Savor (11 page)

Maybe the heavy pasta soaked up most of the alcohol. I tried to move away again, but Luka

held on. “Uh…you can let go now.”

That was when he moved his gaze from the outside to my face. Immediately, I regretted

my request because I saw the mischief and challenge spark in his eyes. Electricity seemed to

emanate from his hand, passing the barrier of my jeans straight into my skin. It was just

enough to wake some hidden desire in me without hurting. Invisible sparks ran up and down

my leg.

“And if I don’t?” The eyebrow with the bolt shot up. For a crazy second I imagined my

tongue warming that piece of metal. I swallowed down the whimper begging for escape. As if

to dare me further his hand slid up my thigh. I helplessly watched. What the hell was

happening to me?

The question dissolved in my brain along with all my other thoughts when he brazenly ran

his thumb along the inseam of my jeans. My breath hitched. I glanced at where Eli drove, but

a privacy partition I didn’t know SUVs had covered him from view.

A rejection tried to put itself together in my head only to shatter the second Luka’s thumb

applied pressure along the path it carved out on my crotch. Even through the thick fabric of

my jeans I felt him as if I had nothing on.

“You were talking in your sleep,” he said, his eyes becoming heavy-lidded.

“What?” It came out as a half-moan half-spoken word. I gripped at the rolled up sleeve of

his shirt with both hands. The action caused my knee to hike up on the seat, giving Luka

better access than I’d intended. His thumb paused at the apex of my thighs and twisted,

coaxing out the whimper I tried so hard to keep in. I bit down on my lower lip. Why was this

happening? And why the hell was I letting it happen?

“What were you running from?” Luka’s thumb continued its leisurely trek up and down

my crotch. I begged my hips not to buck against his hand as delicious quivers ran up and

down my legs.

When I didn’t answer fast enough, Luka stopped his caress. A painful gasp left my lips.

“What were you running from?” He pushed the pad of his thumb hard against me. The

pleasure pain pushed my ass off the seat an inch before dropping back down.

“I don’t know,” I panted, white knuckling his sleeve. I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

He increased the rhythm of his thumb. I tried to move away, but Luka’s other hand closed

around my hip, keeping me in place.

“Please…” I begged.

“Please what?” His stare sharpened.

I shook my head again. I didn’t know what I was begging for.

“Please, Luka.” I couldn’t take the intensity of his blue eyes anymore, so I dropped my

forehead onto his shoulder. The same shoulder only a few minutes ago I’d inadvertently used

as a pillow. I couldn’t even remember how I got there.

“What do you want, Dakota?” His touch grew more insistent, increasing the friction ever

so slightly with each pass.

Pressure built like blocks one on top another inside me. My breathing grew shallow,

making me terribly light-headed. My back arched toward him as I bit down on my lower lip.

For the first time in a long while, I felt my nipples pebble against the fabric of my bra at an almost painful peak. I refused to reach up and touch my breasts.

“Please, Luka,” I begged again.

“What?” he whispered dangerously. “Say it. What do you want?”

Just as I reached the top of the climb, I said, “Stop!”

Almost immediately, Luka’s hands released me. The sudden lack of contact left me

shaking. I slumped against the seat, gulping in as much air as my abused lungs would allow.

That same moment, the SUV rolled to a smooth stop. In seconds, Eli opened and closed his

door. Shortly after that, Luka’s door opened. He slid out of the car without looking back at

me.

“Make sure to show Dakota to her room,” he said to someone.

I closed my eyes and focused on calming my breathing. A part of me knew I did the right

thing to ask him to stop. But the painful pulse he’d left between my legs screamed at me in

frustration. If I’d hung in there for a few more strokes I would have found release. But would I be able to look at myself in a mirror afterwards? I hardly knew him and there I was, ready

and willing to have him fondle me. I signed the contract to complete my final project for

school, not cavort with a sex-on-a-stick rock god.

