“Leave off, Dusk!” Rikyava’s hard voice interrupted Layla’s inundation. She was able to catch her breath, twisting in the man’s arms and looking up – to see the Head Concierge behind her, impeccably-dressed in his suit from earlier and smiling down impudently with his summer-blue eyes.
“Nice to officially meet you again, Ms. Layla Price,” he chuckled, that sub-sonic vibration rolling through Layla once more, making it hard to breathe in his arms.
“Get off me,” Layla growled, pissed. Conflicting emotions warred in her at her devastating arousal to her new boss’ energy. He was at once oh-so-alluring and also oh-so-dickish; a teasing impudence about him that made Layla want to smack his face. But his wicked treatment of her both now and at the beginning of her interview contrasted sharply with the way he’d conducted himself after the interview had begun – with impeccable professionalism and direct no-nonsense. Staring up at him now, caught in his arms, emotions rioted through Layla. She found herself wanting to hate him for being a dick, wanting to thank him for filling her in earlier on being a Royal Dragon Bind when Adrian wouldn’t – and wanting to just throw him down right here on the Persian carpet and fuck his brains out.
Reaching up with one hand, he stroked his midnight-ridged knuckles over Layla’s cheek, sending another thrill of vibrations through her. A searing heat rippled her body again at his touch, and Layla reached up fast, gripping his hand.
“Use it and lose it, buddy,” she growled, furious even as she gasped with pleasure.
With a sly, sexy smile, Dusk removed his hand. But his sparkling blue eyes pierced her to the quick. He wasn’t finished with her – not by a long shot. Without moving at all this time, he flared his vibrations, flooding them so hard into Layla that she gripped her hand into a fist, trying to retain command of her faculties as her body washed with ecstasy. But like a pummeling waterfall, Dusk growled behind her, making Layla’s body feel like her blood rippled in concentric waves – surging into her groin and flaring it hard with heat. Wetness surged below and she sagged, unable to escape the pleasure. Dusk’s knowing eyes were luminous as he reached up and stroked her cheek.
“Fight me, and I’ll make it stop.”
“How about you bite me instead.” Layla gasped, on the brink of orgasm now and trying hard to not do so. Though conversation poured through the hall, a few heads had begun to turn – some with frowns as they glanced between Dusk and Layla.
Leaning close, Dusk murmured low in her ear, “I could make it feel like a bite. Would you like that? Or something better?”
In all that flooding pleasure, Layla suddenly felt a slow tongue lick up her inner thigh, deep. It threw her head back and she gasped, cresting into orgasm in a molten wave. Her hand spasmed so hard her nails were driven into her palm, and Layla knew she flushed beet-red but couldn’t stop it as heads turned all around. Heart pounding, she was flooded with carnal pleasure – the hard clench of her teeth that prevented her from crying out her only saving grace.
Suddenly, someone stepped in behind them, speaking low with a growling, furious voice. “Don’t be a dick, Dusk. Give Layla any more trouble tonight and find yourself in my stocks. Train your new employee to your heart’s content tomorrow, but not tonight. Unhand the new hire or get skewered. I mean it.”
It was Rikyava, though her voice was so low and growling it barely sounded like her. Glancing up through her shivering torment, Layla saw the furious visage of the Guardswoman. She was practically snarling, one hand gripping Dusk’s arm hard – the other on the hilt of a stiletto-knife in her baldric. Her eyes had bled to a brimstone crimson color, and narrowing those frightful eyes upon Dusk, the Head of the Hotel Guard ended with, “Now.”
For a moment, Layla felt Dusk’s hands grip hard around her, as if he wouldn’t let her go. He stiffened, as if he might fight Rikyava over Layla – when he suddenly released her. Hands aloft in surrender, he moved around to Layla’s front with a chuckle, though his bright blue eyes still pummeled Layla with humor and sex. And something deliciously darker. But all sensation from him ceased, leaving Layla gasping and trying not to fall over, still flushed with aftershocks. Reaching out to steady Layla, Rikyava maintained a hand on her knife, her presence wrathful. The scent of something burning wafted through the air around the Blood Dragon, and the woman’s eyes were still a bloody crimson.
“What the fuck’s gotten into you tonight?” Rikyava hissed at Dusk as Layla recovered. “You’re rash, but this is abominable, Dusk! I would curse you by the name Adrian except that he is possessed by more rashness than you. So all I’ll say is:what the fuck?”
Dusk was smiling, but Layla saw something uncertain pass over his face. His eyes met Layla’s and she saw something in them that she didn’t expect: worry. Alarm. He covered it quickly with a chuckle, but Layla knew what she had seen.
Something about her had made him go wild. Just for a moment, but it had been enough.
But with a chuckle, Dusk simply said, “Have a little peace in that burning blood of yours, Rikyava. I meant no harm; I just wanted to see Layla’s abilities.”
