Ainsley jerked her head backwards. I’m not sure if she was stunned or just pretending to be. “What?”
Fed up, I took a step towards her. She backed away. “You heard me.”
“Stay away from me, you…”
Reaching towards her I straightened my index finger and poked it into her bony shoulder.
“Every time I turn around, it’s like you want to remind me that you’re his sister. I get it. Okay? But he’s a big boy, and I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate you treating me like you have been. That is, assuming of course that he even knows you’ve been acting this way. Does he?”
She didn’t say anything. A hard lump forced its way down her throat. It was all the proof I needed.
“That’s what I thought,” I began, nodding. “I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, this time. I won’t be here much longer, and you may have a point. I might owe Dorian an apology, but that is between us. It doesn’t concern you. This is the last polite conversation I’ll have with you about this. If you don’t like it, then feel free to go and whine to Dorian. With any luck he’ll kick me out of here for arguing with you, which is all I want anyway. As a matter fact, why don’t you go tell him right now? Go ahead.”
She didn’t say a word, just stood there looking at me, her mouth hanging open.
“Well?” I said, mirroring the earlier question back to her. “I’m waiting…”
In a huff, she turned and glared at me before moving towards the stairs and firing a final warning shot.
“Just watch yourself.” She snarled, turning and stomping up the stairs.
“Good night,” I called out, waving to her. “Let’s talk again soon.”
With that confrontation behind me, I headed to my room to get ready for bed. I wasn’t in there long when I thought I heard the sound of Dorian’s door closing down the hall.
I could still taste him on my lips. I wanted more.
Walking across the room towards the bedroom door, I expected him to come through it any second. My skin tingled, my pulse quickened. Every drop of blood flowing through my veins burned with the heat of need.
I stared at the door, never blinking. His footsteps grew louder.
Any second he’d open it. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to control myself. Licking my lips, I ran my fingers through my hair, readying myself to finish what we’d started.
However, just when the sound of his steps grew their loudest, nothing happened. What I mean is, Dorian didn’t stop, didn’t open the door, and in fact, continued to walk right past my room.
Confused, I hurried towards the door and opened it a fraction, peering out of it. I only caught a glimpse of him making his way down the stairs. Before long, I heard the sound of a door downstairs opening and closing. I snapped my head in the direction of my bedroom window. The lights of the grounds flickered on.
What the hell?
I headed over towards it, seeing Dorian walking in the direction of the observatory. I couldn’t figure out why he didn’t stop. God, we practically fucked in the foyer and now this? He disappeared from view.
Chewing my lip, I tried to decide whether or not I wanted to go down there and follow him. I mean, if he’d wanted to stop at my room he would have.
Screw it.
Within seconds, I’d left my bedroom, made my way down the stairs, and opened the door leading out to the path and further down, the observatory. I hadn’t gotten far when all the lights on the grounds went dark.
“Shit,” I muttered, stopping dead and blinking several times.
After giving my eyes a chance to adjust, I continued walking until the observatory came into view. The lights were on inside while I walked up the path, flickering off just before I arrived. I’d come this far. I wasn’t turning back. Swallowing hard, I grabbed the door handle and opened it.
Dorian sat there, shirtless, looking through the telescope with his back towards me. The hard bumps and ridges of his muscles glistened in the moonlight shining down into the room. I closed the door and took a couple of steps before he spoke.
“You disappointed me tonight. Running away…”
I froze in place, the reason he didn’t stop in my room now obvious. He was still pissed.
“I know I did. It’s not what I meant to do. I’m sorry.”
When I finished speaking the telescope made a whirring sound while he repositioned it.
“Would you like to leave? Tonight?”
Leave?
I hadn’t expected to hear that from him. The question caught me off guard. I didn’t know what to say.
“Dorian,” I began, shuffling a bit closer towards him. “I…”
He didn’t let me finish. “Here’s the deal. I’m not a man who requires a lot of discussion. It’s a simple question. Do you want to leave my estate tonight?”
A chill ran across me. I reached up and rubbed my arms, trying to warm them. How was he sitting here shirtless?
“Well? Is it yes or no?”
I shook my head. “It’s not that I want to leave. It’s just I feel that being here isn’t a choice I’m making on my own. I’ve already explained that to you. Nothing’s changed about that.”
Dorian didn’t respond. Instead, he moved his head away from the telescope’s eyepiece. With a slow spin, he turned the oversized chair in my direction. Our eyes met.
“That’s where you’re wrong. I do understand it, and that’s why I’m giving you the choice. Right now.”
I don’t think I’d ever been more drawn to him than I was in that instant. Looking at him in the shadows, I felt mesmerized. My attraction to him was getting to the point of being overpowering. All I wanted when I went down there was to put an end to the need between my thighs. In spite of what’d he’d said, the urge still consumed me. Refocusing, I did my best to answer his question.
“I’m confused. Everything you said about the case, about me staying safe until it gets returned. None of that’s happened yet. Why would you…”
While I spoke, he stood from the chair and walked in my direction. With every step he took, glowing pale fingers of stardust clung to his torso, tracing the dangerous lines of his tattoos.
“I won’t let anything happen to you. I almost lost you once. There won’t be a second time. Now, whether you stay with me or not, I will not leave you alone. My men will watch you, follow you around-the-clock until I tell them it’s safe, but I won’t keep you here against your will any longer. I can’t stand to see the sadness in your face, not even one more second.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Was he really letting me go?
“My only motive is that I want you with me, Tempest. I want to be with you, inside of you, until I get my fill, over and again. My desire for you is deep and fucking vast, just like all those goddamn stars overhead. I don’t know how many more ways I can say it.”
“Then stop saying it,” I replied, interrupting him. “I don’t want to go anywhere tonight. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than here with you. Neither one of us can predict the future and say where things might wind up but…”
“No,” he cut me off in return. “You either go tonight or stay for good. If you leave, I won’t be angry, I won’t hold it against you, but if you stay, just know my eyes will never stray, my lips will never taste another, and my cock will never be satisfied.”