“No,” Layla spoke, more gently than before. “I really don’t. I mean what I say, Adrian. You’ve probably met a thousand women who will play a little game of catch-and-release with your billions of dollars and stunning blue eyes, but I’m not one of them. I appreciate you helping me get this job at the Hotel, I really do, but you’ve done a lot more that I don’t appreciate. Lying to me, manipulating me. Making choices for me without my consent. Leaving me hanging just when I thought we might have something going. Invading my dreams. Frightening me and my friends. And the secrets, Adrian… So now you’ve got two choices: be real with me, or leave me be. I’ve dated too many assholes who smiled while lying to my face. I was hot for them too, and I’ll get over you just like I did them – with a lot of chocolate and tears and girl nights. If you can’t be real, if you can’t respect this, or me – then we’re done here. And dinner is a moot point.”
They were strong words. Something inside Layla died to speak them, her beast screaming inside her veins to take it all back, but she knew her truth. It wasn’t power, or attraction, or magic that spoke for her right now. They were the words of Layla’s heart, not the newly-awakening creature that writhed within her.
Watching Adrian, Layla realized how much lies and secrets upset her. Her world had been turned upside-down by secrets recently, and she felt like she was only just now starting to get her feet back underneath her. It wasn’t just Adrian that had lied to her, it had also been her grandmother Mimi, her parents, and all Mimi’s distantfamilyin Morocco. Even though Adrian’s beautiful aqua eyes were positively dark now with pain and Layla’s beast growled to not give him up, she wasn’t an animal – and heat wasn’t going to dictate her life.
She would have the truth – and if he couldn’t give her the truth, he couldn’t be in her life. It was as simple as that.
“Moot…” Adrian breathed shakily, his gaze breaking from hers and flicking down.
“Yeah, moot. But if youcanbe real with me, Adrian…we might just have a chance.” Layla spoke again, softening the blow. She didn’t want to cut him off. She wanted him to trust her; she wanted to trust him. In a last-minute Hail Mary, she threw Adrian a lifeline and his gaze flickered back up as he gave a small smile.
“You’re a challenging woman, Layla Price.”
“Don’t patronize me, Adrian,” her speech was level, her gaze direct. “And don’t bullshit me.”
He nodded, closing his eyes as if mastering himself. Layla saw something war upon his features, a bloom of hot jasmine scent wafting up around him. He straightened to his full height, taking a deep breath, then opened his eyes; locking the full force of their intensity on Layla. Her breath stopped. Her heart actually missed a beat, slamming hard in her chest before racing on. Her Dragon roared inside her, sliding through her veins with a delicious, needful thrill. Her pulse was suddenly pounding in her groin, and Adrian hadn’t done a damn thing.
Shit.
“Come to dinner with me,” he murmured with his beautiful lips.
“Be real or get lost,” Layla spoke back, feeling angry now that he was using wiles on her. But to his sexy intensity, Layla’s inner Dragon suddenly shifted, feeling a challenge in his energy. Rippling through her veins like it had fangs and talons ready to challenge him back, a simmering orange-peel heat rose up around Layla with a supremely scorched scent like mesquite. From the corner of her eye, she saw Dusk look over quickly and frown, ushering his guests to the far end of the desk away from her and Adrian. Layla didn’t try to put her magic back beneath the hamsa-cuff; it needed to match Adrian’s intensity.
And warn him that if he couldn’t play by her rules, he might try for a fuck but what he would get was a fight.
Adrian’s smile twisted. His golden-aqua eyes arrested her; penetrating. “Your magic is rising like we’re about to have a dominance battle, Layla.”
“Do you want a dominance battle, Adrian?” Layla spoke back, holding her tight posture so she wouldn’t accidentally lash out with her rogue magics like she’d done during her interview.
His eyes went very dark, nearly midnight blue, the gold in them intensely bright. “You couldn’t handle a Dragon-battle.”
“Try me.” Lowering her chin, Layla gave him the full force of her jade-green eyes back. “Fuck me or fight me, Adrian. But believe me, you don’t want both.”
“If we do this, if I tell you the truth and we date, you’re going to get far more than you bargained for.” He warned.
“If we do this, you’re going to enjoy the fact that you told me the truth.” She raised an eyebrow back.
“Will I?” Adrian broke into a sudden smile, his gaze becoming utterly delightful.
“You bet.”
Layla meant it. She wanted him; she couldn’t hide it. A soft chuckle left Adrian as he watched her. In his eyes, so dark with heat and bright with gold, Adrian’s desire came roaring back as Layla saw him understand that she wasn’t just being standoffish for no reason, that she meant what she said – and that she still wanted the shit out of him.
Surging around Layla upon unseen winds, she felt his power respond, slipping up the arch of her foot in her high-heels, sliding up her skin like a caress. A wave of heat careened through her, Layla’s beast roiling in her veins with a delicious roar at his expert touch. It rocked her and she swayed at the desk as her eyelashes fluttered, the burned scent in her magics disappearing as a sweet bourbon flavor flooded her.
Layla’s lips fell open and she felt her breath connect to Adrian’s like two winds swirling in a desert funnel. It drew them together; him leaning in across the desk, her pulled close until their faces were inches apart. Her breath was fast as a dark smile lit his handsome face. Sliding out a finger, Adrian traced slow circles on the desk, close to touching Layla’s hand but not quite. She could feel every caress of his fingertip on the wood as if it were her most intimate places – and she shuddered as he breathed out again, pinning her with his amazing aqua eyes.
“If I tell you the truth,” he breathed, “I thinkyou’regoing to enjoy it.”
“Maybe.” Layla gasped, needing him so hard. “Prove it.”
“I will.” Adrian breathed back, certainty in his gaze now with a dark, hot pleasure. “Be in your room, ready for me by seven. Wear something nice.”
With that, he eased away. Sexual tension and deep magic pulled between their bodies like taffy as he stepped back and Layla swayed onto the desk. She would have fallen right into Adrian’s arms if the stout desk hadn’t been there, and she saw him note that. A small smile lifted his lips as she stared at him.
And then he stepped away, sliding his elegant fingers over the wood as he departed and making Layla gasp as his ethereal touch raced up her inner thigh, stroking deftly over delicate places. Layla shuddered with pleasure as Adrian’s lips quirked in a deliciously dark smile. And then he turned, striding from the desk and around the corner, out of sight.
Layla was left breathing hard in his wake. Heat roared through her like a bonfire, gripping her as her beast slid through her body with exquisite need. It was a moment before she realized Dusk had stepped to her side, watching her intently.
