Sighing, I stepped past him and into the house that was so quiet I felt the need to whisper, “I’ll just get mybag—”
“How about one moredrink?”
I twirled around as Jarod clicked the door closed behind him, no bodyguard in tow. “I don’t need one moredrink.”
He circled me. “Since when do we need the things wewant?”
“I don’twantone either,Jarod.”
My answer blotted his pleasantmood.
“But I’d enjoy spending more time in yourcompany.”
By increments, the darkness cleared from his face. “You could’ve led with that,” he finally said, which elicited a cheek-splitting grin on mypart.
“Zero points for creativity, Monsieur Adler,” I teased him. “You just recycled words I usedearlier.”
My mind blanked when he linked his fingers with mine and pulled me into his study. After he sealed us inside, he flicked on the sconces and the light fixture over the oil portrait of the horse, then released my hand, crossed the wide room, and heaved the curtainsclosed.
I watched him move around the room with a manner so elegant and dark it was bewitching. As he poured himself a tumbler of something, my gaze slid down the length and breadth of him. He was a man sculpted from obsidian and starlight, not flesh and sins. If anyone was the sinner in this room, it wasme.
The girl who couldn’t stopwatching.
The girl who couldn’t stop wondering if his breath would taste like fire and spice, or mineral and sweet like hisfragrance.
“Tired,Feather?”
“What?” My voice sounded like it was coming from milesaway.
“You’resparkling.”
The rushing stilled in myears.
Oh. . . sweet cherubs . . .no.
I feigned a yawn, which made his mouth tick up as he stalked back towardme.
“Do you need to be pluggedin?”
“Veryfunny.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “You could always take a nap in mybed.”
Even though there was no mirror, I suspected that even my eyeballs had started glittering. Did thathappen?
When he got close enough that I could smell the smokiness lifting off his drink and the sweetness lifting off his neck, I eyed the drapes, keen to cocoon myself in them until my skin returned to normal. But then,what?
Perhaps leaving this world wasn’t such a badthing.
“Now that we’re friends, why don’t you tell me the truth about why your skin lightsup?”
I swallowed and backed up a step. “I’d really rathernot.”
He took a step forward. I backed up again. We performed this little dance until my tailbone met solid wood, and I wastrapped.
“Would you rather Iguess?”
“Nope.”