But as he spoke, his gaze never left Layla, piercing her to the quick. Reaching out, he slid his impossibly smooth fingers over Layla’s collarbone and her breath caught again, pulled into his lower-than-sound vibrations once more. Humor sparkled from Dusk’s bright sapphire eyes, a witty twist to his smooth blue-grey lips as Layla felt his power rippling her beast within and making her flare with desire all over again.
“Whoever knew the last Royal Dragon Bind would be such a beautiful creature?” He murmured as if to himself, flooding her with lower-than-sound pleasure.
“That’s enough.” Locking eye contact with him, Layla let her fury go without a care to the consequences. As if her rage had been given fangs, she suddenly felt a surge of heat whip through her. Starting at the hamsa cuff, it raced up through her heart and right to the spot where Dusk touched her – striking at him like it had done with Adrian earlier, though in a slightly different way. Dusk’s eyes widened and his fingers flinched back as if he’d been burned. A wash of scent surged up from Layla’s skin again like scorched orange peels and flaming bourbon.
Breathing hard, Layla felt satisfaction. She hadn’t exactly meant to do what she did – but she was glad it had happened. Staring at her, Dusk’s gaze was piercing – as if Layla had just shown him something vastly interesting. Gone was his teasing sexuality as he lifted his chin, opening his lovely blue-grey lips and inhaling the air. And then he closed those perfect lips and locked Layla in his gaze – giving her a hard smile that was quite unlike his earlier lecherousness. “Enjoy your evening, Ms. Price. And know that in the morning, I will be waiting for you.”
With that, he moved off to a copper side-bar, hailing the bartender for a drink. Still flooded with heat and pleasure in the wake of her new boss’ departure, Layla turned to Rikyava. “What the fuck was that?”
Rikyava still had one hand on her stiletto knife, and with a will, closed her brimstone-bloody eyes. When she opened her eyes again, they had returned to their regular violet and the charred scent of her magics had left the air. “Thatis our Head Concierge. Fuck, I hate it when he tests new hires. That vibration of his could burn down Rome.”
“What is he? Is he a Dragon?” Layla’s gazed tracked to Dusk, despite herself. Receiving a gimlet at the bar from a lean bartender, he felt her watching and turned – giving her a small salute with his drink before settling into conversation with a woman beside him. Exquisitely lovely, she wore a slinky olive gown, her temples, cheekbones, and the backs of her hands iridescent with green-gold snake scales in a similar manner to Dusk’s midnight-blue dragon ones.
“What is he?” Rikyava crossed her arms, her face set in a tough, bitchy look as her gaze fixed on the Head Concierge. “He’s a pain in my ass, that’s what. Dusk knows his job, but he can’t help but test the shit out of every new staff member in Concierge Services. As for his Lineage, he’s aChiari drachans-chrysalli. A Crystal Dragon; the strongest of the five Dragon types. Though they’re the slowest to fully mature. And itreallyshows sometimes.”
“What was that thing he was testing me with – the vibrations? And why?” Layla watched Dusk at the bar and saw that strange shimmering light pass through his artfully-styled hair again. Touching her neck, Layla could still feel echoes of the deep pleasure that had thrummed through her at his kiss. It made her shiver, and Dusk glanced at her as if he had felt it. Lifting a dark eyebrow at Layla with a secretive smile, he sipped his gimlet, then laughed at something the snake-woman said.
“Crystal Dragons can enhance vibrations with their voice and presence.” Even though Rikyava was severe, her lips held a small smile now as she watched the Head Concierge. “Dusk loves to use his power to get tail. He’s made angelics weep with pleasure from that ability of his. And he’s vibrated volcanoes into erupting just for the thrill of it. But what he loves best is pitting his abilities against new hires when they come into his department, testing them and seeing if they can resist him. Asshole. Don’t take it personally. You’ll learn how to protect yourself from it eventually.”
But it was clear that Rikyava both detested how the Head Concierge behaved with women, and had a fondness for him. Layla was beginning to realize that the relationships here were convoluted, like a tightly-knit but highly dysfunctional family – when suddenly, a silvery presence eased into Layla’s personal space. Turning, she found the luminous woman from her interview approaching. Wearing a cascading waterfall-silk gown, her white hair was braided back, strings of pearls dripping from her ears on silver earcuffs with long strings of pearls braided into her hair. As she neared, Layla saw her gown was sheer, showing everything as she moved – her slender body rippling with light. Beneath the silk, Layla saw strings of pearls pierced into the woman’s nipples, the same dangling from her navel down to her pubis, erotically fetching.
“Layla!” The silver woman spoke aloud tonight, her actual voice as lovely as it had been in Layla’s mind. “Such a beautiful gown! Adrian has such fine taste.” Reaching out, she unabashedly stroked the peacock beadwork at Layla’s breast and Layla shivered, the woman’s touch absolutely electric with pleasure.
“Layla,” Rikyava beamed as she nodded to the silver woman, “please officially meet our Head Courtesan, Sylvania Eroganis. She is the pride of our fine establishment. Are you singing for us tonight, Sylvania?”
