Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series) (21 page)

           
Rubbing her hands nervously on her hips, Nadia glanced back up and caught the
piercing look that Drake was giving her. He walked over to where she was still
standing at the entrance to the foyer. Within seconds he was close enough for
Nadia to smell the clean, woodsy soap he had used, and she could see water
droplets sliding from the ends of his hair onto his shoulders. She balled her
fingers into fists as he propped his hip against the back of a tall, decorative
table behind his sofa.

           
“Usually, when a woman asks me out on a date she looks a bit more interested
than you do at the moment.” His hands came to either side of his hips on the
table and Nadia could see the strength in his arms and shoulders undulate
beneath his skin.

           
“It technically wouldn’t be a date.” How she was able to form those words, she
had no idea. Her mouth was as dry as the Sahara at the moment. It seemed every
drop of moisture in her body had pooled south.

           
Oh, don’t think about that certain part of your anatomy. The one that is
pulsing, clenching, and basically screaming at you to do anything, something,
to get your hands on this man.

           
Nadia blinked, trying to focus on why she was here.

           
“
Darlin
,’ it would be a date if I accompany you there
and stay by your side the whole evening.” He wasn’t smiling, but Nadia had the
feeling that he wanted to. Those eyes of his said enough for him not to.

           
“The only reason I need you, specifically, is because I have it on good
authority that Donavan will be attending. Now I know I have the restraining
order but…” She glanced around, trying to look anywhere besides at Drake. She
didn’t want to come out and say that she felt safe under his watch. Although
that was exactly what she
would
have to say if she wanted his help. “I
feel…no, I
would
feel safer if you were there with me.”

           
His face was hard and showed no emotion, but she knew he was upset to know that
Donavan would be going. Eyes that could be so warm with humor were now as hard
as diamonds. “Of course I will go with you, especially now that I know for a
fact he will be showing up also.”

           
“What about your date? Won’t she be upset?” Jealousy burned in her gut, but she
needed to know if he had planned for someone to come with him.

           
“She’ll get over it. Right now you need me more.”

           
You need me more.

           
Such a smooth talker he was, but she knew from the determined look on his face
that he meant every single word.

           
“Ah…good, thanks, so I need to leave out the day before to make sure things are
going according to plan, since my company is heading this gala.” Nadia kept her
gaze resolutely right over his shoulder. She wasn’t too sure if she could
handle looking him in the eyes right now. “My flight is scheduled for eight on
Friday morning and…”

           
“Cancel it.”

           
Her gaze flew to his. “Excuse me?”

           
He shrugged his shoulders. “Cancel it. I have a private plane. We can use that so
we can both go at the same time. More convenient that way, don’t you think?”

           
“Um…sure, I guess.” Oh God, this was totally getting out of hand. “I can do
that. Do you think we can still leave at the scheduled time?”

           
“I can inform my pilot and he will schedule accordingly.” Strong, hard arms
wrapped around each other in front of his huge chest.

           
“Okay,” She mumbled. This was all starting to feel a bit surreal and totally
out of her control. “I’m staying at my usual, the Coventry Condos Villa. I can
call and see if they have another opening for you. Unless you stay somewhere
else whenever you head up there?”

           
“You can cancel that too, if you want. I have my private condo downtown, not
too far from the ballroom where the gala will be.” Caramel eyes sparkled at
some private joke. “Unless you would feel safer across town, far away from me
and ten minutes out of the way from police, should you need
them.
”

           
Lila chose that moment to sniff at Nadia’s fingers. Since she was in such a
daze from the turnaround that the past ten minutes had given her, she barely
noticed the dog’s attention. Just how could she turn down that offer when it
made so much sense? And he knew it, the wretch. He knew he could get her with
that last statement, offering her protection and safety basically on a silver
platter, holding it right there, under her nose.

           
“I’ll think about that.” Oh and she would, but it would be for totally
different reasons.

           
“I’m not trying to bulldoze you
darlin
,’ but you need
to realize that Donavan is not what you thought. I’m not saying he’s going to
try anything, but wouldn’t you feel more secure if you were with someone you
knew,
and not by yourself across town if he did try
something stupid?”

           
She listened and realized he was telling the truth. She honestly didn’t think
Donavan would do anything, but how did she know for sure? Look at what he had
done when she had thought she’d known him.

           
“You’re right,” she fiddled with her purse strap. “Okay…whatever.” Damn, she
felt so lost. What in the hell was she doing? She was putting herself in a load
of trouble.

           
“Good, everything’s
gonna
be fine, you’ll see. At
least this way I can watch you without having to worry about you being so far
away with no protection.”

           
She really wished he wouldn’t say things like that. Nodding absently she
studied the fine grain on his wood floors.

           
“I need to go. But thanks for agreeing with me on this.” She told him, finally
able to look him in the eyes, before tearing her gaze away and turning back for
the door. Her fingers closed around the metal handle when she felt his hand
come up to her shoulder.

           
Please don’t touch me. You’ll only make things worse, so much worse.

           
He turned her and immediately pulled her into a hug. Her body was small, so
very small against his, and she only came up to his upper chest. All the sexual
tension she had been feeling for the past ten minutes faded as he gave her a
comforting hug, one that meant to console, not arouse. Nadia blinked back tears
as his hands caressed her upper back. So much strength in his hands, and never
once did he move to an area that he shouldn’t touch. He stayed perfectly
proper, and her heart all but melted when he spoke deeply above her head.

