Chapter 14: Drawn Into the Night

Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Drawn Into the Night

"What would you like to know?" Iris asked softly, leaning closer so her voice wouldn’t be swallowed by the music.

The dance floor pulsed around them, bodies moving beneath flashing lights, but for the past several minutes she’d barely noticed anyone else.

With her hands resting lightly around Alexander’s neck and his arm secure around her waist, they looked like any other couple stealing a private conversation in the middle of a crowded nightclub. Even though it’s a ridiculously expensive one.

Alexander held her gaze for a long moment before answering. "I’m not sure where I’d even begin, I have many things I’d like to know about you."

A faint smile tugged at the corner of Iris’s mouth. "That’s not an answer Alexander."

"No it’s not," he admitted with a quiet chuckle. "It’s an attempt to buy myself a little more time."

She laughed, the sound surprising even herself. It felt unfamiliar after everything that had happened earlier that evening.

"So you’re telling me the mysterious, handsome stranger doesn’t know how to start a conversation?"

Alexander smiled. "Oh, I know how." He tilted his head slightly, studying her with an intensity that made her heartbeat stumble. "I just don’t want to waste the opportunity asking ordinary questions."

"What makes you think they’re ordinary?" Iris asked him.

"Because I already know the obvious things. I know you have a beautiful smile." He spoke so matter-of-factly that she found herself looking away.

"I know you laugh even when you’re trying not to." His thumb absentmindedly brushed against the back of her hand.

"And I know there’s something in your eyes that tells me you’ve been carrying far more than you let people see."

Iris fell quiet, stunned at this stranger. He hadn’t asked about her job, or where she lived. Instead, he’d somehow found the one thing she hadn’t wanted anyone to notice.

"So," Alexander continued, his voice gentler now, "I suppose what I’d really like to know..." His eyes searched hers. "...is everything else. I’d like to know everything about you Iris."

Iris didn’t know what she was doing to him. Her scent alone was driving him mad with heat. This was what Alexander has craved for, for years..... meeting her. And now that he had found her, he’s never letting go ever again.

Iris lowered her gaze, watching the way their feet moved together almost effortlessly. "I don’t think I feel like talking about myself tonight."

"No? Why not?"

She shook her head. "If I start talking..." She laughed quietly, though there wasn’t much humor in it. "...I’ll probably start thinking about things that I don’t want to think about, and that’s the last thing i want for myself right now."

She looked back up at him and asked him, "You understand that right?"

"I think I do." Alexander replied her with a small smile.

Silence settled comfortably between them for a moment. The music slowed further, wrapping around them like another layer of darkness. Finally, Iris smiled faintly.

"What I really want Alexander..." She searched for the right words. "...is just to feel alive again."

She looked directly into his eyes, and asked the one question she shouldn’t have asked. "Can you help me remember what that feels like, Alexander?"

For the briefest moment, something changed in his expression. His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly, and his eyes darkened.

Whatever answer he had expected, it hadn’t been that.

When he finally turned her to face him again, Iris found that his blue eyes had gone even darker, pupils blown wide with desire.

"Come with me." Alexander said immediately, taking her right hand in his left.

It wasn’t a question, but she answered anyway. "Where?"

"Somewhere private. Somewhere I can give you my full attention." His thumb traced her lower lip, and she couldn’t stop herself from parting her lips, from tasting the salt of his skin. "Unless you want to stay here, surrounded by all these people who can’t stop staring at you."

She glanced around and realized he was right. They’d drawn a crowd...people watching them dance with expressions ranging from envy to hunger to something that looked almost like fear.

"I want to leave," she said, and she’d never meant anything more in her life. She honestly didn’t where she got all this courage. But what she knows, is right now...she wanted to be with this ridiculously handsome man.

Alexander’s smile was pure sin. He took her hand and led her through the crowd, and again, people moved out of their way like he was royalty.

They passed Zoey, who gave Iris a thumbs up and a grin that said ...go get it, girl..., and then they were outside. And the cool night air greeted them the moment they stepped outside.

After the heat inside the club, the breeze felt refreshing against Iris’s flushed skin. She inhaled deeply, and for the first time all evening, she felt as though she could breathe without effort.

A sleek black car was already waiting at the curb....something expensive and European that Iris couldn’t identify.

The headlights reflected softly against the wet pavement, and a uniformed driver immediately stepped forward as they approached.

He looked too huge to be a driver, but Iris guessed that one’s physique didn’t really matter at all. What matters is how much you’re being paid. And without a word, he opened the rear passenger door.

"Your chariot," Alexander said with a hint of amusement.

Iris hesitated for just a moment. This was insane. She didn’t know this man. Didn’t know anything about him except that he made her feel things she’d never felt before.....he made her feel wild and reckless and desperately alive.

But maybe that was exactly what she needed.

She slid into the car, and Alexander followed, the door closing behind them with a soft click. The interior was all leather and luxury, and the privacy screen was already up, cocooning them in their own private world.

"Where are we going?" she asked as the car pulled away from the curb.

"My place. Unless you’d prefer somewhere else?"

She should ask where he lived. Should ask a thousand questions about who he was and what he did and why he looked at her like she was the answer to a question he’d been asking for a very long time.

Instead, Iris did what she never thought she’d ever do in her entire life, she leaned across the seat and kissed him....a total stranger.

She didn’t know what was wrong with her, maybe she was trying to get back at Jason in her mind. Or maybe she couldn’t resist the sinfully handsome stranger that made her feel breathless everytime she looked at him. She didn’t know and she didn’t care at the moment.

Alex made a sound low in his throat...surprise and hunger and satisfaction all rolled into one....and then his hands were in her hair, angling her head so he could deepen the kiss. He tasted like whiskey and something darker, something that made her head spin and her body ache.

When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, his eyes had gone almost the darker shade of blue.

"Iris," he said, and her name sounded like a prayer and a curse all at once. "If we do this, I need you to understand something."

"What?"

His hand cupped her face, forcing her to meet his gaze. "I don’t do casual. I don’t do one-night stands. If I take you to my bed, you’re mine. Do you understand?"

She should be alarmed by the possessiveness in his voice. Should recognize the red flags waving frantically in her peripheral vision.

But all she felt was a dark thrill that made her pulse race, and maybe to understand what all the talk about sex was truly about.

"Yes," she whispered. "I understand."

His smile was sharp and satisfied. "Good girl."

And then he was kissing her again, and Iris let herself fall into the darkness, into the heat, into the promise of forgetting everything that had shattered her world just hours before.

She had no idea that she wasn’t falling....She was being claimed.