble face. Amusement frolicked in his
eyes.

Danielle stared at him as he lounged quietly
before her, adding mythical beauty to the already mythical
garden.

She couldn’t help but feel chagrined about
his seeing this uncharacteristic side of her. But he only beamed a
heart-stopping smile of admiration in her direction. She was
puzzled by that, thinking it may now be his turn to run from
her.

He lifted himself lithely from the grass and
stood right in front of her, with his blue eyes filled with
adoration. “Feel better now?” he asked in an alluring voice.

“A little.” However, she still felt
frustrated over their situation.

Ethan wrapped his well toned arms around her
and tugged her into a firm hug. She responded to that, it seemed to
be exactly what she needed. Danielle buried her nose into his thick
shoulder and relished in the consoling, nicely scented embrace.
This was so different than it was at night. It may have made her
feel slightly dazed, but in a comforting sort of way. After a few
delightful moments of that, Ethan leaned back, tipped her face to
his and gave her the kiss she’d wanted so badly last night.
Danielle consumed it gratefully as it further soothed her soul.

The dark magic was weakened, the gentle
prince was back and the fairytale had returned.

“Feel better
now
?” he asked seductively.

“Immensely,” she breathed. “Why didn’t you do
that earlier?”

Ethan chuckled as it seemed the memory of
watching her replayed in his head. “I enjoyed that way too much to
stop you.”

“Are you sure you aren’t disappointed in what
you witnessed? You saw my dark side.”

“If that’s your dark side, then I’m even more
charmed.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Yes, I am. I’m crazy in love with a fearsome
enchantress,” he said, his voice always dripping with that hot
accent.

Was that the first time he’d said that word
to her? Before she got very far with that thought, however, Ethan
focused the force of his gaze on her, and with that he showed her
why he loved her and why she loved him back. There was no darkness
in the magic now, only that familiar man from her forgotten
pre-life gazing back at her.

“I do have a surprise for you that I thought
might cheer you up,” he said.

“You’ve already cheered me up, how could
there be more?”

“I still need to go pick it up. But I want
you to meet me at my place later this afternoon.”

“How will I get there?”

“Just take Bri’s car.”

Danielle’s smile fell. “But I’ll just get
lost and it’s confusing enough for me to drive on the left side of
the road. Do you not know my weakness by now? Can’t you come get
me?”

“I have to travel too far to run this errand,
and we’ll lose too much sunlight together if you require me to come
get you. I’m sure you can do it. I’ll enter the address into your
GPS,” he offered encouragingly.

“I’m not sure that’ll help,” she grumbled as
she pulled her long face on.

“What happened to my brave Danielle?” he
questioned, sweetly reproving her for her doubt.

“Ever heard of Achilles’ heel?”

“I think you can overcome it. But if
you don’t want this surprise we can just forget it.”
Oh great, now he’s resorting to blackmail.
“Fine, Ethan, but this had better be good,” she said
unsmiling.

“Trust me,” he breathed charmingly. “Go take
your shower. I’ll see you at two-thirty sharp. Don’t be late,” he
said, before kissing her on the forehead and stepping back. He then
left the garden with a wave.

Danielle sighed, gathered up her musical
weapons, and went inside to eat before she showered. While she
munched on a bowl of cold cereal, she wondered what the surprise
could be.

After showering, she entered her room and
noticed her GPS on the unmade bed. That had been in Brianna’s car
... so how did it get here? Her eyes landed on the closed window,
he couldn’t have come in that way during the day could he? Or
rather had he snuck through the house like some thief? Nervous for
a moment, she tugged the bathrobe tighter, wondering if he could
still be in her room.