A/N: No prompt for this one! I'll try to fill some of your prompts soon. :)

Preliminary Research Skills

The sky was just beginning to darken as I arrived at Adrian's apartment. It had taken a while to convince Zoe that she would be perfectly safe without my presence for a few hours. And I only now understood Adrian's frustration with the bus services in Palm Springs. I would have to buy a replacement for Latte, and soon. I adjusted the bag on my shoulder and checked my watch. We only had a little under an hour before we were due to meet Ms. Terwilliger's coven.

Nervousness laced with fear curdled in my stomach at the thought of it. I, Sydney Katherine Sage, would be meeting a coven of witches in less than an hour. And I would be accompanied by a vampire. Despite everything, despite how much I'd come to rely on magic for my own protection, and how much my attitude towards vampires and witches had changed, the thought of walking willingly into a room of magic users still shook me.

Luckily, I wouldn't be alone. Ms. Terwilliger had invited Adrian along, probably in an attempt to put me more at ease with the idea. And it did relax me slightly, knowing that he would be by my side all night. I might have been safer if I'd invited Eddie to come with us, but I wasn't sure how he would respond to the idea of human magic-users and I'd already dragged him into my business with Marcus. I didn't want to distract him from his role as Jill's guardian any more than necessary.

Adrian greeted me with a quick kiss when he opened the door. It made me wish more than anything that this was a casual visit. Perhaps there would be time for more kisses later if we got back before Amberwood's curfew…

"Can I check my emails before we go?" I asked him as I set my bag down on the sofa. The internet had been running ridiculously slowly when I left Amberwood – it was usually slow in the early evening, when most students had retired to their dorm rooms.

Adrian nodded and gestured to his laptop, which sat on a small desk in the corner of the room; it was already switched on, and I was proud to see that he appeared to be halfway through writing an assignment on artistic composition. I didn't know much about modern art, but from what I could tell, it was a stellar essay.

I scrolled through my emails while Adrian doubled back to his bedroom for a jacket. No new messages of any importance. Stanton had sent me an appreciative message for delivering my weekly report to her ahead of schedule, as always. A few others were obviously chain messages from Angeline and I deleted them straight away. Only the last message gave me pause – it was a request from Amazon to rate the latest book I'd purchased. For a moment, I was confused – my recent activities had left little time for reading – but then I remembered the useless self-help book on 'bad boys' that I'd downloaded a few weeks ago. I logged into Amazon and left a quick 1-star review to let them know exactly how unhelpful I thought it had been. I was about to close the browser when I felt warm breath stir the hair at my neck and two steady hands settled on my shoulders.

Mmm. I closed my eyes, luxuriating in the feeling of those hands. He rubbed at my shoulders for a while, loosening the tension there, before his fingers slid lower, trailing sparks up and down my arms.

"Ready to go?" Adrian asked as his hands reached my shoulders once more. Then he stilled. "Sage? What's this?"

Oh no. My eyes snapped open. The Amazon page was still open, pointer resting on the close button. I tried to click away from the page, but Adrian's hands had distracted me and my fingers had slipped from the mouse in my hand. Adrian grabbed the mouse as I made a weak attempt to slam the laptop shut.

With one hand now resting on the laptop and his other curled around mine on the mouse, Adrian leaned in to read over my shoulder.

"Bad Boys and the Women Who Love Them," he read aloud. He paused and when he spoke again, his voice was full of mirth. "Something tells me this isn't on the required reading list for Amberwood."

I pulled my hand out from under his and crossed my arms, trying to look unruffled. "It's not," I said haughtily. "Not that it's any of your business."

"My girlfriend's looking up relationship advice on my computer. I'd say that qualifies as my business."

I felt my cheeks reddening. "I wasn't looking up anything. I just got an email from Amazon asking me to share my opinion –"

"Does Amazon often ask you to share your opinion on bad boys?" Adrian asked teasingly.

