Blood Trial Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #1) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,116
I’ve got—”
“Not so fast.” He snagged an arm around my waist again. “You’re forgetting something.”
Peeking up, I sighed at his amused look. “Fine.”
“Where have you seen me?”
This whopper would have to be a mix of truth and lies. “Four and a half years ago, you attended an opening ceremony at Sky Glitz.”
Rory shrugged.
“I was seventeen at the time and attending with a friend and her mother. I saw you and was taken with your looks. You asked me to dance, and I made some comment about finding you handsome. You walked off and left me in the middle of the dance floor. My friend told everyone at school, and they laughed about it for months.”
The vampire stared at me. Dancing couples moved around us, glancing between us.
Rory’s eyes lit and his mouth dropped. “I remember!”
“That was a dick move. I was seventeen.”
“Exactly. Not exactly a great look for me. I thought you were much older, if memory serves. I must have discovered otherwise during our dance.”
It wasn’t quite an apology, but I’d take it, considering he wasn’t the shining Adonis I’d built him to be in my teens.
Kyros’s brother wheezed in laughter and let go of me to clutch his side.
I smiled at the onlookers while he had his moment. Rory clamped a hand on top of my shoulder for support.
“Glad you find my humiliation so funny,” I said between clenched teeth.
“I didn’t have to bring you here at all,” he gasped. “I can hold that over Kyros forever.”
Enough of fucking Kyros for one night!
“So that’s why you were struck speechless,” Rory said, sniffing hard and straightening.
“Yes, Rory. Utterly speechless. You’re so good-looking.”
Still chuckling, he slipped a hand into his jacket, drawing out a string of condoms and passing them into my hands.
The cameras flashed, and he howled, erupting into fresh laughter.
Flushing, I shoved the condoms back in his pocket without ceremony, beaming at the cameras. “What are you doing?”
His answer was to laugh harder.
The vampire walked off, weaving between the couples.
“Where are you going?” I called after him.
The surrounding couples peered at me. Half in shock, the rest in pity.
My jaw hung ajar. “That shithead.”
He’d just left me alone in the middle of a dance floor. Again.
My knight in shining armour slid into the spot the vampire had just occupied.
“Are you free again?” Rhys asked.
I wrapped my hands around his neck. “Sure am, handsome. How about we get out of here?”
His eyes widened. “Really?”
My lips trembled. “Why is that so surprising?”
A wrinkle appeared between his brows. “I’d resigned myself to being strung along.”
“That’s terrible,” I replied, snorting. “You can’t tell me you’d be okay with that.”
His eyes glinted. “There are worse things in life than being teased by a fascinating woman.”
Rhys dipped his head to mine, and I met him halfway. His warm lips melded to mine. Soft and inviting. Testing, not demanding. He wasn’t claiming me. Rhys was human, not Vissimo.
I pressed myself against him, deepening the kiss and enjoying his moan.
He slipped his tongue into my mouth, and I reciprocated, shivering as his fingertips trailed down my forearms.
I pulled back. “How about it then?”
He interlaced his fingers with mine. “My place or yours?”
“Yours,” I said firmly. Shit, imagine taking him back to the tower.
Ducking, he lay a quick kiss at the base of my neck before tugging me through the crowd.
And like the twenty-one-year-old I was meant to be, I stumbled after him, gasping with laughter.
26
“How far?” I asked Rhys, hiccupping. These heels were getting to me—more accurately, my hip. I needed more champagne. Or meds. Or both—that worked pretty well.
I shrieked as he swung me into his arms.
“Just around the corner,” he announced, grunting.
Poor guy. I wasn’t exactly a pocket-size woman. Yet he clearly felt he was strong enough to carry me, so I’d give him a minute and make an excuse to hobble again. Or wave Laurel down for a ride. I’d glimpsed a black SUV a few times that I assumed belonged to my guard.
“So we’re clear,” he said, glancing at me, “I don’t want to assume this night is heading where I think it’s heading. If it is, we’ll need to stop for condoms.”
That. Fucker.
I patted Rhys, and he set me on the ground.
“Rory, you piece of shit.” I bellowed down the empty city street.
He searched the street. “Uh, what?”
I stomped off in the direction we’d been taking. “Rory offered me condoms and I gave them back.” Now I knew what his shit-eating grin was about.