Dangerous Liaisons (Obsidian Flame Book 2)

by J. C. McKenzie

  Men shouted in the distance.

  Lara straightened. She snatched her hand back. Get it together, Stone!

  She took deep breaths, sucking in ragged gulps of cold air. When her heart stopped hammering against her breastbone, she met Rafael’s molten gaze.

  “You want to carry me?”

  He slowly dipped his head up and down.

  She threw her arms up and glanced in the direction of the shouts. “Promise not to eat me?”

  Her dragon moaned. If only…

  Oh for the love of…I meant that as a joke.

  If dragons could smirk, Rafael did. His gaze glittered with amusement as he wrapped his clawed digits gently around her. She didn’t need his voice in her head to know how he’d respond to her question. Hell, her dragon’s reply was enough for all of them.

  With a push off from strong hindquarters, and a few powerful pumps of his large wings, Rafael launched in the air. His whole body coiled with tension and the promise of power, but his hold on her remained gentle and secure. Safe. As he carried her over the city of Victor, Lara tried to note the location of her temporary abduction.

  Industrial area, obviously, but nothing to provide any additional information on the ispolini who hatched this hair brain plot to capture the Astarot. Maybe Rafael’s men would find something more substantial.

  Lara wasn’t worried about revenge. It would be swift and furious. She had full confidence in her ability and Rafael’s to seek retribution. No, she had bigger concerns at the present moment.

  Rafael’s enemies believed she meant something to the most powerful dragon shifter. And now, by storming in and rescuing her in a particularly spectacular fashion, Rafael confirmed their suspicions.

  Lara may as well slap a bullseye on her butt and wait for the inevitable.

  She was screwed.

  And not in the way either of us want, her dragon grumbled.

  Sadly, she agreed with the beast.

  Chapter Eleven

  Lara stood prey-still in her stolen uniform. Rafael finished his telephone conversation with barely-contained rage. His blue-black magic washed out in waves from his crisply pressed business suit and licked her skin. Her head still hurt, but the pounding had receded to a dull throb, like she suffered a five-day hangover instead of a brain injury. The knot in her stomach had untangled to leave an ache that shot stabbing pain if she twisted the wrong way.

  When they first arrived, she’d raced into Rafael’s house to use the bathroom, but now she shifted from foot to foot for a completely different reason.

  After a terse goodbye to Hank, Rafael shoved his phone into his front pocket and spun to face her. His emerald gaze pierced the distance between them.

  Fuck.

  I wish you would, her dragon sighed.

  Seriously. Is that the only thing you can offer to the conversation?

  You tell me, her dragon huffed. I’m you.

  Rafael’s jaw clenched and rippled his porcelain-smooth skin. With purposeful strides, he closed the distance. He must have designer suits stashed throughout the house to change into after shifts. Did he own anything else to wear?

  Heart adorned boxers, her dragon crooned, sending her a memory of Raf in his underwear.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” he bit out. His impressive shoulders bunched.

  Lara’s spine snapped ramrod straight. “I thought I did my job.”

  Rafael grunted.

  “You know, the one you’re paying me for. You’re welcome, by the way.”

  Rafael’s full lips, the ones she wanted so desperately to feel on her bare skin, compressed into a thin line, so hard, they went white. He slowly breathed in and out. “Your job is to protect me, yes, not put yourself in unnecessary danger.”

  “How was it unnecessary?” Heat flared through her body. How dare he? She’d shoved him to safety at the risk of her own life. He should reward her—hello, bonus—not tear her down.

  “We were protected by your magical barrier, and even outnumbered, they couldn’t defend themselves against a dragon.”

  Lara cocked a hip and raised an eyebrow. He assumed they faced four, unprepared mortal men. Scarier, deadlier things existed in the world. “Did you notice their swords and knives? People always underestimate the brutal efficiency of a sharp blade in close quarters. My magical barrier couldn’t protect either of us from those weapons.”

  Rafael started to say something, but she spoke over him.

