Stepping back and away from him, she turned and left the floor. When she picked up her wine and took it out onto the outdoor patio, he followed her, despite her stiff shoulders suggesting she might not want the company. She wound through the tables, occupied by a scattering of people, and found one in a back corner. Once there, she sat down, brought the wine to her lips for a healthy swallow. Then she turned her gaze to studying the sky. Making it clear she wanted her own space.
Too bad. He dragged a chair close enough his knee slid in front of hers, and tugged her chair around so she had to see his face, the cold resolution he knew was there.
"That's not going to happen. We'll go see Butch. You're amazing and strong, he'll help you. Hell, you show him how you run a bar, he'll want you in his territory. He might be no better than Laurent, but I'm banking he will be. I only had a moment's impression of him, but Dix seemed a decent sort, and if he's associated with him..."
"If he was acting on his behalf during daylight, Dixon is likely his servant."
Right. He didn't know why he hadn't put together the obvious. Butch would tell Dix what to say on his behalf during those meetings.
"So we're going to figure this out. You're going to live. I want to do everything to help make it happen, so I need to be with you. Sam was adamant that you need to third mark me for me to go."
"I am not going to let you twist the words of a shaman to get your way."
"There was no twisting to it, honey. He said it straight out. At least think about it."
"You're willing to become my slave, my property, possibly used by others in the vampire world. Yet you're still not sure you're comfortable with me dominating you, Quinn." She met his gaze, and he had to will himself not to flinch, though with that second mark she saw his desire to do just that, damn it. "In the heat of the moment you accept it, but until you're comfortable with it during daylight hours, it's not even a remote possibility."
"I'll figure it out as I go. I'm not an impulsive twenty-year-old, Selene. Everything in my life, I've made out the shape of it before I leap, so even if I don't know the full picture, I have enough of it. The most important thing to me is you." He cupped her chin. "With you I've found the first real emotional satisfaction I've ever known. Don't take that away from me."
"I'm not." She pulled away. "But telling you about being a servant and you experiencing it are two different things. There's no trial period for this. Once it's done, it's done. You don't even know me."
"Maybe I know the things I need to know. You've told me the worst of it, right?" He twisted the spaghetti strap of the thin dress around his fingertips. "You prefer the right side of the bed. You like to be on top. You like to wear yellows and blues."
At that, her mouth twitched, heartening him, but her eyes remained serious. "The hues I'm wearing bind to my wing color when I transform into a butterfly. I've tried to be consistent around you. Have I managed it?"
He blinked. Blinked again. Set down his beer. He thought of that butterfly, the way it had stayed, hanging out with him, almost seeming to watch out for him as well. The way he'd automatically imposed Selene's attitudes and voice onto the delicate creature's actions.
At his expression, she nodded. Strange as it may seem to you, Quinn, I've just told you the worst thing about me. No one except you knows I have Fae blood. Not much, just a little on my grandmother's side, enough to give me the power to shift and travel in that form during daylight. But even that small amount of Fae blood is intolerable to vampires.
Quinn stared at her, then his gaze clocked down to his hand, drawn there by a memory. Turning his hand palm up on his knee, he opened his fingers wide, then curled them up, remembering how the butterfly had stayed so still in his hand, trusting. She trusted him, she felt safe with him. She'd said so, hadn't she? It amazed and humbled him, even as he realized she was obviously conflicted about feeling that way, probably thinking a big, bad vampire like her was supposed to be beyond things like needing to feel safe. Loved. But maybe bigger, badder vampires had similar feelings. He didn't know a single being on the planet who didn't need to feel like they belonged, who didn't sometimes seek the company of others, need to feel loved. Except maybe badgers and Annette, but everyone knew they were ornery cusses.
"Why is that the worst thing about you?" He heard himself ask the question, even as his mind was still spinning over it.
"Because vampires despise the Fae. There was a rumor last year that Lady Lyssa, the highest-ranked among us and now head of the Vampire Council, is half-Fae, and the Council tried to execute her when they found out. She disappeared for a time, but when she returned and took over the Council, the rumor vanished. Those of us who have heard it secondhand assumed that was all it was. Even if it isn't, what will be tolerated in the most powerful of us is not likely to gain the same amount of acceptance in the lowest."
She'd been so fragile in his hand; he could have crushed her. Yet from the way she'd acted in that form, the way she gazed at him now, he knew she didn't feel it diminished her power.
