Page 35 of Blood Enchanted
Her eyes sparkled with silver. “We need to find the staff before he can use it to hurt anyone. Even if he doesn’t figure out its potential power, any interaction with a talisman that corrupted could lead to disaster for both our people.”
“Precisely,” I said, letting my eyes wander over Jade’s profile as she stared thoughtfully at the winter market crowds. “Which is why I’ve arranged a meeting with a neutral vampire in Boston Friday night. As much as it pains me to bring you into peril, I don’t think I can do this without you.”
“Damn straight,” she bit out. “I’m not some delicate flower. I can handle myself, and you won’t be able to find the talisman—or detect dark magick—without me.”
“Regardless, I’ll protect you no matter the cost, Jade,” I vowed, my voice still laden with my earlier thoughts.
The violent promise in my eyes should frighten her, but to my utter shock, she leaned closer, the tips of her fingers tracing my exposed forearm with a whisper-like touch. She tilted her head, sending her hair over shoulder. The flash of white neck captured my focus.
“That I’ve never doubted, Alexei.”
The moment grew rife with tension, but for once I needed space from the desirous witch before I fell on her like a starving peasant desperate for a taste of her decadent beauty.
“Are you ready to return—”
“Were the flowers some sort of ploy to lure me into bed?”she blurted, her cheeks stained a delicious pink as she twisted her hands around the stem of the lily.
A laugh barked free from my lips. “You truly do not have an honest impression of me, do you?”
The silence grew, and I let out a quiet sigh.
“Let us promise one thing to each other,” I said with a serious edge. “Secrets will doubtlessly come between us, but when we speak, let it be only truth. You can pretend things haven’t changed between us, and you can lie to others about our relationship if you wish to do so, but between us, let there be no doubt that you feel anything other than desire.”
“That’s a stretch, vamp.” Her breath puffed out steam, her breath sweet with the hint of her dessert. “But let’s say Ididadmit to feeling certain desirous feelings towards you. Could we keep it only between us? No commitments, no games. Just sex.”
I paused, calculating the gleam in her eyes. Though I longed for much more than what she offered, I was desperate enough to take any scrap she gave me. “If that is what you wish. I can be incredibly amenable to your needs, darling.”
Her eyes grew dazed, darting between my eyes and my mouth.
Filled with pleased warmth, I chuckled and trailed my hands down her arms to grasp her hands with mine. I lifted them to my lips and pressed a kiss against her palm before lifting her wrist to my nose.
“You feel the passion between us, so there’s no reason not to explore this tension between us.” My thumb dragged across her lips, and she surprised me by opening her lips and biting down on my flesh. “But I’ll only touch you under the condition that you promise not to run from me if you get spooked. I know you far too well to risk anything less.”
She dipped her chin to her chest on an inhale before lifting her glittering gaze back to me. “As I’ve told you, vamp. I’m not afraid of you.” Standing, she wandered back towards the market, throwing over her shoulder in a grievous tone, “This doesn’t mean I’m saying yes.”
My shoulders loosened, and anticipation weaved through me. As I followed behind her eagerly, I wanted to extrapolate the details for how, where, and especiallywhenthis sexual discovery would begin.
The bright lights of the shops, twinkling with festive flare, beckoned us closer.
A window display caught Jade’s attention, and we paused, staring at the beautiful, seductive slips of lace and silks.My mouth watered imagining Jade wearing such delicate and revealing lingerie meant for a lover’s eyes.My eyes.
I pushed the door open, the bell above us announcing our entrance. “After you, darling.”
Her flushed cheeks could be the result of the dropping temperatures, but I knew the truth.
We perused the stacks, a daring red slip with racy cutouts and delicate black ribbons crisscrossing down the barely there back, immediately catching my eye. I grabbed the closest estimation of her size and luxuriated in the feel of the silky fabric.
“Of course, you go for the blood-red number,” Jade muttered to herself, but I could see the approval gleaming in her eyes. “And you’ve guessed my correct size once more. Alexei, you haven’t been snooping through my things, by chance?
I smirked at the reminder of her masquerade dress and the absolute vision she made in the emerald silk. “I merely have a keen eye and have been ruminating on your curves for far too long to be considered healthy.”
Jade snorted and crouched down to a rack filled with truly incomprehensible shoes, selecting a pair of feathered satin heels to inspect methodically.
“Ah, darling. I would sell my very soul to see you waltzing around my bedroom in nothing but those frilly little shoes.” I hooked a finger into the backs of the blood-red satin heels adorned with feathers. “We’ll take these as well.”
At my heated words, she shivered.
Before I could lean down and capture her lips in a kiss, the svelte shopkeeper poked her head around a stack of silk stockings, a customer service smile eagerly in place. “Would you like a dressing room, ma’am?”