Shadow Rising (21 page)

There was a soft knock at her door, and she knew exactly who it was. He hadn’t been out all night after all. Ariane tried to tamp down the satisfaction she felt at that as she crossed to the door. He’d come back for her. A small thing… but then, she had a feeling that even going
slightly
out of his way was different for Damien. It only reinforced her sense that there was something between them, some odd connection.

Maybe it was fate, the thing her dynasty was so often preoccupied with. Or maybe it was something far more ordinary.

Ariane opened the door, wishing she were experienced enough to know for certain.

He leaned against the door frame, looking every inch the dashing rogue. The way his eyes drank in every inch of her had Ariane’s cheeks heating immediately.
This
was why she needed to step carefully. It was easy to deal with him in her head—but Damien in the flesh was a different animal altogether.

He glanced down at the dagger still in her hand. “You have exactly three minutes to shout at me,” he said. “After that, I thought we’d see a movie or something. This house is stifling.”

She stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words. Finally, she managed to process a statement that, even if she had been furious with him, would have gone a long way toward defusing her anger. Obviously he was an expert at this. He was impossible. And she wondered how many women he’d had screaming and throwing sharp objects at him.

It seemed there had been a few.

“Why would I want to shout at you?” Ariane asked.

He blinked, looking slightly taken aback. “Well… I assumed you’d be angry at me for leaving you here.” He narrowed his eyes slightly. “Unless you just mean you’re not interested in shouting. I’ll put up with the silent treatment for about three minutes, too, I suppose, but that’s all I can stand.”

Ariane shrugged, hoping the motion looked as casual as when he did it. “I got up a little later than usual. And you weren’t gone all night, so I’m not sure what you think the problem is. I’m fine.”

Damien looked at her closely, and his confusion was well worth letting go of any lingering annoyance with him.

“Fine being code for you want to stab me, right?”

She swallowed a laugh. “No. I’ll get my purse. A movie sounds good.” She stepped away from the door and felt him walk in behind her.

“Aren’t you going to interrogate me? Ask me if I found out anything useful while I was out searching for information without you?”

Ariane picked up her purse, opened it to make sure her smallest dagger was still inside. “No, Damien. I would assume that you’d tell me if you found anything important.”

He stepped in front of her when she turned and glared down at her. She watched him, fascinated. His reaction to losing control over a situation was… interesting.

“Why would you assume a ridiculous thing like that? I lie for a living, kitten. I think I mentioned that.”

“You agreed to work with me. Why wouldn’t you tell me? Withholding something important would be stupid, and you’re not stupid.”

That seemed to give him pause. “Well. That’s logical.”

“Yes. And Grigori are nothing if not logical,” she agreed with a small smile. She tried to step around him, but he moved into her path, as quick and graceful as a cat.

“You weren’t being logical when you tried to take my head off with that big bloody sword the other night,” Damien said. He was inches away from her, and his voice had gone silken the way it always seemed to when he got this close. She could smell him, the faint spice of expensive cologne mixed with something indefinable, irresistible.

“I was too,” Ariane replied, though arousal took most of the bite out of her retort. “It made perfect sense to try and kill you if you were going to murder the only lead I had.”

He chuckled, a low, warm sound. “Now you sound like a Shade.”

Ariane raised her eyebrows at him. “A compliment? Yes, I do know how to handle myself, thank you.”

“Not exactly a compliment… more a commentary on you having a bad influence.” Something softened in Damien’s gaze, and when he lifted his hand, he hesitated for the barest instant before grazing Ariane’s cheek with the backs of his knuckles. The touch was far more tender than she would have expected. Still, he looked puzzled.

“Most women would have thrown that dagger at me,” he said.

“I was locked in a closet for years, remember? I’m strange.” She meant it to tease, but the moment the words were out of her mouth, she blushed, embarrassed. From what she’d seen of the world, she
was
strange. Maybe she should have simply thrown the dagger at his head to make him feel better.

“You’re beautiful,” Damien replied, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. Ariane drew in a soft breath, surprised. It wasn’t the words. It was the way he said them. Even Damien looked nonplused, but he made no move to step away.