Why did he feel he was any different? Deciding to submit to her, to trust her with every deep, dark longing he had, didn't make him weak. She brought out the need to be himself with her, and she'd already showed how much she liked who he was, every bit of it. Being submissive to her aroused him to the point he wanted to fuck her for days, protect and keep her forever, and nothing about that felt unmanly. Far from it.
She was obviously tracking his thoughts, because when he made that connection, when it all clicked together, that stillness was back, but there was a different quality to it now. When he saw a glint in her gaze, he caught her chin again, gently guided her face back to him. Leaning forward put them almost eye to eye, and when the tear slid free, he caught it on his thumb.
"Selene. Mistress." He placed his mouth on that tear track, moved to her lips, and they parted beneath his, her breath caressing him as they shared a kiss that awoke heart and loins together. Hell with it. Sliding his arm around her, he brought her onto his lap, the armless metal chair making it possible for her to straddle him there in the shadows as he cupped the back of her head, made the kiss deeper, savored the feel of her arms winding around him. Those arms could crush him like a boa constrictor, but she held on to him now like a vulnerable woman who needed to hold on.
Give me that mark, Mistress. Doesn't matter, all the logic and arguments, my worries, your worries. You know it's meant to be. Knew it from the first.
She lifted her head, her lips glistening from the demands of his. "I like everything about you except your stubbornness," she managed.
"Bullshit," he murmured. "If I wasn't so bullheaded, you wouldn't find me half as much fun. What excuse could you use to pull out that whip otherwise?"
"I'd think of something. I'm not above making things up."
"Actually, I think you're one of the most honest people I've ever met. You told me you were a vampire on your job interview." He lifted a brow. "Kind of a weird way to hide being a vampire, if it's such a big secret."
"Actually I've found it's the best way. People assume you're a bit crazy, ignore that part of you, your little 'quirks'. It's what you thought at first, wasn't it? Most people never go beyond that. Much easier than trying to hide the need to stay inside during daylight, the paleness. Thanks to reality TV and the Internet, it's easier to hide what you really are in plain sight than ever before. Everyone has seen everything and believes nothing. Since I was human, I can play human far better than a born vampire."
He couldn't argue with her logic. Cognizant of looking like they were considering a quickie in the corner, he eased her back to her chair, grinning when she briefly tightened her thighs and arms, not letting him do it until she was good and ready. Which gave her time to do a s
exy little rotation of her hips over his lap, confirming he was hard enough to make it embarrassing if he had to get up and go get her another drink from the bar.
What an excellent suggestion, cowboy. I wouldn't mind letting these other ladies see what's mine and mine alone. As well as our waiter, who obviously prefers men, from how he kept batting his lashes at you.
He winced. "You'd do it too. Sadistic wench."
When he focused on her expression, he found her gazing at him quizzically. "A mojito, please," she said.
"Christ."
Yet as he left her to get her drink, he knew she was doing more than teasing him. He was pretty sure he had her thinking about that third mark thing. Which meant until she gave him that third mark, he was being tested for the job.
When he went back inside, headed toward the bar, he saw what she'd seen, the waiter eyeing him like he was fried ice cream with a cherry on top. His gaze zeroed right in low, telling Quinn there was definitely not enough dim light in this restaurant. The guy's lips curved faintly. He obviously knew that hard-on wasn't for him, but that didn't keep him from appreciating the hell out of it.
Quinn knew his cheeks had to be red as a baboon's ass as he hit the bar and ordered the mojito and another beer. She could have waited for the waitstaff to make another round of the outside tables, but Selene wanted to see him wait upon her like this.
She'd said it was possible a vampire more powerful than her might "borrow" him. Female or male. He swallowed, thinking that through. Could he handle that? She'd said telling him something wasn't experiencing it, and if she could track his thoughts, then he needed to give thinking this stuff through a go. As she said, he couldn't manipulate her, and he wouldn't even try. He wanted it to be all honest and aboveboard between them. So he would handle this test. And the next, and every one she threw at him.
Not everything is a test, cowboy. Some things are just your Mistress' desire to see you obey. It arouses me, knowing you're embarrassed but still willing to show off what's mine. Watching your ass flex in those jeans makes me want to take a nice healthy bite. I may have you lie face down on the bed tonight and draw blood right from that delectable butt cheek. Then I'll put my fingers up your ass, make you come as I feed off you.