Page 24 of Temptation Unleashed (Talaenian Fae #3)
“He’d be wise to keep his distance from you after yesterday,” Cael murmured, his words laced with a cutting threat. Cassy turned her hand in his grip and squeezed as she nodded. His eyes never left Rori. “Trust me. His days will be numbered otherwise.”
An hour later—Rori suspected some magic had been involved as well—and exhaustion making her body heavy, they left the police station, report filed and a warrant pending with the judge.
Rori had been assured that there was a good chance the warrant would be signed that night and Rich would be served and arrested by morning.
It came with a modicum of relief, but until she knew for a fact Rich was locked up, she wouldn’t rest.
She’d still have another monster to face. One that human law enforcement had no power against.
“I’ll order pizza! Rori, you choose a movie. Boys, can you crack open a couple bottles of wine?”
Cassy tossed her purse on the counter as they filed into the apartment.
Rori watched Cael, who preceded her. His fingers moved methodically at his side, the impression of smoky tendrils forming beneath his pads.
He surveyed the apartment, keenness masked behind the familiar languid nonchalance.
Tiny nuances Rori had begun to pick up with him since learning the truth of his origins.
Brandon placed a hand low on her back, gently guiding her to the living room. Cael’s sharp gaze glanced off the gesture, lifted to her, and offered a small smile that didn’t touch his eyes. A chill teased her spine, her skin tingling beneath unseen energy.
“Go change,” Brandon said. “I’ll have wine waiting for you when you come out.”
Rori gave a short nod, ignoring Cael’s attentive gaze as she found reprieve behind the closed and locked door of her room.
“God,” she breathed, her legs buckling beneath her weight.
She slid down the door, muscles weak, soul depleted, mind drained of the last bit of strength keeping her fragile psyche together to face her friends, the day, and keep moving through the motions.
Pretending everything was okay. Pretending she was stronger than she felt. Pretending .
Her jaw ached as she staved off the tears forcing their way through her brittle barriers.
Wrapping her arms around her knees, she dropped her head forward and tried to breathe through the swelling of her throat as pressure built behind a sob pushing itself free.
The ruthless sting of fresh tears finally made their way to the corners of her eyes, squeezing past the last attempt to keep them hidden.
The sob fled on the heels of tears, and with it, the tension holding her together throughout the day. Warmth suffused the ice she’d been battling since her encounter with Rich, wrapping her in the first essence of solace. Warmth and a strangely familiar scent of spice.
Rori choked on a sob. Slowly, she peeled open her eyes, keeping her head on her arms, face hidden.
At first, she saw nothing but her sneakers, her scrub pants, and her own shadow darkening the carpet around her feet.
She shifted her gaze past her sneakers. Her heart all but seized.
Her breaths lodged in her throat, stuck behind the sob she’d swallowed back.
The warmth intensified until she swore she had become feverish.
She’d never paid attention before, but the moment the tip of a polished brown boot with a single brown leather strap and engraved gold buckle entered her line of sight, she knew why that particularly soothing scent surrounded her.
The tailored hem of light cream pants covered further tooling of the top-end boot.
Her mouth dried. Her heart skipped into a frenzy.
The weakness of her muscles from stress and tension melted into a weakness of a completely different sort.
She stared at the boot, the pant leg, not wanting to acknowledge the presence of its owner, but curiosity brought her to lift her head from her arms.
Instantly, she wished she’d kept her head down.
Perhaps he would have left if she refused to acknowledge him.
Perhaps she could have fooled him into believing she had no idea he hovered so close, a foot or so away, had she continued to weep and sniffle.
Perhaps he would have tired of her crying, deemed her too pitiful for his time and have left her alone to seek better means of entertainment.
Too late now.
As her gaze drifted upward along the figure with his arms draped over his bent knee while he sat back on his heel, the storm of sensations she refused to indulge deepened.
Not a simple flutter and warmth in her belly, but something that spread and grew and anchored itself mercilessly throughout her entire body.
The dark, bottomless void that had opened inside her soul suddenly swelled with sustenance.
