Glimmer (7 page)

For the first time in a long time, I was speechless. What does a woman say to that?

Yes. Oh hell yes! A thousand times yes!

I pulled my hand from his hold and placed it, quivering, in my lap. My throat had run dry and I wasn’t sure if I could form the proper answer. I knew what logic and decorum dictated I should say in a situation like this, but the response battled in my mind with what my body yearned to weep. Instead, I picked up my wine glass and took a sip, trying to compose myself. After I took a hearty drink, I set down the glass. “Um, I’m unsure on how to respond to that.”

“An honest response would do.”

Blessedly, the waiter took that exact moment to arrive at our table to take our order. I was thankful for the reprieve. The mood was getting way too intense.

“May I take your order?”

Eyes still sparking, Severin glanced at the waiter. “I’ll have the linguine chicken tettrazini.” He looked back to me. “Nina? What would you like?”

“Angel hair primavera.”

The waiter smiled. “That’s a great choice.”

His smile was a little too wide and flirtatious. I glanced at Severin to see if he had noticed.

Severin gathered the menus and slapped them into the waiter’s hands. “Thank you. I’ll signal you if we need anything else.”

“Right, yes sir.” Grabbing the menus in his hands, he scampered away to fulfill our order.

Severin leaned back in his chair and regarded me with his sexy predatory grin. “Now, where were we?”

“Not anywhere I think we should be.” I fidgeted with the white cloth napkin on the table, when really I wanted to breach the distance separating us and run my hands through the silky strands of his hair and nibble on his full bottom lip. “Technically, I should’ve reported you to SEMA. All werewolf sightings are to be called in immediately.”

He nodded. “Why haven’t you?”

I nibbled on my bottom lip, not sure of the answer myself. “I don’t know. Maybe because I don’t want werewolves to be scapegoats for everything that’s bad in this city.”

He watched me for a few seconds again, like he was trying to gauge my words, searching for the truth or lie in them. After a beat, he sat forward in his chair and picked up his glass.

“That’s admirable, and I appreciate the concern. But I assure you we werewolves are well protected.” He took a sip of wine. A drop escaped his lips, but he managed to catch it with the tip of his tongue.

I watched every agonizing second of the sinuous movement. After managing to ball the napkin into a tight clump on the table, I met his gaze and asked, “Does it bother you when people stare at you all the time?”

He lifted one shoulder casually. “Not really. It’s the price, I suppose, for being myself.”

“Do you ever regret coming out? Letting everyone know what you truly are?”

He ran this thumb along the edge of the wineglass. “Sometimes. It would be nice to have privacy once in a while.” He grinned.

I returned his smile. The expression was infectious. He had such a charming pleasant way about him, I was enthralled. But I was also afraid. And I didn’t know where that fear came from, but it was there, deep down inside my gut.

He set down his wine and leaned forward on the table, capturing my gaze. “Would you like to ask me questions?”

“Could I?”

He nodded, looking at me from under his eyebrows. “I’m an open book to you, Nina.”

“Okay, what’s the function of a pack?” I leaned forward, elbows on the table, careful to keep my voice low so the other patrons didn’t overhear our conversation. Rabid curiosity and a sense of purpose chased away the nerves zinging through my body. I no longer felt like swooning. Well, not as much as before.

“A pack is for community. It’s the one safe place all werewolves can return for support and understanding. It serves as a family unit.”

“And you are the patriarch?”

He smiled. “You could say that.”

“So, if say, a member of your pack had troubles, he could come to you and get help?”

Severin locked gazes with me.

My stomach did a complicated floor routine that included a few somersaults and a triple back flip.

“The pack is a family. We help each other like any family would.” His eyes darkened a bit, and I had a sense that my question had rattled him. “If your favorite uncle was a lawyer, wouldn’t he help you if you ever got into trouble with the law?”

“I suppose, yes.”

Wineglass in hand, he swirled the red liquid but continued to stare at me. He touched his cheek with his other hand. “What happened? I can see marks on your face that weren’t there before.”

I was thrown off by the change in subject, and I had to close my mouth to stop and think about how to answer his question. I thought I’d done a good job of covering all my injuries with makeup. I had a desperate urge to check my face in a mirror. Instead, I raised the silverware and looked at my cheek. Although my head looked like a balloon in the glint of the bread knife, I couldn’t see any marks and I knew that they were there.

“I had a little run in with a stray dog.” I set down the knife, but continued to fidget.

“Really?” He tilted his head as he studied me. “I don’t scent a dog on you at all. There’s something else there, an animal possibly, but definitely not a dog.”

Could he smell the pixie? I hadn’t even thought about that possibility. I had to remember that Severin was not your average hot man, he was a werewolf with a heightened sense of smell, and who knew what else.

“Could I ask you a few more questions?”

He shrugged. “I suppose, but really I came to sweet talk you into my bed.”

“You’re relentless.” I shook my head.

“Yes, I am.”

There was another spark in the gorgeous blue of his eyes, and it set off a twin response between my thighs. God, the man was going to kill me with just his looks. He hadn’t even touched me yet.

Yet
. Deep down inside, I knew it was a forgone conclusion. I knew instinctively that I would eventually succumb to this man’s flirtations. “Severin…”

“I’ll make you a deal.” Arching a brow, he sat back in his chair. “You can ask me three questions about anything and I will answer as truthfully as I can.”

I sensed he was playing with me, goading me into something. Unexpectedly, I thoroughly enjoyed the game. “What do you want in return?”

“Your home address.”

I blinked, my body gripped in panic. “Why? Why would you want that?”

“I like to run a lot at night. I could stop by next time for a drink,” he licked his lips, “or something.”

