“Yes.”
“Are you coming?”
He kissed me. It might have been a distraction, but it was a welcome one. I slid my leg over his thigh and angled my pelvis towards his as the kiss deepened. He rolled me on top of him and arched his hips up to rub against me. I’d just found the button of his pants when he grabbed my wrist and broke away from the kiss with a moan.
“We can’t.”
“Sure we can.” I popped the button and unzipped his fly. At least one part of him was very interested in us continuing on this path. He shifted, his hardness pressing against the thin material of my underwear, then he gently pushed me off him. “Tease.”
“You have a party to get ready for, and I don’t think it would look too good if you showed up smelling like sex.”
He had a point. Unfortunately it wasn’t one I could put inside me.
“You aren’t coming, are you?”
He chuckled. “Sadly, no. Maybe after you go.”
I hit him with the pillow as I got out of bed.
Chapter Twenty-Five
My outfit might have been overkill.
I wore a slinky silver sheath, as low-cut as it was short. Everywhere I looked in the mirror there was more skin. My legs and arms were bare, and the dress had a deep scoop in the back. I made it somewhat respectable by putting a black velvet blazer on over top, but when I put on the black suede ankle boots with four-inch heels, respectability went back out the window.
I was playing with a platinum cuff bracelet when I walked into the living room. “Does this outfit make me look like a hooker?”
When Desmond didn’t reply I raised my head and got the full benefit of his slack-jawed stare. The man had seen me fully naked and done things to me that would make a Penthouse Letters editor blush, but he was looking at me now like I was some new, enticing toy.
“Wow.”
“Good wow, or hooker wow?” I twirled, showing him the back.
“I changed my mind. You’re not allowed to go.”
“Pff. I put on makeup. I’m going out.”
“Then we’re totally having sex.” He lunged for me, grabbing my waist and dipping me backwards for a dramatic, spine-bending kiss. I’d left my hair down, and it grazed the floor. When he came up for air, I disentangled myself from him.
“You can defile me all you want when I get home. Duty calls.” What I didn’t tell him was that I had other plans for tonight. Being at Columbia would give me an opportunity to snoop around in Mayhew’s office, see if I could get some evidence of his connection to the dead girls so I could steer Cedes and Tyler in the right direction. I was also going to need to call Cedes and give her some excuse to use with Tyler to explain my insane behavior the night before.
Again it crossed my mind I might be better off telling Tyler the truth. I believed he could handle it, and it would make my life easier to not need to lie to him. But when I tried to imagine all of the questions he would have and how I’d never be able to answer them all honestly, I didn’t think I could go through with it.
Tonight I was going to need help, but not the human
variety. And unfortunately for Desmond and Lucas, I needed a vampire. One neither of them was terribly fond of.
The gala at Columbia started at eight sharp, meaning I still had an hour before I needed to meet Lucas there. When he’d called earlier to find out if I was myself again, he’d sounded more than a little relieved to find out I still planned to join him. If I was being totally honest with myself, he’d sounded more relieved about that than he’d been to discover I’d recovered my memory.
Nice.
He’d invited me to meet him at the hotel so we could arrive together, but I put the kibosh on that idea pretty quickly. I had a stop to make first, and there was no way in hell I was bringing him along with me for it.
In all the years Holden had acted as my liaison for the council, I’d never had a reason to call on him at home. I knew where he lived, of course, but going to his apartment had always seemed like a line I shouldn’t cross.
Things had changed, though. He was no longer in charge of me, and as his superior I didn’t think the same rules of propriety applied anymore.
Our relationship hadn’t been proper for quite some time now.