Lover Enslaved: Thieves of Aurion, Book 1 (29 page)

“Only for your own good.”

Mara stepped farther into the bathroom. A lovely blush pinked her cheeks when she looked at Jerrick. “Would you mind giving us a minute?”

“Take all the time you need. In fact, the longer the better.” Ignoring Dash’s glare, Jerrick abandoned them with a cheerful whistle.

“What did he mean by that?”

“Nothing. His mother dropped him on his head as a babe. Now he constantly babbles nonsense.” Dash stood up and more water gushed from his trousers. He frowned at the small lake ebbing around his feet. “Think I’ll stay in here for the time being.”

She remained mute and he lifted his head to find her staring at him. “Why did you kiss me like that? It was almost…frantic.”

“I’m sorry if I frightened you.” His thoughts instantly shifted to Finian and Mara’s mother and he nearly growled at his monumental stupidity. He was doing a bang-up job convincing her he was nothing like Finian. “It’ll never happen again.”

She blinked. “You mean you’ll never kiss me again?”

The suggestion triggered a wrenching cramp in his abdominals. He waited, heart pounding, for the painful queasiness to pass. “I can’t promise that.”

“Oh. Well good.” She chewed the corner of her lip. “Because I rather like it when you kiss me.”

Mist began gathering on his skin again. “Perhaps you’d best go now,” he said hoarsely. “I seem to be having issues.”

She blinked. “Why are you steaming?”

“It’s a long, dull story.”

“Maybe I can—”

He groaned. “
Sher ’tian
, I’m begging you. If you feel the tiniest compassion for my suffering…
leave
.”

Thankfully she didn’t argue further and instead scurried from the bathroom. Seconds later, he heard the connecting door whoosh.

The mist evaporated, along with the desire pounding through his blood.
Good gods, maybe Jerrick’s right and I’m experiencing some kind of sex withdrawal
. No, it was more than that. So much more. He didn’t just want sex from Mara. He wanted her. All of her. Body, heart and soul. Where the hell was the cure for
that
ailment?

Chapter Twenty-Two

She couldn’t believe the time had come to leave Tul’dea. A part of her felt relief that the mission was finally moving forward. An even bigger part wondered if her brain had been off enjoying a sunny vacation in Frittona when she decided to seduce Baggins.

“You ready to go?”

Gripping the balcony rail, Mara turned her attention from the sun’s slow ascent over the distant mountains. She nodded, but Dash didn’t look too thrilled by the gesture.

“It’s not too late. We can always put together an alternate strategy.”

“No, I want to do this.” She almost believed her own words. Regardless, fear wouldn’t keep her from sticking to the plan.

Dash’s jaw remained tight. “The Cloud Chaser is all packed. Some last-minute business came up for Jerrick, so he won’t be meeting us in Skalage until early evening.” He stepped to the door leading into her room and shoved the curtains aside. “I’ll be down in the parking garage.”

She watched his broad back through the glass while he strode across the room and exited into the hall. Ever since the strange scene in the bathroom yesterday, he’d been acting weird. Well, weirder than usual, anyway. He pretty much refused to look directly at her, and he kept a distance of several feet between them at all times. His usual grins and droll quips were also kept to the barest minimum.

If she didn’t know better, she’d swear an alien creature had somehow taken over his body. She abandoned the balcony and checked her room one last time for anything she or Piper might have left behind before heading downstairs. When she spotted Avily waiting by the entrance doors, chatting with Piper, she chuckled. Who would have thought those two would ever be buddies? Shaking her head, she approached the odd couple.

“You forgot something yesterday.” Avily held up the high heels from her shop and her eyes sparkled as brightly as the shoe’s gold gemstones. “It’s understandable. Anyone’s memory would be fried after that doozy of a kiss.” She fanned her face with one hand while passing the shoes over.

Jeez, did the entire population of Tul’dea witness it?
Maybe it was a good thing they were leaving this morning. Better than having to dodge everyone’s smirks. “Thanks for these.” Mara jiggled the shoes.

