Page 34 of Dance for the Dragon
A slow, sexy smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “I think I can handle that.” Fear clouded his expression. “And what about after the dance?”
The waiter appeared with her leftovers. Devon thanked him and grabbed her purse as Kohl paid the bill. “After the dance, if anything…happens. Then we’ll be in the perfect place for that, too.” She winked. “No witnesses.”
Chapter 11
Kohl gave her directions to his property. Devon chatted the entire way about the different types of people she runs into working her delivery job and other inconsequential things. It was a welcome distraction from his own thoughts, which, he suspected, was exactly what she was trying to accomplish. He knew she was nervous, and just a little bit scared. But mostly, he felt her excitement. Honestly, he had to admire her for her courage. Not every woman would be willing to take on something like him. Not knowingly. But she was convinced that even if he shifted, he wouldn’t hurt her.
He shifted his long legs, trying to get comfortable, and wishing he had her confidence. He should’ve asked to drive. He was too nervous and too fucking horny to just sit there beside her without having something else to concentrate on.
Every few seconds, he would check the side mirror. Something was eating at him. Something that had nothing to do with taking Devon somewhere they could be alone. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it made the tiny hairs on the back of his neck and arms stand up. After checking the mirror a good ten times in as many minutes, Kohl decided he was just being paranoid. No one knew he was with her.
He glanced over at Devon, and he couldn’t help but smile as she laughed. He had no idea what she was talking about, but man, he loved to hear her laugh. She turned back to the road, and as he studied her delicate profile, he came back around to thinking maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Every time he thought about being intimate with Devon, the beast stretched with pleasure, as eager as he was. But he didn’t know if it was because it wanted to be with her, too, or if it just knew it would get a chance to come out and play if Kohl got riled enough. Though anything that heightened his emotions was enough to entice his vampire nature, the beast was never this close to showing up without an invitation unless there was severe danger to himself or those he felt protective of. Not since he’d learned to control his shifting, and that was a long time ago.
“What’s wrong?” Devon kept her eyes on the road, but her hands tightened their grip on the steering wheel.
“Nothing. I’m good.”
“No, you’re not. You keep looking at the side mirror and your entire body is tense. Is there something going on? I haven’t seen anyone behind us, but I keep thinking a bunch of guys with guns—or worse, sharpened fangs—are gonna drop out of the trees onto the roof of my car like in some movie.”
“No. I’m just feeling kinda…unsettled.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m probably just being paranoid because this isn’t supposed to be happening.”
“Driving to the lake?”
“No. Us. Seeing you like this. I was explicitly told to stay away from you.”
“I thought the coven Master wanted you to hang out with me. To find out what I know.”
“He does. I was told to get information about what you did at Parasupe. But this—” He pointed back and forth between the two of them. “Was never supposed to happen.”
She glanced at him for a few long seconds and then turned back to the road. “Kohl, I can’t lie and tell you I don’t want to be with you.”
Her heart pounded, pushing blood through her veins. In such a small space, the sound was overly loud to his sensitive ears. It also heightened her scent, distracting him from her words. But then she reached for his hand, and the pressure of her touch cleared the haze. He wrapped his fingers around hers as his focus cleared, squeezing her hand.
“I’m not sure what it is, but ever since the night of…” She paused, and he felt, rather than saw, the myriad of emotions that threatened to overwhelm her as she remembered the night she’d first come to the club. She cleared her throat, and he felt her agitation diminish as she shoved it away. “Before we actually met, something kept drawing me back to that place. That night wasn’t the first time I’d come there, just the first time I’d come in. At first I thought it was the secrecy of the club. The lure of going someplace where I could lose myself in the darkness. And then, I thought it was my mind trying to tell me it had been messed with after everything that happened. But I don’t think it was either of those things. I think it’s you. I think it’s you I keep coming back to. And I don’t know how, or why, but this is happening. This is happening with us.” She glanced over at him. “Is that how it is with you, too?” She laughed, the high pitch giving away her nervousness. “Or am I just being a girl?”
Her confession threw him completely, and at the same time, he knew exactly what she was talking about. He’d felt this way since the first time he saw her on the news, only he hadn’t known how to put it into words. This woman was now home to him. “Your blood knows me,” he mused.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing. Just something someone said to me. Turn left up here.” He pointed at the road ahead. “Yeah, right here.”
A few minutes later, she pulled her car up to the end of the road. The water glistened in the moonlight as it rippled along the surface. Devon put the car in park but left the engine running.
“Your battery is gonna go dead.”
She gave him a teasing grin. “Then you’ll just have to fly me home.”
Kohl touched her arm before she could get out of the car.
Her smile wavered when she saw he wasn’t sharing in her playfulness. “It’s okay, Kohl. I was just going to leave it on for a few minutes so we could play the radio. I wasn’t kidding about that dance. You owe me.”
He shook his head. “Devon, just…keep your keys in the ignition. If anything should happen, anything at all, you run. You get in your car and you get the fuck out of here as fast as you can. Go to the nearest secure building and get inside. Don’t leave your car running, though. It will see it and know where you are.”
“You,” she told him.
He frowned at her. “What?”
“You will know where I am. Not ‘it’. You.”
