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Julian stopped drinking, taking a second to close Marsha’s wound with a lick of his tongue. What was she doing here? Laying Marsha down on the sofa next to Ebony, he stood and faced Leah. Her body was tight with unbridled pain and wrath.
The soul-deep anguish in her lovely features knifed into his chest. Her right hand covered her stomach as if it pained her to stand.
Bristling, she continued acidly, “Did you promise to finish things with her too?”
The words took him back to a few hours ago when he’d made that promise. He saw her in his mind’s eye, her eyes warm with liquid desire and her skin flushed with pleasure.
He closed the distance between them with a few quick strides. “Is that what you want? For me to finish what we started?”
Leah studied the two humans on the sofa, well used and satisfied, and a tornado of hurt and anger swept through her so intertwined that it was impossible to separate the two. She’d been prepared, had rehearsed her speech to give him a piece of her mind, but all thoughts fled when she saw another woman enthralled in his arms.
A blind rage erupted from a deep, dark place within. She almost yanked him away. How dare he feed on another woman? How dare that woman take what was hers?
But he wasn’t hers.
The thought, when it should’ve brought resignation and regret, only added fuel to her fire.
“No. Not in a million years.”
She was sick and tired of being used. Even though her freedom was on the line, she couldn’t do it, couldn’t sleep with him knowing he’d discard her for other women the first chance he had.
An eyebrow shot up. He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek. An invisible force squeezed her heart. How could someone with so much power be so gentle? Leah resisted the urge to lean into him, to fall under his spell.
“Really?” he crooned. “If I take you to my bed now, you would say no?”
She swallowed. God damn it, why was he impossible to resist? He’d turned on his full vampire charm, and her traitorous body responded. Desire and fury warred within her. She wished, more than anything, that it could be a straightforward decision. That she could go with him with no consequences.
No feelings attached. No guilt. No regrets. No what-ifs.
One of the women moaned. That would be her if she gave in. Her deal with Dmitri had stipulated three months with Julian. She’d thought three months was short enough that she wouldn’t become enslaved to a vampire, but now she wasn’t so certain.
The thought gave her the strength to resist his allure. “Does it even matter what I say?” Her voice came out husky.
His nostrils flared, a vein ticking along his temple. “I will not take you against your will.”
“Do I even have a will around you?” She latched onto the blazing fury like a lifeline. “How do I know? How do I know it’s my decision and not you helping me along?”
Julian’s body hardened, his masculine face turning to stone. The vampire master of Vegas stood before her. Not the man who’d taken her to dinner. Who’d given her unbearable pleasure. Who’d rushed into her room, worried about her.
When he stepped back, the loss of his nearness stabbed into her. The air shifted as he withdrew his power. The room felt empty without it.
“This is me, with nopower,” he emphasized the word bitterly, “to change your mind. Decide what you want.”
But she couldn’t. Her desire, her need for him, didn’t lessen one bit.
If today’s events had taught her anything, it was that Julian was dangerous. To her well-being. To her sanity. And to her heart.
She’d offered him her blood, for God’s sake.
She’d offered blood to an enemy, a vampire. And because of what? Because he’d been worried that she was sick? Because he’d given her the most fantastic, unforgettable orgasm of her life?
No, because she’d been worried about him. Because she’d seen his humanity that the Organization said didn’t exist. Because she believed the world would be worse without him.
But he held all the power in this relationship. If she wasn’t careful, she would end up being the woman on the couch, totally enthralled. A lump formed in her throat. Was her only choice in life between serving the Organization and serving a vampire? There had to be another way.
“No.” Leah pushed the word through her constricted throat. Even as every fiber of her being screamed at her to leap into his arms and take what he offered, she spun on her heel and left him behind.
Sitting in her office the next evening, Leah regretted her choices and wished a black hole would open and swallow her. She hadn’t slept and paid minimal attention to the gorgeous blond vampire ranting on the other side of her desk. After playing last night’s events repeatedly in her mind, she admitted to herself that she’d perhaps overreacted. Her fear of being used had been justified, but she hadn’t been fair to Julian.
