Chapter Seventeen
Unexpected
Adrian hesitated a minute and then walked back toward the couch. He found a seat far from me and sat down with his jacket on his lap.
“I’m not the one that bites in this relationship, Adrian.” I smirked.
His face relaxed, and he laughed. A full-throated laugh that was all masculine and dangerously infectious. I laughed too and then I found a comfortable position on the couch and curled up in my favorite fleece blanket.
Maybe I didn’t know Adrian well enough to invite him to stay, but I felt the atmosphere become tense when he walked away. As if he would walk out that door, he would take my sanity with him.
“How about a movie?” I asked.
He nodded. “Okay. I see you have a thing for classic movies.” He pointed to my movie collection on the shelves by the television.
I nodded and pulled the blanket around me tighter. “Yes. They make more sense to me. It’s not the same predictable plot over and over again like in modern movies.”
Adrian made a sound of agreement in his throat and then relaxed further into the couch. “Do you have one in mind you want me to watch with you?”
“I’ll let you pick,” I said with a yawn.
“I don’t think I could get up again,” Adrian said, truthfully. “I’m really tired.”
I looked at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…I mean, you can leave if you don’t want to stay.”
Adrian studied my face. His green eyes melted into my soul. It was almost as though I felt him brush the inside of my heart with that one gaze.
“It’s all right, Jade,” he said, slowly. “I want to stay.”
I blushed and reached for the remote control. “How about we just see if there is something on TV instead?”
Adrian smiled in agreement and leaned his head on the back of the couch. “Sounds good.” He mumbled with a deep yawn.
We had time to hear the voices on the channels that I scrolled through, but then the noise drifted away and so did we.
***
Somewhere between Cary Grant’s smiles and Adrian’s labored breathing, I had fallen asleep.
I woke once to check if Adrian was still there, and he was. His jacket was still on his lap. His hands were behind his head for support.
Why had I asked him to stay?
More than one reason. But maybe – mainly – because I felt he was a tortured soul to keep mine company.
The other reason I had asked him to stay was because I wanted to know – needed to know – that if we were to actually live together for a month, could he control himself while alone with me.
He looked peaceful as he slept. His face was relaxed and untouched by his earlier discomfort. His lips were almost turned into a smile. After checking my watch, I snuggled against the blanket again. It was one-thirty in the morning. Stephan would come by at two-thirty to check on me, and I didn’t want to see his disapproving face when he entered the apartment and found Adrian on the couch.
I woke to heat a short time later with beads of sweat between my breasts. I was hot. Too hot.
It was like fire licking my veins and waking my blood. My eyes flew open and my beast immediately scanned the room to find a threat. But there wasn’t one. I looked down, and Adrian’s head was on my lap. His hands were wrapped around my thighs using them like a pillow. His face was flushed, his lips slightly parted. He must have been dreaming. When and how did he end up on my lap? He squeezed my thigh and the heat flared, over my chest, through it and back out. It breathed along my face and burned my eyes. I couldn’t take it. I was melting from the inside out.
Gently, I tried to maneuver out from under him.
He stirred.
I stopped.
I could sense how much he ached to touch me.
To feel me.
That desire was enough to awaken my beast and she took over me in a blur.
Adrian’s eyes flew open and locked on mine. They were like two green flames. Wild and hungry.
I stopped breathing. I didn’t know what the look meant or if it was even Adrian looking at me through those flickering eyes, but I sat up and then in an instant, I was on his lap, straddling him.
The fire was everywhere, scorching his veins and mine, sizzling in my blood. I couldn’t think. Couldn’t move. My mouth crushed down on his and my lips were frantic against his. My hands moved through his hair, around his neck.
Should I fight the urges sweeping over me? Could I? Could he? He wanted me. I felt it. Felt it like honey on my tongue. He craved my touch the way dehydrated veins thirst for blood. My hair had come undone, and it was falling around me in waves. I wanted him, wanted a taste of what he had to offer.
“Jade…” He groaned into my mouth. I silenced him with my tongue. He gripped my arms and gently moved me away from his face. Confusion painted his wild eyes. “Jade, wait…” Adrian said with a gulp of my essence on his tongue. “We can’t…I can’t…”
I fought his grip and found his mouth again. “Just take me, Adrian…” I whispered, and his control crumbled at my feet.
He moved his mouth with mine now.
Whatever happens…happens.
He parted his lips to give my tongue entry into his mouth. I didn’t disappoint. My tongue found his and caressed it with smooth motions.
I kissed him with a promise of pleasure. Kissed him like I would devour his soul and claim him.
The taste of him was so very sweet and addicting. Adrian wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me tighter against him. My insides were awakening and becoming alert now. I pressed myself against his rigid muscle and began to dance on his lap – slow circular motions like an expert seductress. Adrian groaned and moved to match my rhythm. I bit at his lips and then moved my mouth to his jaw, his neck…it was there I lingered. Over the pulse in his throat, I nibbled and licked and sucked. I moved back just enough to lift my shirt over my head and fling it across the room. I then went back to the sore skin on his throat. I was sure it was tender now, but Adrian didn’t complain. He brought his hands over my black lace bra and caressed my mounds of flesh through the garment. He wanted a taste – needed a taste. I could feel his need rise.
As he reached behind me to unhook my bra, my hands moved faster and ripped the garment down the middle – tearing the fabric effortlessly. Placing my hands on Adrian’s shirt, I rubbed my hands down his chest. Gripping the material, I shredded it to pieces. Fabric and buttons and pins flew across the room. Adrian’s badge was somewhere on the floor. I licked across his chest and kissed him with a fiery mouth.
Adrian pulled me to him. Tight against the desire that throbbed and ached for my attention. My hands were on his belt. I yanked it off and flung it. Adrian’s pants were next but keys jiggled outside the door and then footsteps approached.
Seconds later, something shattered on the floor.
I stopped mid-motion.
My head snapped back toward the noise.
“I am so glad you didn’t come home with someone that would take advantage of you.” Stephan spat sarcastically.
He was standing in between the living room and kitchen. At his feet was a coffee mug – or what had once been a coffee mug. His khaki pants were stained with the dark liquid.
I turned my head back slowly toward Adrian. My hair was in my face, and I knew the color of my eyes changed because they were burning, stinging. A low steady growl was coming out of my throat and then spilled from my mouth.
I leaped off Adrian in a backflip and landed on the balls of my feet on the coffee table. I was crouching, ready for an attack.
Stephan was distracting me from what I wanted. What I needed. He interrupted me, and the she-wolf inside me was less than pleased with his intrusion. I lunged for him, and Adrian was in front of Stephan before my body slammed into him.
He shoved Stephan to the side with his massive shoulder. I heard his body crack against the bookshelves, and then Adrian braced himself for my impact.
I hit him hard in the chest and stomach. He lost his breath for a moment.
I knew he couldn’t hurt me, wouldn’t hurt me.
He tucked my body into his, wrapped both arms around me as tight as he could without crushing my ribcage and held me steady.
I growled ferociously. My nails dug into Adrian’s arms until I drew blood, and that got my full attention.
I stopped fighting, stopped growling.
My head was leaning toward that blood. It sang to me so sweetly that my throat went instantly dry. I licked my lips and lowered my head until my mouth was almost over the wounds.
I attempted to lick a drop of his blood…
“Jade, no!” Stephan’s furious roar echoed through the apartment like a freight train. “No, Jade!” He was in front of me. He pulled my head back by fisting a hand in my hair and pulling me away from Adrian’s blood.
The next thing I knew, I went limp and darkness swarmed in.
Excuse me while I collect myself…
Adrian