  “And did you notice the contorting figures of the guards in the compound before you iced them? These weren’t your average hooligans. These weren’t unprepared men. They’re ispolini.” She took a deep breath. “The men in the alley were magically shielded and carrying blades. They could’ve had a shifting-suppressant dart gun. What then, Big Shot?”

  Rafael snapped his mouth shut again and glared.

  Mmmm, her dragon purred. He’s hot when he’s angry.

  He needs to calm the fuck down. Lara glared back at the Astarot.

  Gold flashed across Rafael’s gaze and the tension around his neck eased. He took a step closer. “Okay, Miss Stone.”

  Oh crap. He changed tactics. Not good. She tensed. Definitely not good.

  “Care to explain something else?”

  Not particularly. Lara locked her knees and fought the urge to back up. Rafael’s strong body loomed inches away.

  Clarice panted, like her neighbor’s dog when she went into heat. Perfect.

  Her fingers itched to run through his thick, black hair and pull him closer. What would he do if she smashed her mouth against his kissable lips? She’d certainly stop his questions, but would he kiss her back? Taste her skin like she yearned for him to do?

  “Lara?”

  She mentally gave a headshake. Had she moaned out loud? God, she hoped not. “What?”

  “How can I still sense you?”

  Lara froze. He could still sense her? No! No, no, no, no, no. That wasn’t possible. That shouldn’t be possible. Even if her dragon was right and they were true mates, her claiming should’ve dissipated within days because they left the relationship unconsummated.

  “You shouldn’t,” she whispered. She ran her hands down her cargo pants.

  Did he suspect? Did he know? Had his lusty dragon told him the truth she so desperately wanted to keep hidden?

  Rafael shook his head. “I sense you even now. More so, because you’re right in front of me. Your claim on me is still intact. It’s how I pulled energy from you to form the shield during the bombing attack. I found you today because your very existence acts like a burning homing device in my blood.”

  Lara gulped.

  “You said the claiming would go away.”

  “It should have!”

  Not when you’re true mates, her dragon crooned.

  Lara tensed. After reacting to Rafael’s dragon form, it was hard to deny what lay between them.

  “It didn’t,” Rafael snapped. “What did you do to me?”

  “Exactly what I said I did.” Lara threw her hands up. “I don’t know why the claiming hasn’t worn off.”

  Rafael’s gaze narrowed. “I think you know perfectly why.”

  Lara clamped her mouth shut on her objection. Her mind raced for a plausible explanation, one that didn’t involve the truth, but sounded truthful.

  “My captors seemed very interested in your dating life.” She groaned inwardly. Really? That was her strategy? Bring up the captors and get him pissed off all over again?

  Rafael raised a dark eyebrow.

  “Seems you’ve abstained from your normal playboy ways.”

  His gaze darkened.

  “Maybe to shake off the remnants of my artificial claim all you need to do is go out and get laid. It might improve your attitude, too.” The words flew from her mouth as her brain tried to shut her down. What…What? What the hell was she thinking? Why did she say that? What was wrong with her? Rafael banging his way across Victor City was the last thing she wanted.


  Her dragon hissed.

  Lara’s heart reeled at the thought of Rafael with another woman. Women. Her brain smacked the dumb neurons that thought of such a stupid solution.

  Not being the perfect person, Lara had spoken without thinking and said things she’d regretted in the past. Words she wished she could pluck from the air and shove back down her mouth to the pit of stupidity they bubbled up from. She’d never regretted the inability to pause and rewind life as much as she did now. She mentally face-palmed and winced.

  Her dragon continued to furiously curse and hiss.

  Lara stood her ground.

  “Is that so?” Rafael’s controlled tone came out dangerously low and quiet. “You want me to get laid?”

  Of course, that’s not what she wanted…unless it was with her. But what she wanted and needed were two entirely different things. “Just a concerned employee. Doing…my job.” That sounded weak, even to her.

