Page 57 of Taken

My body tensed, just slightly, as Dorian met my eyes. The thought of being in their home tonight created a wild flutter in my stomach. Dorian’s scent did something else to me that I couldn’t even admit to myself.

God, he smells good.

As if Dorian sensed my hesitancy, he smiled and said, “Thanks for coming tonight. You’re okay, right?”

I nodded. “I will be.”

_______________

AFTER PLAYING CANDYLANDfor over an hour, then switching to cards, Dorian and I caught up on everything we’ve been doing this last year. I realized I hadn’t been relaxed like this in months. Everything had been so consumed by constant drama and chaos that I had forgotten how to have fun. In fact, I hadn’t had this much fun since I was a teenager. My mom sort of robbed me of that.

Noah drifted off about halfway through the last round of cards, so we declared Dorian’s victory and wrapped up the game. We cleaned up the game pieces, and I entered the kitchen to refill my water. When I turned around, Dorian was standing behind me, and I jumped slightly, startled.

“Sorry,” he said. He lifted his hand to my cheek, but I didn’t flinch or pull away this time. I let his cold fingers linger there, caressing my skin and trailing down to my neck. A chill from the coolness of his hands and the seductive touch caused a strong awareness of my heartbeat, and the hairs prickled on the backs of my arms.

Noah groaned something unintelligible in his half-asleep state and rolled his entire body toward the back of the couch. It was clear he was down for the rest of the night. The clock read ten in the evening.

“I should probably go, Dorian,” I said.

“Mercy, I don’t want you to leave,” he confessed, and butterflies hit my stomach again. It didn’t matter that a spell had stripped away my romantic feelings. It was so incredibly sexy the way he looked at me, then, that I didn’t trust myself with him.

It was also nerves. Dorian and I hadn’t been together like that inthisbody. I dropped my gaze and twisted my fingers.

A kiss. Maybe just a tiny, innocent kiss.

No, stop, Mercy. You’re thinking with lust-filled eyes and not your heart.

I looked back at Dorian, and his grin made me weak in the knees. If I didn’t leave now, we were going to do something I would regret in the morning.

“I can make us our last drink?” Dorian said.

“No. I should probably stop,” I said softly, avoiding making eye contact. “I need to be able to drive home.” It wasn’t really that I thought he was trying to get me drunk or anything, more that I just didn’t trust myself around him any less than stone-cold sober. Despite the cursed spell, my body was longing for his touch, and I wasn’t sure how much of a fight my brain was prepared to put up against the cravings of my flesh.

“A coffee then, perhaps?” he asked with a hopeful smile.

“Coffee would be perfect, thank you.” I grinned back. Dorian’s easy, reassuring countenance was infectious.

From the island, I watched him as he leaned against the counter and reached for the coffee jar. I loved following his body movements, how he would turn his head to look at me, and how his lower lip would curve upwards when he tried to hide his smile. When he turned his head back to look at me, I averted my stare, intent on not giving in to the sinister part of me that wanted to fight against the spell’s effects.

Caffeine was needed for that. I was still feeling a little dizzy, unable to quite grasp that I was here, in Dorian’s house. Flashes of our old life kept running through my mind.

I needed to go home and sleep, to think about what was happening or not happening.

Instead, when I got up and started moving, my feet led me to where he prepared our drinks. I honestly, truly meant to stand by the entryway that led to the front door and say I should be heading out, but my legs betrayed me.

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” I said as I leaned against the counter beside him. He seemed surprised and then shook his head.

“Drink your coffee, Mercy, and stop overthinking everything we’re doing.”

Okay, maybe that was a little un-Dorian to order me around like that, but perhaps that was what I needed. I was making this out to be a bigger deal than it was. I needed to relax and let someone else take care of me for once.

I couldn’t even begin to explain my reasoning without making the situation awkward. I was betting against hope that he wouldn’t try. I was delaying my exit, nothing more. I needed to clear my head, and this wasn’t the place to do it. How could I reason with him so close to me?

“So, how do you like it?” he asked, holding up an empty blue ceramic mug toward me.

The devious part of my brain jumped to attention, and my core buzzed with warm energy. “Excuse me?”

Still pushing buttons on the single-serve coffee maker, he looked up at me from underneath long lashes. The hint of a smile lifted the edge of his mouth. “Your coffee, Mercy. Do you want creamer, sugar, or milk?” His soothing voice caressed my skin like silk, enough to melt my panties if I’d been wearing any.

---