Page 7 of Knight’s Seduction

Until now.

Until Kryos walked out the door tonight and made it clear he wouldn’t be coming back.

Now it was too late. He was gone.

Fear gripped her. She had an awful feeling, a strange premonition that she would never want anyone the way she wanted him. That whatever it was inside her, driving her to him, would always be there, aching for a man she barely knew. That she’d missed her one moment to experience something truly wonderful.

Meredith stopped and pressed her hand to the brick storefront beside her, that indescribable grief gripping her heart tighter. She doubled over, dragging in a pained breath—

“Meredith?”

Her head shot up.

Kryos stood in front of her, his chest pumping, eyes bright. “Are you okay? Talk to me?”

She tilted her head back and stared into those melted-chocolate eyes, a feeling of…pure elation making her knees weak. If she walked away from him now, if she didn’t do this, she would regret it for the rest of her life. She could handle a loveless marriage, she could keep trying to be the person her parents wanted her to be, to do what was expected, what was normal—if she just embraced this moment with this man.

If, for the first time, she took one thing for herself. Just once.

Ignoring the people moving by them, she pressed her hand to his wide chest. “I’m not scared of you, Kryos.”

He leaned forward, his big body pressing into her hand, head dipping, eyes blazing. “No?”

She ignored the voice in her head screaming, “What the hell are you doing,” ignored everything that she’d been told was right, what her parents decided was right for her, and made herself speak.

“I finish work in about fifteen minutes. Will you wait for me?”

His nostrils flared, and he rocked closer as if he couldn’t stop himself. “Yes.”

“Thank you.” He didn’t ask for an explanation and she didn’t offer one. Instead, she headed back down the street, Kryos following close behind, trailing her back to the diner to wait for her to finish.

Frank was standing behind the counter when she walked in. He threw up his hands. “Where were you?”

“An emergency. I have to leave.”

He muttered under his breath, but since the place had cleared out and was now basically empty, and she only had ten minutes left of her shift, he let it go. She rushed to the back and grabbed her bag. She had no idea what she was doing, why she was doing it, only that she wanted to be with Kryos, to talk to him, to get to know him.

To just…be with him.

When she walked back out, Kryos was leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets and his eyes on her.

Hitching her bag higher, she moved to him as if he had some magical pull that called to her.

“You want to go get a drink, Meredith?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

He pushed away from the wall, and then his hand was on her lower back, wide and strong and sure, steering her down the street. Toward what? She had no idea.

Kryos couldn’t take his eyes off Meredith as she laughed at some stupid joke he’d made, then sipped her Blue Hawaiian. They’d been at the small hole-in-the-wall bar for over an hour. Conversation had come easily. She’d started out a little nervous but determined. He’d seen it in her wide hazel eyes.

Now she was more relaxed, her smiles coming easier, her laughter addictive.

“How old are you?” he asked.

She blinked. “Why? How old do I look?”

“I wouldn’t dream of guessing.”