18
ADRIANA
Declan was just as Nikki had described him. Tall, handsome, and funny. Light blue eyes that held all this warmth and kindness. He was sweet, so sweet. Yet in the midst of it all, his touch didn’t make me yearn for more. His eyes didn’t make me burn. His lips kissed sweetly, but not devouring or greedy.
No, he wasn’t anything like the man who was currently staring at me across the dance floor. Tall, devilish, and gorgeous. Those golden eyes and that salt and pepper hair made my insides quiver with excitement. Why did he have to be so goddamn handsome? Maybe then I could have ignored him. Kept this all platonic as I’d planned from the very beginning. A peer, a fellow author, a friend.
As I watched him I thought, who the fuck was I kidding.
He sipped on his whiskey, leisurely leaning against the bar, perusing my body as if it belonged to him. My mouth went dry, my core gushed, and sure enough that magnetism nearly broke me.
I wanted to run to him. To wrap myself around him. I’d left him that night without a word. Grabbed my things and walked out on him. I left him the keys to his apartment and a note that read, Thank You. There was nothing else to say. When I make up my mind, I just force myself to push through. I found solace in Declan, but it wasn’t enough to forget Michael’s heated looks or his passionate embrace.
Michael Knight was engraved in me. Etched in every part of my soul. I knew that now, there was no denying it. Night after night I’d thought of him. I forced myself to go out, to meet new people, to get to know Declan. He was a good man, a sweet man. He was smart and good-looking, and successful, but the more I wanted to fall for him, the more I missed my Dark Knight. Seeing him again only ascertained the fact that I wanted to be his.
The look in his eyes made me shudder and I immediately searched for the nearest exit. He sensed my need to escape and started to march over to me, each stride holding a purpose.
Me. He’d come back for me.
The look in his eyes told me everything, he never was good at hiding his lust, nor do I think he ever intended to. And something told me I wasn’t going to get out of his grasp so easily this time. No, he was going to trap me in his heated embrace and I was going to be too weak to stop him.
Watching him from the corner of my eyes, I pulled Declan down to me and whispered that I wasn’t feeling well. His concerned gaze met mine and I simply smiled up at him. Cupping his cheek, I gave him a small kiss goodbye.
Just as Michael was within reach of me, I turned and fled. I could sense his presence close behind me and sure enough, when I looked back, he was dodging a champagne tray as he tried to reach me. I made it out into the main hallway when his deep voice stopped me in my tracks.
“Did you let him fuck you yet?”
The man ignited my blood in a matter of seconds.
“How dare you?” I seethed, but as I twirled around he came at me like a battling ram. Wrapping his arm around my waist and slamming us up against the nearest wall.
“Stop! Stop running!” He roared as I struggled against him. The echo of his words made me flinch and I stood still. He was out of breath and angry, his cheeks red, mouth tight, jaw clenched. He was even more stunning than I remembered him. I lived off his anger. It was passionate, turbulent, raw. Just like his writing. I craved for more of it. It was him, all male, and I loved it.
“This is crazy,” he whispered fiercely against my lips. “Stop running away from me, goddammit.”
“Let me go!”
“Answer the question. Did he touch you? Did he make your pussy purr, Sugar?” Did you moan for him like you did for me?”
“You’re an asshole,” I hissed at him, my anger rising at his smirk.
“And you’re a liar!”
“Excuse me?” I stared at him completely bewildered by his statement.
“You said you were mine,” he breathed, his tone deep and full of lament. “You said you’d always be mine.”
Tears threatened to fall, but I didn’t want to cry in front of him. He didn’t deserve my tears and besides, I did my share of crying for weeks after I left him. My heart was tired of longing for him.
I shook my head in defeat. “I can’t do this again, I just can’t.”
He tugged me back and tried to kiss me, but I turned away. “I’m with him.”
“Oh, believe me, I know. But you won’t be leaving with him.”
“Michael, please. I have to go.”
I managed to swing past him and as I was about to enter the ballroom and go back to my life, his words stopped me once again.
“I came for you.”
My heart rate fucking sped up and I kept my hand on the door handle, not opening it yet, just holding it. Inside was a man who wanted me, who was there for me, who appreciated me. Behind me…well behind me is the man who lights a fire so strong in me I feel like I’m going to combust. A man who hurt me, a man who doesn’t know what he wants yet I can’t seem to let him go. He has a hold on my heart that I can’t explain.
