“Well, I could start with the obvious.” He smiled wryly, though his green eyes darkened. “I’m insanely attracted to my cousin’s girl. She compels me like no-one I’ve ever met. And she’s sitting right here looking like a fucking Dragon Queen, shooting the shit with me and sipping good bourbon. Not to mention the fact that herskinsmells better than the best bourbon I’ve ever had, which is fucking hot as shit. Do you want me to continue?”
His directness made Layla blush hard. Her citrus scent wafted up around her and she shifted on her barstool. But rather than back down, she set her bourbon on the bar and dug in with her talons. “So is this a date? Is that why you invited me here, Adam?”
“Not unless you want it to be.” He grinned, rapacious, though his gaze was still dark, simmering with that new energy Layla was discovering about him.
“Adam.” Layla gave him a withering look.
“No, it’s not a date.” Adam gave her a more subdued smile, then sighed. “If it was, Adrian would eat me alive. But I can’t help liking what I like, Layla. Just thought I’d clear the air before we go any further. I’m jealous of Adrian. I want you; he knows it. I’m not going to make a move and destabilize our clan, but I need to be honest.”
“You really are like Dusk, aren’t you?” Layla cocked her head at him. “Brutal honesty is also his M.O. And covering his true nature with another one.”
“Sometimes.” Adam smiled wryly, though his gaze sharpened on her now, alert as if she’d hit just a little too close to home. “Dusk is his own creature, though. I’m sure you haven’t even seen the tip of that buried diamond yet. He pretends he’s devil-may-care, but just wait until you see him really pissed off.”
“I saw some of that when I nearly shifted the other day.”
“Some.” Adam eyeballed her with a dark intensity, setting his drink aside on the glossy copper bar. “Layla. Do you know anything about this world you’ve just entered? How dangerous it is – how intense? Do you know the full repercussions of what nearly happened during that party the other night?”
“Dusk has told me a fair bit.” She shifted on her seat, trying not to fidget. “How about you fill me in on the rest?”
She thought he might speak, but instead Adam just sat there, watching her. With a frown narrowing his straight blond brows and a dark intensity in his hunter-green eyes, he swirled his Tom Collins, then downed it and set the glass decisively aside on the bar. “Finish your drink.”
“What?” Layla blinked.
“Finish your drink.” Sliding off his barstool, Adam nodded in thanks to the bartender and pinned Layla again with his eyes, a truly dark green now. “We’re going somewhere else.”
“Do I get to know where that is?” Layla asked suspiciously, taking a deeper drink of her bourbon, though it was a shame to sip something this good so quickly. Something in Adam’s manner had raised her hackles a little, and deep inside, her Dragon shifted, watchful.
“You want me to fill you in on our world?” Adam cocked his head, something piercing in his eyes now. But despite that, he was calm, and Layla sensed nothing dark in his intentions.
“Yeah.” Layla frowned, still not sure, but intrigued.
“Then finish your drink and get up off your ass.”
Layla blinked at him. Her Dragon roared inside her, affronted at his demanding language. A whip-hot heat surged from her, and she was about to open her lips and give him an earful when Adam’s hand suddenly flashed out to her bourbon glass. In one fell swoop, he’d downed her drink, clapping the glass to the bar and grinning like a Roman devil.
“Hey!” Layla growled, pushing to her feet to get right up in his tall, smug face. “You suck!”
“Got you up off your ass, didn’t it?” Adam grinned like a brigand, something much lighter in him now as he gave a laugh. “Come on. Evening’s not going to party by itself.”
He was suddenly moving off, striding through the atrium and down the hallway with a long, purposeful stride. Layla growled as she picked up her feet, trotting across the marble floor in her high heels to catch up. She was quickly deciding that Adam was far more of a pain in her ass than Dusk. And as a Desert Dragon, he was far more unpredictable – which Layla began to realize she found both contentious and alluring.
Finally catching up as he turned the corner, Layla kept pace as he strode to a side-door that led out to a courtyard north of the sprawling main building. Marching to a sleek wine-red and black cafe-racer Harley in the motorcycle parking area, Adam lifted a black leather jacket from the seat and tossed it at Layla, then handed over a matching helmet.
“Ever ride on a bike?” He grinned, picking up his own helmet from the seat. “A real bike, I mean, not those fucking push-pedal scooters that hipsters drive around in Seattle?”
“Enough times.” Layla couldn’t help herself, she grinned as she donned the black jacket. Though it was far too big, clearly made to fit Adam’s tall, fit physique. “Ok, now you’ve got me curious. Where the fuck are we going?”
“You know Paris?” Adam slung on his helmet, the visor up so he could see her. Slinging a leg over the cafe-racer, he wheeled it back out of its parking spot.
“Are we going into the city?” Layla asked as she donned her own helmet.
“Something like that. Hop on.” Adam twisted, patting the seat behind him.
Layla was hesitant, but something inside her boiled for an adventure tonight. Adrian was too busy to show her a good time, Dusk was too proper in his boss / employee relationship, and also too damn busy. And though Adam wasn’t Layla’s first choice to go out on the town with, she realized that a night out of the Hotel would be just the thing tonight. Tensions had been high lately, and Layla could use a little fun.
With a conceding laugh, she stepped to the bike, slinging a leg over and settling in behind Adam. She could practically feel him grin as he secured her arms around his middle, then fired up the bike, revving it. Turning it, he put on the gas hard enough that Layla had to grip him tight as they peeled out into the evening.
Exhilaration filled her as they raced through the courtyard along the Hotel’s wrought-iron fence. Adam was a natural, guiding his bike in fast, smooth arcs around planters and lampposts, zooming them in delight to the gilded Hotel gates. The gates barely parted in time as they roared through. But as they raced through the stone posts that acted as a portal from the Twilight Realm to the human world, Layla experienced no disorientation like she expected passing between Realms. As they zoomed along the avenue, she found it turned into a country lane surrounded by a thick forest rather than the busy city of Versailles. Flying along a deserted nighttime road now, Layla understood with a jolt that they weren’t going anyplace in the human world.
