Passion Follows Pain (Passion Series Book 3) (13 page)

“Are you ready baby?” He asked softly his eyes locked on her brilliant blue ones. They looked even more intense since the dress really brought out the colour. She’d even gone to the trouble of wearing makeup, not much, just some eyeshadow and mascara since her lashes looked longer than he remembered them; some colour to her cheeks and that pink lipstick. Her hair had been curled just enough that it fell down her back in gentle waves and one side had been pinned back from her face, revealing her neck. Seeing the length of it, the smooth expanse of skin and that pulse that fluttered, revealing her nervous state, had him fighting the urge to sink his fangs into her and drink some of her sweet blood.

Her soft voice brought him back to the present. “I need to say goodbye to Daisy first. Will you come and see her? She likes you.” She smiled as she shyly met his eyes.

He grinned as he stepped inside noticing that Arissa’s heels brought her a little closer to his height now, although he was still several inches taller than her.

She turned, starting to walk back down the hallway, and he followed, his eyes straying down to the gorgeous curve of her ass. Shit she had a tight little one, making him long to sink his fangs into its sheer perfection.

Just as he decided he’d better lift his eyes a bit higher than her ass, Arissa suddenly stumbled on her heels and pitched sideways. She gave a startled cry, her arms flying out, ready to brace for her fall, but Lucian caught her, pulling her against his body, feeling her wobble unsteadily.

For those few moments he held her, he allowed himself to indulge in the pleasure of having her up against his body. It was only when she wriggled, just enough to right herself and he felt his cock stirring, that he hastily stood her back on her pretty heels again, before she could feel him getting hard and completely freak out.

Her face when she glanced up at him was bright red and she gave him an embarrassed smile before continuing on to the living room where Daisy was sitting watching TV.

She gave them both a huge smile when she saw them standing together and Lucian had to secretly smile to himself. He might be having a hell of a time trying to win Arissa over but he’d had no problems with the old woman. She liked him, and the way her eyes were moving over him, from his carefully styled wind-blown hair, the black silk shirt to his black jeans and boots, she was giving him every indication that he’d have no problems fucking her if she was younger. Well, she’d fuck him even at the age she was he suspected but there was no chance of that happening. The woman he wanted was standing by his side. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to wait too long to bed her, because it was going to kill him wanting her so much and not being able to have her.

After they’d said their farewells to Daisy, Lucian gently took Arissa’s hand, watching her face closely to see how she was reacting but when she didn’t pull away, he led her from the house and out to the black Porsche he’d chosen to drive for their date. He was out to take advantage in any way he could, and he wasn’t beyond trying to dazzle her with a sports car to hopefully try and impress her.

Once he had her settled in the passenger seat and he’d climbed in behind the wheel, his eyes strayed to the expanse of slim thigh exposed by the combination of the tight fitting dress riding up, and the low slung car making it harder for her to bring the hem down to a more modest length.

Ignoring his cock which was suddenly so hard, it pressed up painfully against the zip of his jeans, he started the car, backed out of the drive, and with a squeal of tyres they head off for their night out.

Chapter Nine

Arissa

I couldn’t help myself, as Lucian drove the high powered sports car through Hobart on his way to the club; I watched his hands, noticing how firmly he gripped the leather steering wheel. He had such nice looking hands and I couldn’t stop looking at them.

I turned my head a fraction so I could look at him from the corner of my eye, surreptitiously studying his handsome features. He was concentrating on the road, but after a while it was as if he sensed I was watching him, and his head turned to me. He smiled before dropping his eyes and I felt his gaze move over the length of exposed leg beneath the hem of my dress. I flushed and tried to hitch it down lower but it didn’t make any difference. Lucian’s lips curved up in a brief smile before he turned back to concentrate on the road.

“Where are we going? You mentioned the club, but I don’t know it. I’ve never been. I’ve never been to any club for that matter.”