As if his presence alone provided her with everything her soul desperately craved.
The very sight of him, dressed so magnificently in cream and gold-threaded embroidery enhanced his Fae-ness.
The way the fading sunlight created a breathtaking silhouette against his strong frame, dousing him in a deceptively angelic glow almost caused her jaw to drop.
He had two thick braids plaited in his hair, one on either side of his face, that tucked behind his tapered ears and disappeared behind his back.
Shorter strands teased his angular jaw and sharp cheekbones, adding another dash of severity to the angle of his brows and the piercing shade of blue in his eyes.
Eyes that observed her behind a mask of unreadable thought and expression.
A whimper nearly escaped her lips, but she quickly choked it back.
Why, God, why must he boast such forbidden beauty and perfection on the outside while he possessed such blackness on the inside?
How could he, as cruel and cold as he was, still whittle away at the defenses she fought to erect and maintain?
Why would their Goddess curse her with a monster that created a cacophony of sensations, a storm of emotions, yet conducted a symphony that her soul recognized and needed simply to survive?
It wasn’t fair!
Realizing her current state, Rori swiped her hands over her face, drying her tears in haste.
She pressed to the door and inched herself up, keeping as much of the small distance between them as she could until she was straight on her feet.
He mirrored her with immense grace, rising at the same pace.
Yet he towered over her, forcing her to tip her head to look up into his striking face.
Without warning, she reached for the doorknob.
Thaddeus splayed his hand against the door and the jamb, holding it shut before she could twist the knob.
“They haven’t heard you.” His voice was calm, soothing. No threat laced his words. It was a simple statement, an assurance, if she dared to believe it. “Nor can they hear us.”
Rori’s hand fell away from the doorknob. She rolled her back flat to the door once more. Staring at him hurt. His beauty hurt. His fancy clothes, it all hurt because she had seen how heartless the man within could be.
His gaze lowered to her arm, then lifted to her face. His silence should have made her uncomfortable, but his presence cloaked her with a sense of security. Thaddeus, the Fae who could snuff out her life with a pinch of his fingers, or heal her wounds behind a threatening farce. The irony.
Speaking of…
“Why did you heal me yesterday?” she asked, her voice just above a whisper.
“You prefer to suffer with injuries, I suppose?”
Rori’s lips parted, eyes widening slightly with realization. “You admit to healing me then.”
Thaddeus watched her closely, revealing nothing as seconds passed in silence.
She refused to break their gaze. Refused to indulge in his presence more than she already had.
He didn’t deserve her attention, and yet with each breath that filled her lungs with his soothing scent, she found it harder and harder to fight the lure to admire the creature presented to her, hovering so close and yet still so far.
Rori released a frustrated breath. “Why are you here? To stare? To try and make my life a living hell? You’ll have to get in line for that.”
His placid expression cracked. She swore she witnessed a darkness that contradicted every angelic feature that created him on the outside. The inner beast rising to the surface, showing its true form. As quickly as it came, it was gone, once more replaced by a perfectly emotionless mask.
He continued to maintain his silence. Rori groaned.
“Stop wasting my time. Get out of my way.” When she pushed off the door toward the bathroom, he threw his other arm up, caging her between the door and his body.
Rori cut her attention to him, burned her irritation into his pretty face, and scowled. “Let. Me. Go.”
“Tell me—who is it you fear?”
“Didn’t we play this game yesterday?” She scoffed. “My answer hasn’t changed. I don’t fear anyone.” She shoved at his arm. Solid muscle and steel that did not budge. “Especially you.” She tried again with the same result. “And I’d be a fucking fool to tell you if I did fear someone.”
She briefly considered trying to shove him back, but the idea of touching his shoulders, chest, any part of him other than his arm left her a heated mess as it had since their first encounter.
The memory of how solid he had been made her face warm.
Instead, she ducked beneath his arm and escaped his cage.
She made it a whole two steps before he grabbed her arm and spun her back.
“Do you believe I won’t figure it out?”