“Will you please stop kicking your legs like that?”
Lily glanced at her swinging legs over the ledge of the table and shrugged. “For you? Sure.” She stilled her legs, but it was like asking a child to stop squirming when he had an itch, and instead her bare feet started bouncing. His eyes swung to them.
“You are still not wearing shoes.” He said it slowly as if he couldn't believe it. Really, he was surprised, she thought?
“I haven't exactly had the chance to go shopping yet. It was slightly more important to make a remedy for my pain first. It's on my list of things-to-do though. What, do my pink toes frighten you?”
He stood and started shoving documents and his journal into his briefcase. “I can say, Ms. Bellum that is the first non-foolish thing you've done.”
Not feeling insulted in the least, she smiled at him. Then in a smooth move, she balanced her foot between his legs on the chair behind him and wrapped her arm around his neck, pulling them close together. His eyes widened in surprise then strayed to her mouth. Her heart skipped an unsteady beat, her stomach tightening as breathing became difficult. But the look lasted barely a moment before his eyes turned to a glare. He looked at her as if she was nothing more than an insect he'd rather squash. Probably true, too.
“Kiss me,” she whispered.
His eyes fell once more to her lips and she wet them with the tip of her tongue. How many times had she thought about his kiss? How many times had she dreamt of him kissing her? The answer was a lot. In fact, so many times that what were dreams and what were visions had become skewered together, blurring, until she didn't know which was what.
He looked her straight in the eyes and it was like the earth stood still. Particles, molecules, and dust around them paused as he looked at her not with contempt or disdain but something entirely different, something almost pleasant. He looked at her as a man might a woman he could be interested in, the look a man gave right before he bought a woman a drink at a bar. Warm, the look was warm, welcoming.
His hand slid across her cheek and into her hair where he loosely fisted it, then he leaned close. Her skin tightened in anticipation, need coiled deep in her belly. All she saw was beautiful golden skin, vibrant blue hair, and mesmerizing golden eyes that held her captive, left her waiting breathlessly.
He stopped, mere inches from their lips touching and in a low voice said, “Never.” And then he thrust away from her, leaving her trembling, aroused, and confused as he went to talk to Kearnyn as if nothing had happened.
Her mind still spun when he and Kearnyn stalked back to her. He laid his hand on Kearnyn's shoulder then hers and looked once more down at her feet.
He snorted, something close to a laugh. “So that's what it takes to make you sit still.” And then he touched her and the room around them fell like granules of colored sand in tans, browns, and blues then floated back up and materialized into hard, concrete shapes and objects.
Where they appeared wasn't Telal's office nor was it her room at his place. “Where are we?” Shoppers ambled around with bags of purchases from designer stores, the rancid scents of dozens of perfumes, colognes, and candles mingled together into something that made her want to sneeze.
“The mall. Go shopping. I'll send a car to pick you up in two hours.”
“Aw, but I hate shopping.”
Her words fell on deaf ears as he and Kearnyn disappeared before her eyes.
“Jerk.”
She started walking through the mall, not really seeing anything, because her mind was busy analyzing that moment at the desk. And it had been a moment—that much she knew. He had wanted to kiss her. He really, really had. She checked herself for a second. She had to be sure. Because if she was right then this was excellent progress on her plan to wear him down until he gave in to her.
He could have been faking the look in his eyes, but she'd felt something in that moment, a kind of static charge that swayed between them. That could not be faked. Telal Demuzi did want to kiss her.
For the first time in her life, Lily shopped with zeal and a smile on her face.
CHAPTER 11
Sitting on his knees with his feet tucked behind him, Telal closed his eyes and took deep breaths. In through his nose, out through his nose. He closed his mind off to everything. The specially-made room helped to block out all noise and had a concave cream-colored ceiling and white padded floors. Each little spec from the floors to the ceiling added to the harmony of the room and allowed him to open his mind.
Today, he couldn't get his mind to do what he wanted worth a damn though. Each time he focused his mind on nothing, heard only the fictional sound of waves crashing in his mind, it was shut off, staggered, until all he saw was her.
Kiss me. Her soft words still lingered with him, invading his thoughts like a fly buzzing around his head. He tried to swat it but it continued to elude him. He took a deep breath and tried again. His thoughts centered, focused, then the image of her sliding naked and wet out of the tub slammed into the front of his mind.
Fuck.
Slouching in defeat, he scrubbed a hand over his face. She was beautiful, yes, but he saw beautiful woman all the time and it never interfered with him like this. He knew this might happen if she came here. Even in the short amount of time he'd spent around the succubus, she'd managed to imprint herself in his thoughts so easily.
The last time he'd had a woman was nearly twelve months ago. He hadn't slept with her out of any kind of sexual frustration, but more out of boredom. His life had a habit of feeling tedious, boring. Go to sleep and try to get in a few hours, then get up and go to work and plan, plan, plan. At the time, he'd thought a fling with a beautiful vampire would change things up. Instead, he'd done the deed and left without a goodbye. It'd been cold, passionless. Then he'd had a restless night's sleep only to wake up to the same job, same work. He hadn't attempted anything with a woman since then. It wasn't the answer to his restlessness.
He'd found peace in meditating. Not only that, but his powers seemed to regenerate faster, to grow stronger. Coming from a powerful line of royalty, he had the power to bring back life. But there were conditions, such as the death must be very, very recent. It also drained nearly all of his powers. After he'd saved Alpha Lyonis Keelan he'd been depleted for a week. He'd barely had the strength to port everyone out of the rift and get himself back home before he'd collapsed on the floor—limbs like putty, eyes burning and bloodshot—only to wake up days later in his bed. His guard Kearnyn had seen to him, fed him, just another reason he paid the bastard so much.
In truth, he recognized that the succubus Lily Bellum presented a major problem to him. Several problems, in fact. She interfered with his job whether she was around him or not. She'd caused him nothing but stress in the past by summoning ancient demons, and now she lived under his roof. Naked and wet...
He shook his head to clear the image. The woman had to be daft to chase after him like she did. He was a demon and couldn't be further from compatible with her than if he were an idummi. If she realized it then she just didn't care. Foolish lilit. Yet he couldn't deny that the thought of touching her body, of tasting her lips wasn't completely appealing.
Forcing his eyes closed, he blanked his thoughts from Lily Bellum. He will not touch her; he will not let her interfere with his job. His people depended on him. Taking the succubus was not in the cards.