“It’s fine,” she said, even though it was clearly not. “I hope this one works out. I’d better leave them to it. They don’t need a third wheel hanging around.”
“Can I take you home?”Say yes, Eva.“My car isn’t far.”
It would be much easier to convince her to come back to my home once I got her in my backseat, where prying eyes and idiot couples couldn’t interrupt what I had planned.
“Thanks, but no. I’m not far.”
“Can I walk you, then?”
To my dismay, she shook her head again. “Sorry, but my brother is pretty protective. I don’t think he’d approve of strangers knowing where I live.”
I bit back a scowl because the news was both irritating and relieving. I was glad she had someone looking out for her, but he was in my way, and I wouldn’t allow that.
“All right. But at least let me walk you to the gates.”
Where I would follow her home, learn everything about her, and use it to make her mine.
Poor Eva. She had no idea she’d walked into the spider’s web. Into the cave of a vicious monster who decided he wanted to savor the taste of her.
Eva smiled gently—that damned smile had me on my knees—and nodded. “Fine. But only to the gates. And only because you are loaning me such a nice scarf.”
I held out my arm and relished the feeling of her arm slipping through mine, her petite body brushing against me with every step. Eva giggled to herself as she attempted to catch snowflakes.
My lips almost curved upward watching her. I couldn’t remember the last time I smiled, yet she made me want to.
I brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen out of her ribbon. Eva startled, her brown eyes coming back to me with curiosity. My gaze held hers, and I allowed some of the desire I’d been attempting to hide peek through the cracks, the demons that had begun to crave her. “You’re very beautiful.”
Something softened in her eyes at that, something fragile and real. She ducked her head, a smile curving her mouth. “Well, thank you. That’s kind of you.”
I had never been described as kind. A killer, a monster, death maybe. But I wasn’t interested in saving her from my world. I wanted to drag her into it. I wanted to see if her tears tasted delicious. If her pain sounded as sweet as her voice. Eva would call the things I planned to do to her kindness.
By the time she realized the truth, it would be too late for her to escape me.
“I’m glad you weren’t watching where you were going, Alek,” she whispered as we neared the gates.
“So am I.”
We stood there a moment longer than necessary, each drinking the other in. Finally, Eva looked above and smiled to herself. I followed her gaze and almost smirked when I found a bough of mistletoe dangling above us.
And maybe it was too hasty of me, but I shot forward and grabbed the back of her neck, hauling her lips to mine.
Eva gasped, her hands wrapping around my middle, gripping my blood-stained shirt with all her might. Her open mouth was an opportunity that I greedily took, thrusting my tongue inside and groaning at the taste of her.
Sweet, like candy.
She was soft and warm, everything I imagined her to be. My other hand, the one not gripping her neck, found the curve of her waist and pulled her impossibly closer. Stray locks of hair brushed against my nose, assaulting me with the smell of vanilla shampoo and pure temptation.
Mine… mine… mine…I wanted to growl when I lightly bit her lip, giving her a taste of pain with her pleasure. She was going to be all fuckingmine.
I ended it when I decided I’d taken enough, when my control frayed just enough to make me consider trapping her under me. But I had to be smart about this. Games of chess were not won by irrational first moves. To own the board, I would play as the white knight. And then I would reveal myself as her dark king.
Eva took a step back, eyes dazed, fingers tightening around the scarf as if anchoring herself back to reality.
“I’ll return this,” she said, voice cracking. “I swear.”
“I’ll hold you to it, solnyshka.”
And before I could say goodbye, before I could order one of my guards to silently follow her, Eva leaned forward one more time and placed a brief but searing kiss on my lips, pulling away with amusement dancing across her face.
