“Adrien Reed?”
I looked at him. “How do you know that?”
“Reed loves business, and you love baseball. I pay attention. Why does your father want us there?”
“Because you’re ‘national’ now. That makes you a legit business lead—and a very big catch.”
“I’m not sure if I should be flattered or not. I would like to meet Reed but don’t especially like the thought of leaving the House vulnerable.”
“Mallory and Catcher will be here, so that helps. But I’m going to need a dress.”
Ethan smiled lazily. “I haven’t proposed to you yet.”
He firmly believed marriage was in our future, and enjoyed teasing me with hints of his proposal. He knew I wasn’t yet ready to take that leap, but the teasing certainly kept me on my toes.
“Wrong kind of dress. I could wear one of the previous ones”—this wasn’t the first fancy event Ethan and I had attended—“or you can work your sartorial magic and find something new.”
“I’ll do that,” he said, grabbing his phone and sending a message. “Confirm with your father and get the details. We’ll tell Luc at dusk.”
I pulled my phone from the pillow array, muttering a few choice words about “obligation” and “loyalty” while I did it, but sent my father the message: WE’LL ATTEND. SEND DETAILS.
I put the phone on the nightstand, felt the sudden creep of the sun over the horizon as the room’s automatic shutters closed over the windows. “That’s it for me tonight,” I said, and fell face-first into the pillows.
“Demure and elegant as always,” Ethan said, and I felt the bed dip beside me. “Sleep well, my Sentinel. For tomorrow is another day.”
“Inevitably,” I murmured, and fell into sleep.
Chapter Five
YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A NATURAL VAMPIRE
Many hours later, the sun crept below the horizon again, leaving the world dark, quiet, and cool. My eyes flashed open as the automatic shutters retracted, sending the orange glow of streetlights into the room.
I glanced beside me. Ethan’s eyes were closed, his body resting atop a tangle of sheets—one leg bent, one arm thrown above the other, brow furrowed. A sheen of sweat covered his body, and there was a stale, lingering magic in the air.
It wasn’t hard to guess the reason for his distress. I touched the back of my hand to his forehead. Clammy, but cool.
“I’m awake,” he said, eyes still closed.
“You’re usually up before me.”
“I slept like the dead—no pun intended.” He opened one eye, cast a glance down the length of his body. “And part of me is up.”
“We haven’t talked about Balthasar,” I said, avoiding the direction of his gaze, lest I become glamoured by the promise of it.
“Not exactly how I’d prefer to get into the mood. Come here, Sentinel,” he said, and waited while I climbed atop his body, hard beneath me.
His eyes as green as glass, Ethan rocked his hips enticingly. “I can make you forget everything that worries you.”
“I worry for you,” I said, but let him slip my shirt over my head, let my head fall back when his hands found my breasts. Tension slipped from my shoulders as his hands worked cleverly to entice and arouse.
“We are immortal,” he said huskily, eyes silver and focused on my breasts. “Let us live like it.” He pulled me down toward him, tangled his hands in my hair as his mouth found mine, attacked with brutal force, willing to give no quarter. His tongue probed and tangled as his teeth nipped at my lips, his body growing impossibly harder beneath me as he deepened the kiss.
“I want you,” he whispered, before trailing kisses along my neck. “Jesus, but I want you. Stand up.”
“What?” I asked, brows lifted.
“Stand up.”