Page 23 of Allure
Most artists bled their heart into their work, and Syra was no exception. She had an ability to put emotions on a blank canvas with just the right coloring and objects. Even when she switched over from abstract to erotic portraits, she could still invoke passion and desire with the mere stroke of a brush.
He was an art connoisseur; he’d seen and collected numerous artworks in his life, but something about hers had tugged on his own artistic soul. He could almost feel her through the touch of her paintings and how she could connect strangers—make people feel what someone else was feeling in a moment of time. Syra had a gift, and a few of her paintings hung in his home. He asked Marco to pick them up while he was in Turkey, and honestly he couldn’t wait to see what she did with Sirens.
“Are you playing R&B…actually, this is baby-making music…to get in the mood for the party?” Syra’s voice was low, but he could hear the undercurrent of amusement wrapped around her words.
The songs that played back-to-back centered around lovers having great sex till the wee hours of the morning. If he really let the music settle into his skin, it felt like a prelude to what tonight would hold for him, Marco, and Syra. R&B was his poison of choice when it came to music, though he wondered how smart it was to play songs filled with sex when he had the temptation of Syra in his passenger seat.
Between the music and having her close, everything around him seemed amplified. Her flowery scent tickled his nose, and the way he honed in on the subtle shift in her breathing every time she squirmed in her seat had heat consuming his body. The taste of both their arousals that started the moment she opened the door whipped around him like the wind, and he tightened his grip on the steering wheel, wishing he was still touching her like he had back at Ms. Santiago’s house.
“And the little star speaks.” Asli cleared his throat, keeping his gaze on the road. She’d been quiet since the moment he closed the door. He wanted to ask about what happened back at Ms. Santiago’s house when it looked like she was ready to run back into the house, but he kept quiet.
Something had spooked her. He had caught the flash of fear in her eyes before it completely disappeared. He initially thought it was her nerves flaring, but it felt like something more, especially with the way Ms. Santiago and Ms. Lopez watched her. Her friends seemed rather protective of her, but he couldn’t say he blamed them. He found it endearing how they looked out for each other.
He knew the importance of good friends. They made life a little easier.
“If the quiet was bothering you so much, why didn’t you start a conversation?” He felt her gaze on him. “Or are we back to you being content with just watching?” Her teasing tone had him covering a sharp curse with a chuckle.
He felt his cock stir in his pants, his earlier worry about her reaction at Ms. Santiago’s home momentarily forgotten by the taunting tone of her voice.
“Wow, really, little star?” Asli looked in his rearview mirror, making sure no cars were coming up behind him. He slowly pulled off to the side of the road and eased his car to a stop.
He glanced at her, her body was bathed in the light from the road and the full moon shining into his car. She looked every bit the part of constellations across the leather of his passenger seat, and he wanted to reach out and touch her skin and let her guide him into her forbidden paradise.
How many times did he laugh at Marco for how easily he’d been swept up in Syra?
How many times did he scoff when Marco told him he would fall just as easily?
You’ll follow her like you would the stars in the sky when you’re lost looking for your way home.
Asli angled his body toward her. “And here I thought you enjoyed it when I watched.” His lips pulled back into a smirk as his gaze traveled the length of her body. “If you ever want me to participate, all you have to do is ask.”
Syra’s eyes widened slightly before they dropped to his lips and then to his lap. His dick twitched, asking her to come play.
He not-so-discreetly readjusted himself. He heard her sharp intake of breath. Her gaze snapped back to his eyes, and a pretty flush coated her skin. They sat in silence, both getting lost in words that went unsaid. He was in no rush to fill the quiet. He had no problem waiting her out to see if she would respond to the challenge he placed in the space between them.
“Why did we pull over?” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but the unsteadiness in it echoed in the car.
“So I can give you my attention while we talk,” Asli murmured. The party was two towns over, which meant they still had a little ways to go. He didn’t need to pull over to engage in whatever this was between them, but having his sole attention on her let him truly focus on every nuance that crept across her face while she was trying to either hide what she was feeling or work through it.
Even now, he watched her lips part slightly wider than they normally did. Her round eyes squinted a little as she kept her gaze on his or on the way her chest rose and fell in short, quick succession as if she was forcing herself to remember to breathe.
“You wanted me to talk, right?” Asli kept his voice low. “Or was that little challenge merely for show?”
Something cracked in the air, and he watched the tension seep out of her body. She sucked her teeth with a roll of her eyes and leaned further back into the seat. “We need to work on your definition of a challenge. It was merely an observation.” Her hands went to the strands of hair that made their way across her shoulder and down her chest. She toyed with the ends, keeping her gaze on him. “I pay attention. You tend to sit back and watch a lot, even when we’re in Sirens you don’t engage unless Delilah or Kat are bringing you in.”
“Now who’s the one who likes to watch?” Asli chuckled. The idea that his little star kept her eyes on him whenever they were together shouldn’t have made him feel as good as it did. He enjoyed the knowledge that she couldn’t keep her attention off him just as he couldn’t keep his attention off of her.
“I wonder what’s running through that pretty head of yours when we’re in Sirens together.” He let the back of his right hand touch her leg. He drew his knuckles up the length of her thigh until they hit the hem of her dress.
Syra’s eyes remained glued to his hand, but she didn’t make a move to push him away or pull him closer. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” he murmured. “I’ve already imagined what rooms I want to see you in. My favorite being the one you ladies keep fighting over what to name it, but it’s the one that’ll be set up like a stage with a cross-shaped bondage bed in the middle.”
Asli moved his hand to cup her thigh. Her legs opened on their own, giving him access to push his hand all the way underneath her dress if he wanted, but he kept his hand where it was as he continued to tell her about one of his many fantasies.
“In the room it would be just us surrounded by numerous guests.” His heart pounded in his chest as he spoke. With his grip on Syra’s thigh, he could almost envision the pictures his mind conjured up were real.
“We’d take turns,” he continued. “I’d watch while Marco was strapped down with nowhere to go, for you to use him as you saw fit…sinking your slick heat on his cock or wrapping those gorgeous lips around him, driving him insane.”
Syra sucked in a sharp breath. She brought one hand down on her stomach and the other hand curled into her seat belt. “I’d sit back and watch with my own cock in my hand while you torment Marco with your pretty pussy in his face, teasing and taunting him with the one thing he wants most but can’t have until you allow it.” He inched his hand farther up her thigh, and he hummed in his throat as he leaned in closer, hating that the gear shift in his way kept him from fully closing the space between them.