“Never?” Lucian turned to me, surprise on his face. “You never went with friends?” His gaze was probing and I felt pinned by his beautiful chocolate brown eyes.

“No, my father was...um…he...he was strict. He wouldn’t let me go anywhere and certainly never with boys.” I stammered.

He gave me one more searching look before turning back to the road, but as he drove, I could see a frown drawing his brows together. He didn’t say anything more; in fact neither of us did until we finally pulled up in the car park of the club. Lucian jumped out of the car and came around to my side, opening my door, holding a hand out to me.

Gingerly I took it, feeling his cool fingers close over mine as he helped me from the car. Once I was standing alongside of him, I tried to hitch my dress down to a more modest length much to Lucian’s amusement.

“You look beautiful baby. Stop fidgeting, stop worrying about the dress. It’s not as short as some. You’re going to see that for yourself in a minute.”

He offered his hand to me again and I didn’t hesitate to take it. Despite him having the ability to get me all tied up in knots over the feelings he could arouse in me, I needed his strength to get me through this evening. The idea of being in an unfamiliar place with a lot of other people scared me.

As we walked towards the club, my fingers tightened around his and I saw him glance at me from the corner of my eye before giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Stop panicking.” He whispered into my ear and I shivered at the brush of his cool lips against my skin. I sucked in a deep breath, immediately filling my lungs with that gorgeous scent that was all Lucian.

Before we got right up to the doors of the club, I could hear the heavy thump, thump of loud music coming from inside. Suddenly terrified of going in, I balked and when Lucian felt the tug on his hand, he stopped and turned to me. “What’s wrong Arissa?”

“I...I’m not sure I want to go inside. Will there be a lot of people? It sounds loud and I’m not used to being in loud places or crowds for that matter. I...I’m nervous.” I whispered.

Lucian raised my hand to his lips, kissing my knuckles. “Relax, you’ll be fine. Do you trust me?” His warm eyes searched mine.  

I stared at him for a while and suddenly it struck me, somewhere over those weeks he’d spent with me while walking Milo, the visit to his home, the clothes, how he was now, somewhere along the way I had come to trust him. I wasn’t sure what his expectations of me would be. I wasn’t sure I could ever be what he wanted and I wasn’t that naïve; I knew sooner or later he would want to have sex with me. I could see it in his eyes every time he looked at me. He might be masking it well, but the light of his lust, his need glowed in those chocolate brown depths.

Again those words filled my head where I kept imagining I’d heard him ask, if he could show me how pleasurable sex was, would I let him and I’d said yes. Why did that seem so real to me? Surely I’d remember a conversation like that one. There were other things too, snippets of images where I felt like I was reliving my father’s abuse. I don’t know why this was happening, why it felt so real and what confused me the most was the feeling that somehow Lucian was a part of it, that he knew about my past too.

“Well, are you ready?” His voice interrupted my thoughts and I turned to him, only then noticing that we were outside the main doors to the club.

My heart began to pound and I swallowed nervously before giving him a shaky smile and a nod of my head. I could do this. It was silly to be so scared. I’d run away from my father to have a life free of his torture, pain and abuse, it was time to start living and stop living in fear.

Lucian gave my hand a squeeze before pulling me towards him, and before I could react his lips brushed my cheek briefly and were gone again. I shivered, but it wasn’t with fear this time. I raised my head to meet his gaze, and we stared at one another for a few moments, before he began to lower his head again. As he drew closer, I closed my eyes, a tiny sigh escaping me when I felt the first brush of his lips against mine.

Slowly, so gently he kissed me, his lips brushing back and forth, lightly over mine. I waited, waited for more and finally when he nibbled his way along my bottom lip, I sighed and his lips closed over mine, his tongue working its way into my mouth. I tensed waiting for the usual revulsion. Whenever father had done that, I’d fought hard not to gag but this was different. This was nice, pleasant, I liked this. My lips parted and tentatively I allowed my tongue to meet his. I heard a low groan rumble up Lucian’s throat and vibrate against my lips making me quiver in reaction. He started to kiss me more passionately and a whimper squeezed its way past my lips as feelings I didn’t understand flooded my body, stirring my senses, confusing me.

