Elise lifted the ends of her skirt and Tegan's oversized leather coat and climbed up the stairs with him. At the top of the steps he opened a door that revealed a wide post-and-beam space above. It was rustic, but welcoming. Moonlight poured in through an A-shaped window that overlooked the lake. Big leather club chairs flanked a sofa positioned for the best views of the water, and set into the eastern wall was a fireplace built out of thick stone.
Knowing Reichen, there's got to be electricity out here, Tegan said from somewhere behind her. A second later, a table lamp went on across the room, activated by his will.
Actually, if you don't mind, I think I prefer the dark. It's peaceful.
The light blinked off, replaced once more by the cool pale wash of moonglow. Elise felt Tegan's eyes on her as she walked toward the window and gazed out into the night. Her heels sank into a plush white rug--sheepskin, she realized, glancing down at the fluffy, irregular shape of the floor covering. On impulse, she kicked off the elegant sandals and let her toes burrow in the luxuriously thick pelt.
Some of her anxiety faded at once. She gave herself over to the tranquil movement of the water outside, and the quiet darkness of the loft. The stress of the reception was ebbing away, but her pulse still thrummed from Tegan's kiss. She hadn't expected him to be so tender with her, or to open up like he had and share any part of his past.
She hadn't expected his desire.
He wanted her, and she wanted him too.
The space around them practically throbbed with that awareness, the air thick with all that was unspoken between them.
This is a bad idea, Tegan murmured as he came up beside her, his low, growling voice setting off a vibration deep in her bones. You shouldn't be alone with me right now.
Elise turned to look at him and was struck to see the dim glow of amber in his eyes. It hadn't faded since their kiss outside. Nor had the heat of his body. She could feel it radiating toward her, permeating the leather of the coat that draped her.
Tegan bared his teeth and fangs in a pained- looking smile. In case you're not sure, that's your cue to make a quick retreat.
She didn't move. She had absolutely no wish to leave right now, even though she knew Tegan wouldn't be the type to allow second chances. Holding his intense gaze, she watched as he came toward her and drew the coat from her shoulders. He set it down on the chair behind her. As he straightened, he skimmed his fingers over the bare curve of her arm. His touch was searing hot and yet she trembled from it.
Desire coiled within her. She wanted him to touch her, needed it so badly it wrung a soft moan from her throat. Tegan scowled, his tawny brows lowering over the glowing embers of his eyes. He retracted his hand with a glare. No, he said thickly. No, this is a very bad idea. I'll take more from you than you're willing to give.
When he turned as if he meant to walk away, Elise moved toward him and lifted her hand to the side of his rigid jaw. Tegan, wait. I don't want you to go.
She went closer to him, until their bodies brushed together in the dark. She heard his sharp intake of breath hiss through his teeth and fangs as she rose up on her toes in front of him. She felt the rush of heat roll off every coiled muscle of his body in that instant before she pressed her lips to his. She tasted the ferocity of his hunger in the way he wrapped his arms around her and dragged her deeper into his embrace, his mouth demanding as he took her tentative kiss and turned it into something fevered and dark.
He groaned, and Elise felt the long tips of his fangs rasp against her lips as he traced his tongue along the seam of her mouth. She let him in, reveling in the erotic invasion, unable to bite back her mewled complaint when he abruptly drew back.
His chest was heaving with every rough breath he dragged into his lungs. He stared at her from under low brows, the green of his eyes swamped completely by amber light, his pupils thinned to slivers in the center of all that fiery gold. Even in the dark, shrouded by his black combat gear, she could see that he was fully aroused. She'd felt the thick ridge of his sex pressing insistently against her in that moment before he pulled away. She knew that if she peeled off his weapons and fitted black knit shirt, she'd see his Gen One dermaglyphs churning with livid color. He'd never looked more predatory than he did in that moment--a massive, powerful Breed male who could have her beneath him in an instant.
Faster than that, if he willed it.
Perhaps she should fear him, now more than ever. But it wasn't fear that was making her knees feel boneless under her. It wasn't fear sending her heart into a frantic drum in her breast.
Nor was it fear that made her fingers tremble as she slowly reached behind her to find the zipper of her confining bodice and begin to tug it down.
Before the tiny teeth had parted more than an inch, Tegan's large hand closed around hers, stilling her. He held her there, her arm gently trapped behind her as he brought his free hand up between their bodies. His fingers moved over the detail of her gown's low neckline, skimming the edge of dark silk that framed the tops of her breasts. There was a delicious possessiveness in his touch, in the way he restrained her while his other hand roamed freely over her body.
When he kissed her now, it was blatantly carnal, a deep claiming of her mouth that mimicked the hard thrust of his hips where they pressed against her. The hand at her back pulled her forward as his eyes snapped open on her stunned gaze, those twin amber coals commanding her to understand how close she was to the ledge of a very steep fall.
If she tumbled down with him now, there would be no coming back. He would take her body, and he would take her blood. There was no mistaking that feral promise in his eyes.
As if to drive home his point, Tegan smoothed the flat of his hand higher, up the slope of her throat. He bared her neck and bent down over her, dragging his tongue along the path of her carotid. His fangs were a subtle, but unmistakable, abrasion as his mouth moved to a tender spot just below her ear.
A tremor of uncertainty rippled through her at the thought of where this was heading, more swiftly than she'd been prepared for.
She really shouldn't be here.
Shouldn't be doing this...
Tegan's chuckle sounded cruel, darkly satisfied. He released her at once, practically pushing her out of his reach.
Go on, he said, his voice so deep she hardly recognized it. Get out of here before we do something we'll both regret.
She brought her hand up to the side of her neck, where she could still feel the lingering heat of his mouth. Her pulse was hammering now, so loud it was audible to her own ears. When she drew her fingers away from her neck, she saw that the tips bore trace stains of blood.