Piper walked outside, her eyes immediately seeking out Grey’s in the crowd. She started down the steps toward him and the knot of tension he’d had all afternoon eased. He’d wanted to believe that she would honor their agreement to meet after class. He had believed it, for the most part, but it was relief to know for sure.
He waited at the bottom of the steps, wishing he could read her thoughts without forcing the issue. All Talions, especially the more powerful ones, had the ability to control weaker minds, change memories, read the truth behind the lies, and even bend ordinary Kyth and humans to their will.
That wasn’t going to work with Piper. The woman had a forceful personality, one that would make it difficult to get through the outer layers of her mind without doing some serious damage. He wasn’t about to risk it, if for no other reason than she mattered to Kerry.
But he preferred to face hard truths head-on. The real reason he wouldn’t fuck with her head was that she meant too much to him. After decades of holding himself aloof from others of his kind, it was a shock how quickly this one woman had managed to sneak into his life. He had no idea where their relationship was going, but he wasn’t about to let a few bumps get in the way.
She stopped on the last step, giving her the height advantage. He couldn’t fault her understanding of power plays. That was all right—women with attitude had always appealed to him. He could also play the game. He joined her on the step long enough to press a chaste kiss on her frowning mouth. Then he immediately backed down onto the sidewalk, willing to give her all the space she needed, as long as she stayed with him.
“How was class?”
“Fine. Finals are coming up, so my profs are cramming in all they can before we run out of time. I’ll be glad when it’s over.”
She stepped down beside him. “Sometimes it feels like I’ll never finish my degree. Once I graduate, I’m not sure what I’ll do with all my free time.”
“I’m sure you’ll adjust.” He led her toward the car. “I hope you’re hungry. Sandor and I worked through lunch, so I thought maybe we could pick up a couple of sandwiches and eat down by the water.”
During the time they’d been apart, he’d decided the best way to deal with the investigator’s report was to talk about it in neutral territory. If she didn’t go for that, then he’d let her choose the location. The only option he wouldn’t accept was to not talk at all.
Piper waited until they were in the car to answer. “Look, Grey. I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
She waved her hand in the air as if searching for the right words. “This weekend was fun. Great, in fact. But how much of it was because you almost died?”
Okay, he hadn’t seen that one coming. “So you think the best sex I’ve had in … in fact, the best sex I’ve ever had, is solely in response to a near-death experience?”
Damned if she didn’t nod and smile, as if proud of a slow student finally getting the answer right. “I’m not complaining, Grey, or pointing fingers. It was good for me, too, but I’m not sure we have any kind of basis for a real relationship.”
He flexed his fingers on the steering wheel, his hands flickering with streams of angry energy. “Other than the scorching hot sex, you mean?”
“Well, yes. Don’t get me wrong, I had a nice time with you, but I think maybe you should just take me home.”
“Nice?” he asked, echoing her description. “You’re saying it was nice?”
She stared out the windshield. “Didn’t you think so?”
What could he say to that? He shifted into first gear and jerked the car out into traffic, forcing the guy behind him to slam on his breaks. Grey responded to the blare of the horn with a casual flip of his middle finger. He almost hoped it would push the driver too far. A brawl might help take the edge off.
Piper settled back into her seat and stared at her lap. As he approached the intersection ahead, he debated which way to turn. The water was a bad idea, he decided spontaneously. So right to Piper’s apartment or left to his hotel? No contest. Left it was. He wasn’t about to give her a home field advantage.
Judging from the white-knuckled grip she had on her backpack, Piper wasn’t as calm as she was acting. Good. He didn’t want to be the only one tied up in knots. She’d yet to notice that they weren’t headed toward the water, which was fine with him. Far better if they had already pulled into the hotel’s underground parking before she exploded.
They almost made it.
All of sudden Piper sat up straighter and whipped her head around as she took measure of their direction. “Grey, where are you taking me?”
“Home.” His smile held a great deal of satisfaction.
“I meant my home.”
“You should have been more specific.”
He whipped the car into an empty parking spot. She was still sputtering in protest when he yanked her door open.
She stayed where she was, giving him a narrow-eyed stare. “What are you doing?”
“I’m waiting for you to get out of the car.”
“And if I don’t?”
He almost wished she wouldn’t. “I’ll toss you over my shoulder and carry you up to my room. Your choice.”
Evidently she correctly judged his mood because she got out of the car on her own, looking much put upon. She trailed along beside him, but her eyes kept judging the distance to the nearest exit.
“I wouldn’t, Piper. Chasing you down wouldn’t help my mood at all.” He kept walking as he spoke. “But if you need to test my resolve, go for it.”
“Fine. But I’m not staying long.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not planning on holding you prisoner indefinitely.”
When he hit the elevator button, the doors immediately slid open. He stood back and motioned for her to go first. Nothing like good manners to impress a lady—even if he really did it to keep her from bolting.
She knew it, too. “So you do have a plan.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”
“Care to clue me in?”
“As I recall, you said having sex with me was—what was the word? Oh, yes, nice.” He shot her an innocent look. “That’s right, isn’t it, Piper? That it was nice.”