“Miss Collins?” a tiny voice called from the opened car door.

I opened my eye. A girl in a French maid’s uniform who looked way too young to already

have gray hair tilted her head. Ever the photographer, I wanted to lift my camera and take her picture. The afternoon light cast perfect shadows on her patrician features. High cheekbones,

a pointed chin, and a straight nose. Was everyone who worked for Vicious chosen for their

looks as well as their skills? I hadn’t seen a less than magazine ready face yet.

What drew me to her the most was the innocent way she blinked at me. Normally, this

would be the time someone seeing me for the first time would shift their gaze to my patch. I

waited for something that never came. The maid looked at me as if one of my eyes wasn’t

covered by a black velvet oval.

I reached for my chest and my hand came up empty. The familiar weight of my camera

around my neck wasn’t there. I twisted around in my seat, frantically searching only to find it sitting on top of my bag. I snatched it up and cradled it close. For my camera to get there,

someone must have touched it because I distinctly remember it hanging around my neck

when we left the restaurant. Luka. I shuddered. To have his hands around my camera was

tantamount to what his thumb had done to me.

I imagined what would have happened if I didn’t ask him to stop. If his thumb could drive

me crazy then what would the rest of him do to me?

No!

“Are you alright, Miss?” the maid asked.

“I’m sorry.” I gathered my thoughts. I must have looked like a crazy person, shaking my

head silently the way I did in front of her. “I’m fine.” I quickly inched my way toward the

door. Gravel crunched beneath my boots when I finally got out of the car. My legs wobbled. I

steadied myself by placing a hand against the car’s door frame. I slung my bag over my

shoulder and looked up for the first time. My jaw dropped.

Having only one good eye, I couldn’t get the scale of what I was looking at right away. I

moved away from the SUV and backed up until I could see most of what I looked up at.

“That’s not a manor,” I said, tilting my head up and shielding my gaze from the setting

sun. Even then, I squinted. I got the feeling I needed an aerial view to fully take in just how massive Lunar Manor was. It resembled a castle more than anything else, stretching

hundreds of feet from either side of where I stood. I counted the windows from the ground

floor up and estimated at least three floors plus what seemed like attic space judging by the

windows with tiny roofs on them. Multiple chimneys reached up toward the sky.

Rich green ivy crawled up the stone walls, covering most of the building. At the bottom of

the front steps sat massive lion statues. On their hunches, they stood taller than I was.

I turned in a tight circle until I faced a large sundial that acted as the center of the rotunda for the driveway. Tall pines lined the road we drove up on. How could I have missed them?

Oh, yeah. I was losing my head to the expert touch of the guy I currently didn’t care where

he’d disappeared to.

Something told me my one month wouldn’t be enough to explore the grounds. The manor

must have been sitting on countless acres of land. I didn’t even think Lunar Manor had

neighbors. From where I stood I couldn’t see a gate. I might have to follow the gravel path to the end for that.

“Miss Collins?” came the maid’s polite call.

I almost laughed. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the sheer size of everything. But, then

again, a band who could afford to produce their own music and fund their own world tour

should have a buttload of money.

“Who’s home is this?” I asked, making my way to the maid’s side.

“Lunar Manor is Visraya property, Miss.”

“Please,” I raised my hand at her, “call me Dakota.”

She curtseyed. She actually freakin’ curtseyed!

How did I suddenly walk into an episode of Downtown Abbey?

Then my brain caught up with what she’d said. “This is Luka’s house? It’s a palace!”

The maid nodded. “Please follow me, I will show you to your quarters.”

“My stuff?”

“Eli already brought them to your room,” she said over her shoulder as she climbed the ten

steps up to the double doors that could fit an elephant.

I hurried after her. At the threshold, energy zinged through my body. I paused.

Goosebumps, like the ones I would get every time I came home to my mother’s farmhouse,

ravaged my body. Only the fear of getting lost spurred me onward. “What’s your name?”

