A Touch of Crimson by Sylvia Day Page B

watched.”
    “So send some lycans you trust to do the job.” When she was met with heavy silence, her brows rose. “You don’t have any lycans you trust? Then why are they your bodyguards? Keeping your enemies close?”
    Adrian gestured for Damien to leave with a jerk of his chin.
    Lindsay watched the angel depart. “Alrighty then. Teaches me to speak out of turn.”
    Unfolding from his chair, Adrian stood. “It’s a sound, intelligent plan. I look forward to utilizing your input today and in the future.”
    “Flatterer.” She wondered where he was going and what she was expected to do in his absence. She needed to call her father, then take some time to figure out what she was going to do about her job.
    He came around the table. “Would you come with me for a few moments?”
    “Yes.”
    He pulled the chair out for her, then set his hand at her lower back. The heat of his palm soaked through her thin tank top, perversely sending goose bumps spreading across her skin. He led her to the railing, away from the others. She was highly aware of his shoulder pressing against the back of hers, and of his scent, which was absolutely delicious. If she could, she’d press her nose into the crook of his neck and inhale deep into her lungs. The fragrance of his skin was addictive, intoxicating . . . Familiar.
    “Do you trust me?” he asked softly, his breath gusting softly over the shell of her ear.
    “I don’t know you,” she whispered back, racked by a shiver of delight.
    They stopped at the end of the deck.
    “Okay then.” There was amusement in his low tone. “Will you give me the benefit of the doubt?”
    Lindsay faced him. He stepped closer, into her personal space. Close enough that only an inch separated them, and she had to tilt her head back to look into his face. His wings materialized, shielding them from prying eyes. Her gaze slid over him, drinking in the leanly muscled expanse of his torso. The tight lacing of his abs stirred a deep, raw hunger to see them tighten in pleasure as he thrust into her. Sexual awareness sizzled across her skin, tightening her body. She licked dry lips and his eyes followed the movement. She nodded.
    “Good.” He caught her close, one arm banding around her shoulder blades, the other hitching beneath the curve of her ass.
    Every hard inch of him was pressed up tight against her. She felt his cock stir against her lower belly, inciting an answering ache between her thighs.
    Her arms went around his neck. “Adrian—”
    “Hold that thought,” he murmured. “And hold on to me.”
    He leaped over the railing.

CHAPTER 8
     
    Lindsay screamed as they plummeted. She scrambled to wrap herself around Adrian’s lean frame, her legs flailing. His lips pressed to her temple and she fell silent, the terror draining out of her, rushing from her body at the point where he kissed her. His wings spread and they caught air, soaring.
    “Aerodynamically,” he said calmly, “I need you not to wiggle.”
    Ticked off that he’d given her no warning, she nipped at his neck with her teeth. “You scared the shit out of me!”
    “Why?”
    “I’m afraid of heights!” Her legs pretzeled around his.
    “You’re afraid of falling,” he corrected, nuzzling his lips against her cheek. “I would never let you fall.”
    Bullshit . She was falling for him already. Lindsay wondered if he had any idea how annihilating his occasional displays of tenderness were. They knocked her on her ass every time. She might have some defense against the searing intimacy if she thought it was a seduction tactic, but his behavior seemed devoid of ulterior motive. His actions seemed innate . . . or irresistible. The thought that he couldn’t help but be tender with her scared her more than flying without a plane. Fear and arousal created a potent mixture.
    Burying her face deeper into his neck, she clung to his powerful body, feeling every contraction of muscle as he climbed over a rocky hillside. He held