I knew I should say no deal. That he couldn’t blackmail my home address out of me. But the truth was, I probably would’ve given it to him eventually without his bargain. “I can ask you anything, and you’ll answer?”

He shrugged. “If I can. There are some things about the pack that I won’t divulge, to anyone, for any reason.”

“Okay. It’s a deal.”

Grinning, he picked up his drink.

I picked up mine and we tapped glasses. As I took a sip, I kept his gaze. It was intense and laced with sexual intent. I felt like a gladiator on one side of the coliseum coming face to face with my greatest opponent. Luckily, there was no audience around us chanting for blood. I was having a hard time as it was without the extra pressure.

Before I could ask my first question, the waiter arrived with our food. My stomach growled the instant the plate of pasta was set down in front of me.

“Enjoy,” the waiter said as he bowed his way away from our table.

Without ceremony, I picked up my fork and dug into the food. I hardly tasted the first mouthful. After another two forkfuls, I lingered to appreciate the flavor. Now that I could actually taste it, the food was spectacular. “This is really good,” I said around another mouthful.

Severin chuckled. “I like a woman who enjoys her food.”

I set down my fork, embarrassed that I had been shoveling the food into my mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until the food came.”

“Don’t apologize. You should enjoy all of life’s pleasures. Food, drink, sex.” He lifted an eyebrow with the last word.

I shook my head. “Is it always about seduction?”

“I’m in tune with my baser nature. I revel in as much pleasure as I can get.” He smiled. “You should try it some time. It’s liberating.”

As I chewed another mouthful of pasta, I considered my first question. “Do werewolves mate for life? Like real wolves.”

“No. That’s a myth.” He angled his head again and regarded me in that inquisitive way of his.

I felt so naked when he looked at me like that. Like I’d been split open and laid bare to his gaze. He had that affect, even from the moment I met him. “But I will say this, I am monogamous. When I’m in a relationship with a woman, I’m all hers for as long as she wants me. I don’t sleep around.”

Despite myself, I smiled. “I’ll make a note of that.”

“Good.”

For the next few minutes, we ate without talking. The experience was nice and not as uncomfortable as I assumed it would be. When I was done my meal, I set down the fork and patted my mouth with the extremely wrinkled napkin. I took a sip of wine and prepared myself for my next question.

The waiter arrived and gathered our finished plates. “Would you care for dessert? The tiramisu is delicious.”

“I’d love some.”

The razor-like hum of a pager sounded near Severin. Frowning, he pulled the small device from his belt and glanced at the number. Without a word, he set it back but his demeanor had changed. The difference was subtle, but I noticed it like a red flag.

“I’m afraid we’ll have that tiramisu to go.”

“You have to leave?”

He nodded, already reaching for his wallet.

I glanced at the waiter. “Forget the dessert.”

He scampered away with our dirty dishes to fetch the check.

For some reason, my muscles tensed in anger. Like I was being robbed of something. I was pissed at not having the chance to ask more questions, but the sensation was more than that. An empty feeling I couldn’t quite name scooped out my insides.

Severin eyed me as he took out his credit card. “You’re angry.”

I shook my head. “Of course not. I can’t keep you from your business.”

When the check came, Severin handed his card to the waiter then grabbed my hand to do that thumb-rubbing thing on my wrist. I had to bite down on my tongue to stop from moaning just a little at the sensations zinging through me.

“I owe you dessert.”

After he signed the bill, he walked me to the door to get my jacket. As we crossed the room, his hand rested at the small of my back. Enough contact to send a rush of shivers up and down my body. God, how I wanted to lean into that touch, to let him gather me in his arms and press his lips to the back of my neck where I was extremely sensitive.

Once I retrieved my coat, Severin, ever the gentleman, held it as I slid my arms into the sleeves. As he settled it over my shoulders, I could feel the warmth of his body pressed against my back. An involuntary quiver erupted through me. He made no indication of moving from his position behind me, his hands resting gently on my arms.

The intensity of the situation had me swallowing a moan or two. I wanted to sigh in rapture, but instead I bit my lip. The copper taste of blood filled my mouth.

“You,” I cleared my throat. It was so damn dry with him near. “You owe me a few questions still.”

He chuckled, and I could feel his hot breath on the slope of my neck not covered by my jacket. “I suppose so.”

“And I guess you won’t be getting my home address.”

He shifted then, and I could feel his lips against my ear. I couldn’t stop the shudder of pleasure that rushed through me. “I already have it.”

I swiveled and stared in surprise.

His smile fading, he raised his hand and cupped my cheek. Staring into my eyes, he ran his thumb over my bottom lip. They parted in response, in anticipation for more. I couldn’t stop myself. He was so potent, like a drug that I just had to have.

“You have no idea how much I don’t want this night to end,” he murmured.

I expected him to kiss me. I wanted him to kiss me…no, needed him to. I had an insatiable thirst and Severin was the only thing that could quench it. But he didn’t. Instead, he did another sweep of his thumb over my lip, then dropping his hand, he took a step away.

“Good night, Nina.” With that, he pushed open the restaurant door and disappeared through it. In a daze, I stood in the restaurant lobby. Not until the hostess came over to ask me if I was okay did I realize I hadn’t moved in the past ten minutes. I thanked her for her concern and left the restaurant.

By the time the attendant returned with my bike, my body had stopped shaking, my knees almost felt like they could support me again. My reaction seemed like I was going through withdrawals and Severin was my heroin. The crazy thing was we hadn’t even kissed yet.

If this was what he could do to me now with only the slightest touch and hint of sex, I didn’t think I would survive a more intimate encounter. Having sex with Severin would most definitely kill me.