“Gods, Ariane, don’t look at me that way.”

She tilted her head, leaning into the light stroke of his fingers. “What way? I like looking at you.”

He laughed, flustered, as he let his hand fall away. “You look like you think there’s something honorable in here. There isn’t. You’re going to end up disappointed.”

There was something in the way he said it, some echo of the past that made Ariane think Damien was well acquainted with being called a disappointment. Whether it had been deserved or not, her heart ached a little for him. From the little he’d revealed to her, it didn’t sound as though anyone had ever cared much for him. He would have been a beautiful child, she thought… and yet he’d been left alone.

No wonder he’d built up such excellent defenses.

“I won’t be disappointed,” she told him. When he only looked silently down at her, the oddest expression on his beautiful face, Ariane added, “I’m capable of enjoying you for what you are, you know.

Damien nodded. “A killer and a thief with a nonexistent moral compass.”

She studied him for a moment, at the deadly serious expression on his face. He was such an odd combination of vanity and insecurity. She doubted many people even saw the latter. Damien didn’t seem like the kind of man who generally let people get that close. It wasn’t until this moment that Ariane realized Damien was just as lost about how to forge a real relationship as she was.

It was strangely comforting, to know they were fumbling together, even if their approaches were entirely different.

“If you would rather I get mad at you,” Ariane said, “you’ll have to try a lot harder than disappearing for a few hours. Most of the time I have a very long fuse.”

“And I have a rather short one.” Damien blew out a breath. “It would be better for you if you’d just decide to hate me, you know, even if you stuck around for a convenient business relationship. This… this
thing
we’re doing, it’s an incredibly bad idea.”

“You keep saying things like that. If this is how you go about picking up women, no wonder you’re single,” Ariane said with a smile. She hesitated a moment, then gave in to the urge and reached up to run her fingers through his hair. It was incredibly soft, and at her touch, Damien’s eye rolled back in his head as a deep, rolling purr began in his throat.

“I only pick up women I can easily discard. You’re making it hard as hell to stay away from you,” he said.

It was one of the more backhanded compliments she’d ever received, but it pleased her nonetheless.

He turned his head into her touch, feline in the way
he rubbed his cheek against her wrist. The purring was incredibly arousing.

“That’s… lovely,” he said, his voice growing strained. “You’re so soft. And you smell so sweet… like roses.” His eyes slipped shut as she let her fingers play through his hair, over the light stubble on his jaw.

“I must be going mad,” Damien murmured, his eyes opening just enough for her to see slits of cool blue. “I have nothing to give you, kitten. If you knew me better—”

She pressed a finger to his lips, amused. He would stand here all night trying to talk both of them out of this, and the result would be the same.

“Stop trying to argue with me,” she said. “My requirements are very simple. Here, let me show you.”

She closed the distance between them, sliding her arms around Damien and rising up on her toes. And when she turned her face up to his, she felt him finally relent, lowering his mouth to hers.

chapter
FIFTEEN

H
IS MOUTH WAS ALWAYS BETTER
than any daydream, soft as sin.

At first the kiss was gentle, with a tenderness that surprised her. Before it had always been about heat and need. This time was… different. More.

Maybe because this time he sensed, just as Ariane did, that there would be no interruption, no excuse to end it. They were finally alone, and alone they would stay.

Damien coaxed Ariane with his tongue to open her mouth for him, and the kiss quickly turned from sweet to hot.

She heard his sigh, a sound imbued with so much pure pleasure that Ariane found herself trying to get even closer, winding herself fully in his arms and still finding that it wasn’t close enough. The purring thrummed against her chest, making her nipples tight and hard, leaving her breathless. She arched against him restlessly, needing the friction, needing more of him.

“Beautiful creature,” Damien murmured, teasing her
lips with his as he slid his hands into her hair, letting it glide through his fingers as though he found it precious. “Why do you continue to have anything to do with me?”

“Because I want you,” Ariane sighed, letting her head fall back as he kissed a trail down her neck.

