“What was that for?” Layla grinned, knowing it meant he was feeling intense emotions.
“You make me hot,” Dusk murmured, his blue gaze pinning her. “What else can I say?”
With a low chuckle, he turned, taking up a fluffy towel and drying off. Layla stepped to the chaise, taking up a towel also and wringing out her wet hair. Dusk’s gaze traveled up her naked body as she toweled off, a lecherous grin on his face. Layla gave him an eyebrow, her lips curling into a grin also as she ogled him back; plenty of delicious things to peruse on his well-built body. Adrian might have been lean and mean, but Dusk was fit as shit – and now Layla knew the feel of all that hot, powerful muscle beneath her hands and between her thighs as he fucked her.
Her cheeks heated and she turned away, toweling down.
“I felt that.” Dusk’s chuckle was murderous behind her.
“Good.” Layla bent over and wound her hair up in the towel. As she did, Dusk stepped to her rear, seizing her hips and hauling her back against his body, roughly. Layla gasped as her hand flashed to her towel to keep it from falling off, a shiver of delight passing through her. His strong fingers gripped her hips as he ground against her, letting her feel his deep heat where he pressed up against her ass, hot and hard.
Layla writhed, feeling it – wanting more.
But Dusk released her with a dark chuckle and when she straightened, he was hauling his blue silk thong and pants up over all that hard length – but not before she got a good, solid eyeful.
“You are going to be fun, Layla Price.” Dusk’s gaze was as hot as his sex, ramming through Layla with a delicious rumble.
“Andyouare going to be a handful.” She sassed, stepping into her beige lace thong and pulling it up.
“I’m more than a handful.” He grinned, sliding one hand down his trousers and over the thick imprint she could still see.
Layla breathed out shakily as she laughed and nodded. Dusk was far more than a handful and she loved every inch of it. Her cheeks colored again as a wash of heat passed through her, a blossom of orange-peel bourbon scent rising through the swirling mist.
Dusk scented it and laughed, turning to take up his shirt from the chaise.
They dressed with more teasing and flirtation, until finally Layla and Dusk were both laughing as they stepped fully clothed from the crystal bath-house. It had been a wonderful night, and lighthearted energy swirled between them as they made their egress. But as they stepped out into the night, Layla suddenly smelled a scent she recognized in the chill air. A curl of cinnamon-jasmine musk brought her up short, her gut dropping down through her toes.
And the blaze of Adrian’s hot aqua eyes was like a spike through her heart, as he stepped from the midnight shadows of the hedge.
CHAPTER 8 – BLACK
Dusk froze beside Layla on the steps of the crystal bath-house, his arm halted as it was about to slide around her waist. Stepping from the stark moonlit shadows, Adrian’s aqua eyes burned in the deep night. If fury had a color, if the entire Mediterranean Sea could suddenly become a tornado of wrath, he held his distance, and Layla was glad he did. Fear ripped through her, watching his eyes burn. Her every sense prickled on the midnight wind, hairs rising all along the backs of her arms. Dusk settled his hand to her waist, drawing her close. Not a move that was possessive, but protective – as if he was as afraid as Layla at what the furiously jealous Adrian might do.
“It just happened, Adrian.” Dusk’s voice was low and reasonable as he spoke through the chill night.
“Bullshit.” Adrian’s voice was a frightening snarl from the hedge-row. “It’s what you always do, Dusk, steal from other men. You’re as bad as Reginald.”
“I didn’t mean for it—”
“Fuck you! You know you did!”
“Hey!” With a hot flare, Layla stepped toward Adrian. Dusk’s hand on her waist restrained her now, as she laid into her Desert Dragon with a vicious snap of power. “Cut the shit, Adrian! Just because you bound me first with your tempestuous gifts doesn’t mean I belong to you! You fucked with me during the Owner’s party tonight because you were jealous I was on Reginald’s arm, and shit got heavy. I needed to release steam after all the embarrassment that caused, and I chose Dusk tonight. End of story. If you can’t handle that, you need to grow up.”
Even from a distance, she saw Adrian startle. The burning in his eyes died, replaced by shock. And then he narrowed his eyes, something dire surging between him and Layla upon simmering winds. “Grow up? What am I, sixteen?”
“You heard me. And maybe you are.” Layla stood her ground, raising her chin against his incredible pull. Dusk had formidable energy, but Adrian had an annihilation that raced through her marrow, searing her blood like liquid fire. He was dangerous, but not because of his fury.
He was dangerous because of the way she needed him – like she needed her very last breath.
Adrian’s beautiful lips fell open. Layla felt that cinnamon wind swirl around her, shaking the bare hedges. Moving forward, he stopped ten feet shy of where Layla and Dusk stood, his hands thrust deep in his pockets, his entire frame rigid with power and wrath. “Do you think I’m some kind of child?” He breathed, that utterance swirling around Layla’s bare ankles and slipping up her legs, caressing her thighs. It made her shudder as pleasure flooded her.
“No,” Layla spoke, willing herself to stand firm beneath Adrian’s passionate onslaught. Balling a fist, she felt her own searing heat concentrate; bolstering her. “But I’ve spent all my life trying to do what others wanted, Adrian; trying to do everything right despite my temper and passion. You opened me to a new world; to something powerful in myself. But I don’t owe you my body or my power if you can’t figure out a way to tame your jealousy. I’m a Royal Dragon Bind, Adrian. Being monogamous goes against the nature of my magic, and I’m trying to accept that, even as much as it bothers me. You need to handle it also.”
“I’m trying.” His gaze intense, Adrian moved forward, his hands coming out of his pockets. “But seeing you with Reginald tonight and now Dusk—”
“I know.” Layla stepped closer, Dusk releasing her as she stopped a few feet shy of Adrian. “None of this is ideal. You don’t think I know that? You don’t think I hate living with Reginald? Suffering his odious platitudes day and night?”
But even as she said it, something inside Layla gave a restless stir, feeling something else for the Siren since tonight.
