Page 5

Darien seemed to really think about her answer for a moment, and then he declared, “You’re a liar.”

She waved a hand in dismissal. “Oh, who cares about my stupid heart?” She tried to close the distance between them, to taste that irresistible mouth of his again, but he held firm.

Darien was looking at her as if she had kicked a puppy. “I care, Loren. I care.” He let go of her face so he could retrieve her medication from his jacket pocket. He tried to hand her the bottle, and when she didn’t take it from him right away, he shook it in agitation, pills rattling.

Loren lifted a brow. “Are you pretending it’s a tambourine like Mortifer the Menace?”

Darien shot her a stern look that would’ve sent her running for the hills when she’d first met him. “Loren, take one. Please.”

With a sigh, Loren bent down to retrieve the water bottle from under her seat. She hated taking the medication on an empty stomach; it never failed to make her feel like throwing up. She supposed that was what she got for skipping out on proper meals.

When she straightened, water bottle in her grip, she flicked her hair over a shoulder, the motion causing several raindrops to spatter Darien’s face. She stifled a laugh as he wiped the water off his cheeks with one downward swipe of a tattooed hand.

She snatched her medication out of his grip. “Only because you asked so nicely.” She pushed down on the cap and popped it off.

“So stubborn,” he sighed, shaking his head. “You still test me like no one else, you know that?” His eyes softened as he watched her balance her water bottle between her knees and unscrew the lid. “But god, do I love you.” The statement sent a rush of heat from her face to her collarbones.

She shook a pill into her palm and placed it on the center of her tongue. Just as she was about to take a swig of water, she paused, side-eyeing Darien. “Don’t watch me, or I might choke.”

Darien snorted a laugh, but he did as she’d requested and turned to stare out his rain-streaked window until she was done.

Her lunch break passed quickly, as time always did when she was with her favorite person. She spent most of it studying for the quiz she would be taking next period, cramming as much information into her brain as possible, while Darien spent most of that time trying to distract her. He also forced her to eat the leftovers he’d grabbed from the fridge at Hell’s Gate, even going so far as to handfeed her until he was satisfied with how much she’d eaten. She had a feeling he was listening to see if her heart was still skipping beats.

When barely thirty minutes of her break remained, Loren set her pen in the crease of her notebook and sighed. “I think I’m going to fail.”

Darien, who was tracing shapes and Ancient Reunerian letters into the fogged glass of his window, turned to face her, a cunning smile playing on the curve of his lips. He was up to no good, for sure. “You know what you need?”

Before she could speak, he snatched her book out of her grip, threw it onto the dash, and grabbed her around the waist. She let out a squeak of surprise and took care to duck her head as he pulled her out of her seat and into his lap. She banged her knee on the gearshift and the steering wheel, nearly elbowing Darien in the face, her legs tangling with his.

He gave a low grunt and ducked his head to the left, narrowly avoiding another elbow. “I can’t tell if you’re trying to gouge my eye out or knee me in the balls.”

“I’m trying to—” She bumped something with her arm, and the turn signal began to tick. The windshield wipers came on, sliding back and forth across the glass with a squeal.

A low laugh slipped out of Darien’s lips. It was her favorite sound in the world, even when she was fighting for her life in a cramped car.

Finally, she managed to maneuver her body until she was straddling him, her knees braced on either side of his muscular thighs, and she felt proud of herself for not gouging out his eyes or kneeing him in the balls.

Loren’s heart was pounding, a frantic rhythm she knew Darien could hear. Desire pooled in her core, sending a spear of heat right down to her toes. He seemed to like having her on top of him; he’d chosen this position nearly every day since their first time. Now that Darien had turned off the wipers and the turn signal, the car was quiet, the dreamlike reality of being this close to him surrounding her like a warm hug. He was looking up at her, one corner of his mouth twitching with amusement, the shallow dimple in his cheek fluttering.

“You were saying?” she prompted softly, tracing the shape of his lips with her index finger. She would never get tired of the way he looked; his features were flawless, as if an artist of the highest talent had carved him from marble. She pressed a kiss to his mouth and whispered against his skin, “You still haven’t told me what it is that I need.”

With his lips grazing hers, she could feel the playful smile spreading across his face. “A stress reliever.” He snaked his hand between her thighs and up her skirt, the movement so sudden and unexpected that her stomach did a backflip. While the steel of his rings was cold on her skin, the heat from his hand was inviting—a flame she felt all over. “And I’ve got just the thing.” He nipped at her bottom lip and hiked up her skirt, exposing her backside to the cool air, and pushed her red thong—made of barely-there lace—to one side.

“Darien!” she hissed. Reality hit her like a slap to the face as she realized he had much more than kissing in mind. This time, when her stomach dipped, it was for an entirely different reason. “We can’t.” She looked over her shoulder at the academy. Through the rain, the building was barely visible, but still far too close for comfort. The professors, the other students… What if someone saw them? “This is so bad.” She knew she shouldn’t be surprised; he had a taste for all things scandalous.

“Look at me,” Darien commanded. She did as she was told, tearing her wide-eyed gaze off the school, as he began to unbutton her shirt.

He undid the first one with his teeth. She wasn’t sure how, but there didn’t seem to be a thing he wasn’t good at. As the second button sprang open, courtesy of his deft fingers this time, his mouth brushed across the skin below her jaw. She shivered as his hands moved lower, slowly undoing the buttons, one by one, drawing out each movement in a way that left her whole body quivering with need.

When the last button sprang free, he reached around her and unclasped her bra. And then he removed the bra and her shirt. Eyes on her, he threw them onto the passenger’s seat.

“What if we get caught?” Loren barely finished her question as Darien bent his head and drew her left nipple into his mouth, his tongue teasing the sensitive skin. His right hand returned to the space between her thighs—

A gasp floated off her lips as he began to play with her clit. His fingers, so rough and warm, rubbed her in the best way. The right amount of friction, the right pace.

“You’re worrying too much, sweetheart,” Darien said. She nearly groaned, the precision of his movements threatening to push her straight to climax. He pressed a kiss to the skin between her breasts, tongue sweeping out to taste her. The way he touched her, the way he tasted her, the way he looked at her, was like a worshipping of her body. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her, but she couldn’t get enough of him either. “Besides,” Darien continued with a wicked smile, breath tickling her skin, “I had Mortifer cloak the car with concealment spells before I left, as a little favor for stealing your medication.”

“How long do they last?” The words were breathy, and she was already so wet for him, his fingers slick as they slid up and down, up and down, teasing her entrance and circling her clit. Oh, it was so good. The effect he had on her was dizzying; she could barely think. “An hour?”