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I’m sure most of the club knows about our meetings in the private room. The gossip mill in that place would rival a school full of teenage girls.

“That he wants to increase the price of our meetings,” he tells me, and my stomach clenches. Orion is already paying an absurd amount of money to see me. There’s no way he’s going to keep this up.

Not when the man can obviously get any woman he pleases.

I was not prepared for him to look like a fucking god. Sure, I figured he had to be attractive given the moniker the Los Angeles tabloids have given him, but fuck me, I didn’t know he’d look like this.

“Oh.” The sound escapes me without thought, and I immediately regret how full of disappointment it sounds. Despite my best efforts, I’ve grown to crave Orion’s company. Even the time after I broke things off, I couldn’t get themysterious man out of my mind. And now it’s all going to be over.

He squeezes my hand, and I look up at him, meeting his dark eyes that seem like they stare right into my soul. “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to see you anymore, Ember. But I do think perhaps our dark meetings at the club should progress to the light.”

A smile that I absolutely should not allow slips onto my lips. This is a bad idea. A really fucking bad idea. But I can’t find it in myself to shut it down before it can go too far.

“To the light, it is.” I drag my bottom lip between my teeth and nibble at the soft pillow.

It only takes ten minutes to reach my building, and I don’t miss the way Orion looks up at the apartment complex with a furrowed brow. “This is where you live?” he asks quietly.

“Uh, yeah.” I look up and down the street on instinct to make sure we weren’t followed before turning my attention back to him. “The area looks worse than it is, and the apartments are pretty well contained, considering when this building was built.”

He nods, his mask of indifference slipping into place. “When can I see you again, Little Flame?”

“I…uh…” I stumble over my words. Fuck, it’s so obvious I have no experience with men. Why did I have to choose this one to be the first I ever wanted things to progress with? “Did you want to come upstairs?” I rush out. “For a drink,” I add quickly.

A smirk tugs at his lips as he looks up at the building one more time. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Ember.”

“Oh.” My face falls. I quickly look away so he doesn’t see the disappointment that whips through me.

Strong fingers wrap around my chin and force me to look up into his dark gaze. “Don’t hide from me, Little Flame. Never hide from me,” he murmurs, dropping his face until his lips are just a breath from mine. “It’s not that I don’t want to come upstairs.It’s that I shouldn’t. I don’t have a very good handle on my control at the best of times when I’m with you, and I’m trying my best to keep a tight hold on that control so you don’t run for the hills.”

“Why would I do that?” I ask, my brows tugging together in confusion.

His hold on my chin drops slightly, bracketing my throat and sending a shiver of need straight to my core. “Because I want to do this right. You’re not a one-night stand to me or a casual fling. You’re so much more, and I can’t prove that to you if I lose control and fuck you against your front door an hour after telling me you’re a virgin.”

My mouth drops open. “Oh,” I whisper.

“Yeah, oh.” He chuckles and flexes his fingers slightly before dropping his hold on me. “Dinner tomorrow night. I’ll pick you up here, and we’ll walk.”

“I can just meet you wherever you’re thinking.” I offer.

“From now on, you’re not walking the streets of Los Angeles by yourself at night. Ever. If that means I walk you everywhere, that’s what I’m going to do, so I suggest you get used to it.”

I open my mouth to respond, but I’m cut off by his lips crashing down on mine, stealing the breath right from my lungs.

He devours me for long seconds that feel like an eternity, and yet when he pulls back, it’s all too soon. His pupils are blown, and his hands are fisted at his sides like he’s desperately trying to keep himself from touching me. “Tomorrow night. I’ll be here at seven.”

“Seven,” I repeat as my fingers brush over my swollen lips of their own accord.

Orion tracks the move, and I barely catch the gasp that tries to escape at the fire staring back at me. “Give me your phone.” He holds his hand out expectantly.

I consider him for a moment before fishing my phone from my purse and handing it to him.

He navigates it with ease, quickly adding his phone number before calling himself so he’ll have mine, and for some reason, the move has butterflies fluttering in my stomach. Almost as if his wanting my phone number proves this isn’t a fling for him.

I may not understand what a man like Orion could possibly want with a girl like me, but I can’t help but allow hope to surface, an emotion I’ve never allowed myself to feel.

He extends the phone to me, and I take it, slipping it back into my bag.

“Thank you for walking me home,” I say softly.