Dark Dream’s Temptation (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance Series Book 26)

by I. T. Lucas

  So far so good. Everything he’d said was not only true, but things she prided herself on. The only time she’d failed to think before acting was with Romeo, and it was never going to happen again.

  “There is more,” he said. “Your fundraising idea is absolutely brilliant. You’re a creative thinker. I also think you’re a wonderful sister and daughter, which speaks volumes about your character.”

  It was embarrassing to hear him say all those nice things about her, and Ella’s knee-jerk reaction was to make fun of it. “Hey, you make me sound so good that I want to marry me.”

  He waved a hand. “There you go. Now you know how I feel about you.”

  “Just so you won’t get disappointed when you find out, I’m also argumentative, opinionated, and I don’t do well with authority. On the positive side, I try to be polite, I don’t cuss much, and I’m not a big spender.”

  Grinning, Julian returned his arm around her shoulders. “Sold. I’m ready for the altar.”

  Yeah, the question was whether she’d be able to tolerate more than his arm around her shoulders and a kiss to the top of her head. As good-looking and charming as Julian was, Ella was attracted to him in her head, but her body remained on neutral.

  If she had never felt the stirrings of desire before, she would’ve thought nothing of it, but she had.

  For freaking Romeo of all people, and then for Logan, who might have been even worse.

  What was wrong with her?

  Did her body respond only to dangerous, evil men?

  Julian hooked a finger under her chin. “I was expecting a smile, not a frown. What’s the matter, did I make a bad joke?”

  As if she was going to tell him that he didn’t excite her or share her suspicions with him as to why her body’s response to him was so lackluster.

  Except, it might have nothing to do with him and everything to do with what she’d been through. It was as if a comfortable numbness had settled upon her, blocking any sexual yearnings she might have normally felt. It was safe inside that numb blanket, but it was also unsettling.

  This wasn’t her.

  It wasn’t normal.

  It was the same as hiding in her room, only instead of getting her sense of security from walls made from wood and plaster, she was deriving it from walls made of emotional and physical indifference.

  “Ella? Can you answer me?” He sounded impatient.

  She hadn’t realized how long she’d been lost in thought while staring blankly at his handsome face. “Who’s rushing things now, Julian? All I wanted was a kiss, and you’ve taken it all the way to the altar.”

  “You think you’re ready for a kiss?” He arched a brow.

  “Only one way to find out.”

  Crossing her fingers, Ella hoped that Julian’s kiss would awaken some of her dormant arousal, but she was willing to settle for none provided that it didn’t evoke repulsion.

  If it did, she was going to swallow her pride and take Vanessa up on her counseling offer because it would mean that there was something very wrong with her.

  The glow in his eyes intensifying by the second, several expressions passed over Julian’s face, but his hesitation didn’t last long.

  Moving faster than she’d thought possible, he lifted her onto his lap and tucked her close to his hard body.

  She was trapped, his arms feeling like iron bands around her, and yet there was no fear, only breathless anticipation.

  43

  Julian

  It felt incredible to have Ella’s body nestled against his chest, his arms wrapped around her and holding her tight. But she was tense and knowing that she wasn’t aroused even in the slightest dampened Julian’s excitement.

  Up close, there was no way he was missing it, and given the plethora of other scents Ella was emitting, he knew she wasn’t an anomaly like Turner who didn’t produce any emotional scents at all.

  Julian’s nose and his empathic ability made it easy for him to read her emotions. She was a little anxious, a little worried, and more than a little sad, but she was also determined.

  But what was she determined about?

  Getting the kiss she’d asked for?

  If she wasn’t attracted to him, why did she want him to kiss her?

  Maybe she hoped the kiss would awaken her desire?

  The situation was entirely unfamiliar to him, and therefore utterly confusing, not to mention disappointing.

  Usually, the women Julian hooked up with were eager for him, their arousal unmistakable. And as long as he found them even moderately attractive, that unique feminine scent was enough to turn him on. In its absence, his initial arousal dissipated.

  It seemed like he was a different kind of animal than most of his immortal brethren and even his human counterparts. His first response to an attractive female was the same as any other heterosexual male’s, but unless she responded with clear sexual interest, his arousal would fade away.

  Perhaps it was good that he was wired like that. Exercising patience was not going to be a problem for him.

  His palm gently cradling the back of Ella’s head, he brushed his lips over hers. That tiny contact was enough to send a zap of electricity straight to his deflated arousal, awakening it and shattering his theory of only a moment ago.

  Leaning away, he gazed at her face.

  Her eyes closed, she parted her lips and darted her tongue out to moisten them.

  Experimentally, he took a long sniff and there it was—a faint scent of feminine arousal. It seemed like his body had sensed it before his nose could confirm that it was there.

  “My beautiful, sweet Ella.”

  She smiled without opening her eyes and relaxed in his hold, her body losing some of the rigidness. He should remember to use terms of endearment with her.

  Apparently, Ella liked it.

  “I’ve wanted to kiss those lush lips of yours for so long.” He smoothed a finger over the bottom one. “Your cheeks.” He smoothed a finger over one and then the next. “Your eyes.” He dipped his head and kissed one eyelid and then the other.