“I hope they do the trick.” Concern shadowed Avily’s face. “But be careful. This Baggins character sounds like a huge creep.”

Mara’s pulse sped up at the reminder of the mission ahead of her. “Dash and Jerrick will be nearby. They won’t let anything happen to me.”
Hopefully
. Pushing aside the worrisome doubts plaguing her, she squeezed Avily in a hug. “I’m going to miss you.”

“Come back and visit me if you’re ever in the area.”

That obviously would never happen, but Mara nodded anyway. It was easier than explaining the arrangement tying her to Nalia for the rest of her life. Feeling a bit emotional over their goodbyes, she glanced towards Piper. “Come on, we better go before Dash starts wondering what happened to us.”

They walked outside. Dash had pulled the Cloud Chaser from its space in the parking garage and it waited idling at the curb. “Guess this is it,” Mara said to Piper.
No turning back now
. With a final wave to Avily, they both hopped in the vehicle.

The drive to Skalage took most of the morning, but it felt like forever. Between Dash’s moody silence and Piper’s excited chatter, Mara’s nerves were strung tighter than a Saurton lute. She rubbed the back of her neck as they circled the city center. Skalage lacked the size and industry of Tul’dea, so she didn’t understand Dash’s compulsion to make three laps around its business section.

She frowned at him while he surveyed the signs hanging above the various shop doors. “Are you looking for something in particular?”

“Just scouting the area.” He accelerated and the four-lane street became an indistinct blur of brick-faced buildings. Without warning, he swerved onto one of the side streets.

Mara rolled in her seat, clutching the center console for dear life. The Cloud Chaser straightened and her heart returned to her chest. They halted abruptly in front of a small, single-story house with dense ivy climbing up its brown shingled exterior.

“This is where we’ll be staying.” Dash cracked his door open.

Forehead scrunching, Mara eyed the neatly tended roses blooming in front of the porch. “Who lives here?”

“My friend Gordon and his daughter Astor. They’re both away from the city at the moment, so the house is all ours.”

Dash climbed from the vehicle and Mara scurried after him. They made short work unloading their bags and she helped lug everything to the porch. He punched in the code for the front door and escorted her inside.

“I’ll be back within the hour.”

Mara tore her gaze from the colorful landscape mural taking up all four walls of the room she stood in and stared at Dash as he turned on his heel. “But we just got here.” When he didn’t slow his progress, she rushed to intercept him at the door. “Wait, I’ll go with you.”

He shook his head and ducked through the doorway. “Stay. Make yourself comfortable. If you get hungry, there’s a fully stocked pantry in the kitchen—avail yourself.”

“But—”

Dash’s loafers made a slapping sound as he practically tripped down the porch steps in his haste to reach the Cloud Chaser. He jumped in, revved the engine and peeled down the street.

Piper fluttered next to the porch post. “Geesh, did someone light a fire under his feet?”

No. But I’m sorely tempted
. Gnashing her teeth, Mara shoved her hands in her pants pockets before traipsing back inside the house.

“Ooh look, Shimba dice. Wanna play a game?”

Mara slid her gaze from Piper’s excited expression to the jelly-filled cubes resting in the center of the Lucite dining table. Normally she wouldn’t even think of playing with Piper. The sprite was a giant cheat—the only thing giant about her. But the situation with Dash still rankled. Maybe it’d help get her mind off it.
And him
. “Sure, why not.”

Twenty minutes into the game, she gave up her last shred of hope that she wouldn’t eventually strangle Piper. “That one doesn’t count.”

Piper stomped her foot. “I’m little. I have to throw the cube with both hands.”

“Understandable,” Mara said between gritted teeth. “But you didn’t throw the cube. You freakin’ set it down and nudged it over with your elbow.
Eight times
. Until it landed on the winning square.”

“You’re imagining things.”

