Page 9 of Under the Dragon's Spell
"Sorry for wasting your time," I said, before storming out of the cafe.
"Adrian!" he called after me, but I didn't stop. I needed to get away from him and his magic. Fast. I couldn't allow myself to be manipulated again.
The cold wind whipped my face as I stepped out onto the sidewalk. The air was chilly and I'd forgotten my coat and scarf inside.
Stupid.
Still, I wasn't going to go back for them. How embarrassing would that be?
Determined to bear the low temperature until I got home, I took a step forward. And then I froze when I felt another man's hand on my shoulder.
"Adrian."
Fuck. He'd followed me.
Slowly, I turned around and Tyrel met my eyes. His were glowing again, and the sight hit me even harder than before. Like a punch to the gut that took my breath away, but not painful. No, not at all painful. Just… completely overpowering.
And why the fuck did that feeling make all my blood leave my brain?
"You left this," he said, and I could only guess that he was talking about my coat because I still couldn't take my eyes off his. He wrapped the material around my back and I felt myself stick my arms through the sleeves to put it on.
"That's better." He smiled. My heart thundered in my chest. He wrapped the scarf around my neck, but held on to theends. Then he tugged and pulled me a little closer, until we were standing eye to eye. I couldn't breathe, couldn't decide whether I wanted to break away or not.
Kiss him.
The thought felt as foreign as that other one, but it had more weight behind it, seemed harder to resist. Because he had me in his hold or because I wanted it too? I didn't know, didn't—
Oh God.
He touched my face and I shuddered. And not because of the cold either. His touch was warm and made my skin tingle.
Kiss him.
This time, the thought was definitely my own. But I didn't act on it, too confused and too scared to move. As much as I wanted to wrap myself around him, to let him pin me down and take what he needed, take everything, I knew that he was dangerous.
And so I closed my eyes and stood completely still, like he was the predator and I was his prey, playing dead and hoping despite myself that he would eat me anyway.
He stroked his thumb along the line of my jaw. "You fascinate me, Adrian," he said. "You truly do."
And then he stepped away.
I didn't open my eyes again until he was gone, wishing he had stayed.
I wasn't going to get this job, was I?
I went home in a daze as my thoughts kept circling back to the interview that hadn't felt like an interview. In fact, it had felt a little bit like a date—with magic. Had that really been magic, though? I didn't want to believe it, but couldn't think of any other explanation for what had happened, either. For a moment there, my body hadn't listened to me. He'd had mecompletely under his spell, and although he hadn't, he could have pushed me to do anything.
But that wasn't even the scary thing.
The scary thing was how much I'd enjoyed it. How much I'd wanted him to push.
So much for not being over my last boyfriend.
So much for not wanting a stranger.
Something was seriously wrong with me.
When I reached my brother's house, my first instinct was to go into my room, draw the blanket over myself and hide for a bit, but I still had dinner to prepare, and maybe that was just as well. I enjoyed cooking, after all. At first, I'd learned a few simple dishes to impress Rory, then I'd gone on to more complex things until I could spend hours in the kitchen without ever noticing the time pass. My cooking skills were probably among the few reasons my brother didn't try harder to kick me out. He liked to eat about as much as I liked to cook. Most days, that worked out fine, but tonight, I could hardly stand sitting next to him while he kept asking me about my day.
