As the performance began, Adrian’s hand stole out, settling over hers in the darkness. Layla’s breath caught, feeling the sensuality of the moment; his Dragon-heat caressing her in the private box and hers touching him back. It was tentative at first as they watched the performance, Layla drinking everything in with delight, her emotions and magic flaring with excitement at every crescendo. She found herself gripping Adrian’s hand as the power of the music rose, and he shifted closer in his seat. They shared a glance as Mimi’s famous aria in the first act began, and heat flared between them. Lifting his hand to Layla’s neck, Adrian caressed his fingers deliciously over her skin. Brushing her curls away, he leaned in as the aria surged – kissing her neck as she closed her eyes in rapture.
Layla’s breath heaved; the performance was decadent but Adrian’s heat in the darkness was moreso. Even as she drank in the music, her body was riveted to Adrian’s kisses; his arms collecting her close so he could press his soft lips to her collarbones. Flooded with desire, Layla arched in her velvet chair, slipping into decadence as Adrian moved their armrests; pulling her into his lap and facing her forward so she could still take in the performance as he caressed her.
Her body was pressed against his in the darkness, hot and strong; she could feel his excitement firm against her ass. Music soared as he kissed her neck from behind now, sliding his hand down her thigh and gathering her plum silk gown up. Caressing his hand up her bare thigh beneath the silk, his kisses were sensual on Layla’s skin, his touch hot as his hotter magics slipped up her ankles to her legs.
Adrian’s caresses eased up Layla’s thighs like evening winds in the desert as music inundated her. His fingertips caressed her bare thigh, but his magic was like extra hands – stroking Layla’s skin with a delicious sensuality as his fingers did the same. He made it feel like many hands touched her; stroking circles in the hollows of her ankles, wrapping around the back of her knee, gripping her thigh as he slid his actual hand up between her legs – parting her thighs gently. Layla was breathing hard as his fingers slid up, stroking over her most delicate places now though her black silk thong. Gathering her close with his free arm, Adrian’s delicious wind surged around her like the orchestra as his fingertips eased her silk thong aside – then slid in deep.
Layla gasped, arching in his arms. Trapped to his body, she was already deliciously wet and Adrian held her deep, making her feel him. Making her feel how strong he was; how deeply he’d caught her. Slowly, he began to fuck her with his fingers and his magic in the darkness, rolling her in waves of ecstasy. Floods of pleasure inundated Layla as his fingers slid in and out with a slow rhythm as the final arias of the first act began. But as the music grew, he took her faster, harder, making heat course through Layla as music flooded the darkness.
His breath was hot on her neck now; rapid like hers. She could feel how hard he was behind her, crushing her close as he pushed her deeper. Gasps rose in the theater below, as those watching felt the passion of the music – and the passion of the couple fucking up above, though they didn’t know it.
Blistering heat roared around Layla and deep inside her. Shuddering, crying out softly now beneath the swell of the music as Adrian took her, it was only his fingers inside her but his magic augmented the depth and fire of his touch. Diving into her, Layla could feel him, taking her with his power as he took her with his hands. Making her feel how thick and deep and strong he would be when his time actually came. She cried out in pleasure as he devoured her, arching back into her Royal Dragon and lifting her hands up around his neck as he softly bit her skin; making her cry out as the music surged in devouring need.
Driving deep inside her, Adrian made Layla buck as she bit down on her lip to keep from screaming. So close now; she drew a breath. In that moment, Adrian bit down hard upon her neck, marking her with his teeth as he thrust the full power of his fingers and his magic up hard inside her. Layla spasmed, cored deep by his last thrust, and crested – crying out in climax. As the last chord of Rodolfo and Mimi’s love song rang through the theater, Layla came, shuddering with power and passion all through the depths of her body and feeling her Dragon roar deep within. A hot wind whirled around them, lifting their programs and tossing them as it pulled her back hard into Adrian’s firm body – binding them as one.
Bliss surged through her; ecstasy to be held in his arms – sundering to the power and bliss of her Royal Desert Dragon. As the last sigh of the orchestra eased away and the theater roared into thunderous applause at the first act’s conclusion, Layla lay helpless in Adrian’s arms. Shuddering with abandon, she listened to the screaming masses celebrate below – knowing the passion that had rolled through them with those last chords had been Adrian’s and hers. Breathing hard and unable to think or move, she lay cradled in his arms, warm and soft and full of bliss.
And that was only the first act.
“You amaze me, Layla Price,” Adrian murmured in her ear, kissing her neck softly. “There is nothing in the world I wouldn’t do for you.”
“Then take me back to the Hotel,” Layla breathed – knowing how much she wanted him now and unable to let anything else get in the way. “Take me back to the Hotel and fuck me rotten, Adrian Rhakvir.”
* * *
It was nearly midnight by the time they made it back to the Hotel – entirely disheveled. They’d survived the first act of the opera and stayed for the remainder, though their hands and kisses had been all over each other in the darkness, and Layla could barely recall the rest of the performance. The black car Adrian had acquired for the night was from the Hotel, and the driver had to put up the partition as they tumbled in at the opera house and immediately began making out in the back seat. Hands were everywhere, lips also; by the time they arrived at the Palace of Versailles and the driver set his ring to the stone pillar, initiating the flash of light and dissociation that meant they were passing back into the Twilight Realm, their clothing was entirely askew.
