Page 22 of Ballad of Nightmares

Ana exchanged a look with Sam, who smiled at her. “Actually, Jay, I think we’re going to take off,” Sam said without losing her gaze.

Jay pouted, but Sam took Ana’s hand. “Dinner reservations,” he said, his tone of finality.

Ana said her goodbyes quickly, with Sam placing a bill on the bar top to pay for their drinks before he again excused them to Jay and his friends, and then the pair exited.

The moment they hit the outside air, Ana let out a heavy breath. “Thank fuck,” Ana muttered.

Sam smirked back at her. “Didn’t think you looked like you wanted to be there.”

“I didn’t,” Ana admitted. “I was looking forward to a night teasing with my sexy stalker. Can’t exactly do that in a crowd.”

Sam’s crooked smile lifted higher. “Where would you like to go to tease your sexy stalker?”

“Honestly?”

“Always.”

“I’d rather grab drinks and go back to my apartment,” she said.

“Really?” He enclosed the space between them, one hand wrapping around her waist, and Ana swallowed at the feeling of him flush against her. He leaned down like he might kiss her but paused as her hands enclosed on his shirt.

“Tell me you’ve been thinking about me as much as I’ve thought about you,” he whispered.

Ana’s chest heaved as she anticipated his lips on hers, hoping he would bite her and tug her roughly. “Every night,” she replied breathlessly.

His hand wrapped into her hair at the nape of her neck, tugging just slightly on the roots. “What do you do when you think of me?” he rasped. “Do you imagine me pinning you somewhere? Binding you until you can’t breathe or feel your limbs?”

“Yes,” she admitted.

Sam released her and took a step back, chin lifting as he gazed predatorily down at her. “Good.”

A simple word, but somehow… some way… it struck her to the pit of her stomach, and suddenly, her muscles were restless. Her heart began to flutter at the darkness in his eyes, wondering what he would do next, anticipating his every move.

He pulled the smoke from his pocket and lit it. “Where are you staying?”

“The apartment over Rosen’s,” she answered.

A long drag of smoke blew from the corner of his lips. “Ravens,” he said. “For if things get… more than what you can handle.”

Ana’s heart skipped, and she couldn’t stop her small smile as adrenaline began to surge in her veins. “Sounds like a challenge.”

Sam smirked, hair falling over his eyes as he looked at her. “Run home, Ana… I want my feast waiting for me when I get there.”

“Where are you going?”

“My temptress wants drinks,” he said as he turned on his heel. “She gets drinks.”

And Ana watched him disappear down the street before she turned toward her apartment. She didn’t know why a fear had stretched into her limbs. Why making sure she got home well before he appeared at her door had her legs moving fast, her heart picking up.

But it did.

CHAPTER TEN

SAM PULLED HIMSELF into shadows as he watched the way Ana’s pace seemed to speed the closer she got to the stairway up to her apartment. He let her get a ways down… letting himself stalk in the shadows surrounding him, flipping his lighter open and close.

Sam didn’t know what game she was playing, but he’d known since the moment she turned that corner that their night out wouldn’t last long. She looked entirely too tempting in that fucking bodysuit. He’d wanted to push her against the wall right then, bury his face between her heaving breasts and taste that tattoo. See the fear in her eyes when he rattled and fucked her throat raw after.

But this flicker of it would do for now… He didn’t intend to scare her off on the first night.