Page 25 of Eternally Bound

A soft groan left me seeing it was a soup.

“Is it not to your liking, Miss?” the man asked politely.

“It’s fine. Really,” I quickly answered, raising my eyes to meet the waiter. “I just hope this won’t be a five course meal. It is kind of late for the whole shebang.” I slid my eyes to Daniel. “Don’t you think so?”

“Leave us.” Daniel’s voice sounded like whiplash across the vast, empty room.

The waiter immediately straightened and left the room without even looking my way. The moment the man was gone, I opened my mouth, unable to keep anything in.

“That was rude,” I snapped. “First, you have those poor people working in the middle of the night, and then you are being a jerk towards them.”

An expression of surprise flashed in his eyes, but he veiled it quickly.

“Would you rather we are not served?” he asked instead. “And we grab our own plates?”

“Yes,” I agreed blandly. “And who eats a five-course meal at midnight? I mean, really!”

As if he was considering my words, he reached out for the bread roll. I watched him butter his roll, like he had no care in the world and then brought it to his mouth. Damn it, that mouth would be the death of me. I knew how it felt on my skin, and now I wondered whether my memory maybe didn’t enhance the entire sensation he gave me that night twelve years ago.

He bit into his roll, his strong teeth giving me some disturbing ideas. Deliciously disturbing ideas.

Jesus, what is happening to me?

He chewed carefully while I waited for… I didn’t know what.

“Fine, I’ll send them to bed,” he finally agreed. I narrowed my eyes on him. “You don’t seem pleased I agreed with you?”

“You surprised me, that’s all.”

“Should we argue for a bit?” I swore there was a ghost of a smile playing around his lips. Was he teasing me?

“No,” I told him quickly. “Send them to bed.”

He stood up, went to the door, and spoke to someone. I assumed he was sending everyone to bed. I couldn’t help but watch his strong back andthatass. God, he had a nice looking ass.

I raised my head and noticed his eyes on me. He saw me gawking at his ass. I shrugged my shoulders. I never claimed to be a saint. Besides, there was no way the man didn’t know he had a nice ass.

He came back to the table, a small, knowing smirk on his face.

“Please wipe that smirk off your face,” I groaned. “It is really too late in the day, or night, for that.”

“You haven’t changed.” His comment surprised me, and my eyes sought out his.

“I think we both changed,” I told him. “It was inevitable.”

We watched each other and although silence filled the room, there were so many emotions filling it.

“I know you came looking for me.” His admission caught me off guard. He didn’t respond when I made the comment earlier, so I assumed we wouldn’t discuss it. I could still taste the fear on my tongue from that day. The man in front of the building. I later learned that it was his cousin, Hugo Carrington. There was something disturbing about that man.

“You did?” My heart raced, the look in his eyes feral.

“When I saw the surveillance of that sick bastard,” he said, anger clear in his tone, “-so close to you, I almost lost it. I had never felt that kind of fear. Not since I was a kid and saw my mother killed.”

A soft gasp escaped me, and it filled the room. He never talked about his parents nor his family. Though I sensed his family wasn’t anything like mine. So I never asked him questions about it.

My hand reached out to his and covered his big hand. “I’m sorry,” I murmured. “He told me you were inside banging someone,” I added softly. “But he scared me and I ran. Besides, I figured it was probably better not to interrupt you with-”

His eyes were locked on our connected hands, then he lifted his other hand and covered mine. His gaze lifted to mine.

---