CHAPTER EIGHT

"Curt…"

His voice was by my ear, just above a whisper and I turned to catch his face, turned to stare directly into his perfect gorgeous intense eyes, so wide and bright, sparkling with mischief in those rare moments he wasn't distracted. I was suddenly aware I had his hand in mine and he had a hand somewhere else as well and my heart was racing on as if it would explode.

"Brian-" I gasped, sucking in the taste of his name o my lips and soon sucking in the taste of him as well, for he had silenced me with a kiss.

"Shhh… quiet…" He cocked his head toward a doorway at one end of the balcony spread out above the mansion's foyer. A mischievous smile slowly spread across his lips. "…Mandy."

He turned away with that sly smile and dashed off, leading me by the hand to another part of the sprawling house, surprisingly quick and quiet in platform boots.

Following him through the kitchens, the short, styled blondeness of his hair struck me and I remembered where we'd been earlier that day: a horrible breakfast meeting with Jerry Devine at a stuffy place where I was hungover, underdressed, and confused as hell, sitting there listening to that guy jabber on while the world spun around me. A quick glance at a mirror in passing confirmed it was true: me, in leather and more leather, hair bedraggled, eyeliner smudged, expression hazy and floating. We had already come a long way since then.

He led me on through dining rooms, servant's cupboards, sumptuous bedrooms, getting louder and wilder as he grew further and further away from his wife. Him dragging me along became follow the leader. Hide and go seek. Tag. A blur of faces and rooms I would later come to know. Tumbling across beds, jumping in and out of empty bathtubs, ducking behind curtains and through doors, anticipation rising all the while.

Then stairs. Stairs, stairs, stairs, upwards in a tight, narrow spiral. Each step lust rising. Each crowded landing things getting hotter, heavier. A whisper, a touch, a caress, a moan.

We exploded into the fading sunlight at the top of the tower and I all but pinned Brian to the wall, unable to let him escape anymore. But he pushed back, his body up against mine, keeping me in the center of the room. He was just as hard, just as needy; I could feel his pressure against what was already straining against the inside of my leather pants.

But he held my face softly in his hands and kissed me gently and said, "Wait. I want you to see it first."

"See what?" I panted, impatient.

"The world."

And he lifted my chin so I was facing the glass ceiling, basking in the deep blues and purples and streaks of fading pink in the twilight, tracing the just-born stars. All the while he was snuggled up against my back with arms wrapped around my waist, fingertips just inside my pants, ever so subtlety reminding me that he had not forgotten the reason he had led me here.

His hands moved lower as the light got lower, teasing me into a frenzy, to where I could feel an anticipatory sweat break out across my back. I turned to him, tried to catch his lips again, but stubbornly he twisted away and pointed upward. I craned my neck just in time to catch a streak of light blaze across the sky, then he was on me.

For a moment, I was aware of nothing but his lips on mine, then I was on the ground and he was breathing against my neck.

"Make a wish…"

"Wish you'd stop teasing me…"

I growled softly back, running a hand over his ass, pulling him against me and I could feel his cock twitch in anticipation. He tangled hands in my hair and pulled me in for a bruising kiss, both of us struggling for dominance and losing clothes in the process. Gasping for air, I ran hands over him, and he twisted against me. I bit his lower lip, and he reached down to grab my-!!!!

A sudden crash made me bolt upright in bed, panting and covered in sweat. I fumbled for the light, tangled in what suddenly seemed like way too many sheets. But the lamp wasn't there. I reached across for the one on the opposite side and flicked it on.

Angel was there, standing at the foot of my bed, breathing heavily and with this huge jewel-edged sword in hand. The missing lamp was shattered all over the floor.

"What the hell'd you take out the fuckin' lamp for?!"

He glares at me.

"What did you think you were doing, Curt?!"

"What am I doing?? You're the one standing over my bed with a big-ass sword!!"

"You were this close to being infested!!"

"What? Infested?"

"Yeah! I heard noise in here so I came in to investigate and the demon's tongue is practically down your throat!" he exclaims. "So I swung at him but he got away out the window."

He point with his sword and I saw the window really was wide open.

"So you mean that dream I was having…?" I gagged.

"What dream?"

"Ugh… never mind. You don't wanna know."

"Oh…" he nodded, then, "Oh! Oh. Oh, I see. Oh, no… god. Imean, I was wondering why you were-"

"I wasn't!"

"Oh… okay then."

Total end of conversation.