She backed up a step as she nodded. “I didn’t mean it as an insult, Grey.”
“Yes, well, it was. But not to worry.” He clasped his hands behind his back.
“Why not?”
“Because once we get to my room, we’ll order in a meal and have that talk I promised you. And then—”
He flashed her a wolfish smile, letting his gaze travel from her face down to her toes and back. He lingered on his favorite places.
Piper’s eyes widened, her breathing shallow in the confines of the elevator. “And then?”
He leaned in close enough to let his breath brush against her skin. “And then, my dear Piper, I plan on showing you just how nice I can be.”
Chapter 11
This so wasn’t working out the way Piper had expected. She should have known that a Talion warrior wouldn’t behave like the human males she’d dated in the past. Her gentle slight had turned into a direct challenge to Grey’s ego. She would’ve called him on it, but she realized she’d been hoping he’d call her bluff.
He wasn’t the sort of man to make idle threats. If she hadn’t gotten out of the car when she did, he would have hauled her off like some Neanderthal hunting for a mate. His hotel room might be far more luxurious than the average cave, but the principle was the same.
What was freaking her out, though, was that she liked Grey’s primitive attitude. A lot. Instead of making her furious, his bullheaded behavior was making her hot and achy, to the point that if he’d wanted to make “nice” in the elevator, she’d have been all for it.
But one of them needed to maintain control. At least for now. After they talked, he probably wouldn’t be interested in being nice anymore. It was surprising how much that thought hurt.
He unlocked the door to his room
, once again letting her enter ahead of him. The man definitely had trust issues, but then he wasn’t the only one. She tossed her bag on the floor and walked to the window overlooking the Seattle skyline.
Grey ducked into the bathroom and reappeared after only a few seconds. When she glanced back at him, he was unbuttoning his shirt.
She tried to look away, but her eyes were riveted on his powerful hands and on each bare inch of his chest as the buttons slipped free. The shirt hit the floor as he kicked off his shoes and reached for his belt buckle.
“Uh, I’ll wait out on the balcony while you … um, change.”
Except she didn’t move. It was all she could do to breathe. Grey tossed his belt over the back of a chair and then very deliberately unfastened the snap above his fly. The slow rasp of the zipper seemed to echo throughout the room even after he’d stepped out of his pants. The navy boxers he wore did nothing to disguise how much he wanted her.
The afternoon sun streamed in through the sliding door, outlining his face. Grey was a hard man, one determined to win every battle he faced. He would never hurt her, but he had every intention of conquering her. If she ended up in his bed, there would be no quarter given.
“Come here, Piper.”
Not a good idea. They both knew where this was headed. She held her ground. Her pride demanded it, even as part of her very much wanted to give in. The sex between them had been amazing, but this felt different, a claiming perhaps. If she … if they … well, she very much feared that nothing would ever be the same.
This would be no gentle wooing. It was there in the determined set of his mouth and the blue flames in his eyes. Grey would take her fast and hard with everything he had. On the floor. On the bed. Maybe even against the wall. All of which sounded just fine to her. She threw her shoulders back, ready to make a few demands of her own.
Her breasts already felt heavy, craving his rough yet gentle touch. Her clothing trapped her, and she wanted it gone.
Grey didn’t ask a second time. He simply held out his hand and waited for her to take it. To do so, she’d have to concede the distance she’d put between them, to surrender to his masculine strength.
She kicked off her shoes and pulled off her shirt, then shimmied out of her jeans. Smiling, she slowly raised her hands up to cup her own breasts, taking satisfaction in the greedy hunger in Grey’s expression as he followed her every move. With a quick flick of her fingers, she released the front clasp on her bra and shrugged it off.
It required every ounce of courage she could muster to take that first step forward, and then a second, her hand reaching out. When her fingertips brushed his, she felt them tremble. She settled her palm over his, savoring the desire arcing between them. He wrapped his hand around hers, but continued to hold her at arm’s length.
“Honey, please tell me you want this, too.”
“Yeah, Grey, I do.”
He jerked his head down in a quick nod and dropped her hand. Okay. Now what? Then she knew. She hooked her fingers in the top of her panties and slowly slid them down her legs. After kicking them aside, she put her hands on her hips and silently invited Grey to look his fill.
“Your turn.”
When he dropped his boxers, she realized why he’d been in the bathroom. He was already sheathed and ready for her. How resourceful—and single-minded.
“What if I’d said no?”
“I was pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen.”
The time to play coy was long past. “Then what are you waiting for?”
He might have picked up a shiny veneer of manners and civilized behavior somewhere along the way, but now Grey shed it without hesitation. Piper was a strong woman who could handle whatever he dished out. He loved how she shivered when he nibbled on her shoulder and wrapped her in his arms, pulling her back against the length of his body.
It felt like heaven to have her lush backside up against his erection. She liked it, too, judging from the way she leaned into him and tugged his hands up to cover her pretty breasts. They fit his hands perfectly as he plumped them with not quite gentle squeezes.
“Grey! Please.”
