Page 8 of Offering Herself to Darkness

“You’re welcome.” He signed both copies of the contract and then handed her the pen.

Feeling like she was in a dream, Nora signed as well. Was she actually doing this? Was she actually going to marry her huge, scary Dark Kindred boss?

It seemed she was. She handed the pen and one of the contracts back to Xarex. He folded it and slipped it into the pocket of his shirt.

“Well…I guess that’s that,” Nora said uncertainly. She turned to go but Xarex surprised her by pulling her back by the wrist. “Yes?” she turned to face him again. He was still sitting at his desk but even with him sitting and her standing, they were almost eye-to-eye.

“I want to seal this bargain,” he rumbled.

“Seal it?” Nora asked, frowning. “How?”

“With a kiss. I want you to kiss me again…but slowly this time,” he directed.

“Er…slowly?” Nora asked, still confused.

“You came at me too quickly last time—it caused the W’rx part of me to react,” he explained. “I want to see if I can be gentle. Think of it as an experiment.”

“An experiment, huh?” Nora asked. But she had already kissed him once and they were going to be doing a lot more than kissing in the immediate future.

Hesitantly, she stepped forward. He turned towards her, the office chair swiveling. He seemed less intimidating this way, with the two of them almost eye-to-eye, she thought. Leaning forward, she closed her eyes as she pressed her mouth to his.

Xarex stiffened at first…and then he was kissing her back. He was more gentle this time, she thought as she found herself sinking into the kiss. His mouth tasted like cinnamon—a detail she hadn’t noticed before due to the intensity and passion of their earlier kiss. He kept his hands to himself this time too, though Nora found she kind of missed feeling them running up and down her back and sides…

No, what are you thinking? That’s crazy—you’re only doing this to seal the deal. And you’re only doing the deal to save Anna. It’s not like you actually enjoy kissing him—he’s a huge, scary Dark Kindred and he’s your boss. He’s the last person you ought to enjoy kissing, she told herself.

And yet, she found herself enjoying it more and more. Or at least, her body was enjoying it—her nipples had gone tight again and below the waist she felt absolutely molten. Why was it that kissing her Kindred boss had such an effect on her? She’d never felt like this when she kissed Steve—hell, she’d never felt like this when she kissed anyone before!

The kiss seemed to go on and on. Nora didn’t know how to stop it and after a while she found she didn’t want to stop it. She wound her arms around Xarex’s neck and before she knew it, he had drawn her down into his lap and was deepening the kiss. This time it was almost like he was inviting her to explore him the way he had explored her earlier. He sucked lightly on her tongue, inviting her in and Nora found herself taking him up on his invitation. Oh God, what was happening to her? Was she actually making out with her boss? What was?—?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a perfunctory knock on the office door and then someone said,

“Excuse me, Commander Xarex, I—oh!”

Nora yanked away from her boss and scrambled off his lap in record time but she could feel how hot her cheeks were as she turned to face the door. A very shocked-looking Kindred security guard was standing there.

“Pardon me,” he said stiffly. “I did not mean to interrupt you, Commander Xarex. I just thought…” And then he trailed off, clearly at a loss for what to say.

“Don’t worry, you didn’t interrupt,” Xarex said, though the security guard most certainly had interrupted in Nora’s opinion. “I was merely showing affection to my soon-to-be-mate. I am calling Ms. Thompson as my bride.”

“Oh…you are?” The security guard, who was a Beast Kindred, raised his bushy black eyebrows in apparent surprise.

“Yes. The Joining Ceremony will be held in the Sacred Grove this coming Tuesday,” Xarex said coolly. He looked at Nora. “My darling, should we invite our coworkers to attend?”

“Oh, um…sure, I guess.” Nora wasn’t sure what was more surprising—the smooth way her boss was playing this off or the fact that he had called her “my darling.”

“Very well.” He turned back to the security guard. “You are invited to attend if you wish to.”

“Er, thank you, Commander. That’s very kind of you.” The Kindred guard nodded, still looking shocked and a little uneasy. “I’ll try to make it.”

“That’s most kind of you. Now what did you need? My lovely fiancée was just leaving,” Xarex nodded at Nora who took the cue to move towards the door of his office.

She slipped out just as the security guard started to explain and breathed a sigh of relief when she got out the door. It was time to go home but first she had to go to the ladies' room to compose herself.

Once inside, she put a hand to her beating heart and closed her eyes to take a few deep breaths. Was it really true? Was she really going to marry Commander Xarex in three days?

The crinkling of paper in her hand reminded her of the contract she’d signed. She opened her eyes and examined it. Yes, it was true all right. And once they were married, she’d given her legal consent to let him do anything he wanted to her—anything at all. Well, except to kill her. But he was still probably going to want to tie her up and do all kinds of kinky things to her body.

It’s worth it—it will all be worth it to save Anna, she reassured herself. But she couldn’t help flashing on the images she’d seen on her boss’s computer—the women who looked just like her tied down with their legs spread, waiting to be tasted and teased and punished…

---