MARKED (Hunter Awakened) (9 page)

“Did you truly like the flowers I brought?”
He glanced up at me through eyelashes that were annoyingly thick
for a man. “I do not wish you to feel obligated to pretend.”

Where had that come from? I set down the bowl
and focused all of my attention on him. “I absolutely loved them,
Elias. What made you think that I didn't?”

“I noticed that the flowers were no longer on
the table.”

I didn't have to be overly observant to
notice that he wasn't looking at me when he said it. I felt a pang
of guilt. I hadn't even thought about what he'd think if he
happened to see the flowers gone. Honestly, I hadn't thought he'd
be back in the house so soon, but I doubted it would've occurred to
me even then.

“I put them in a book,” I said, desperately
wanting to make him feel better. “I wanted to preserve them so I'd
never have to throw them away.”

“Oh.” The sound was tentative, as if he
wasn't sure he could believe me. “I was worried that you had only
taken them to be polite.”

It was strange, I thought, how our roles had
suddenly switched. Now I was the strong one and he the one in need
of my support. I reached out towards him, pushing aside any
hesitation that I may have felt under other circumstances. This
wasn't about me or what I wanted. This was about making him feel
better. I put my hand on his forearm and felt the muscles tense
under my touch.

“You remembered that those were my favorite
flowers and found the rarest ones to give to me. I never thought
I'd see either of them anywhere other than a picture. They are
truly two of the most beautiful things I've ever been given.” I
hoped that the truth of the statement was clear. “When they're
finished drying, I'm going to frame them.”

He looked up at me now. “I am happy to hear
that you were pleased.”

Another one of those long pauses filled the
space between us. I broke it this time, sitting back and reaching
for my sandwich again. That moment had more weight to it than I'd
expected. I wasn't hungry anymore but I kept eating rather than
letting Elias think that there was something wrong with the
meal.

I'd acknowledged my initial attraction and
had been aware of this connection that, for some reason, allowed me
to sense when he was near, but I hadn't realized until that instant
just a few seconds ago, the depth and strength of the pull between
us. This was beyond anything I'd experienced before. It was... it
was almost like gravity, like we were being draw together by a
force of nature.

“May I ask another question of you?” Elias's
voice interrupted my musings.

“Of course,” I said. “You can ask me anything
you want.” Part of me said that wasn't a good idea, but I'd already
made the offer, and I didn't intend to take it back. I braced
myself for something emotionally deep and personal.

“You do not seem like a person who revels in
the money she makes, or one who flaunts her wealth,” he began.

My interest was piqued. I wasn't sure where
this was going.

“I am curious, then, why a lone person would
choose to live in such a large house.”

I laughed. I could honestly say that no one
had ever asked me that question before. He froze for a moment, then
relaxed when he saw that I hadn't been offended by his inquiry.
“It's actually a really simple answer,” I said. “When I was first
looking for a house, I told the realtor that I wanted something
with at least two acres of land and I wanted it to be close enough
to the city that I didn't have a crazy commute if I decided I
wanted to continue being an actor.”

I sipped at the still-hot cider. “I didn't
consider the fact that, out here, having that much land probably
meant a big house was on it. She showed it to me and I fell in love
with what I imagined this could be.” I gestured to my surroundings.
“The house was amazing too, but I actually bought it for the land.”
I grinned at him. “Besides, who says I'm alone all the time. For
all you know, I could be inviting people over for weekly
orgies.”

His jaw dropped and I laughed again. I'd
wondered if I could manage to shock him. After a moment, he joined
in with my laughter and the tension between us dissipated, leaving
behind something light and sweet. It stayed that way as we finished
our meal, and he told me about all of the places he'd lived when he
was child and even as an adult. I told him about my pet hamster,
Ignatius, though not the fact that my parents had used the poor
thing as a bargaining chip for pretty much everything during his
three year life. I hadn't asked for another pet after he'd
passed.