Clearly both of them were already reaching the boiling point. The only question was where—the bed or the couch?
The bed was closer. Two heartbeats later they were tangled together. He took his time kissing her, starting with that smart mouth and working his way down to the juncture of her lovely legs. God, she tasted so damned sweet. If he didn’t have this burning need to take her fast and hard, he would spend hours driving them both crazy with nothing but his tongue.
He couldn’t wait any longer. As he surged back up her body, she wrapped her ankles around his hips, locking him into the cradle of her body. With one powerful thrust, he was deep inside her sweet heat. They fit together as if the gods had crafted them as mirror images, neither complete without the other.
He tried to slow down, to give her time to adjust, to give himself time to savor the moment, but it wasn’t happening. Not this time. The vestiges of his temper mixed with the perfume of her skin and the amazing taste of her kiss and quickly became too volatile to hold back. They exploded in a frenzy of give and take. Piper held on to him with all her strength, digging her nails into his back as an intense climax rolled over and through her, and then him.
Piper cried out, he groaned, and the world around them exploded into flames.
An hour later, Piper looked in the mirror as she finger combed her damp hair. Grey had let her shower alone. Part of her was disappointed, but the rest knew she’d needed those few minutes to piece herself back together. To remember where she began and Grey left off. After the mind-shattering experience in his bed, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to draw that line clearly again.
Grey stepped out of the bathroom. This time, he was buttoning his shirt up. Good. They would need all the layers between them that they could find just to get through their talk.
“I’m going to order sandwiches. Any preference?”
“Whatever you’re having is fine.”
While he dialed room service, she opened the sliding door and stepped out onto the small balcony, pleased to see that Mt. Rainier was clearly visible. One of her favorite things about Seattle was how the mountain was right there, looming over the city one day, and nowhere to be seen the next. The whole thing was a puzzle, much like the man who had just joined her outside.
“The food will be up shortly.”
Even though Grey stood on the other side of the balcony, he still managed to crowd her, making her ache for his touch, for his kiss. God, she had it bad.
At first he seemed content to stare out at the mountain, too, but then he turned to face her. Resting his elbows on the railing, he slouched back. To anyone who wasn’t paying close attention, Grey looked relaxed, as if enjoying the warm evening. But all it took was one glance at those ice-cold eyes to know that he’d only banked the coals of his anger. All that fury still lurked near the surface, ready to erupt at the slightest provocation.
And how convenient. She was in exactly the mood to do a little provoking.
“So, you had me investigated.” She wished she didn’t sound quite so wounded by that fact.
He nodded. “I wondered if that was what set off this snit fit.”
Okay, so he was in the mood for a little poking and prodding himself. “This is no snit fit, Danby. Watch it, or this will become a full-blown nuclear meltdown!”
She stood her ground, ready to counter his next move. Then the big jerk surprised her.
“I could apologize, Piper, but I won’t. It’s my job to defend Dame Kerry, which includes making damn sure that any employees are exactly who they say they are. The previous report left too many gaps and too many questions unanswered. I ordered the investigation right after I returned from London. At that point, we hadn’t exchanged more than a few dozen words.”
He slowly edged closer to her. “In my opinion, Sandor should never have allowed Kerry to hire
you until a thorough search had been done.”
He was right. They both knew it, just like they both knew she was overreacting. He came closer yet, finally reaching out to wrap his arm around her shoulders. She let him tuck her in close to his side. Considering his volatile mood only a few minutes before, his gentle approach surprised her.
He pressed a kiss to her temple. “For the record, I haven’t read the report.”
Maybe there was some merit in that old adage about confession being good for the soul. Her mood had improved considerably since he started talking, even if it hadn’t really changed anything.
“Why?”
He stared out toward the mountain, but somehow she doubted he was even aware of what he was seeing.
“Because I’ve learned over the years that most people have something to hide, something they would rather their employer—or even their friends—not know.”
He turned so that they were facing each other. “As the Dame’s Chief Talion, those are exactly the details I’m supposed to dig for. I need to make sure that none of those dark little secrets are a threat.”
He traced the curve of her cheek with his fingers. “But you’re more than just another employee, Piper. I don’t want to know your secrets unless you’re ready to share them.”
“But—” she protested.
He pressed a finger to her lips. “No buts. All I ask is that you promise me nothing in that report could hurt the Dame, her Consort, or any members of their household.”
There was a knock the door. “I’ll be right back.” Grey gave her a quick kiss and went inside to deal with room service.
Piper was uncomfortably aware that she hadn’t actually answered him. What kind of promise could she make? She meant no harm to any of them. But Kerry might be devastated when the truth came out. That is, if the truth came out. She still hadn’t decided what path to take, and time was running out.
All she’d wanted to do was approach the Dame, identify herself as Kyth, and then hang around the fringes to see what kind of person her sister had turned out to be. She hadn’t expected to like Kerry so much. And she’d originally been hired to work as Kerry’s assistant only for the duration of the school year. With graduation looming on the horizon, she’d soon have to do something. The longer she lived the lie, the harder it would be to confess the truth.
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