Page 31 of Sin and Salvation

“You believe me, don’t you?” I asked, my own voice sounding far away to my ears. “That I want to destroy him?”

Zane’s sharp gold eyes ran over my face, and softened. “Of course I do.”

Then he suddenly stood up, shoving his mug aside. “Come on.”

Surprised, I followed, holding his jacket tightly around me. He led me out of the kitchen and back into the hall, to one of the ebony doors.

“We each have our own private quarters up here,” he explained. “This is mine. You’re welcome here whenever you please.”

I walked into a massive bedroom. Like the living area, it was sleek, but here everything was in shades of silver and pale cream. A plush bed big enough for three had black posts carved with snakes, and I turned to see a massive window overlooking Concordia.

“Oh, my Devil,” I breathed, stepping towards the glass.

“It’s one-way,” Zane told me. “No one can see us.”

My stomach tightened at what he might have in mind where he might not want someone to see us, but the sight of the glittering city sprawling in front of me was a temporary distraction from that.

At least until I felt his fingers at my shoulders, gently pulling the jacket down.

I released it, but his room was warm enough that I didn’t get a chill.

“Come lay down on your stomach.”

Obediently, I climbed up on the bed, spreading out across silver silk and sinking into the vast plushness of it. “This is the most comfortable bed I’ve ever laid on,” I mumbled, and felt it shift as Zane climbed up over me.

He straddled my thighs, and a moment later his fingers were kneading into my shoulders.

I let out a startled squawk and flailed, a multitude of thoughts flurrying through my head. I’d expected… well, I’d expected to feel hands jerking down my panties and someone shoving in.

That’s what I used to.

But Zane just pushed me back down, his fingers finding a particularly painful knot in my upper shoulders that had been plaguing me for a year. “Shh. Just relax and enjoy it.” he let out a little laugh. “You’ll be the first stripper in Onyx to have gotten a back massage from the VP.”

The way he said it didn’t make it sound disparaging. I settled back onto the bed and closed my eyes, letting him massage the tension that had stiffened my back since the moment I’d laid eyes on Rastus.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” I mumbled at one point, feeling like a blissful lump of melted butter.

Zane’s knuckles kneaded alongside my spine. At times he simply ran his hands over my back, the heat and rough calluses making me sigh with happiness.

He took his time, like his hands were worshiping me.

Before I drifted into darkness, I thought I heard his voice.

“Because we want you,” was all he said, but he sounded like it meant everything.

ChapterFifteen

Iwoke up curled in a vast expanse of dove-gray silk, midday sunlight pouring in through the wall-to-wall windows.

The familiar smell of Zane’s cologne filled the air, curing my disorientation. I was in his bed, not mine.

And he’d pulled the covers over me after I fell asleep. I looked down at myself, wincing a little at the remnants of pink shimmer smeared on his no doubt very expensive bedding.

An apology was already on my lips as I looked up, but Zane was nowhere in sight. A small pile had been left on a bench at the end of the bed; I climbed out, finding a neatly-folded stack of clothes and a note.

Bathroom is to your left; Kylaea brought the basket up. Meet me in the commons afterwards.

Zane hadn’t signed his name, but even if I hadn’t woken up in his room, I would’ve known it was from him. His handwriting matched his personality, fine-lined and spare.

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