Sliding her arms around his waist and sinking into his embrace as his own arms wrapped around her shoulders, Ari nodded. “Yeah. I don’t want to feel that way again. Or have you feel that way about me again.”
Shoving her gently back, Jai frowned at her. “Feel what way?”
“You were… mad. Disappointed.”
“No. I was upset. I don’t like feeling helpless, and not knowing how to help you makes me feel like crap, okay.”
“Realy?” Ari asked doubtfuly. “Cause, you kind of had your scary, don’t talk to me, don’t even look at me, thing going on when it happened.”
“That’s my helpless face.”
“Oh. It looks a lot like rage.”
“Yeah, I only have three expressions. Blank. Pissed off. And polite boredom.”
Ari laughed and he smiled softly at her. Self-deprecation was something she hadn’t seen on him before. She liked that she was beginning to see a side to him she suspected only Trey knew existed. “Wel, I balance you out, so don’t worry about it. I’ve been told my face is an open book.”
“I don’t know.” Jai shook his head as he tucked her hair behind her ear and stroked her waist with his other hand. “Not so much anymore. Sometimes I’d love to know what you’re thinking.”
Grinning flirtatiously, Ari stepped into him until their bodies were pressed tight against each other. “Can you guess what I’m thinking now?”
In answer Jai gripped the nape of her neck and puled her up to meet his mouth, his movement surprisingly fast and rough, his kiss overwhelming. Tingles of
excitement shot through Ari as she opened her lips to let his tongue touch hers. The kiss deepened and he groaned into her mouth, and as the vibration of it buzzed through her body, sparks were set off in places Ari didn’t know sparks could be set off in. Their mouths refused to break apart, their bodies taking over and screaming at them that they wanted to meld into one. Ari’s leg was climbing Jai’s, his hands were on her hips, keeping her tight to him, their breaths mingling as they remembered the night before and al the possibilities ahead of them. It wasn’t until Ari reached under Jai’s shirt, tickling her hands along the waist of his jeans that sense seemed to come back to him and he broke the kiss, panting heavily.
Ari’s own pants whispered across his mouth. She felt dizzy and disorientated, her eyes unfocused. Whoa. “You stopped,” she muttered in disappointment.
“Yeah,” he chuckled hoarsely, gently pushing her away from him. “Because we have dinner to get to and I don’t want to look like I just tried to get my client into bed.”
Laughing now at his physical predicament, Ari took a step back. “I see. Wel, if it’s any consolation, you were trying to get your girlfriend into bed.” With a cocky smile that smoothed Jai’s scowl, Ari sauntered to the door. “I’l leave you alone to cool off. See you at dinner.”
“You’re learning too fast,” Jai grumbled.
Ari stopped halfway out of the door. “Learning what too fast?”
His frown transformed into a wickedly sexy smile. “How to drive me crazy.”
Grinning, Ari shrugged. “It’s only fair. You drove me crazy for days sleeping on my floor, sometimes without a shirt on. It was a form of torture and I intend to get my vengeance.” Feeling lighter than she had fifteen minutes ago, Ari left Jai staring sensualy after her and took a few smug steps down the halway before she stopped, placing a hand over her racing heartbeat.
Maybe she needed a few seconds to cool down too.
9 - Giving the Pawn a Name Makes the Game a Little Harder
“I asked you to protect her as much as you could. Not encourage her to seek danger by becoming a hunter.”
Red glared at her, her admonishment raising his hackles. “You forget yourself.”
Scoffing, the beauty flipped her dark hair over her shoulder and eyed him unafraid. “Don’t use that tone with me, Red. You and I are past that.”
“Then don’t accuse me of putting Ari in danger. You’re being overprotective, Ms. Maggie.”
She scowled at the nickname. “Are you sure this just doesn’t fit into your father’s twisted plans? Like his plans for Charlie. Fruitless plans,” she laughed bitterly.
“Not fruitless. He stil plans for Charlie to kil the Labartu. As we speak, Glass is tracking the Jinn so he can lead Charlie to it.”
“So Azazil kils Charlie and puts Ari forward as a hunter… to die too? What is the meaning of this? What does he want?”
Trying to rein in his anger, Red turned his back on her and stared into the flames in his fireplace. Despite everything that had happened, she was stil able to make him feel more than anyone else in this world. Speaking slowly, calmly, Red replied, “Azazil has nothing to do with this. I did this for Ari.”