It wasn't until I started nodding off that
Elias declared that it was time for the picnic to be over. He
helped me to my feet, but he didn't have to carry me to bed this
time. He did, however, walk me to the door of my bedroom. I stood
there, looking up at him, trying to will him to kiss me. For a
moment, I thought it might've worked, but all he did was pluck the
orchid from my hair.

“May I keep it?” he asked softly. “I would
like to have it to remember this night.”

I nodded mutely, torn between the
disappointment of not being kissed and how romantic I thought it
was that he wanted the flower as a keepsake.

“I shall call tomorrow to inquire if my
services are needed.” He gave me a look that made me think that he
was trying to memorize what I looked like. “Sleep well.”

I watched him walk down the hall towards the
stairs before heading into my room. I had a feeling sleep would be
a long time coming as I replayed every moment of our lovely
picnic.

Chapter Ten

We had the restaurant to ourselves. No
paparazzi. No fans asking for autographs. Make no mistake, I loved
my fans, but there were times I just wanted to eat in peace. This
would've been one of those times, so I was doubly grateful that no
one else was around. We'd finished our delicious meal and were just
taking the last bites of a sinfully rich chocolate dessert when a
song began to play.

“May I have this dance?” Elias asked as he
stood, holding a hand out to me.

I slid my hand into his and allowed him to
help me to my feet. I loved the suit he was wearing. It fit him
beautifully, somehow more sensual than the ones he wore to work.
The style perfectly complemented my dress, which I thought was a
nice move on his part. I'd never been the type of person who went
to the big name designers for awards show dresses, preferring to
help struggling designers get their name out there, but that meant
that it was sometimes difficult for my dates to match. The dress I
was wearing now hadn't come from a designer I'd used in the past,
but that wasn't uncommon. I rarely used the same one twice. Whoever
did this outfit, however, I would probably be calling on again. It
was stunning.

As Elias led me out onto the empty dance
floor, the silver gray silk flowed around my legs like smoke or
fog. The material draped beautifully over my figure, enhancing my
chest and hips enough to give me some curves while keeping my waist
still slender. The neckline was a little lower than I usually wore,
but the heat in Elias's eyes was well worth a little extra
cleavage. The way his gaze kept dropping to the thigh-high slit in
my skirt told me that he liked that just as much.

I put one hand on his shoulder as his settled
at my hip. Our other hands stayed clasped together, our bodies
several inches apart as we began to dance. I should've been
worried, I knew, trying to dance in the heels I was wearing, but my
feet didn't seem to agree with me. They moved almost of their own
accord, each step perfectly mirroring Elias's. Our movements were
fluid, our bodies moving in such perfect synchronization that it
seemed like we'd been dancing together our whole lives.

Elias spun me out and around, moving me away
from him before pulling me back, letting our bodies come together.
He let go of my hand and dropped his to the other side of my waist.
His hands slid around me to my back. One splayed across the middle,
the other at the small of my back, the tips of his fingers just
barely brushing the top of my ass. I wrapped my arms around his
neck, my fingers teasing the short hair at the nape of his neck. It
was as soft as I'd always imagined.

The fancy moves we'd been doing moments ago
disappeared and we swayed together, pressing our bodies together so
that the heat radiated between the two of us. With my heels, the
height difference between us had shrunk and I found that I barely
had to tip my head to look him in the eye. Our gazes locked, gray
and green, everything we were feeling playing across our eyes.

“You are certainly the most beautiful
creature I have ever seen,” Elias said.

I blushed, but couldn't deny that I was
pleased by what he said.

“I have been entranced from the moment I set
eyes on you,” he continued. “The thought of your lips on mine has
kept me awake at night, wondering what they would feel like, taste
like. I imagine you taste of strawberries and sugar, something ripe
and sweet that would burst across my tastebuds as I explored.”

I swallowed hard. I wasn't so sure he was
talking about my lips anymore. I could feel him, hard and hot
against my hip. All I would need to do would be to shift just the
slightest bit and he would almost be right where I wanted him the
most. It was agony, having him so close to me, but yet so far from
satisfying the ache between my legs.

