Lux (The Nocte Trilogy 3)

It’s only now that I realize the music has stopped.

I open my eyes and find Dare turned toward me, watching me. There is amusement in his eyes, like he knows exactly what I’d been daydreaming.

If ever there was a time to wish the floor would open up and swallow me, it is now.

“Hi,” he offers. “I hope I didn’t wake you. Your dad said I could come in and grab some orange juice. I saw the piano and…well, I intruded. I’m sorry.”

His accent makes everything ok. And the fact that he plays the piano. More than ok, in fact, it might make him the sexiest man alive.

“You’re not an intrusion,” I tell him. Or if he is, he’s a welcome one. “You play beautifully.”

He shrugs. “It was one of my step-father’s rules. Everyone in his family had to learn to play because that’s what refined people do.” He looks bored with the sentiment and closes the lid to the keys.

I raise an eyebrow. “Are you? Refined, I mean.”

He smiles. “I’m a bit of a rogue, I’m afraid.”

I’m not. Afraid, that is.

“Your dad said to tell you that he had to run into town,” he offers as he gets up and lithely moves toward me. I can’t help but draw a parallel… between Dare and a graceful jungle cat. Long, lithe, slender, strong. He and I are connected by an invisible band, and he flexes that band as he strides down the aisle of the chapel before he stops in front of me like a panther.

Am I his prey?

God, I hope so.

In the light, his eyes are golden, and I find I can’t look away.

“Thanks,” I tell him. “I bet my brother went with him.” I don’t mention that my brother slept in my bed last night, because that would seem weird. Like always, I have to hide certain things for appearances’ sake.

“I don’t know about that,” Dare answers. “I haven’t seen Finn today.”

“He must’ve,” I murmur. In fact, my father probably took Finn in to his Group. I’m free to focus on what is standing in front of me.

Dare DuBray.

His smile gleams.

“I have another question to ask you,” he tells me, with a certain smug look settling on his lips. I raise an eyebrow.

“What, already? You just asked one days ago.”

He chuckles. “Yep. But not here. I want to ask it somewhere else.”

I wait.

And wait.

“And that is…where?” I finally ask.

He smiles. “Out on the water.”

I pause. “On the water? Like, on our boat?”

He nods. “Is that ok?”

Of course it is.

“It’s just a little boat,” I warn him. “Nothing fancy.”