Page 69 of Of Mercury and Mist

Eventually, I’d pour my blood in her mouth. The sooner, the better. My angel wasn’t going anywhere I didn’t want her to.

The vehicle pulled up in front of the hotel and Mason opened the door letting me out first, and then Ashley. Her head tilted up, taking in the towering building. “We’re on the top floor,” I told her.

“What about my stuff? From home, I mean. I have things there. My clothes and stuff.”

Placing my arm at her lower back, I lead her forward and we passed through the front doors before stepping inside the dedicated elevator in the far corner of the lobby. “As stated in the contract, everything is provided for you. You have no need of those things.”

The lift began ascending. “You do realize I have sentimental items that I might want with me for the month, right?”

My chest rose and fell. “I’ll arrange something.”

“No, I want to get them myself. How do you know what I want?”

I whirled on her, and her heels hit the wall before I caged her in, an arm on either side of her head. “You think I don’t know you? I know everything about you.”

Ashley sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes lowering to my lips. It was all I could do to regulate my breathing as the scent of her desire rose around us. A wisp of her red aura trickled upward between us, telling me she was carnally affected by my proximity.

She fucking wanted Isaac, not me.

Leaning in, I pressed my lips against her neck, nipping and kissing. Her arms hung limply by her sides as she fought her desire for the new man in her life. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her pulse racing along her veins. When I concentrated, I could hear the dual symphonies. Her body was playing melodic tunes just for me.

For Isaac.

I reached down and bunched her skirt around her waist, moving it out of my way to trace the seam of her underwear. She squirmed against me, her hips swaying back and forth, desperate to escape.

My knuckles brushed against her bare skin as I peeled the lace down, then traced a finger against her lips, cupping her mound. She whimpered and gasped when my mouth moved lower, my teeth scraping her collarbone, then the swell of her breast. Her skin was heating, and the fragrance of her lust made my head spin.

The palm of my hand grew moist as her body bent to my will and I plunged a long finger inside her. Ashley cried out, her back arching, crushing her chest to mine.

We’d arrived at the penthouse floor, but her thighs were shaking, and my hand was soaked. My fangs were scratching the flesh of her shoulder lightly, and I didn’t want to move, to let this moment pass.

I was lust drunk, my cock pressed to her belly and straining for her. I could practically taste her sweet blood through her skin, and I wanted to bite into her, consume her, force her to be a part of me.

Instead, I tugged her skirt back down. Blocking her from moving, I tilted her chin up to look at me. Lifting the finger covered in her juices, I raised it to my mouth and licked it clean. Her pupils were dilated, the crimson mist of her aura surrounding her. My head still buzzed, my ears ringing. But I could still hear her intake of breath.

“Come,” I instructed her, motioning her to move forward as the doors opened.

Her legs almost gave out and I held her up, guiding her from the lift. Ashley smoothed her hair back, tucking the tresses behind her ears as we stepped into the white marble hallway. I couldn’t hold the laugh at bay as she swatted my arm away when we crossed the floor to the main entry.

She cast a gaze at me and went back to swiveling her head, taking in the vast ceiling and oversized flower arrangement on a thick table in the center.

The doors slid open to the suite and her eyes widened, peering at the bank of twenty-foot-tall windows. The view of Central Park was spectacular from here, the ponds glistening like gems in the sunlight, surrounded by a sea of green.

As I expected, she’d gone straight to the window. I knew she’d love the view; she wasn’t so jaded she’d demand it as so many others would. There was nothing artificial about the girl, no pretense.

Ashley was still trembling slightly when I walked over to the window. “It's beautiful,” I said, and nodded at the view. “Just like you.”

She gave me a tight-lipped smile. “So, what now?” She was clearly uncomfortable over her unrestrained reaction to me.

“Look around. See where everything is. This is your home for the next thirty days.” Afterward, her home would be elsewhere with me. She’d find that out when the time came.

My cell phone rang as soon as she left the window and began exploring the massive suite. The ten thousand square feet took up the entire top floor of the hotel. There was plenty of room to roam, which was exactly what I did when Josiah’s name glowed on the screen.

My first thought was he’d discovered my subterfuge, and he was calling to threaten me with annihilation or some other, ridiculous action he wouldn’t dare complete.

Not that it mattered if he tried, nothing would come between me and what was mine.

Ashley started down a hallway as I answered. “Someone other than you is in your office,” Josiah said, his voice guarded.

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