Page 70 of Morning's Light

He stepped up and drew her close, his lips on hers before she could comprehend his presence. Aisanna sank into the contact and opened her mouth to him as he kissed her senseless.

He drew away after several seconds, but his arms were still clenched around her. “Hello. Sorry to startle you.”

She pushed him back and put some distance between them. “I’m starting to think you have a cot hidden somewhere. Do you live here and I just don’t know about it?”

“I feel like it, sometimes.” Elon shook his head. “I tried to call and run it by you. You didn’t answer. I went ahead and did what I had to do. Don’t worry, I’m not going to charge you for the overtime. I thought you would rather I get it done right than alienate customers.”

She set her purse down and smiled. “And do you always make a habit of kissing women when you’re trying to get out of trouble?”

“No. Only you.”

“This is…unexpected.” Aisanna stepped in the opposite direction. Oh, God. What was she doing?

Elon looked around and nodded slightly. “I know. And again, I’m sorry. Come on and sit. Tell me what you think about these arrangements I’ve redone.”

Aisanna followed him around to the front.

“You know,” he said over his shoulder, “I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. Imagine my surprise when I woke up yesterday and you were gone.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’m not good at the cuddly morning-after thing.”

“It didn’t bother me. Much. Although I’d planned to introduce you to my extra special omelet. Want to know the secret? Cream cheese.”

She chuckled. “Next time, maybe.” Part of her wanted to go to him and let him wrap her in his arms again. To feel those lips travel her skin, to indulge in a sexual haze that made her forget about her problems. He looked adorable standing there with his jaunty red suspenders.

Why wait? He opened his mouth to tell her about the display he had laid out on the counter when she placed her palms on his cheeks and drew him down to her. Their lips met on a sigh and Aisanna felt a curious melting around her heart.

His mouth moved skillfully over hers. Elon shifted closer to wrap his arms around her waist, and she couldn’t resist flicking his suspenders once for effect.

Then from out of nowhere terror built and filled every cell in her body. She gripped his suspenders tightly against the pain, pressing her chest against his and screwing her eyes shut. Her heart pounded in her chest.

A shadow surfaced inside of her, her façade of normalcy slipping. Aisanna felt something, someone, crawling inside of her, scratching at her organs and penetrating her mental barrier. In the time it took for her heart to beat once, twice, Darkness had taken control of her.

She snapped her teeth down on Elon’s lip as hard as she could.

He shouted, pushing her back. There was blood on his face, his lip cut.

Aisanna felt like she’d bitten into cold metal.

“What the fuck?” Elon wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and winced, covering the lower half of his face. “Why would you do that?”

Then he saw the look on her face and stopped cold.

Sometimes, like the other night when she’d fallen asleep for the briefest moment in his arms, he felt like they’d known each other for a thousand years. He’d memorized her gestures, her expressions, the rolling cadence of her voice, until he could bring any of them to mind on demand. On a normal day, Aisanna had a tired, easy smile and light crinkles around her eyes.

The look on her face now…he’d never seen it before. He recognized rage around her narrowed eyes. Pain in the thin press of her lips. There was a vicious delight in the cock of her head and an animalistic readiness in her body. There was something else, too.

Wickedness. Pure malice, like staring into the dead, blank eyes of a serial killer. And deep in her eyes, a sharp, piercing plea for help.

Elon wiped his mouth a second time. “Aisanna, snap out of it.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and felt her tremble and shake, like a thousand centipedes crawling beneath her skin. “I said, snap the hell out of it!”

Knowing she’d kill him for it later, he cracked his hand across her cheek. And was rewarded when she gasped, head thrown back and eyes widening.

“Elon,” she began unsteadily, “I think you need to leave.”

Those were definitely not the words he’d expected to hear from her. “Excuse me?”

“Please, let’s not make a scene right now,” she begged. “Get out of here. Before you get hurt.”

---