“I have dreamed of making love to you.”
Elias's voice had dropped to a whisper. “Of stretching you out on
your bed and worshipping your body with my hands, my mouth, until
you have screamed your pleasure to the sky.”

Breathing was suddenly a problem for me.

“Would you be wet for me? Your core hot and
tight as I ease my way inside?”

His fingers flexed on my back and I shivered.
If he kept talking like that, I was going to climax before he even
kissed me. I desperately wanted him to keep going.

“Would you stretch around me, your body
molding itself around me as if we were two puzzle pieces coming
together for the first time? Every stroke I made would rub against
places inside of you that have never been touched before. I would
fill you over and over again, swallowing your cries as my body
drove yours to heights of passion and pleasure that you could never
imagine.”

My body went stiff as my climax washed over
me, brought on by words alone...

I sucked in air as my eyes flew open. What
the hell? For a moment, I was disoriented, unable to figure out why
the room was dark, why I wasn't in my dress, why Elias wasn't
there, why I was in my pajamas and lying down... on my bed.

A dream. I pressed the heels of my hands
against my eyes. My entire body was thrumming with arousal, but it
had only been a dream. I'd just cum from a dream and it hadn't even
been a sex dream. It had been just talk.

I groaned in frustration. This sucked. If I
didn't get laid, and soon, I was going to explode.

It took me a long time to get back to
sleep.

Chapter Eleven

It was two weeks until we were going to break
for Christmas and it was raining. I'm not talking about the usual
light mist that sends a lot of Californians into a tizzy. This was
a full-on downpour that had basically brought all of our outdoor
scenes to a halt. In a bit of irony, they all happened to be our
daytime shots, including a couple that specifically called for
sun.

The temperature had gone up to the low
seventies, which was nice, but most people were pointing out that
they'd much rather have sixty and sunny than rainy and seventy. Not
me. Even though I didn't like how it affected our filming schedule,
I liked the rain. I always had.

The house I'd grown up in had a massive
window seat in the room my mother had called 'the parlor.' We
hadn't really used the room except for Mom to show people when they
visited so she could say that we had a parlor. It had also been the
one room where she never thought to look for me. If I'd wanted to
be alone, my bedroom and the library had been my favorite places to
go, but I'd always known that, at some point, one of my parents
would find me there.

So, on those rare occasions when I hadn't
wanted to be found at all, I'd gone to the parlor. Usually it was
on the odd rainy day and I would sit on the window seat and watch
the rain against the glass. The sound soothed me, and I found a
soft sort of beauty to the raindrops. I even liked the occasional
thunderstorm, the way the lightning would streak across and down,
bright bolts of sizzling electricity. After a couple of hours, I'd
go back to the real world, able to cope a little better.

There was no thunder or lightning today, so
once the rain slowed, I knew we'd be up and running. We also had
the crew rushing to get some interior shots set up so the day
wouldn't be completely wasted, but until we knew what we were
doing, none of us actors could get in costume or make-up. It was
just a waiting game. I could've been studying my lines since there
were only a handful of scenes left to shoot for this episode, but I
had no way of knowing which one would be next, so I'd set my script
aside and was now thinking back over the past two weeks and how
great they had been.

Elias had come by the Saturday and Sunday
after Thanksgiving, to check on me, he'd said, but he'd stayed for
most of the night both times. On Sunday, we'd sat in front of the
fireplace in the library and read, occasionally stealing glances at
each other, but mostly just trying to get through our books. I
wasn't sure how he'd done, but I hadn't really gotten much
read.

Saturday, he'd helped me set up and decorate
my tree, a process that had taken more time than I'd anticipated.
I'd bought a tree that was eight feet tall, smaller than the
monstrosities my parents had set up, but bigger than I'd realized.
The ornaments I'd kept from my past barely covered a third of the
tree. So, at a quarter till eleven at night, we'd gone out on a
mission to find ornaments.