  Rafael’s gaze smoldered and his body relaxed. The corner of his lips tugged up. “Concerned about my love life, Miss Stone?”

  She paused. His tone and question returned to a somewhat familiar zone. His calm didn’t fool her though. He was on edge. With his shoulders tight and pulled back, and his neck stiff, he stood on the edge of something.

  Concerned about his love life? Absolutely.

  He waited.

  “Not as much as my abductors,” she admitted.

  “Explain.”

  “They took me because they think I mean something to you.”

  Rafael rocked back on his heels.

  “Do I?”

  “Do you what?”

  “Mean something to you?” She held her breath, not knowing what she expected or wanted to hear. Why did she ask?

  Something flickered across his intense expression, gone in an instance, too quick to analyze before he shut down the emotion. “You made it pretty clear over the last month you don’t want to mean anything to me.”

  His gaze lost its normal heat and turned cold.

  “You’re right.” Her skin rankled. “I don’t.”

  Her dragon roared.

  Rafael’s gaze narrowed. He leaned in, muscles tense. Silence weighed down on Lara like a lead blanket and all the oxygen sucked out of the room. “I call bullshit.”

  Lara sputtered.

  Rafael took the last step forward, now so close, his peppermint breath fanned her hair and his sandalwood scent curled around her. Heat emanated from his body so intense, she could park her butt in a lawn chair and roast marshmallows off his skin.

  “Then you’d be wrong,” she flung out. Her weak defiance did little to stem the flow of X-rated images flashing through her mind. She couldn’t blame her lusty dragon, either. These lurid, explicit visions came from the recesses of her own thoughts. Her dreams. Her fantasies.

  She squeezed her thighs together.

  “Would I?” Rafael mused.

  She nodded like a brainless bobble head.

  He reached out and ran a finger gently down the side of her face. It took every inch of will power not to close her eyes and lean into his subtle caress.

  “How come your heart speeds up every time I’m near?”

  Damn. He’d caught that? She swallowed.

  His finger made a slow teasing path down her neck. “How come you watch me with such hunger I feel you stripping me with your eyes?”

  Busted. Her dragon snorted, recovered from her hissy-fit, apparently.

  He trailed his finger back up her throat, and ran it along her jaw until he lifted her chin. “How come I sense your desire, as potent as my own, through this bond that’s no longer supposed to exist?”

  Lara gulped.

  “Objections, Miss Stone?”

  “Of course.” Her voice sounded raspier and deeper than normal, full of the need coursing through her body. She pulled at her suddenly tight collar.

  “You’re going to deny it?”

  “You’ve made your point.”

  “Have I?” His hand fell away from her face, leaving her skin cold and wanting.

  She caught herself before she leaned forward.

  “Then what’s there to object to, Lara?”

  The sound of her name on his tongue made a tingling shiver run down her spine.

  “You want me. I want you. It’s quite simple.”

  “It might be simple, but it’s not professional.”

  Rafael arched a dark brow. “I didn’t think you’d struggle to separate business from pleasure.”

  Mmmm. Pleasure, her dragon piped up. He’ll give us plenty of that.

  Seriously? Lara snapped. Do I need to carry around a shiny object to distract your hormones?

  Our hormones.

  Clarice… Lara warned.

  Rafael’s wicked grin contained pure sin. He leaned down.

  Her dragon squealed with delight.

  “No,” she said.

  He froze, inches from her face. “No?”

  No! her dragon screeched.

  “Why not?” Rafael straightened and took a step back.

  “You’re a chronic womanizer only interested in satisfying your own needs.”

  Rafael chuckled. “And you’re not?”

  “I’m not a womanizer.”

  “Forget the label.” Rafael’s eyes narrowed. “You think I didn’t have Hank look into you? I’m well aware of the haphazardly discarded men lining the trail behind you. You got what you needed and moved on.”

  Lara clamped her mouth shut.