I pursed my lips, refusing to give him the satisfaction of an answer. I had read an unusual number of teen help books recently.

Adrian laughed as if my silence had delighted him. He scrolled down the page. "So? Are you going to leave a review?"

"I already did," I said tersely. I pointed to the 1 star I'd given it.

"Ouch," Adrian said. How had I ever found that self-satisfied smirk of his charming? Right now it was infuriating.

"It wasn't very helpful," I admitted.

Adrian's grin widened. "That's right. Probably just a long list of stereotypes. You should have known better, Sage. Guys like me are one of a kind. It's impossible to fit Adrian Ivashkov into a box."

"Who said it had anything to do with you?" I huffed.

He raised an eyebrow. His face was disconcertingly close to mine now. "Do you have another boyfriend I don't know about?"

I shrugged. "Well, Brayden was my first boyfriend. I read a lot of books when I started dating him for… you know… research purposes." Technically it was true, even though I'd brought this particular book long after my break-up with Brayden.

Adrian smirked. "I'd hardly class Brandon as a bad boy, Sage."

I shrugged again, hoping the gesture seemed casual. "I like to be thorough."

His eyes darkened. "I'll give you that."

I didn't understand his reaction until I realised how my thoroughness could be interpreted, given the nature of our discussion. And suddenly the air between us felt thick and suffocating. He leaned closer, his gaze drifting down to my lips. I closed my eyes and a fraction of a second later his mouth was pressed against mine. I forgot my embarrassment. I forgot everything except the taste of his lips and the smell of his skin. He lifted me to my feet so that he could press me back against the desk. My arms curled around him and my hands wove into his hair, tugging shamelessly. He groaned into my mouth and the sound sent shivers down my spine. God, I'd missed this.

Too soon, his mouth left mine. His hands traced circles on my hips as he kissed my cheek and then my jaw and then his mouth was at my ear and his fervent whisper sent a trail of fire through my skin. "I never thought that research skills could be a turn-on, but right now I'm struggling to think of anything sexier," he muttered. He kissed the skin beneath my ear and my legs shook.

"We… need to stop," I told him, trying to sound stern. "The coven is expecting us."

"I know." His voice was low and shaky, which didn't help with my control. "Just… give me a minute."

I stayed in his arms for a little while longer before I stepped away to give us both room to breathe.

"Ready?" I asked him. I gave myself a quick once-over. I'd taken such care with my appearance before I left, determined to look smart and sophisticated for this meeting. I knew that I probably looked wild now – my shirt was rumpled and my hair in disarray and my lips felt bruised from his kisses. And yet, I didn't feel afraid anymore. Maybe the rush I felt whenever Adrian kissed me had its own magical properties. All I knew was that right now, I felt powerful and confident enough to take on anything. Even an entire coven of potentially dangerous witches.

Adrian seemed to notice the change in me too. He reached out and curled a hand around mine. "How long do you think this meeting will go on for?" he asked as I shouldered my bag and led us out.

"An hour? Maybe slightly longer." We stepped out into the cool night air and felt my lips curl upward in a smirk. "Of course, the quicker we get this over with, the more time we'll have afterwards."

His hand squeezed mine. "I like the sound of that."

That powerful feeling intensified. I climbed into the passenger side of the mustang and waited until he was behind the wheel before I leaned across and held his gaze with mine. "You know… a lot of my research really was too… thorough… for my relationship with Brayden. It's a shame that I didn't get to put it to good use. I have a lot of theories that I'd like to put into practice… with a willing test subject."

Adrian's eyes widened. "Fuck," he muttered. "That's got to be the hottest thing I've ever heard." He leaned forward, but I held him at arms' length.

"Coven first," I reminded him. "But afterwards…"

His eyes burned into mine. "The quicker we get this over with, the more time we'll have afterwards," he repeated.

I smiled. "Exactly."

I barely had time to buckle my seatbelt before Adrian sped away from the curb, tires screeching.