           
“I’m glad that you came to me with this, you hear?” His mouth nuzzled the top
of her head and Nadia felt faint. “Don’t ever assume that I won’t drop
everything to help you.”

           
Tears slipped out from beneath her closed eyes and she nodded. Her fingers were
clasped around his hard upper arms and his skin was scorching hot, but to Nadia
it felt like home, like somewhere that she had been searching for, for a long,
long time.

           
“Things will get better and regardless of Donavan being there or not, you will
have a good time next week. I won’t allow it to be otherwise.” He gave her
crown a gentle kiss then pulled away and opened the door wider. “Goodnight
, angel…call
me when you get home,
kay
?”
His hands moved her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ears as he
gave her a gentle, killing smile.

           
Nadia nodded, not knowing what to say in return, and walked out the door.

***

           
Was he trying to kill himself? Did he really have to make things, or parts of
his anatomy, any harder than they should be?

           
Drake shook his head and let Lila out to do her business in the backyard. She
belonged to Alana, a fellow Druid. He was only watching her for the weekend
while Alana had business to deal with in Houston.

           
Thinking back to Nadia, he wondered just exactly what good could come from what
he had done. He had practically invited her to spend the night with him,
in
his condo
, in Dallas. Not to mention he would be around her
all night
long at the gala, because there was no way in hell that Donavan would get
within those 100 feet that he shouldn’t be in at all, not while Drake had
anything to say about it.

           
At first he hadn’t believed his eyes when he saw her standing in his foyer. He
had heard her come in, but he hadn’t known who it had been. If he had, he might
have put some clothes on first. Then he remembered the awed look on her face.
Nah, if he had a chance to do it over again, he would do it the exact same way.
The look on her face had been priceless.

           
She had been flustered beyond all reason. Her speech and mannerisms had given
her away. Drake couldn’t make his body frame smaller than what it was, and he
doubted she was actually afraid of him anyway, but he sensed that his largeness
had something to do with her anxiety. But the vitals she had shown him in those
few minutes were very telling. Blood had pulsed low in her body. He could
almost
feel
the clench of feminine muscles, and taste the sexual
excitement boiling in her blood. Yeah, there was no doubt in his mind that she
was attracted to him, deathly so. God, he didn’t need that, not tonight. He
would go to sleep tonight with the look of her imprinted on his brain. Prim,
tailored pantsuit, crisp red undershirt peeping out from beneath the starched
edges of the lapels, bright red high heeled shoes had almost given him a heart
attack. Those sexy, red pumps had given him a small glimpse into Nadia’s head
and he knew she had a sensual, wild side hidden deep inside somewhere. Dear
God, he wanted to be the man that made it come out, with a vengeance.

           
His fangs pricking his lower lip, Drake growled, but knew he had to stop these
images from bombarding him. But he couldn’t, he couldn’t stop from seeing Nadia
standing there so primly in his home, long black hair falling past her
shoulders, light green eyes huge in her face as if shocked by the way she was
responding to him. He couldn’t stop from imagining his hands pulling the
clothes from her body and showing her how good it could be between them.

           
No, don’t do this to yourself Thompson! She can’t be yours. Remember Marie,
remember what happened. Don’t fall into that tailspin again.

           
Of course, he knew better. But the lines between Nadia and him were starting to
blur a bit, and he wasn’t so sure he could stop himself from doing something
delicious and utterly forbidden to her if he had the chance.

           
His phone buzzed with an incoming call, knocking him back to the present.

           
“Thompson here.”

           
“Drake, just wanted to let you know I made it home,” Nadia said, her breath
coming fast against the phone. Drake wondered just what she had done, or was doing,
that was causing that to happen.

           
“Good, and what we talked about earlier, if there is anything that you aren’t
comfortable with, don’t hesitate to tell me, okay?”

           
Don’t cancel, don’t cancel, I want you with me.

           
“No, the plans are fine. I was just acting childish. The situation warrants a
smart decision and there’s no reason why I can’t stay with you.”

           
“I will do everything in my power to keep you safe,
darlin
’.”

           
She sighed. “I know. It’s just that I never expected you to become so easily
involved in my life.”

           
There was a quiet moment where Drake could almost taste her hesitancy, her
wariness in the conversation they were having. He needed to keep her upbeat and
keep her on the phone. The last thing she needed to do was to get worried over
something that he would control completely.

           
“Lately we’ve been having some really good conversations. So it’s almost as if
we are salvaging our friendship, wouldn’t you say?”

           
She laughed lightly. Drake felt himself beam like a 100 watt bulb.

           
“If that’s the question, cowboy, you owe me an answer for your first crush.”

           
Drake smiled, “I believe her name was Marianne, but that could be the dementia
talking.”

           
A full out, low contralto laugh came over the phone. Drake settled himself onto
his bed and imagined Nadia here with him instead of over the phone, miles away.

           
“
Touche
,
touche
, I get it now.
No more jokes about you’re failing health.”

           
“Damn right, I get touchy on that subject, woman.”

           
She laughed again, and once more Drake felt as if he could move mountains.

           
“So, this might be catching on, don’t you think?”

           
“What’s that?” She asked, after Drake heard her take a breath.