As if aware of the change in me, Lucian lifted his head, his eyes burning with the excitement I could see he was trying to contain. Slowly he released me, stepping back, his hands falling to his sides. I met his gaze, saw the desire in his expression and I felt something, a dull ache, a pull, something low in my stomach as I watched him. He raked his hair back off his face before slipping a hand down to his groin, adjusting himself through his jeans. I glanced down, colour flooding my cheeks when I noticed he was hard. For the first time ever though seeing him aroused, seeing a man aroused didn’t scare me.

Lucian

Lucian felt a moment of triumph. Arissa was warming to him, trusting him; she was allowing herself to like him. That was the first time she’d let him kiss her where she hadn’t completely freaked out and he felt like shouting and fist punching the air, but of course he didn’t. Now if he did that, he would scare her. Of course his cock wasn’t feeling quite so jubilant. It was straining hard up against his fly, desperate for release from the confines of his clothing, and desperate for the opportunity to be buried deep inside the fragile woman by his side. Still it was going to have to be disappointed as was he. Progress was slow and if he got too impatient and forced himself on her, he’d frighten her off and have to start all over again.

“Come on.” He pulled her after him into the club, needing something to distract him so he’d lose the hard on. The noise of people talking and laughing against the sound of music playing, hit them as soon as they stepped inside and he felt Arissa move closer to him. “Its ok baby, relax. They’re just people having fun, drinking and dancing. Would you like a drink?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never had alcohol before. Is it nice?” She asked and Lucian couldn’t help smiling at her question.

“I don’t drink any more, I haven’t in years but you try something. How about I get you a cocktail? Women seem to like drinking them.”

“Ok, you choose please.” She gave him a tentative smile and he pulled her towards the bar.

Chloe was working and she greeted him enthusiastically when she saw him. “Hey stranger I haven’t seen you here in a while. Where’s that brother of yours?” She looked beyond him. “What no Damien tonight?”

“No, I’m with someone. Can you give me something? I don’t know some kind of cocktail or something?”

Chloe grinned. “A cocktail? I didn’t think you drank and a cocktail’s not very masculine.” She leaned forward and winked at him.

“It’s not for me.” He turned and pulled Arissa forward. “I’d like you to meet my date. This is Arissa, Arissa this is Chloe.” He made the introductions.

He watched as the two women greeted one another, Arissa’s response more shy as she looked at Chloe. The two women were so different from one another. Chloe was bright and bubbly and he’d fucked her so many times, he knew every inch of her body but she of course had no memory of that. Arissa was quiet, reserved, timid and so beautiful he could barely take his eyes off her, and he hoped that he wouldn’t have to wait too much longer until he knew every inch of her body.

Chloe made up a drink and came back, handing it to Arissa. “Here you are, it’s called Sex on the Beach.” She grinned at them. “Its vodka, peach schnapps, cranberry and orange juice, so enjoy.”

Lucian silently groaned. Of all drinks Chloe had to pick Sex on the Beach? Damn but he hoped Arissa didn’t think he’d arranged that. She was eyeing off the drink, sniffing it until finally she took a sip from it. Her eyes shot up to him and a wide smile spread over her face, taking him by surprise.

“I like this, thank you.” She turned to Chloe. “Thank you it’s very nice.” She took a bigger sip and Lucian took her hand, leading her away from the bar.

“Come on, I want to show you something.” He pulled her through the crowds into another room where more music played but not as loud or thumping as the disco styled music in the main bar.

There were nearly as many people in this room as the one they’d just left but Lucian pulled her through the people towards the front of the room where a woman sang on stage. Once he had her in front of the stage, he turned to watch her facial expression.