He’d decided not to hide his heightened abilities from her. He would be nothing but what he was with Leah.
In a second he had her out of the lounge and resituated in it, stretched out on her back, Lucien at her side up on his forearm leaning over her, his lower body pressed against hers.
When he was done, her dark blue eyes were wide, her full lips parted and her breath had stopped.
“You don’t have to use the ‘great’ part, pet. ‘Master’ will do,” he teased her, still smiling.
She wrinkled her nose and glared. He threw his head back and laughed, barely controlling the urge to bury his face in her throat to get closer to her scent, her pulse, her.
Instead, when he stopped laughing, he put his hand at her fully-healed neck and ran his thumb down her jugular while his eyes watched its movements.
Then his gaze caught hers. “How are you feeling?” he asked quietly.
“Full,” she replied in a sharp, unfriendly voice. “Edwina isn’t skimpy with her portions.”
His brows went up. “You’ve eaten?”
“Yes.”
His thumb continued caressing her throat and his eyes moved back to it as he murmured, “I would have liked to share dinner with you.”
He felt her body give a small jolt, his gaze went to hers and he caught her wonder before she could hide it.
“You’re surprised?” he asked.
She briefly struggled with something before she nodded.
“Why are you surprised?” he went on. “Because I eat or because I wish to eat with you?”
“Because you eat.” Her voice was still short, clipped, hostile.
Even so his body relaxed, pressing closer to hers, settling in. Hers tensed.
“I eat, I drink, I sleep, I bathe. I do everything you do,” Lucien told her.
She made no comment to this although her face was filled with curiosity.
She hid the curiosity and decided to change the subject, demanding, “Are we going to talk?”
“We are talking.”
She lifted her hand and waved it around. “No, not talking-talking. Talking about whatever it was you wanted to talk about this morning.”
“We’ll get to that.”
“Can we do it now so you can go?”
“That has a two part answer,” he explained and her brows knitted.
“It’s a yes or no question,” she informed him.
“Then no, to both parts.”
He watched her jaw clench again and he heard her teeth grind together. It took another enormous effort not to laugh.
“Why can’t we get this over with?” she insisted.
“Because I’d like a moment to relax and get a drink.”
She made to move and he allowed more of his weight to settle on her until she stilled.
“If you let me up, I’ll get you a drink,” she offered with false courtesy.
He ignored her attempt to get away from him and his gaze moved to her glass. “What are you drinking?”
She didn’t answer as he took his hand from her neck and reached for the glass. He brought it to his nose and inhaled its scent. It was diet cola and rum.
His eyes moved to hers. “You shouldn’t be drinking spirits,” he admonished.
Her head tilted to the side and her blue eyes grew darker. “Is that an order?”
“For tonight, while you’re still recovering, yes. Any other time you can drink what you wish.”
“I just don’t believe you,” she whispered angrily under her breath.
This was something else he ignored while he took a drink from her glass. For some reason, this caused her to protest, her hand shooting out, fingers wrapping around his wrist and jerking to no avail.
“Hey! Don’t drink from my drink!”
He replaced the glass on the table and looked at her. “Why?”
“It’s my drink!”
“Yes. And?”
“You can’t drink my drink!”
“And why not?”
“Because it’s my drink.”
He sighed her name, “Leah.”
She mimicked his sigh sarcastically. “Lucien.”
He could bear it no longer. She was, quite simply, enchanting.
He burst into laughter, burying his face in her neck while he pulled her to her side facing him, his arms wrapping tight around her, pressing her torso deep against his chest.
“Stop hugging me,” she grumbled over his shoulder, her hands between them pushing against him.
His hand slid down her back to its small, right above her ass and he pressed in. “I can’t help it, pet, you’re entirely huggable.”
“I’m huggable?”
He lifted his head and smiled at her. “Entirely.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You know, Lucien, you need to make up your mind. Either you’re this guy or you’re the jerky, controlling guy who I met at The Selection or you’re the near-miss murder guy last night. Pick one. I’m getting confused.”
He pulled slightly away, bent his elbow and rested his head in his hand, looking down at her.
“I’m all those… guys.”
“Can we make a deal that I get to pick which one I want?”
He was still smiling when he asked, “And which one would you choose?”
“None of them, in a perfect world.” He chuckled and she talked through it. “But this one, since we don’t live in a perfect world.”
“Lucky for you, you have this one now.”
“Then this one would give me back my phone.”
His smile died. “I’ll not be giving back your phone.”
“Okay then,” she shot back, “I don’t have the slightly tolerable one. I have the jerky, controlling one.”
He disregarded her heated words and said, “There are things you need to learn.”
“Yes, and if I could phone my mother, she would teach me.”
“I’m going to teach you.”
Her mouth snapped shut and she stared before she asked in a soft, stunned voice, “You?”
“Me.”
“Why you?”
It had been a boon she’d been expelled from Vampire Studies even if the reason why annoyed him. She had no idea her role or his limitations. All she knew was the contract which flew straight in the face of the law. Until he knew why the Buchanans sent her to him even after examining the altered contract, she would have nothing to do with them or anyone.
In the meantime, his path was cleared, at least with Leah.
And that was all that was important.
He, obviously, didn’t tell her any of that.
“Because the idea of doing it amuses me.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Leah,” he called and her gaze came to his. “I’ll take your instruction seriously and I expect you to do the same.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s no one to pass notes to here and I don’t have a phone so I can text my friends.”
He reached up a hand and slid his fingers through the soft hair on the side of her head. A mortal man might have missed the delicate shiver that slid across her skin at his touch. And a mortal would definitely miss the sudden racing of her heart.
Lucien didn’t.
This pleased him.
Greatly.
He made no mention of it nor did he give her any indication he felt it.
His eyes locked with hers. “Good, then I’ll have your undivided attention.”
“Can we get started?” she snapped.
“You’re very impatient,” he told her, fighting a smile.
Her eyes darted to his mouth then away while she announced, “I’m a lot of things, none of them good.”
“I’ve noticed you’re a lot of them, pet, but I beg to differ. I think all of them are good.”
She closed her eyes in despair while muttering, “Great.”
He chuckled and slid under her, pulling her over his body until she was mostly on top of him, part of her settled at his side against the back of the lounge. He kept his arms locked around her waist as she came up on a forearm and looked down at him. Her thick hair fell in a curtain around her face, its fragrance enveloping him in an intoxicating mixture of peonies with a hint of grapefruit.