by E. M. Moore
I lowered the strap on my tanktop, revealing my puckered scar again, and looked up at him. “Thank you.”
He dipped his fingers into the salve, rubbed the ointment between his palms, and then rubbed my shoulder. I closed my eyes as he worked his magic, his vampire blood seeping into my pores and already dulling the ache that had sprouted from my stake-throwing practice. “Your muscles are tight. They’re overcompensating for your injury.”
“Mm-hmm,” I moaned as he kneaded his knuckles into my shoulder blade.
“You should be resting up.”
My head lolled to the side, giving him enough room. “Yeah.”
“Ariana?”
“Huh?”
He chuckled. “Are you even listening?”
He pulled his hands away and I blinked out of my stupor. Turning toward him, I frowned. “Why’d you stop?”
“You’re not listening to me,” he said. Amusement flickered in his eyes.
“Not true. You told me you’d love to continue this session in my room.” I reached out for his hand, interlocking my fingers with his before turning toward the door. Since Gregor had decreed to place back into law the previous guard-vampire relationship rule, the Ravanas and I didn’t worry about being seen around campus together anymore, especially in the privacy of my room as long as there weren’t any overnight stays. In fact, the princes tried to endorse more personal relationships, even inviting Shannon, Liv, and Evan to go out to eat with us once. It ended up being ridiculously awkward, and it hadn’t happened again, but at least they were trying. Christian most of all.
Stephan pulled back. “I can’t, actually. I’m supposed to meet with my father, some of the Council members, and Samuel to put the finishing touches on tomorrow’s festivities.”
My gut clenched. “Don’t remind me.”
He pulled me to a stop and ran his fingertips down my cheek. “No one deserves this more than you and T.J. And you said yourself what an opportunity it will be to bring together guards and vampires.”
I focused on the political aspect of it. The fact that the vampires were actually having a celebration in our honor was a big deal. On the other hand, I didn’t want to be the center of attention or used as some sort of prawn for the greater good. I was just me.
The door jiggled and Stephan checked his watch. “Plus, I believe you owe a certain prince an hour of your uninterrupted time.”
I scowled toward the door. “Yeah, but we’re going dress shopping.”
“That’s because no one wanted Connor picking out your dress again. You’ll have fun.”
The door jiggled once more and then two abrupt bangs sounded. “For some reason, dress shopping and Nicolai just don’t seem to fit together.”
Stephan shrugged. “He insisted.”
That was what worried me.
“Alright,” Nic huffed from the other side of the door. “Come on. Open up.”
Stephan tipped my chin in his direction and gave me a sweet kiss on the lips before making his way toward the door. I followed along after until Stephan flicked the lock. The door immediately sprung open, and Nicolai walked in. Dressed in a black shirt and jeans, his gaze swept through the room before landing on me. “You ready, Ri?”
I took in his devilish smile and relaxed persona. If I had to pick one of the princes who would volunteer to take me dress shopping, Nic would’ve been my last choice. I didn’t understand what was up with him. He seemed truly excited to do this. I glanced at Stephan and he only shook his head, a look of complete befuddlement etched into his features. We walked with one another out into the parking lot before Stephan waved goodbye, and Nicolai helped me into the passenger seat of their shared Jeep.
He ran around front, got behind the steering wheel, and smirked at me. “Alright, spill,” I said. “What’s got you so excited about this?”
He turned the key, and backed out of the parking space. “I can’t be excited about spending time with you?”
I faced forward, taking my Rajyvik Training Facility ID out of my pocket and handing it over to Nic. He pulled up to the new machine where he swiped both our cards as I looked out the passenger side window. Construction had begun on the perimeter walls only two days after the attack. They were being added on to, increasing the height to ten feet in hopes of keeping out any more intruders. With all the extra security measures, not only were we feeling safer, but also a tad like felons who needed to be kept inside rather than keeping others out. It was a necessary evil, but I couldn’t help thinking that if this was what The Fort had looked like when I first got here, I would’ve had a much different impression of the place. Maybe I would’ve fought Christian harder on escaping… Then again, probably not.
Nic waved to the guard, and then passed me back my ID. The iron gates in front of us opened, and I settled back in my seat for what was sure to be an interesting day. Dress shopping or not, Nicolai Ravana was one prince I couldn’t get enough of.
2
We bypassed the small town we usually hung around in and went straight to the bigger city. Nicolai adeptly maneuvered through the busier traffic and pulled into a mall parking lot. I hadn’t seen one of these in ages and I’d never gone in one to actually spend money before. “Are you sure?” I asked Nic, unbuckling the seatbelt and sitting back in my seat to stare up at the huge lettering that announced the stores inside.
He shook his head. “Come on, Ri. You need a nice dress. You’ll be the guest of honor at the party tonight.”
I inwardly groaned again. One, he kept forgetting I wasn’t the only guest of honor, and two, I really hated the fact that everyone was making a big deal out of this.