  With each little touch, Ella seemed to loosen up some more, and he debated whether to keep going with what appeared to be working so well or to give her the kiss she wanted.

  “Your skin is so soft,” he murmured.

  Wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down, she solved his dilemma. “Kiss me, Julian. I’m not going to break.”

  The next time he touched his lips to hers, Julian was bolder, flicking his tongue over the seam and coaxing her to open for him.

  As she parted her lips, the scent of her arousal flared, and that was all the encouragement he needed.

  His hand tightening its hold on the back of her head, he took her mouth, sliding his tongue inside and tangling it with hers in a slow and deliberate dance of discovery.

  It wasn’t the way he normally kissed. But being attuned to Ella’s every response, he realized that the urgency his other partners had responded so well to needed to be tempered for her.

  As he drew back, Ella pulled him back down and kissed him, thrusting her little tongue into his mouth.

  Julian’s first instinct was to deny her access, but then he remembered that there was no need to hide what he was. She knew about his fangs. The question was whether she remembered to be careful around them.

  “Watch out for the sharp tips,” he murmured against her mouth.

  In response, she cupped his cheek and twirled her tongue around one fang, and then around the other, sending shivers up his spine. But more than the intense pleasure of his fangs being licked, he was turned on by Ella taking the initiative and the growing scent of arousal she was emitting.

  When she let go of his neck and slumped in his arms, he resisted the impulse to kiss her again.

  He needed to take cues from her.

  Until she felt completely safe in his arms, he was going to stifle his need for dominance and let her dictate the pace.

  “Oh, wow,” she sai
d after a long moment. “Talk about butterflies. That was a kiss for the memory book.”

  Julian would’ve been puffing his chest out and strutting like a peacock if not for his empathetic and olfactory extrasensory perception. The kiss had aroused Ella, but for some reason, the strongest emotion she was experiencing at the moment was relief.

  What was she relieved about?

  That he had finally kissed her?

  That he hadn’t pushed for more?

  Or maybe for being able to get excited over a kiss?

  Should he ask her?

  Normally, revealing his superhuman abilities was not an option, which had provided an excellent excuse for using them to his advantage with his partners none the wiser. But that loophole didn’t apply to Ella.

  Other than exercising patience, Jackson's advice had been to build up trust first, which meant that Julian couldn't keep his extrasensory perception a secret from Ella because it gave him an unfair advantage.

  “I sense your relief,” he said.

  “I am relieved. But how did you know? Am I that obvious?”

  He tapped his nose. “Immortals can smell emotions. When you’re this close, the scents that you emit tell me a lot about what you’re feeling. I’m also slightly empathic.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Does it mean that I can’t keep any secrets from you?”

  “I can’t read your mind.” He chuckled. “And frankly, being able to read your emotions confuses me more than it educates me. Like right now. I don’t know what’s the connection between a hot kiss and feeling relieved. I would expect arousal, elation, appreciation for my incredible kissing skills, maybe even a little bit of adoration, but relief?”

  Shaking her head, Ella laughed. “You’re honest, I’ll give you that.” She cupped his cheek and looked into his eyes. “I like that.”

  His gamble had worked. Ella seemed to appreciate his humorous self-aggrandizing that was actually meant to be self-deprecating. “I’m glad. But you’re evading my questions. Why relief? Were you afraid my breath was going to stink?”

  She took him seriously. “Of course not.”

  Averting her gaze, she sighed. “Ever since my rescue, I’ve felt numb. I would look at you and think how gorgeous and attractive you are, but my body didn’t follow my brain. There were no tingles, and I was afraid that the numbness was permanent, and that I’d never feel normal again. Or even worse, that I’d feel repulsed by any kind of intimacy.”

  She lifted her gaze to him. “I bet your sense of smell has already told you that my fears were baseless. It felt wonderful to be kissed by you and to kiss you back.” Lowering her eyes again, she whispered, “I’m relieved because now I know that I can make new memories to replace the old ones. Maybe plenty of the good kind will erase the bad.”

  Julian frowned. Ella sounded as if all of her prior sexual encounters had been terrible. Had there been others who’d mistreated her before Gorchenco?

  “I’m sure not all of your memories are bad. Before that scumbag lured you into a trap, you must’ve had some good experiences.”

  She shrugged. “Romeo was my first serious boyfriend, and I enjoyed kissing him, but now that I know it was all fake, the memory of those kisses disgusts me.”

  Julian was starting to get a really uncomfortable feeling.

  If Romeo had been Ella’s first boyfriend, and kissing had been all that she’d done with him, then she’d been a virgin when Gorchenco had taken her.

  Fates, it was bad enough to be coerced into having sex with a man she hadn’t wanted. It was ten times worse to have had her virginity taken in such a despicable way.

  “Julian? Why are your fangs getting longer?” She pointed at his mouth. “And they are dripping something.”

  Damn, his venom glands had been activated, but not by arousal.

  “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch with my bare hands, and I’m going to do it slowly.”

