Lucifer’s Daughter(15)

“We are?” I thought about questioning his caveman tactics, but to be honest, talk about a turn-on.

Me man, you woman. Feminists be damned–actually, they already had been. They now burned their bras in Hell, to my father"s eternal headache. Needless to say, curiosity made me decide to see where Auric was going with this.

Only one problem: we couldn"t leave via the front, or my dad"s spies would spot us and rat us out. I wasn"t quite ready for Auric to meet my dad yet.

“Come on, we"ll go out the side door,” I said. I shrugged on my jacket and led him to the exit that opened onto the alley. I stuck my head out the door and looked both ways to ensure we didn"t have anybody lurking outside, just waiting to tattle on me.

“Ashamed of me?” Auric asked, arching a brow at my antics.

“Trust me. It"s better this way.” Way better, especially if he was attached to his body parts.

Shrugging, he followed me out into the alley. Seeing no one around, I breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. I didn"t speak „til we"d made it to the street behind the club and started walking away.

“Going to explain what that was all about?” he finally asked, as his hand casually reached for mine again. His simple touch made the temperature in my body go up a notch–make that several.

I quickly squelched my tingle of pleasure at this act. He probably did that with all the girls he walked with. A thought which made me see red.

“I"ll take the fifth on that.” To my surprise, he didn"t push the matter. We walked along the street not speaking, something which drove me nuts, so I broke the silence first. “Can I ask what prompted the dinner invite?”

“Why were you ignoring me?” he shot back. “Is this about last night?”

I thought about blaming it all on his actions, but I figured him for a guy who preferred the truth.

“I was told to stay away from you.”



Auric stopped walking. I stopped, too, and turned to face him. Looking at him straight on, once again without volition, the tingling heat his mere presence caused spread through my body. What was it about him that affected me so? And dammit, I thought, looking up into his face, why did he have to be so bloody attractive? His scar should have detracted from his beauty, but instead it enhanced it. Gave him a bolder, more sensual, dangerous look that excited my hormones to no end.

“Who told you to stay away?” he asked. “Bambi?”

I shook my head. “It doesn"t matter who. I make my own choices.”

“Sure you do; that"s why you were ignoring me and we sneaked out the side door like a dirty secret.”

“Oh, please,” I said breezily. “That was all part of the plan.”

“Plan? I"m probably going to regret asking this, but what plan?”

I froze for a second, my mind whirling. Did I divulge my devious plan to ignore him so he"d be intrigued and chase me? After all, it had worked. But if I told him, would he get pissed?

I decided on a half-truth. “I like a man to make the first move.”

My answer seemed to satisfy him, and we resumed walking, his thumb lazily stroking my hand.

This simple act had my libido in a heightened state of awareness, something I kept trying to tamp down.

“Not the talkative type, are you?” I said after we"d walked another block in silence. “I don"t suppose you"d like to tell me where we"re going?”

“Shh,” he said, putting a calloused finger against my lip.

I thought about biting his finger–and then licking it. A plan that I abstained from, when I saw him watching the dark around us intently. Had I been so distracted, that I"d forgotten safety rule number one? Always be aware of your surroundings. I"d had enough attempts on my life to know better than to let my guard down. Not to mention there still existed the possibility that one of Dad"s minions had caught our trail and followed us. That"s all I needed, Dad barging in on a romantic dinner. At least, I assumed Auric meant for this to be romantic. He hadn"t really explained why he wanted dinner with me. But back to the reality at hand. Possible danger.

I tuned my enhanced senses to the night around us and detected ... nothing. So I gave in to impulse and licked the finger that still rested against my lips.

Vivid green eyes turned to face me, and I grinned impishly before nipping his finger.

“Ow!” Auric pulled his offended digit away and scowled at me.



I smiled wider. “Don"t ever shush me,” I said.

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I was doing it for your own safety?”

“And did ever occur to you that I"m a big girl who can take care of herself?” The irony of it all, though, was I loved it when a guy got all medieval and protective. I just wished my feminist side would allow me to enjoy it.