“It is improper to fraternize with the help, Miss.”

“Last I checked we don’t live in that century anymore.”

That got me a smirk from the maid. “Deidra, Miss.”

I huffed. “Why do I get the feeling you’re never going to call me by my name?”

Her smirk shifted to a warm smile. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

I liked her already. Living in Lunar Manor with a group of rock stars for a month, I had a

feeling I’d need an ally. Maybe Deidra was it.

The foyer was three times bigger than my apartment and the only thing that decorated it

was a round table with nothing on top. I expected a crystal vase with fresh cut flowers. The

floor was black and white marble arranged in a checkered pattered. I felt like I was standing

on a massive chessboard. Then my eyes traveled toward the double grand staircase. From the

banister at the center where the stairs met hung a tapestry depicting a large shield with the

profile of a lion on its haunches like the statues guarding the front steps. One of the lion’s paws grasped a sword. Its tip impaled the head of a snake while the serpent’s body wrapped

around its other front paw. Above the lion’s head floated a crown and two words.

“What does
fundamenta inconcussa
mean?”

“Unshakable foundation,” Deidra said from beside me.

“Luka’s family has their own crest?” Just for posterity’s sake, I took a picture. I needed

evidence of the kind of stature the people I lived with possessed. I thought only royalty had

family crests. Apparently, a lot of money could buy you anything.

“Please, follow me,” she said. “I must bring you to your quarters. I have other tasks to take

care off before dinner.”

I silently followed Deidra up the stairs, taking pictures as I went. She led me through a

labyrinth of hallways lined with expensive looking art.

It must have been fifteen minutes of walking before we reached a circular area with a

domed glass ceiling. I stood at the center of it for a moment, staring up at the purple sky.

“This way, please.”

I closed my mouth and trailed behind her into another hallway. Damn. How far were we

going?

Finally she opened a door at the end of the hallway. “You will be staying at the east wing of

the manor.”

“Where does the rest of the band stay?”

“Master Demitri and Miss Phoenix occupy the west wing, Master Dray occupies a section

of the third floor, and Master Luka’s quarters are also here in the—”

“Shut the front door!”

Chapter Eleven

Neighbor

It surprised me how much willpower I possessed to be able to censor myself—my reaction

so immediate to what Deidra was about to say. It just seemed inappropriate to actually curse

like a sailor in front of a maid who curtsied like I was some kind of royalty.

Like earlier, Deidra tilted her head at me. I inched closer into the room until I stood within the doorframe. Heartbeats passed where we stared at each other as if waiting for the other to

make the next move. I think she didn’t expect me to react the way I did to information about

where Luka laid his head at night.

My mind processed.

Hot damn! I couldn’t believe it. Did she just say what I thought she said? Was I living a

stone’s throw away from Luka for the duration of my stay here at Lunar Manor? Then again,

I didn’t know exactly how big the east wing was. Maybe we had a whole football field between

us. I mean, the time it took to walk to my room alone…

I inhaled deeply. I needed to calm the fuck down. So what if I lived in the same wing as

Luka? It didn’t mean anything. I could do this.

“I’m sorry,” I finally said then gestured. “Please…”

Thank God she caught my drift because the air between us had gotten a tad awkward. I

didn’t want Deidra thinking I was one of those sex-crazed groupies salivating for a glance

from Luka. Believe me, I already knew what he could offer and I wasn’t buying into it.

“As I was saying,” Deidra cleared her throat, stepping further into the room, “this will be

your quarters in Lunar Manor.”

“Quarters?” I followed in after her then froze. “Holy cow! This is a hotel suit not a room.”

My gaze wandered.

Another mini foyer stretched out. This time the table at the middle of it had fresh cut

flowers. A couple of steps down sat a living room area with two cream couches facing each

other and a dark wood coffee table between them. I inched forward again, skirting around the

roundtable with the flowers that smelled divine. Beyond the living room were double doors