I should be using it as an opportunity to make nice with the vampires and prove to them that guards were really awesome people who helped save them instead of people who made their emotions go all bonkers and sent them flying off a building to their death a la Royce. The thing was, I was just as content to have a heartfelt thank you from the Ravanas’ father at a Council meeting instead of this, but I quickly found out that wasn’t going to be possible. The vampires loved their parties, and in one instance, I understood what Gregor was trying to do. Something terrible had happened to our world. This party was an attempt at turning the attack into a positive lest some of the vamps go crazy with worry—again. So, for now, I was playing along with T.J. and I being the center of attention, the ones who saved everyone.
Nic and I walked into the mall, and I let him take the lead. I’d never been fancy dress shopping before, and though I could pretty much pick out what kind of stores would have the kind of dresses we needed, I let him direct me. Instead of a frown tugging at his lips, he was still all smiles as if he’d won the lottery. “Okay…” I hedged. “I get the fact that you want to spend time with me, and I did say I would give you a full hour of one-on-one time, but I just need to know what makes this so special? You’re acting totally different than what I figured you would be like today, and—no offense—your normal self. You aren’t the kind of vampire prince that wants to help me go shopping, Nic. Christian might endure it. Connor, especially. Stephan even. I can see him sitting by, watching me try on dresses without hesitation or annoyance, but you?” I shook my head. “I don’t see it.”
He smirked. “That’s where you’re wrong.”
I waited for him to continue, and when he didn’t, I raised by eyebrows at him. “Care to elaborate?”
“You’ll understand.”
He pulled me into the next store. The mannequins outside wore the kind of thing we were looking for and inside, it was the same. Rack upon rack was filled to the brim with dresses of all different cuts and styles. I stopped dead in front of a full torso mannequin that had on a long dress with feathers cascading down the front like a peacock.
Peeking up at Nic, I saw him tap his chin. “Might look good on…”
“We won’t ever find out,” I said, pulling him down the rack that held my size. To my surprise, Nic searched through and pulled out dresses as if he was
going to help me choose. Again, I couldn’t help but lift my eyebrows at him. “Are we seriously doing this?”
He nodded. “Yeah, and don’t worry about price. We got it covered. If it’s elegant and looks good on you, we’re buying it.” He put his hand up when I dropped my mouth to argue. “Don’t even.”
“Fine,” I grumbled. “Let’s just do this.”
I wanted something different than the last dress I wore so I picked out colors other than red and with different shapes. After going through the entire rack, I had five dresses in my hand, and when I looked back at Nic, he also had his hands full with frilly dresses. “Ready?” he asked, his smile, his face—everything—shining.
“Yes…” I turned and walked toward the dressing rooms. Surprisingly, there weren’t many other customers in the store, but I chalked that up to being a high-end shop. We weren’t at a big box department store and that was evident by some of the prices on the dresses. I bit my tongue and walked into the huge dressing room the middle-aged saleslady led me into at the rear of the store. Nic sat in a designer settee just on the other side of the dressing room door from me, his arm casually laying over the back of it. He crossed his ankle over his knee and stared straight ahead as I shut the door, locking myself inside with yards and yards of silky, lacy fabric.
I pulled out one of Nic’s choices first. It was a yellow dress with a plunging neckline. My mouth gaped open at it. The front was split apart all the way to the navel area. Besides that, the rest of the dress was pretty simple. It had a nice, flowy look, and even though I never would pick yellow for myself, I shrugged and tried it on first anyway. I fluffed my hair out of the back and tried to maneuver to zip the dress up, but it was virtually impossible. The zipper was so low that there was no way I was going to be able to reach it and pull it up the entire way.
Sighing, I unlocked the door and called out to Nicolai. “Can you help me zip please?”
He was at my side in a flash. I barely had time to turn my back toward him before he was right here, his fingers already sliding up the metal zipper. “My pleasure.”
The way the words rolled off his tongue made my heart skip a beat and my mouth go dry. It reminded me of the morning when he all but promised me we would have our moment together. I closed my eyes and licked my lips before turning around again when he finished. He already stood a few steps away, just waiting for me to turn. When I did, his eyes immediately lowered to my chest. Lace hemmed the edges of the dress as they ran down my front. There was a good five inches of space between the two sides, showing off a ton more cleavage than I ever would. Admittedly, the dress did look nice. I couldn’t say I felt comfortable wearing it though. I might have liked it better had it been a different color, but I could see why it appealed to Nic. “So?” I asked, my tongue thick in my mouth.
“My God, Ri.” He stepped forward, his arms winding around my waist.
I shuffled back, maneuvering out of his attempted embrace and looked around the store.
Not seeing the saleslady, I looked toward him again. The right side of his mouth tipped up. “I convinced her she needed to do something else and not bother us while you tried things on. Especially if you were going to pick that dress first. It looks even more amazing than I thought it would.” He lifted his hand up and traced his finger down the swell of my breast, his touch dangerously close to slipping under the fabric.
“Nicolai…” I warned, still peering behind him to see if anyone was around.
“Trust me,” he said, “No one will be bothering us.”
I let out a surprised, hard sigh when I finally got it. He wanted to come for this reason and this reason only. “This is why you’re here, isn’t it?”
The shadows darkened under his eyes. “Why in the hell would I pass up the opportunity to see you in dresses like these? Especially when I can pick out the ones I want to see you in too.”
