barstool.
Somewhere, in the back of the fog, the bartender cleared his throat.
“Sorry,” Noah said, pul ing away from my hungry mouth. I began to lick along his jaw line instead. “I think we’re leaving,” he told the bartender. I wasn’t paying much attention. He tasted so good – I wanted to put my mouth on him everywhere.
“I'm cal ing you a cab, miss,” he said. “You don’t seem to have your purse with you.”
When he tried to put me in the cab's backseat, I clung to Noah’s front, pul ing him down on top of me.
He chuckled in my ear, the sound making my hips rise in anticipation. “Don’t want to leave?”
“No,” I said, kissing his mouth again. “Can we go back to your room?” The thought made my body explode with desire. Oh boy oh boy oh boy.
He glanced over at the cab driver. Then, he looked back at me. “Do you want to go back to my room?”
“I want you,” I said. Both me and the fog did. “I’m not drunk. I just want you.”
“Wel then,” he said, his blue eyes flaring. He pul ed me out of the cab and his hand cupped my ass. “Can I get your name?”
~ ~ ~ ~*
Though the fog didn’t leave my mind, I was distracted enough that it didn’t matter. Noah and I made love for hours.
On the bed. On the floor. In the shower once, I was pretty sure, but it was hard to tel . The burning desire that had made me throw myself at him didn’t seem to be going away: no matter how many times we had sex, I couldn’t quench the hunger burning inside of me. We final y passed out at some point, with me col apsing on top of him.
I woke a few hours later, ice cold. I was stil spread atop Noah, who was passed out underneath me. The fog had returned, stronger than ever. In a haze, I began to dress.
Shirt. Skirt.
Shoes. Bra. I couldn’t find my underpants or my pantyhose, so I left them behind. I wanted to wake Noah, but the fog in my mind wouldn’t let me think. Al I could focus on was how cold the room was. I tried to rub my arms, but my limbs were sluggish.
I was supposed to meet the other guy, wasn’t I?
remembered someone holding up my purse and tel ing me that I would get it back when I met him again. I stumbled out of Noah’s room and down the elevator into the lobby. No stranger, no purse. I wandered into the street and stumbled – my shoes, which had been difficult to walk in last night, were almost impossible now. My feet felt numb, like blocks
of ice. Something was wrong with me, but the fog in my head wouldn’t process what it was. Unsure where to go, I stumbled into the al ey behind the hotel. An al ey was where I’d met him before…
“There you are,” a voice whispered against my ear, warm hands cupping my shoulders.
He was so warm, and I was so very cold. “You came back.
Good girl.”
“Purse,” I mumbled. Even my tongue was finding it hard to move. What was wrong with
me?
My dark stranger slid around me, his coat rustling. With his warm hands, he tilted my head back, letting me rest against his shoulder. “First, one final kiss to send you off.”
Again, the piercing bite against my neck. But this time, instead of that feverish pleasure, I felt the numbness spreading. My limbs grew even colder – my body felt like one big icicle. I whimpered, too weak to do anything else.
“Shhh,” he said, stroking my hair. “The hurt won’t last long.
Soon you’l go to sleep. And when you wake up, we’l see each other again. I’ve got an entirely new world to show you, Princess.” He touched my cheek in an almost tender gesture. “Fate has brought you back to me.”
A siren sounded in the distance, and my dark stranger cursed.
Tension rippled through him, and his hand clenched on my arm. I wanted to pul away from him, but the world was growing dim. Was I…was I dying? Or just passing out? I was so cold and the world was so foggy that it was hard to tel .
“Change of plans, Princess.” He kissed my cheek. then picked me up and cradled me in his arms
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