Dusk gave Layla a knowing glance. Their gazes connected and something passed between them; an understanding, again with that strange sensation of connection beneath it. Layla found herself staring at him, feeling his emotions as if they moved through her. He wasn’t vibrating or using his resonant magic, but it was as if she could suddenly feel him – an ancient sadness that Dusk kept hidden day and night.
He inhaled a breath, his gaze lost in hers also. And then he blinked and gave a wry smile. “You should go. You did well today. Not every day will be this easy, but take some time to yourself and go rest. We’ll meet again tomorrow, six a.m.—”
“Sharp.” Layla finished with a small smile. “I’ll be here.”
He gave a grin, the both of them connecting again with a chuckle of wit and fire. But then he blinked hard, suddenly huffing out a breath and setting his head back against the crystal wall. “Shit! I completely forgot. We were supposed to take you to the House Wardrobe! You have nothing to wear for tomorrow. Dammit!”
“What about my red dress?” Layla asked with a sly smile.
“Absolutely not.” It was as if Dusk didn’t even get her joke, he scowled so hard. “Come on. Let’s go to the House Wardrobe. I was hoping to give you time alone tonight to process your first day, but it can’t be helped.”
Snapping his fingers at Layla, Dusk’s sudden brusqueness made her blink. He was already striding away and Layla had to move fast on her sore feet to hurry after him around the mahogany desk. Striding down the hall to the south, he glanced back and saw she was struggling on her painful high-heels. Slowing with a sympathetic look, he allowed her to catch up, taking her hand and twining it onto his arm so she’d be more stable.
“Damn Adrian’s asinine choice in heels,” Dusk frown-smiled at Layla’s shoes, then started them off more slowly. “Those things are completely impractical for work.”
“All of the shoes he bought me were,” Layla was grateful for Dusk’s arm, using his stability to avoid stepping in a way that exacerbated the blisters on her heels and pinky toes. “I could wear some of mine from the bar.”
“No, they’ll never do.” Dusk shook his head, turning down a hall to the east, areas that held kitchens and catering spaces, not to mention private rooms for the Guard. “You’ll often be called to hoof it around this place, walking many miles every day. You need something of Twilight make on your feet, not human.”
Turning down a hall with a domed crystal ceiling and blue marble pillars surrounded by potted ferns so large they felt prehistoric, Dusk walked Layla to a set of doors marked by a crest of golden bees. As he pulled a blue satin sash by the door, Layla heard a bell ring deep within. Presently, the vaulted door was opened by a teensy woman with golden-rimmed spectacles and glossy black hair pulled back in an ornate bun. Wearing a plain black dress that shimmered in the light, she had a tailor’s measuring tape flung around her neck like a scarf. Pretty and delicate, she blinked up at Dusk from behind her spectacles as if she was nearly blind, her little rosebud lips making a roundO.
“Milord Head Concierge!” She squeaked in a tiny voice that buzzed like a bee’s wings. Shivering from head to toe, she produced a vibration from her entire body, making Layla feel like she stood inside a bee-hive. The woman’s black dress cascaded through all the colors of the rainbow as she buzzed, her glossy black hair doing the same as she blushed furiously.
“My sweet Head Clothier Amalia DuFane.” Dusk bowed low, taking up her tiny little hand and pressing it with a kiss. “We are at your mercy. Our new hire, Ms. Layla Price, has absolutely nothing in her wardrobe for her position in Concierge Services. She will be stationed at the main Concierge desk for all to see, day after day. And her shoes are just atrocious. What can you do for us, magical mistress? Please, we must have your artful assistance.”
The tiny woman was blushing like a honey-cake on fire, positively buzzing with delight as she beamed up at Dusk. Her dress cascaded through a dazzling array of colors and light, not black at all now but shimmering and luminous, her hair doing the same. Layla saw now that her dress wasn’t really a dress at all but an extension of her person, millions of silk-fine filaments being woven and unwoven in an instant as she buzzed. Extending the hemline, blossoming the gown out into a cascade of feathery silk – growing a lace train off the woman’s slender shoulders as Layla watched in astonishment.
“But of course, my dear Dusk!” The teensy woman buzzed, glowing with excitement, her dress now a sleek, luminous ballgown the likes of which would have slaughtered anyone else’s fashion at the dinner last night. As Layla watched, filaments wove up around the back of the Head Clothier’s neck in a collar fine as a spider’s webbing, framing the woman’s blushing face and delicate high cheekbones. Extending a hand, the little woman gripped Layla’s fingers with surprising strength, and a buzzing sensation surged through Layla from head to heels. Exhilarated, she laughed and the little woman echoed it, her big eyes bright as they shone through as many colors as her gown.
“Oh! She has such a fiery personality, Dusk! I will be honored to find a number of items to fit her, and even make a few new ones for her to enjoy. It will be my honor to clothe Ms. Layla Price, indeed! Come, come! In we go!”
