Page 12 of A Love So Deadly (Kissed by Darkness #1)
Chapter
Eleven
Elliot
S ometimes, over the past week, I’ve been asked to come in later.
I wonder if he’s trying to establish more distance between us, but I don’t mind. Finding the perfectly tailored suit for me in his office had been a shock, but nothing prepared me for walking in for my shift today and discovering what he’d left for me.
There was a new garment bag draped across his desk, with my name scribbled on the note, and inside…a gorgeous dress with sparkly beads and scantily draped fabric.
It came with lingerie…panties only because the dress doesn’t have room for a bra, a matching handbag, and high heels.
When I put on the dress, I gasp. The thing is made to fit me. It brushes the ground and the beaded, sparkling material dips low in the back, stopping right at the top of my ass. Whole back showing toes the line between classy and downright slutty. It’s definitely the sexiest thing I’ve ever worn.
Inside the black handbag is two black-jeweled combs, and I twist my hair up, pinning it so the curls look elegant, at least to my eye. There’s also some make up, like eyeliner, mascara, and a soft sparkling shadow. Lipstick, too, the bright, classic red color that movie stars can pull off.
I put on the make up, then pull on the stockings, and put on the shoes.
I feel like I’d auction for at least a few hundred bucks. A high-end hooker, at least. Some rich CEO’s escort for the night.
I wince. That last one hit a little too close to home for my liking.
Taking a breath, I head out and back into the main office area, right as Lucian steps in.
The world stops.
Lucian makes my mouth water. He short circuits my brain, cutting down my common sense, and turns me into a mass of sparks.
He smiles at me, and I want to swoon. There’s something demonic, dark, and utterly charming about that smile; it’s the exact kind that sets a girl’s heart beating way too fast and puts all kind of nasty fantasies in her head.
A girl could fall in love with a man who has a smile like that. Who looks like him.
He’s wearing an all-black tuxedo, and it’s at once timeless and somehow cutting edge. It’s got to be bespoke. It fits him too perfectly not to be.
“Shall we?” he asks, offering me his arm.
My mouth immediately turns dry, and I swallow, trying to think of something pithy to say, but nothing comes. So, I just nod and take his arm.
Touching him is like a cold fire, The heat comes from something that isn’t him, and even though the fabric’s cool, he’s alive and there. He just takes up space, steals my attention, makes my heart slam and my pussy buzz with need.
And anticipation.
Because I want him.
I’m pretty sure I’ve wanted him, all of him, since I first met him. The man’s magnetic. I’ve met hot men before, but he’s different and I can’t put my finger on it.
The elevator feels too small, too full of him as we take it down to the ground floor, and although he’s checking his phone, I can’t shake the feeling he’s focused in on everything about me.
From the curls that tickle my cheek to the way my pulses leap, my body’s in some kind of sexual freefall this close to him.
“Take my number.” He rattles it off, and I fumble in my purse, grabbing my phone, opening it, and then programming it in. “Answer if you get any calls and respond to any texts.”
“I take it you have mine.”
“I’m your boss,” he says softly. “What do you think?”
“I think…” I trail off as the elevator door dings.
“Careful. There are some things you might not wish to open up.”
Lucian’s talking about the blow job, of all those things that whisper through me, things that are highly inappropriate and wrong for a work place, especially between boss and underling. The power imbalance, all of it…
And yet there’s nothing right or normal about this job. Normal rules seem do disappear, and I’m not even sure there’s an HR, even if I wanted to lodge a complaint.
I don’t want to, though.
“I think ,” I say again, “you should tell me what I’m in for this evening.”
All he does is smile as he leads me across the large lobby and out the heavy doors.
A driver stands by a Bentley, a sleek, gorgeous black car from long ago that looks like the height of perfection and luxury. He opens the door, and Lucian helps me in, before sliding in next to me.
When we’re on the road, clouds hanging low over the Tenebris City night sky, I wait for Lucian to tell me what to expect. Or maybe not.
He has his phone in hand again, and his fingers flicker over it as he looks at the screen.
“Red carpet event.”
Startled, I look at him. “You go to those?”
“I don’t live in a vacuum,” he says. “Or a hidden enchanted castle.”
I bite my tongue because I’m not sure I believe him on the last one. It wouldn’t be a regular castle, that’s silly, but I don’t know where he lives and I’ll bet my last dollar it’s somewhere hidden, and opulent like a castle.
Enchanted?
I guess that’ll have to do with the meaning of the word. He can be darkly enchanting.
I suck in a breath. “But you’re not on the socials. You don’t have a footprint.”
Amused dark eyes scan me over, so blue they could be black in the low light of the back seat.
“You looked?”
“Everyone looks.”
“Not that kind of red carpet. No media, just a lot of rich people,” he says. And some of them play on the dark side.”
“Like you?”
“You’ve got no idea,” he murmurs. The car comes to a stop and a valet appears. “Shall we?”
“I’m guessing I passed the no return sign, so, let’s go,” I say, and we step out into the unknown.