  “As with me, the relationships you have are consensual and casual. Except, in my case, the women know a future doesn’t exist. From what I hear, you’re not the best communicator when it comes to expectations, or lack thereof. I’m not a womanizer and we’re not so unalike. This makes it hard for me to understand why you wouldn’t be interested in easing this tension between us.”

  “You’re an asshole.”

  “Again, when has that stopped you? How did your friend put it, ‘You don’t have to like them to have an orgasm’?”

  Misha. Next time Lara saw her friend, she’d punch her in that left tit she always talked about. Misha probably thought she was helping, but her big mouth and meddling ways made Lara’s tap dance around Rafael’s advances more difficult.

  Leave Misha alone, her dragon snarled. We like her and you don’t have a lot of friends.

  “I’m not trying to talk you into something you don’t want,” Rafael continued. “You don’t owe me anything, but your body says one thing and your mouth another. I’m trying to understand.”

  “There are other reasons,” she bit out.

  Rafael crossed his arms.

  “You’re arrogant. You’re not a team player and constantly withhold vital information because you either don’t trust me, think I’m too incompetent to handle said information, or don’t value my expertise enough to seek my opinion. You use money and your position as a shield and as a means to get what you want. You used your considerable influence to force me into this job, when you knew I wanted nothing to do with you. You don’t take a hint, and you don’t listen to the word ‘no’ very well. Probably because you’re not used to hearing it.”

  Rafael chuckled and let his arms fall to his side.

  Lara frowned.

  Without warning, Rafael’s hands encased her face. His mouth planted on hers. Instantly, heat sprung from her core and burned with need through her body. She could’ve pushed away from his tenuous hold. Instead, a moan escaped her lips, quickly muffled by Rafael’s wicked tongue.

  She melted into him. The headache plaguing her since the abduction eased away and faded into nothingness. He tasted her, drinking her as he turned her to molten liquid from the inside out. Her knees weakened and he gathered her in his strong arms. His cologne sank into her skin. Her breasts pressed against his wide, solid chest.

  He withdrew slowly and gently set her down.

  Lara gaped, arms hanging loose and useless at her sides.

  “I expect you
bright and early for work on Monday.”

  “Wh—what?” Lara stammered. “Can you call me a cab?”

  “No need. One of my men retrieved your car.”

  “How—” She clamped her mouth shut. Did she really want to know how they broke into her car and brought it here? Many of her associates, as well as herself, were adept at lock-picking and magic. The specifics didn’t really matter. Not right now. Not when her illusion of safety was already crumbling.

  “You can show yourself out.” Rafael chuckled and walked out of the room.

  Left alone in his grand entrance, Lara’s jaw worked, opening and closing, until her words finally came out in a jumbled mess. “Yeah…You…Ugh. I’m leaving.”

  Lara’s blood boiled. She stomped down the winding staircase toward Rafael’s front door. He expected to see her “bright and early for work.” And with that, she was dismissed. Like another employee.

  What did she expect? She was an employee. She couldn’t demand special treatment and status when she refused to give Rafael any reason to provide those things. She offered nothing in return.

  She flung the front door open. Cool floral-scented air hit her face, right before she almost barreled into the man standing on the stoop with his fist raised to knock.

  She skidded to a stop, mere inches from impact.

  “Penelope.” Alex’s smile grew. “A pleasure to run into you so soon.” He reached for her hand, raised it, and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. His warm breath fanned her hand.

  “Thanks.” Lara pulled her hand back, a little too quickly and took another step back.

  Alex’s gaze traveled her body.

  Oh right, black fatigues.

  His eyebrows shot up.

  She smiled widely. Sometimes the best explanation was no explanation. Was he really happy to see her so soon? Or surprised? Was he behind the ispolini attack? Their timing in the alley had been a little too perfect.

  “Checking up on Rafael?” She folded her arms and leaned against the doorframe. The sun began to dip below the tree line and the birds started their bedtime singing.

  “Yes, I got a call from Hank. Raf’s expecting me.” Alex paused and scanned Lara, “Apparently, he had a bit of an adventure this afternoon.”