“I don’t? Well, that’s news to me.” She set her mug down and crossed her legs, drawing his attention to them.
“Is it?” he countered. “I thought you’d come here for me.”
Sonia froze. “I thought you’d come here for me.” His words echoed in her brain, a reminder of her dream last night. She’d certainly come then. She cleared her throat and pressed onward, beginning to wish she’d never gotten past the front doors of Inhibitions. “I don’t even know you,” she pointed out.
“Which makes it all the more intriguing, don’t you agree?” He looked just like some medieval lord sitting behind his massive desk. This club was his fiefdom, and all the people who worked here his minions or serfs, depending on how you looked at the situation.
“I should go.” She reached down and picked up her purse before standing. As attracted as she was to Damek, she didn’t belong here. He really was just the owner of a rather notorious nightclub and not a vampire at all. Maybe he was a paranormal creature of some kind, but maybe not. She wasn’t sure she should trust her instincts where Damek was concerned any longer. Obviously hormones and sexual urges were messing with her normally infallible instincts.
Her brothers would kill her if they ever found out she’d come to a place like this by herself. Her father would try to ground her even though she’d been living on her own for years.
Damek was in front of her in the blink of an eye. She practically fell back into her chair she was so startled. How had he moved that fast?
“Have dinner with me. We will talk.”
She nibbled her bottom lip. “I don’t know.” Common sense dictated she go back to her hotel, but the wild woman inside her wanted to have dinner with this intriguing, totally unacceptable man. He ran a nightclub with a reputation for wildness, while she worked at a university.
“I promise, I don’t bite.” He paused and added, “Unless asked.” His bedroom voice promised all kinds of erotic pleasures and she caught the glint of his teeth when he smiled. “Please.”
She was going to regret this. “It has to be somewhere casual. I’m not going back to my hotel to change.”
Damek picked up the phone off his desk and hit a button. “Bring the car around back.”
Sonia swallowed hard. What the hell had she just done? It wasn’t too late to change her mind. One second she was determined to be sensible, the next she was agreeing to go to dinner with him. But there was something so darn sexy about Damek that made it impossible for her to be her normal logical self. The way he looked at her as though he found her utterly fascinating, the exotic cadence of his voice when he spoke, drew her like a moth to the proverbial flame.
Dangerous. That was the word that best described him.
She could still leave, go back to her hotel and forget she’d ever met Damek. And she was lying to herself if she thought she wasn’t going to have dinner with him.
Reading what little she could find out about him and his club online had fascinated her enough to travel here to meet him. In person, he was mesmerizing. No way was she going to miss out on an opportunity to actually talk to him. And they were going out to eat in a public place. Nothing untoward would happen to her.
And if she repeated that enough to herself, she might actually believe it. Not that she thought he’d physically hurt her, because for some unexplained reason she didn’t. But her intuition was screaming that her life would never be the same if she went with him.
“Are you ready?” There were so many layers to that question that Sonia wasn’t sure she wanted to answer it. She settled for simply nodding. Again, his lips quirked up at the corners in amusement, but he made no further comment as he placed his hand on the small of her back and led her to the door.
The huge bouncer appeared from out of nowhere, his eyes raking over her before settling on Damek.
“Byron, I will be out with Ms. Agostino until later.”
The bouncer nodded. “I’ll take care of everything, boss. No worries.”
“I never worry with you in charge.” Damek put pressure on the small of her back and guided her away from the club and down another corridor.
“Where are we going?” It was dark and quiet, with only the faintest hint of noise from the club. She swallowed hard as they went deeper into the unknown depths of the building.
“Back door. It’s easier for Jerome to bring the car around.”
That made sense, but didn’t ease the butterflies swirling in her stomach. A door with a red neon sign that read EXIT came into view, and Sonia breathed a sigh of relief. Of course there was another entrance. There were probably several in a building this size, for fire regulations if nothing else. She had to get a grip on herself and her wild imagination.
Damek paused in front of the door, drew out a pair of dark sunglasses and slid them on his face, covering his eyes. That gave her pause and made her wonder why he was wearing sunshades when it was early evening. Maybe he had sensitive eyes or maybe he didn’t want to be recognized. Both were legitimate reasons.
The sun hadn’t gone down yet, she reminded herself. Vampires couldn’t be out in the sunlight, at least that was what everything she’d read indicated. Of course, there was a lot unknown about vampires. The young ones were usually wild at best and the older ones tended to keep to themselves.
He punched the door open and hustled her outside. Thick gray clouds obscured the sun, giving the day a dark, dull appearance and making it seem later than it actually was. She glanced at Damek but his eyes were on the vehicle waiting for them.
And what a vehicle it was. It wasn’t quite a stretch limo, but it was close. It was certainly much larger than a regular car. The door was open and a uniformed man stood waiting for them. As Damek spoke softly to the driver, Sonia slid onto buttery soft seats and breathed in the rich scent of the black leather. A privacy screen separated the driver from the passenger area. The windows were tinted dark but a dim light allowed her to see the interior.
The door closed with a solid thunk, leaving her and Damek alone in the enclosed space. But to give him credit, he wasn’t crowding her. She caught a hint of sandalwood, most likely from his soap, and wanted to rub her nose against his neck. Probably not a good idea. Scratch that. Definitely not a good idea. Professional, she reminded herself. Be professional.
“Would you like something to drink?” Damek interrupted her thoughts with his offer and she shook her head. She needed her wits about her if she was going to keep their dinner on an even keel. It would be far too easy to fall under this man’s seductive spell.
“Are you sure?” He opened a mini fridge that was built into the area behind the driver’s seat. “There are both red and white wines or you could have some champagne.” He took out a bottle with Cristal written on the label. She wasn’t much of a drinker, but even she knew that name and it didn’t come cheap.
Classical music was quietly being piped into the space through unseen speakers. She didn’t recognize it, but she wasn’t all that familiar with classical music. Classic rock and pop were more her speed. Whatever it was, it was soothing and romantic. She would have preferred a rousing march or something faster and louder, anything to disturb the cocoon of intimacy he was building around them.
She might not have dated all that much, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew when a man was setting the stage for a seduction, and this had all the earmarks of one—a quiet dinner, a limo, soft music, champagne on the way to the restaurant.
The sound of a quiet pop brought her attention back to Damek. He’d opened the bottle and was already pouring some of the golden liquid into a crystal champagne flute, which he’d pulled out of a velvet-lined drawer next to the fridge.