Dalliance in Darkness ( Dalliance #1) by Kayla Kissler

at James.
     
    Dean smiled at that. “Then take my hand.”
     
    I nervously took his extended hand and followed him like I were on a leash that only I could see. The guests continued their meals and conversation, caught up in their own endeavors. But I couldn’t escape the suffocating feeling in my chest, the fear and the excitement gripping me like Pandora after opening the box. I could see it more clearly now, the glass box hanging from a thick ebon rope. An elegant cage for trapped birds. If I could last ten minutes inside of it exposed for everyone to see.
     
    I bit down on my lip having felt both the rush of that scenario playing in my head and the rustling of the ben-wa’s inside me. Dean gestured for the musician to quit and he obliged with an alarming alacrity. He bent to Dean like it was his purpose in life. Still, I could feel my gut churning mercilessly – was I really going to go through with this? In front of all of these people?
     
    Dean whistled and someone off in the distance did something, pulled a lever perhaps. You could hear the mechanics of the device above masked by the ceiling. For every little ticking noise the glass cage made I felt chills roll up my spine. Dean put his hand on the small of my back, but it only made me hyper aware of the faces in the crowd looking in our direction. At me.
     
    I wanted so much to be brave; I focused on Dean’s hand on the small of my back. Tried to focus on something besides the fear.   All my excitement fluttered away and it was all that I was left with. A sense of dread, and an impending doom as the cage lowered and touched down just inches from me.
     
    And so I found myself wanting to run. Run run run. It repeated in my mind like it were all that I knew.
     
    “Are you ready?” Dean whispered in my ear, the touch of breath from his lips thrilled me – but did nothing to soothe me.
     
    “Yes,” I replied.
     
    He narrowed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
     
    “Nothing.” He looked as though he wanted to persist, but ended up slowly taking my word. I noticed only then as he turned it, that the cage had a golden knob inside and out.
     
    But when he opened the door…
     
    Basic Instinct
     
    I ran.
     
    I ran and found myself trapped under the insurmountable surreal – It had felt like there was no one else in that room besides me as I moved to the elevator – it was as if I closed my eyes and reopened them as the elevator door shut. My heart refused to settle, and I found my head swimming in a sea of confusion.
     
    Even if the fear was too great it spoke to me regardless, just too strongly in that moment. A satisfying ding resounded as the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened.
     
    I froze in place. His skin was glistening with a thin layer of sweat – only attractive because let’s face it. Despite everything Dean was well built and irresistible to look at. He just stood there for a moment, his stormy eyes taking me in and a rather big and amused smile lining his face. It was cute and unexpected considering how I had seen him prior. Hotshot CEO with looks to kill no doubt, domineering but with a maybe even refined over the years ease about him.
     
    Either I asked the question nonverbally or he sensed it as he opened his mouth.
     
    “Stairs.” He said simply. There was carefulness to every nuance of his movement as he watched me, taking a cautious step into the elevator.
     
    I averted my gaze, not wanting to look him directly in the eye.
     
    Finally he closed the elevator door behind him and approached me, step by step. The smell of him, part genuine and part artificial – it reminded me something of an earthly musk but with a ticklish hint of chamomile. I didn’t know what to say, couldn’t know. My confidence was far and away in an antique land.
     
    Dean put his hand on the small of my back and the tips of his fingers underneath my chin. “You ran,” He said. The disappointment of that was palpable between the two of us. Not