I took a step back and tried to appear nonchalant, but my heart was giving me away, beating so rapidly against my chest I could have sworn he could both hear and see it.
“You’ll be safe here, Lisa.” His voice was smooth, his lips full against his careful smile. “I swear it.”
“Safe from the boogeyman.” I nodded and offered a shrug. “Thanks for that…” And the kiss, and the night of escapism.
Tristan hesitated, his eyes searching my face. My body heated as his hungry gaze devoured me from head to toe. He took a step toward me, and then another. My hands clenched at my sides as I waited. My breathing slowed. Everything in the room slowed by his fluid movement.
Once he was inches from my body, his hands slowly rose to my shoulders then caressed down my arms, resting at my wrists. With a shudder, I bit my lip as he lifted both hands to his lips and bestowed a kiss on each one.
Dropping my left hand, he kept my right, flipping it over until my palm was facing his delicious mouth. With a wicked smile, he kissed the inside of my wrist and then my palm, his breath hot against my skin. My body was full-on trembling, unable to decipher if he was safe or dangerous.
“Goodnight, Lisa.” He released my hand. “Sweet dreams…”
It took me a second to catch my breath, and when I did, my voice was hoarse. “You too.”
“I can promise you…” His eyes traveled from my head all the way down to my toes. “…I will.”
With that, he left the room, shutting the door silently behind him. I staggered toward the door, nearly face-planting against it, then turned the lock and leaned against the cool wood. Whimpering, I slid down until I was on the floor and let my head bang back against the door a few times, trying to lodge something logical into my brain.
He wasn’t for me.
He was my teacher.
My teacher!
Granted, he was also a sexy piece of man who was also clearly just as important as Wes and Gabe, but that made him even more off limits. I had to stay out of the limelight, at all costs, because I knew if I did… what had been promised to me would finally come true.
He’d ruined my life, my career, everything that night, and I knew my only saving grace was disappearing, pulling out of the public eye and pretending to be something and someone different.
He couldn’t hurt me if I was Lisa.
But as Mel?
I might as well have jumped off that bridge with him.
I squared my shoulders and forced the morbid thoughts out of my head. Tonight I was safe, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to check under my bed, in the closet, and also make sure my phone was right on my nightstand just in case.
Feeling silly that I’d locked the door from the one guy trying to protect me, I unlocked it just before slipping out of my dress and crawling under the covers.
The mattress was like lying on my own giant goose, you know, minus all the internal parts. I sighed longingly into the fluffy pillow and let myself sleep, knowing I wouldn’t have to worry about creepy packages being sent to my dorm or opening mail…
But tomorrow? Tomorrow was another story completely.
Tristan… I smiled when I thought of his kiss. For one night, it was nice to escape… one forbidden night.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Videos of shame were my idea, my golden child. I’d started it in order to entertain myself. It quickly turned into a blog, and I gained a following so quick it was near impossible to run on my own. I needed recruits. Needed people willing to do the dirty within the circles of the rich and famous. Because this website? It wasn’t about picking on the strong, but picking on those who came from money, those who could take it, those who thought the world owed them something just because of who they were. Sound a bit hypocritical? Oh you have no idea. I needed someone sexy, someone who knew how to get people to do things… someone who was just as bored as I. When she walked into the room that night, eyes distant, heart heavy, I knew I had her. Besides what’s the best way to nurse a broken heart? Revenge. It’s always revenge. —The Journal of Taylor B.
Tristan
I WAS A COMPLETE jackass. Touching her hadn’t been part of the deal. Hadn’t I not but a few minutes ago decided to just leave her alone? Why couldn’t I make that choice and stick with it? I’d always been solid with decisions, able to will myself toward any choice, and do it without emotion. Apparently that’s what made me… what? Sick? In need of medication? And apparently it’s what had killed him; that same side of me that was able to totally separate emotions from decisions.
If dead men could tell tales, I wondered what his would be about his emotions? All I had was the journal; all I had was the sneaking suspicion we were exactly alike — cold, ruthless, easily able to manipulate to get what we wanted. It made me a damn good businessman. But when it came to relationships? Not so much.
But with Lisa? I truly had no control; the madness she created in me stirred parts of my soul that I hadn’t even known existed until now. What the hell was I supposed to do? Leave her alone? Kiss her? Walk away?
I was stuck.
Walking away meant I’d given up a few months of my real life for nothing. It also meant giving in to my absolute worst fear. It meant not avenging his death. It meant too many horrible things.
But staying? Staying meant I’d be fighting my carnal nature every step of the way. It meant every time she smiled I’d have to ignore the way it stirred me. It meant that, when she entered the room, I had to ignore the fact that her perfume practically choked me into submission.