“Know what I’m imagining right now? Your scrawny neck between my fingers.” Glaring, Mara scooped the cubes into her palm and tossed them back into their plastic dish.

“Hey, we didn’t finish the game.”

Mara slapped the dish’s lid in place. “Yes, we did.”

“In that case, I won. You owe me two merca. But I’m feeling generous—you can pay me in the morning.”

“Thank you, O Munificent One.” Mara gave a mock bow and wandered into the kitchen. She couldn’t bring herself to rummage through the pantry, despite Dash’s assertion that it would be okay if she did. It just didn’t feel right helping herself to someone else’s food when she hadn’t even met them. Straying to the large window that overlooked the expansive back lot, she sighed and pressed her palm against the glass. Unfortunately the Shimba game hadn’t done anything to improve her mood.

“Why is he suddenly acting like I’ve got some contagious disease?” Furthermore, why did his behavior make her chest feel tight and heavy, like an invisible vise gripped it? Swallowing hard, she traced a pattern across the glass. When she realized they were a series of small connected hearts, she jerked her hand away.

Determined not to think about Dash a second longer, she returned to the main room. A stack of books was propped near the couch. She went to investigate their subjects. Several art books, a couple volumes of classic and more recently penned literature. She grabbed one of the modern writings and flopped onto the couch.

Time crawled by. The words she read streamed in and out of her consciousness, making little or no sense due to the fuzzy state of her concentration. The third time she passed over the same paragraph, she admitted defeat and tossed the book on the couch cushion.

She knew she was really in a bad state when she abandoned the couch to search out Piper. Following the loud snores to one of the bedrooms, she found the sprite curled up on a pillow. How such a tiny thing could produce such thunderous noise remained a mystery.

Tiptoeing into the attached bathroom, she fetched a washing cloth from the linen closet. Returning to the bed, she tucked the cotton square around Piper before backtracking to the main room. The creak of footsteps sounded on the porch just as her butt resettled on the couch. Scrabbling for the book, she opened to a random page and relaxed into the cushions’ downy embrace.

The door swung open and Dash stepped inside. Though she didn’t look up, she felt the heat of his stare.

“How’s your book?”

She thumbed to the next page. “It’s not bad.”

“Ever thought of reading it right side up? Might improve the experience.”

Crap
. No wonder the sentences all read like Saurtonian gibberish. Trying to keep the movement inconspicuous, she flipped the book the other way. Dash’s silence proved vexing. Her willpower pushed well past its breaking point, she peeked to see what he was up to. The space where he’d stood seconds ago was empty.

He’d ducked out on her.
Again
.

Choking back an irritated huff, she sprang from the couch and stormed down the hall to the lone closed door. Too incensed to knock and wait for admittance, she twisted the knob and burst inside. “This avoidance tactic of yours is really immature.” Practically hyperventilating from her bottled fury, she glared at Dash when he turned from the small desk leaning against the wall.

He continued eyeing her mutely and she shoved her arms over her chest. “Why aren’t you talking?”

“I wasn’t certain your tirade had ended.”

She clenched her jaw. “I meant in general. You’ve barely spoken to me since yesterday afternoon, and when you do, it’s mostly regarding dull stuff.”

“Pardon me for boring you.” He kicked out the seat in front of the desk and settled in it before dragging a micro-thin computing tablet towards him.

Gods, he was so damn infuriating! “In case you forgot, you’re the one who started that kiss on the walkway. So get the bee out of your butt and stop giving me the cold shoulder.”

Dark annoyance kindled in his eyes. “You’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Then explain it to me so that I
will
understand.” The pleading quality of her voice only vexed her further. Another awful ache squeezed her chest and she winced. “On second thought, forget it.” She spun towards the doorway, refusing to let him see the extent of her hurt.

“I love you.”

The bleak words that Dash ground from his mouth made her stop dead in her tracks. She slowly turned, certain she’d misheard. “What?”

“I’m out of my head in love with you. And I mean that quite literally.”