Her answer seemed to please him. She gasped as he nipped the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder, very near her mark. Shimmering pleasure spread like wildfire through her, pooling into molten heat right at her very core. He laved her mark with his tongue, and Ariane gripped his shoulders, digging in her nails. She had wondered, on so many nights, what it would be like to join with another vampire.

She’d never imagined how hungry she could be for a man’s touch, his teeth.

Of course, she’d never imagined a man like Damien.

He looked flushed, hot, and hungry when he raised his head to look at her, the feral gleam of his eyes reflecting so much longing that it took Ariane’s breath away. The need she saw there was as deep as the ocean, and just as endless. It frightened her, even as it drew her.

For reasons impossible to fathom, he was all she wanted. And she was quickly learning that out here, a vampire’s life could be as easily and quickly and senselessly taken as any mortal’s. She would deny herself no longer.

Ariane pressed a soft kiss to Damien’s mouth, and pushing aside a sudden flutter of nerves, she slid her hands up underneath his shirt, feeling the hard muscles of his stomach contract beneath her fingertips. He sucked in a breath but didn’t push her away, instead pulling her closer as he teased her mouth with hot, deep kisses. Ariane let her hands explore his chest, his back, as his skin warmed to her touch.

Damien pulled back abruptly and pulled the shirt over his head before tossing it aside. Ariane drank in the sight of him, thinking he looked just as good as he felt. His eyes never left her.

“Now you,” he said, reaching for her, lifting the thin fabric of the tank top over her head. She had no time to let embarrassment get the better of her, no time to worry that Damien would be the first man to have seen her this way. The shirt was gone in an instant, and the way Damien looked at the simple black bra that remained was enough to scatter her thoughts to the wind.

He wanted her. That was all that mattered.

Damien ran his hands down her torso, then reached behind her to unclasp her bra with a simple flick of his wrist. She stepped away, forcing herself to keep her eyes locked with Damien’s as she let the bra slide off her shoulders and fall to the floor. Her skin felt hot where Damien’s eyes touched her, and her heart began to pound more quickly.

“Ariane…” He trailed off, swallowed hard. “You’re perfect.”

Her laugh was soft, wondering. “That’s not something I’m used to hearing.”

“Then we shall have to work on that.”

The look in his eyes nearly had her melting at his feet. All the wicked things she’d ever dreamed of were written there, a thousand seductive promises. All for her.

His eyes glowed, predatory and beautiful. “Let me worship you, Ariane. You’re long overdue.”

He didn’t wait for her answer, and when his hands touched her bare skin, almost reverently, Ariane could no longer formulate a coherent response. All she could think was,
Yes. Finally, yes.

Damien’s hands skimmed deftly over sensitized skin, brushing against nipples that had become tight little nubs, then dropping to cup her backside and cradle it against him as he dipped his head for another deep, lingering kiss. The light dusting of hair on his chest abraded her breasts in a way that was exquisite agony, making them feel full and heavy as moisture pooled quickly between her legs. She rose against him, wanting to feel him hard between her legs. His breath caught in his throat.

“Slowly, kitten,” he said gruffly. “You have no idea how badly I want to be inside you.”

“Then do it,” Ariane breathed, sliding one leg up to hook around his hip. “It’s what I want too.” A tiny moan of pleasure escaped her as the pressure made her throb.

“Mmm,” Damien said, touching his forehead to hers. “I’m going to show you all sorts of other things to want first. I want your thoughts dirty and full of me at all times.” He unbuttoned her jeans and slid a hand between her legs, fingers slipping through the little thatch of curls to toy with the sensitive bud concealed beneath.

Ariane jerked against him, giving a soft, startled cry.

“Shhh,” Damien soothed, sounding slightly breathless as he moved his mouth to her ear, nibbling and licking at the lobe. He held her still with one hand and continued to play her with the other, his clever fingers parting her slick folds and swirling the moisture around her swollen sex. Ariane had to struggle to stay upright—her knees felt weak, and her hips began to move in time to Damien’s expert strokes. Everything within her seemed to tighten, pulsing in hot little bursts of pleasure.