Page 4 of A Love So Deadly (Kissed by Darkness #1)

I remember her talk about it, how she bristled when I told her I thought it was weird and not at all what anyone asks in an interview. It’s not their business.

She told me they wanted to see if she’d commit to them completely.

Control, you mean, I said.

Commitment, she said.

Red flag, I said.

I look up at Lucian. “Yes.”

“I keep odd hours. I’m a night owl. Would your family be okay with that?” Again, his gaze moves over me, like he’s touching me slowly.

So I go the Kayla route. “I don’t have family.”

“Boyfriend?”

“You’re too old for me.” He’s probably thirty-five, only ten years older, but my mouth won’t quit.

Another tiny smile flashes, and my knees threaten to collapse.

“Oh, I most definitely am,” he says. “When can you start?”

I stare at him. He’s managed to render me speechless.

“The job has one caveat. There are events where I need a plus one, that’d be you. I’ll take care of the wardrobe. Fill out the paperwork and?—”

“Don’t you want to ask questions before you hire me?”

“I’m not hiring you. Yet.”

There’s a knock at his door, and he gestures to the black sofa and the table in a corner. Then he opens the door, and hands me the papers and the drink.

“I’ll be back.”

Lucian disappears. He’s silent and moves with sinuous grace.

The moment the door closes, I set everything down and grip the sofa as my legs shake.

I want to search in here, but he’s not going to have a file marked murder victims or meals for Cthulhu in here.

And I’m betting the spacious, tasteful office is wired for video.

The glass in my hand should be slightly warmed from his holding it, but it’s not. And that makes me set it down. I’d probably throw it if there weren’t the possibility of hidden cameras.

I fill in the paperwork. Lying where I need to but sticking close to the truth.

When I look at the part for my address, I pause. I don’t want to put down my home address, since it’s the same as Kayla’s. In case they flag it.

Actually, I don’t have to. I have all my mail delivered to the nail salon on the corner because otherwise things go missing.

Kayla always used our address or had packages sent to the nail salon under my name.

So I fill in the other address and everything else I need to.

When I’m done, I breathe a sigh of relief.

He’s still not back, and my nerve endings start to twitch, and the drink calls to me over and over.

Finally, I give in. I pick up the glass and sniff it, but I’m not about to drink. It’s not like I can smell?—

“Thirsty?”

I scream and drop the glass. It hits the table, spilling bourbon—not scotch—all over the dress I’m wearing. The glass shatters.

Crap. I kneel and scramble to gather the pieces. “I didn’t hear you, I—ow!”

Blood wells on my finger from the sharp edge of the piece of glass I’m picking up and he moves silently to me. He kneels, too.

Lucian reaches over and takes my hand. Before I can do a thing, he rises, taking me with him and then he puts my finger in his mouth and licks it.

I freeze.

His dark eyes are on me, suddenly blacker, like the pupils are his entire eyes, and I can’t look away.

In their depths are worlds of blue fire, of secrets and promises and unholy pleasure.

I can’t move. His hand is cool but his mouth is a furnace, and his tongue, the slow slide of it, is fucking good against my skin, the wound.

It’s edged in a sensuality that throbs deep inside. I moan.

It’s like sex.

Better than sex.

We move. I barely register it until my back hits the wall. He pulls my finger from his mouth only to whisper his hand under the edge of my dress, up to my thigh…

And then his mouth brushes mine.

It isn’t a kiss. It’s a promise of a kiss, a fleeting touch of cool lips. Then his mouth moves to my ear.

“You smell like Madagascar vanilla, lime, a hint of cinnamon, of salt, too. The richness of good, hot blood.”

My head’s spinning slow as his mouth slides down to my throat.

Blood? Did he say blood?

The thought melts as he sucks on my throat, my jugular, and everything explodes inside me. It’s like that sweet high and piercing pleasure that comes from an orgasm, that builds but sits just out of reach.

I’m so turned on by the suck of his hot mouth, the scrape of his teeth that send tremors through me, that my panties are soaked. My pussy throbs in time with my throat.

In this moment, I’d give him anything to reach that high, to grasp that promise he’s offering.

I press my neck further into his mouth, eager for more.

And then…then…he lets me go, and I almost slide down the wall.

“Be here tomorrow at four p.m.,” Lucian says, “sharp.”

I try to breathe. The world shifts, and the licking of my skin, that suck of his mouth on my finger and on my throat, is all haze. It’s quickly fading into soft midnight fantasies.

A job. He offered me the job.

He steps away and gathers the papers.

“Someone will see you out. Four p.m., tomorrow.”

He leaves. There’s a knock on the door and a man in a suit sees me out.

This is a victory. Or the very first step of one. I’m in, and now I’ll be able to find out what happened to Kayla.

As soon as I get my heart to stop racing for the CEO of the company I’m going to take down.