Page 12 of Shifting Desire
This isn’t normal.
I’ve always had strange dreams, probably a fae thing, but these are different.Intimate.Raw.Hungry.And lately, they’re starting to feel real.
I drag myself out of bed, splash water on my face, and try to shake off the remnants of the night but it’s no use.My skin still buzzes like a live wire.I swear I can feel something thrumming through my veins.
I strip, jumping into the shower.I let the water sluice down my body, hoping to wash away the lust still burning beneath my skin.But that doesn’t help either.I slip a hand down my body and between my legs.My sex is swollen, throbbing, begging for something it has never experienced.Using my index finger, I find my clit and do the only thing I know how.I rub in small, quick circles until a less than satisfactory orgasm crashes through me and takes off the edge.A little bit.
“Malichai.”I moan in the small stall, the word ricocheting off the tiles as I blush.
Goddess above, what is happening to me?
I should hate him.Really.He’s smug, arrogant, too charming for his own good.The kind of man who knows what power he holds and wields it like a weapon.And for the last three years, he’s been the worst kind of distraction.
But something’s different now.
It’s not just the fact that he looks at me.It’showhe looks at me.Like he’s not sure if I’ll let him stay or kick him in the balls.To be honest, I don’t know either.Most of the time, I kind of want to do both.
****
The shift at The GinRoom passes in a blur of noise and neon, but I can feel him the second he walks in.He doesn’t approach the bar tonight.He doesn’t smirk or tease or toss out some ridiculous line about my legs or my laugh or how good I’d look beneath him.
No.Tonight he sits at the far end of the room with a glass of something expensive and watches.Not lurking, just ...present.
And for some stupid reason, I find myself glancing over more than I should.Celeste doesn’t miss it.For a human she is extremely observant and not for the first time I wonder if she has some latent, recessive magic.
“You keep looking at him,” she says as she slides into the back storage room behind me.
“I do not,” I deny but it sounds weak to even my ears.
“You do.Like you’re trying to figure out if you want to stab him or sit on his face.”
I nearly choke on air.
“Seriously,” she continues, ignoring my sputtering, “it’s okay if you want him.I mean, he’s Malichai freaking Veythronn.I’d think there was something wrong with you if you didn’t want to climb him like a cursed tree.”
“I don’t want to climb him,” I mutter, grabbing a box of fresh limes and pretending it’s particularly important business.
She gives me a look.“You’re sweating.”
“It’s hot in here.”
“You’re blushing.”
“I’m human—partly.We do that.”
She just grins.“Don’t let him fool you.He’s a monster, but he’s also not as smooth as he thinks.If he’s circling you this hard, it means he’s spiraling.”
I snort.“The King of Cool?I fucking doubt it.”But I remember his words from the elevator and a flicker of hope ignites in my chest before I can stop it.
“You’ve never seen him after you walk away,” she says softly.“Most girls would kill to have anyone look at them like that.I know I would.”
That silences me.
She walks out before I can ask what the hell that’s supposed to mean.
I can’t focus for the rest of the night, my thoughts scattered between what Celeste said and what I want.My gaze continues to seek him out and I watch as he dismisses a flirting woman.Undeniable, irrational rage pumps through me when she touches his arm but is quickly calmed by the death glare he levels her with.
My shift passes in a blur and when I walk out of the bar after closing, I can admit to myself I am disappointed not to find him waiting to walk me home again.I won’t admit it to him or anyone else, but I enjoyed spending the small amount of time with him no matter how confusing it was.