With a tug on Layla’s hand, Amalia DuFane practically hauled Layla inside with her tiny, formidable strength, Dusk turning and closing the door behind them. Looking up and around as she entered the vaulted room, Layla’s mind was boggled. The vaulted four-story space was made entirely of crystal fashioned into honeycomb-like cubbies in every direction. Hexagonal clusters of additional crystal honeycomb floated through the air of their own accord, each and every cubby filled with opulent colors and fabrics. Lit from within, all of the crystal glowed gently, producing a luminous brightness in the entire space, though Layla could see the starry night sky through the domed ceiling.
“Welcome to the Hive,” Dusk murmured as he leaned close. “We have some guests who pay extraordinary sums to spend a day here with the Head Clothier, shopping to their heart’s content. Their idea of the perfect vacation.”
He chuckled, amused as he stepped away to have a seat on a cream velvet chaise, pouring himself a glass of brandy from a crystal decanter on a gilded table carven with bees. But Layla was still fascinated with the workings of the hall, amazed by the conglomerations of hexagonal cubbies floating by above her head. As she watched it all, the Head Clothier buzzed, summoning a swarm of iridescent honeybees as large as hummingbirds from every corner of the vast dome. After buzzing to them a few moments and the bees buzzing back, the Head Clothier gave a wave of her hand, casting them away to the upper galleries of the honeycombed hall.
“My assistants will return with a number of options for us. Please!” The little woman gestured to a cream dais with a trio of tall mirrors like one might find in a bridal boutique, near Dusk’s chaise. As Layla stepped to the faux living-room setup, the Head Clothier beckoned for Layla’s current outfit. Layla blinked at Dusk, then started removing her grandmother’s jewelry. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her naked, and clearly he was not going anywhere – a highly amused and lecherous smile on his face as he sipped his brandy.
“Don’t I get one of those after working so hard all day?” Layla sassed as she stripped her black cocktail dress off over her head and then gave up her lacy tiger-print bra to the Head Clothier, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious before his devouring gaze. The Head Clothier turned back to her bees, now retuning with cocktail dresses in exquisite jewel-tones that she began assembling on a floating crystal rack. Layla resisted covering her breasts, instead setting a hand to her hip with attitude in her black heels and tiger-print thong, letting him ogle.
“We don’t want you spilling anything on the Head Clothier’s wares,” Dusk chuckled cheekily, though he lifted the decanter and poured a second glass. “But you can have a brandybeforeshe begins dressing you.”
Clearly, he wasn’t going to get off his ass and bring the brandy to her. Layla had to step down from the cream dais and approach him, wearing just her lacy tiger-print thong and heels, and take the glass out of his hand. As their fingertips connected, he produced one of those rolling vibrations, making the brandy ripple and sending a delicious surge through Layla. A deviant smile took his face, his summer-blue eyes devouring her as she shuddered from his pleasure. It was subtle this time, not meant to make her grip hard, only to show her what he could give her.
It left Layla breathless as she received her brandy, her heart pounding as wetness surged below. Still holding his gaze, inspired by the heat moving between them and the delicious sensuality of it all, Layla downed her brandy. The liquor rushed through her, both adding to and also soothing Dusk’s decadent, gripping charms. It had been a long day and Layla was tired, but that exhilarated feeling still electrified her; making her feel exquisitely cheeky herself.
Suddenly wanting him to suffer as much as she, Layla moved in close to Dusk’s chaise – close to him. Sliding between his open legs, she stood like a goddess with her curvy height and bare breasts towering above him. Her navel at his face and with one hand on his shoulder, she slowly bent over, forcing Dusk to lean against the backrest of the chaise as her mouth came near his. Their lips intimately close and their breath mingling, Layla slid her glass up the seat of the velvet chaise, tucking it neatly in the V of Dusk’s crotch.
“Thanks for the drink,” she whispered, watching him shudder from head to heels. Dusk’s blue eyes were annihilated, roaring with delight – almost desperate as a sexy smile curled his beautiful grey-blue lips.
“You bitch.” He whispered back, a hard rasp to his voice.
“You started it.” Opening her lips, Layla eased them over Dusk’s, not quite a kiss but not far from it. She felt another shudder wash through him, his breath catching. His hands lifted, touching her thighs; sliding up slowly to her hips as they tasted each other’s breath. And then Layla pulled back, giving him a hard grin as his breath heaved under his expensive suit – before turning her ass to him and giving him the rear view as she sauntered away.
Stepping up the cream dais in her sexy black heels, Layla locked eyes with Dusk in the trio of mirrors. His blue eyes burned, their sapphire so vivid it could have scorched right through Layla’s skin. Inside, her Dragon roared, delighted at how she had played him, and a mellow scent of orange peel and bourbon rolled off Layla’s skin. She saw Dusk’s face in the mirrors as he caught that scent. Closing his eyes, he inhaled, then took a quick sip of brandy and rolled it around his mouth – as if enjoying the way the two flavors mingled. Opening his eyes, Dusk raised his brandy-glass in a salute to her with a nod, his eyes shining with dark delight.
“Two can play your little game, asshole,” Layla spoke smugly.