I squared my shoulders and peered up at him. His eyes were glassy, content as they took all of me in. “Isn’t that like torture? It’s not like you can do anything.”
He tucked his chin, and the shadows in his face became more prominent. “Why do you think I sent the saleslady away?”
The breath left my chest. He wasn’t playing around. He was fully serious. Nicolai was the only Ravana I hadn’t gone further than just a kiss with, and his kisses were amazing. Truthfully, though, there was a part of me that thought maybe I couldn’t handle Nicolai. He was so intense, so powerful that it worried me I wouldn’t be enough. The way his eyes raked over my body eased that thought but intensified it at the same time. If any of the princes had experience, it was Nicolai. He was in this relationship one-hundred percent, but I also wanted to be enough for him. I wanted to meet his intensity, figure out what he liked and exceed his expectations. In layman’s terms, I wanted to rock his world because that was the confidence he was exuding. He was used to having women fall all over him, and I didn’t want to just do that. I wanted to meet him in the middle.
He touched my brow. “What’s wrong?”
I giggled nervously and flushed to my hairline. “Just thinking about you…and me. Together.”
“And it concerns you?” he guessed, his words coming out slow and unsure.
I shrugged. “Yes, and no. You’re just…a lot,” I said carefully.
“I scared you that one morning, didn’t I?” His words weren’t apologetic or remorseful, just inquiring. Now that was a difficult question to answer. They didn’t just scare me; they excited me too. A flash of heat hit me, and a burn started in my chest. Nic traced the blush down from my cheeks, through the entire length of my neck, and all the way down to my chest. He stared there for a while, his throat working. “You should probably try on something else. I’m not sure that one will be good to wear. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy torturing Connor like he did the rest of us, but this would just be pure cruelty. Even if he does deserve it, I couldn’t do it to him.”
He turned and made his way back to the settee as I spun and retreated to the changing room in a daze. I placed my forehead on the cool, wood door and gasped in a few breaths to slow my heartrate. How in the world did Nic do that to me? He made me want to lose all sensibilities. I almost let him touch me in front of all his brothers before, and here, now, if he would’ve moved forward to embrace me, I would’ve let him. Security cameras be damned because I would finally have gotten a taste of Nicolai Ravana, Mr. Dark, Sexy, & Badass.
I chose a dress from my own pile next hoping to quell the emotions flowing through both of us. The dress was black and tan lace with a high neckline. Very conservative, yet posh. It looked like something a royal would wear, or, at least I thought it did, which was why I chose it. Our end game was to still end up together and not have to hide, so the more I put myself out there as being equal to the Ravanas, the better it would be. That was my thinking anyway.
When I walked out, Nicolai was on the fancy sofa, his elbows on his knees. He stood as soon as I emerged and smiled. “Now that is a dress fit for a princess.”
“You sound like Connor,” I teased.
“Well, Princess Ri does have a good ring to it, doesn’t it?”
Even I wasn’t strong enough to act as if that name didn’t appeal to me. I smirked and looked down. Princess Ariana. Loved it. Not just for the name, but for the meaning behind it. Princess Ariana meant I had my princes forever and always.
Nicolai placed a finger under my chin and tipped my face up to him. He kissed me, a featherlight touch that begged a tingle to start in my toes. “I like this one. Maybe pile?”
I nodded and turned away, making sure my train followed me as I walked into the dressing room to try on something else. Since I’d just tried on one of mine, I looked through his choices again. There was a pretty blue fabric dress that caught my eye so I held it up to me. It looked relatively tame so I tried that one on next. I walked out, turned around, and held my hair out of the way so Nic could zip me up again.
It was tight, only flaring out at the waist.
I turned toward the mirror and caught a peek of skin. When I looked at it again, I found the reason why Nic chose this dress. It had a slit all the way up the side that didn’t stop until it hit my waist. The billowy fabric in the skirt hid it most of the time except when I walked. I took a step forward and tested that theory to find that my entire leg came out of hiding.
I lifted my eyebrows and looked at him. “Really?”
“You do have nice legs.”
“I love the color, but…”
Nic chuckled. “Let me explain something to you, Ri. None of my choices are going to be the dress. First off, I would never let you wear one of them in public until we’re allowed to be together in public so everyone knows hands off. My choices are designed to show off your body, not hide it or make it more regal. My choices are purely there to tempt me, and to show you how sexy you are.”
He dropped that word so easily, but I wasn’t sure anyone had called me sexy before. That was it though. That was the missing link as to why I was afraid to be with Nic. He was so sexy and he knew it. Me? I wasn’t sure I had a sexy bone in my body. “You really think that?”
Nic strode forward. He put his leg between mine, then reached down to hike my knee up on his hip. The fabric fell away, giving anyone in the store an ample view of every angle of my legs, up to and including the curve of my ass. We both looked at the mirror, and then he ran his hand up my thigh until his fingers curved around me. He squeezed, then massaged. I gripped onto him, my eyes fluttering closed. Just that one touch made my hips move. “Goddamn,” he moaned. Between us, I felt him hardening. His fingers prodded into my muscle, and a slow burn started in my core.
“Nic?”