“Something came up.”
“Yeah.” My tone was sarcastic. “And I’m still feeling that something.”
He chuckled softly. “What can I say? Your body drives me insane.”
And his avoidance of questions was driving me insane. “Seriously, I saw your schedule. You had meetings starting at eight thirty, then rolling right through until almost seven tonight. They can’t all have canceled.”
“You snooped through my appointments calendar?” He nipped my earlobe just a little harder than necessary and I flinched. But even so, my treacherous hormones began to stir and hum. “That’s not polite.”
“Neither is reading my mind during sex,” I replied testily, as his teeth caught my lobe again and gently gnawed it. A shiver that was half expectation, half apprehension rolled through me. “But that doesn’t seem to stop you from doing it.”
“Speaking of which, who the hell is Jak?”
I growled low in my throat and thrust him off me. “No one.”
I swung my legs off the bed and stalked across to my rather opulent bathroom. Every bedroom had its own and, like all the other rooms in this place, the bathrooms were huge, each one containing a massive spa bath, a double walk-in shower, a toilet, and a big hand basin. In mine, the oversized white wall tiles contrasted sharply against the heated black slate under my feet, and the lighting was warm and muted. Thankfully, Lucian didn’t immediately follow me in. There were some things a girl liked privacy for, and peeing was definitely one of them.
He said, “And yet your actions just now would suggest otherwise.”
The toilet flushed as I padded over to the shower. When I stepped in, the water automatically came on at just the right temperature. I might not flaunt the fact that I was insanely rich, but there were definite benefits to being so, and one of those was being able to afford a system designed to ensure that you never had to battle with water temperature again.
“My actions,” I snapped back, “are related to annoyance at you rather than any need not to talk about Jak.”
“Then tell me who he is.”
I swung around and watched him enter the bathroom. He walked like a cat. A big, golden, beautiful cat.
“I’ll start answering questions when you do.”
He walked into the shower cubicle and the second showerhead came on, covering him in water. The beads glistened in the warm light as they rolled almost reverently down his muscular body.
I held my ground and he stopped in front of me, his arms coming to either side of mine, effectively penning me. “I told you, I had several cancellations.”
I pushed my hands between us and tried to shove him away. I might as well have tried to knock down a skyscraper. I might be part wolf, and might therefore be a whole lot stronger than an average female, but he wasn’t human, either. And he was bigger and stronger in almost every way imaginable.
“Damn it, you’re lying. I know it; you know it.”
His gaze swept mine, though what he was searching for I couldn’t say. After a moment he grunted, and if I hadn’t known better, I’d have sworn it was an almost frustrated sound.
“My eight thirty meeting finished earlier than expected, and my ten o’clock had to cancel because his wife went into labor. Satisfied?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. I tasted no lie in his words and yet I had an odd feeling it wasn’t exactly the truth. And while I did trust Lucian, there was that growing niggle in the back of my mind that kept suggesting he wasn’t being honest with me, that he’d never been entirely honest with me. Oh, his much-stated desire to seek revenge on those who’d ripped his wings from his flesh was real enough—and understandable, given that the process also robbed him of his ability to take Aedh form—but I wasn’t so sure that anything else was.
Of course, that niggle might also be nothing more than Azriel’s distrust worming its way into my thoughts.
“Your turn,” he added, a touch of impatience coloring his voice.
I snorted softly. “Why should I have to tell you? Why don’t you just pluck the answer from my thoughts like you usually do?”
He growled low in his throat and pressed against me, pinning me hard against the cool white tiles. The water that streamed down on us did little to ease the heat and awareness that surged between us.
“Once I might have. Now, that is not so much an option.”
I frowned, my gaze searching his, seeing frustration mingling with growing arousal. He wasn’t lying—not about this. Curiosity mingled with relief. “Why not? You’ve had no trouble before now.”
“I know.” He pressed one knee between my legs. I tried to shove him back again, but with as little success as before.
“Then what’s changed?”