“I’m not leaving without you.”
I turned to look at him and took him in, really took him in. The scruff on his chin was a more prominent than usual, his hair was disheveled, his usually perfectly tailored suit looked a bit out of sorts and the neatly pressed tie he always wore had been discarded at some point. His shirt was undone and opened at the collar exposing that dark dusting of hair I found so sexy. Shoulders slumped, bags under his eyes and he looked like he’d lost some weight. My Dark Knight looked broken down and broken hearted and my damn heart screamed at me to let him in once again.
“I can’t breathe without you, Sugar.”
God, I loved the way he said that word. It dripped from his tongue with the promise of sweet sex and wicked sin all wrapped in the way he said that damn word. My core flooded with need at the sound of it, and I yearned that mixture of sweet and dirty that he offered.
He took a step toward me and I held my hand up, trying to keep him at bay. I couldn’t handle his touch at the moment.
“I can’t think, I can’t eat, I can’t fucking write. I want you back my fiery temptress. I need you.”
“To write your books?”
“No. I need you…so that I could remember what it means to live. I’m dying without you, Beautiful.”
He spread his arms out and let them drop to his side with a shrug. His eyes pleaded with me to take him back as he took another step toward me.
I shook my head. “No,” I whispered.
He hesitated with a tilt of his head and then began to take determined strides for me. My mind screamed at me to open the door, to run towards the man waiting inside, but my feet didn’t move. I kept shaking my head, but the words wouldn’t leave my lips.
His mouth crashed down on mine, his kiss was strong, full of desperate longing and I clung to him in that empty hallway, where anyone at any moment could come out and catch us. But for some reason, I didn’t care.
It was in that moment I realized that he was my storm, he was my calm, he was my everything, and I kissed him back with the same ferocity he was feeling. With that kiss, I told him just how much I missed him. Just how much I loved him.
I loved how his mouth fit mine, how he cradled my face so tenderly yet his kiss was deep and greedy. I moaned into his mouth and he wrapped his hand around me, dragging me into his warmth. My hands went around his back and I let myself lean into him, melting into that overwhelming bliss of a kiss. A fever raged through me from his touch and I longed for more.
“Adriana,” he whispered across my lips and I whimpered as his hand drifted down my back, gripping the silky material of my dress, he slowly dragged it up my legs, until I felt his fingertips tickle my bare skin.
“Michael,” I groaned his name, loving the feel of him against me. The heat of his palms dragged up the back of my thighs and he squeezed my flesh, causing me to whimper against his lips.
His growl was feral, and I felt it rumble through my body as he walked us back against the wall. My shoulders slamming back against it, his hands lifting my leg up, hooking it around his waist. He pressed into me and I gasped, feeling his hard length against my soft silky panties. I gripped his shoulders and moaned, swiveling my hips just a little and sighing as I slid my mound across that huge bulge. He was big and thick and my yearning for him was uncontrollable. I wasn’t leaving without having him. I couldn’t deny myself the taste of this man. This man who had somehow encompassed my every thought, my every fantasy, my every night. I needed him more than he could ever know.
“God, you feel so good.”
He gripped my ass beneath the dress and dragged me across the front of his slacks. I threw my head back, giving myself to him.
Suddenly he stopped, his breath ragged as he pressed his forehead against my shoulders. “Not here.”
“What?” I breathed, running my hands across his broad shoulders.
“Not here, Sugar.”
“God, why not?” I sounded desperate, my inhibitions completely forgotten.
He looked up at me and his hands came up to cradle my face once again. The touch was so tender I melted every time. “Because you deserve better. Because I want you on silk sheets and I want to take my time devouring every inch of you. Because I need to tell you so much and I don’t want to do it here.”
I smiled and caressed his wrists and forearms. “So what are you waiting for? I’m not leaving here until I get devoured.”
He growled and clenched his jaw, leaning down and giving me another one of his deep kisses that left me breathless and dizzy. I had to admit no one had ever kissed me as he did. His intensity was palpable, and I was elated that I got to experience it again, that he was giving that part of himself to me.
“Let’s go.”
Taking me by the hand we barely made it into the elevator before he hauled me up against the corner and continued to kiss the breath out of me. His hands running down my body leaving trails of heat and promises of what was to come.