Pulling up to one of the Hotel’s side-entrances, the driver lowered the partition an inch to cough discreetly, before raising it again. Adrian laughed, breathless as he and Layla came up for air from their kiss. His bow-tie was undone, his shirt partway unbuttoned and he didn’t give a shit. They were soon about to get a lot more undressed if Layla’s request after the opera’s first act was to be honored, which she was pretty certain it would be. But Adrian helped Layla re-set Mimi’s diamond hairpins and become reasonably presentable before he opened the car door, stepping out with a grin and offering his hand.
Layla took it as she slid out. Heat roared between them, wrapping them in a desert funnel of lascivious wind and barely-restrained passion. Adrian’s aqua eyes burned in the midnight lights of the Hotel as he escorted her, walking her in through the grand front entrance. Layla barely registered the Hotel’s evening opulence as they moved through the central hall, chandeliers glittering low and gilded candelabra burning in every niche. Very few people were about this late. But as they passed the main Concierge desk, Layla saw Dusk glance up from a massive ledger he was writing in, the tireless Head Concierge still at work though everyone else was gone.
Their gazes connected. Dusk’s dark eyebrows rose, his sapphire-blue eyes piercing Layla to the quick as he took in her and Adrian’s entirely disheveled appearance. Layla blushed furiously, embarrassed. But Adrian only gave Dusk a nod, and Dusk said nothing as they passed, Adrian moving them up the grand main staircase. Continuing to the second and third levels, Layla thought they were going to her room, but then Adrian led her up yet another flight to the fourth floor. Only department heads had suites on the fourth floor – and it hit Layla suddenly that Adrian also had a suite of rooms on the premises. A set of gilded sphinxes guarded the long hall in the centermost quadrangle of the Palace, and as they passed, Layla felt a vicious tingle brush over her skin like biting hornets. She shivered, drawing closer to Adrian as he nodded at the sphinxes.
“Additional security measures against those who don’t have suites up here. You’re with me, though, so they’ll get used to your signature.”
“I hope so.”
The stinging feeling faded but it had cooled Layla’s ardor as they arrived at a set of double-doors flanked by snarling dragons as large as elephants. Made out of marbled crimson stone, the dragon’s piercing eyes were set with blue-green tourmaline the same color as Adrian’s eyes. Placing the palm of his left hand to the fanged snout of one of the statues, Adrian leaned in to its snarling face and opened his eyes wide, then exhaled. Layla saw a silver light like the ocular scan for her jewelry-safe, and then the doors to Adrian’s apartment swung open.
Layla had expected French Baroque opulence, but what she found inside Adrian’s suite was entirely different. As the doors shut behind them, Layla gazed around the enormous open-plan apartment, blinking in astonishment to realize she’d just walked into a Moroccan palace. Vaulted ingresses to sitting-rooms had been decorated in Moroccan-style arches, a red and gold script running through the frescoes. The Hotel’s stone pillars had been cast with tiled archways in luminous blue and green Moroccan zellij – decorative patterns everywhere she looked. Some archways were set with mirror-tiles, reflecting the elegance of the room a thousand times, while cobalt glass votives hung from chains set into the ceiling, flickering with candles already lit. Rugs woven in bright Berber designs spread over a teak-wood floor, while painted room dividers made the space seem cleverly private with potted palms and desert jasmine plants. All the furniture was tufted silk, with colorful silk pillows thrown on the rugs for lounging. A fountain burbled in the middle of it all, its square basin tiled with cobalt glass.
It was beautiful. Simple yet elegant, it was as if Adrian had taken a Moroccan palace and transported it to the Hotel. The space said far more about him than anything else, and as Layla glanced up, she saw him watching her with keen eyes – worry in his bright aqua gaze. “Welcome to my home away from home.”
“Is this modeled after your home in Morocco?” Layla asked, astounded as she gazed around the incredible space. “Did you replicate it here?”
“Part of it.” Adrian gave a lopsided smile, bashful and incredibly sexy like their first day in the gallery. Relieving Layla of her clutch, he set it on a carven table by the doors, then helped her out of her mink stole. “This is where I go when I need some peace. I have other apartments in the Hotel that I use for business.”
Layla watched him as he moved to a tiled breakfast table set with etched silver trays of flaky pastry desserts and an ornate silver teapot with an arching spout. Pouring two cups of tea, Adrian returned, handing one to Layla and beckoning to the sitting-area near the fountain. They were suddenly being formal with each other, but as Layla smelled the delicious scent of Moroccan mint tea easing from her cup, she smiled, not minding the slowdown from their heady passion earlier. Following Adrian, she claimed a seat on a mauve silk couch with a rolled back, deep enough that she could curl up and kick off her heels, tucking her feet beneath her.
Adrian took a seat on a silk ottoman at corners to her, blowing on his tea as he watched her. Layla took a sip, finding her tea sweetened with honey. There was something else in it too, a hint of jasmine or rose or maybe both. It was delicious and she sipped again, feeling mellow and relaxed now after so much pleasure earlier.
“So do you bring all the girls here?” Layla spoke teasingly over the rim of her cup.
“I don’t bring anyone here.” Adrian’s gaze pierced her, honest as he sipped his tea.
Layla blinked, then set her tea aside on a tiled table. “You mean I’m your first guest?”
“I mean, Dusk has been up here.” Adrian gave a wry smile. “The Madame. The cleaning staff and Catering. But that’s all.”