  Stiffening in his arms, Ella tried to back away. “Uhm, Julian? Didn’t anyone tell you that Romeo is dead? I think Turner beat you to it.”

  Using his hand, he wiped the venom drops away. “I meant Gorchenco. He deserves to die for what he did to you.”

  44

  Ella

  Julian’s fangs were so long by now that he looked like a saber-toothed tiger. And the venom dripping from them was gross. Getting all worked up over a dead issue, he was ruining the memory of that wonderful kiss.

  “That’s a bit overdramatic, don’t you think?”

  “The bastard took your virginity.”

  She stifled the need to roll her eyes. It was her virginity, not his, that had been taken. He had no right to get so angry.

  “I know, and I think I have the right to be more pissed about it than you. But he doesn't deserve to die over it. If you get the chance and it makes you feel better, you can beat him up for me.”

  Heck, if Julian were gay, she would have suggested that he coerce the mafioso into unwanted sex with him. That would be very sweet revenge.

  An eye for an eye kind of thing.

  But thankfully, Julian was into girls, or rather one girl. Ella.

  A small smile lifted one corner of Julian’s lips, making him look comical. A smiling tiger. “If I can beat him up within an inch of his life then I accept your offer.”

  “Nah-ah.” She shook her head. “He’s too old for that and might die from heart failure. We still need him.”

  “What?” Julian hissed.

  “He used to vacation on the Doomers’ island. Now that he’s a widower, I’m sure he’s going to visit it again. I told Kian about it. Gorchenco can lead them to the island, provided they can find a way to track him.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I heard him talking with someone about it. When Carol mentioned the kind of resort the Doomers run on their island, I made the connection.”

  “Finding rich bastards who fulfill their perverted desires on that island is not difficult. Placing any sort of tracker on them, that’s the hard part.”

  “Oh.”

  Kian hadn’t mentioned that, letting her believe that she was being helpful.

  The jerk.

  He was treating her like a kid.

  “So, do I have permission to pound him to the ground?” Julian smiled his grotesque fanged smile that did nothing to detract from how gorgeous he was.

  “No. I have a gut feeling that the Russian is going to be instrumental in something. If not in finding the island, then in something else. He needs to live a while longer.”

  “I don’t understand, but it’s your call.”

  “It is.” She pushed off his lap, and he let her go. “I should be getting back. My mom is probably worried about me.”

  They both knew that wasn’t true, but it was a polite way to say that she wanted to go home.

  The kiss Julian had given her was incredible, but his later angry outburst was tiring her. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t directed at her. It was negative energy she was still too frazzled to handle.

  “I’m sorry,” he said at the door to her house. “I’m usually a much mellower guy.” He took her hand. “I care about you, Ella. Your pain is my pain.”

  No, it wasn’t.

  Julian was an immortal male who was not only stronger than most human males but who could also get out of sticky situations by thralling his assailants. He didn’t know how it felt to be small and defenseless with only her wits to aid her, or having to make terrible compromises in order to survive or protect his loved ones.

  Still, it was nice of him to say that.

  Stretching up to her toes, she kissed his cheek. “I had a lovely time, Julian.”

  “Me too. How about I take you out sometime? Like on a proper date?”

  “I’d love to, but unless you invite me to the village café, I can’t. Not until I’m given a makeover. I don’t feel safe going out as me.”

  He nodded. “I’ll wait then. Because we will have no privacy in the villa
ge café. You have no idea how quickly rumors spread through here.”

  “Okay.” She smiled. “Goodnight, Julian.”

  “Goodnight, Ella.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.

  Crap. That brought back bad memories.

  Yanking it out of his clasp, she blurted, “Don’t do that.”

  “Kiss your hand? Why?”

  “I’ll tell you some other time. I’m tired, and I want to get in bed.”

  He looked so hurt. “Okay. Goodnight, Ella.”

  “Goodnight.”

  Forcing a smile, she opened the door and went inside, letting the smile drop as soon as she closed it behind her.

  Thankfully, there was no one in the living room. Tiptoeing to her bedroom, she opened the door as soundlessly as she could and closed it just as gently.

  Letting out a whooshed breath, she plopped down on the bed and closed her eyes.

  The evening had been a success, but it had been exhausting as well. She’d pushed her boundaries, which was good, and it hadn’t backfired, but she’d also overestimated her resiliency.

  A lot of residual crap still lingered inside of her. It was sticky and disgusting, and she wished she could just cough it up like phlegm and flush the toilet.

  Except, mental discomfort wasn’t as easy to alleviate as a physical one. She had a trick for that, though. If she closed her eyes and imagined a pleasant scene, the emotional phlegm would feel less suffocating.

  What should she imagine though?

  The stroll with Julian had been very pleasant, she could start with that, but instead of it being under the evening sky, she could change the scenery and make it a sunny day on the beach.

  Smiling, she imagined the sun kissing Julian’s light brown hair, highlighting the blond and gold strands interwoven in between the browns. His eyes would look so blue because his pupils would be pinprick-sized and not overtake his irises like they did at night. He would be smiling, but his fangs would be fully retracted.