Blood Debt (Touched Series Book 1) (42 page)

I wanted to feel his skin on mine
. 
I buried my face
in
his chest as my arms wrapped around him.  He smelled wonderful, he felt incredible
– his muscular frame and warm skin invited me to lose the robe. 
I loosened the tie and let the robe fall to the floor.
  Drake took a couple steps back, taking me in.
 
He leaned in toward me,
scooped me up in his arms,
and carried me to the bed, his lips
pressed lightly to mine.  I
didn’t know
how far he intended to go, and I wasn’t sure I
possessed the willpower to
put
any
brakes on.

Drake la
y
me gently on the bed and slid in behind me.  His hand stroked my arm,
from the top of my shoulder to the tip of my fingers
, up and down
, countless
times. 
His touch
generated
goose bumps all over my body while h
e kissed the back of my neck
just under my hairline all the way to
my shoulders
.  His caresses were tender
,
and without words I could feel the turmoil in his touch
.  I could hear his breathing was heavy
,
and I felt like he had poured an accelerant on me
-
I was on fire.  When I thought I could take no more, he exhaled a warm breath by my ear, “
Remember that day at
Andolini’s
?
-
I told you I would combust
?  T
hat was me being sweet.
” I did remember his words just before I drove away
,
and his admission made me smile.  Drake added, “
I’m
not being sweet
. 
I seriously
feel like I’m going to combust
.”

“Oh sure,
you’re
going to combust?”

His breath was haggard, his voice strained,
“I had intended to be a perfect gentleman, but intentions sometimes go by the wayside.”

“You
will
be a perfect gentleman
. 
I’ll go switch this getup for some sweatpants if I have to. 
W
e both know my fiancé is across the hall.”
  I tried to be funny, but missed my mark by a long shot.

His lips froze in position on my shoulder
. 
I knew my words struck a nerve. 
“
We need to figure out how to get that damn necklace off you.  I want to disappear with you
, Camille.”

“
I’m all ears if yo
u have an idea
.”

“If you could, would you run away with me?”

I didn’t have to think of my response. 
“
Faster than an Olympic sprinter
.” 

Drake
hugged me hard from behind
.  I
t felt like his arms were a vice
,
and I was so tight against him
,
I could feel his muscles flex behind me.
  I had found my heaven right here on earth
in Drake’s arms.
 
I was surprise
d
when he
blurt
ed
out,
“
Break your engagement with Gage.
”

“You know I can’t.  I’m not the one
who
set it up to begin with.”

“It’s still your choice.
 
Choose me.
”

“Drake, you hardly know me.”

“What do I need to know that I don’t already know?”

“Lots of things
.
”  I struggled, before my mouth started spewing random things about me.  “
I like to sleep
in the middle of the afternoon
.  I like to snow ski on the bunny slope
,
and I’m terrified I’m going to fall off the lift chairs.  I hate baseball, not dislike
-
hate.
  I miss Starbucks White Mocha Latte.  I
can’t ride a bicycle
.  You don’t know anything about me.
”

“You think because I didn’t know that, I don’t know you well enough to marry you?”

“I think if life were fair
,
I could choose to go back to my old life
:  n
o mind reading, no knowledge of the future, no magical powers.  I’d be free to go to the movies
,
lay on the beach, laugh at
Youtube
videos
,
and
do
everything I used to love.”

His voice was pleading,
“We can do that, Camille.”

“That’s the thing
,
Drake. 
Why does it have to be all or
nothing
?
  I’m being forced to marry a guy I
hardly
know
, who
is in love with someone else.  You’re asking me to break the engagement I never wanted
,
so I can choose to marry you.  I’m
twenty-two
.  T
here are too many things I haven’t done yet.
”

“So we’ll do those things together.”

“What if I want to do them myself?”  I could see my words stung him.  I tried to lessen the hurt by explaining, “Maybe it would be different if I had grown up knowing what I was or at least what was expected of me.  But I didn’t.  I grew up my way.
I couldn’t care less if my family’s
blood line
doesn’t go on.
I don’t need someone else to be happy
;
I just need not
to
be a prisoner
.”

Drake eased himself away from me
.  H
e didn’t look at me when he answered,
“But
you couldn’t be happy with me
?”

I shook my head.  “Maybe you.  Or maybe a high school history teacher, or maybe a commercial fisherman.  Life can’t be scripted, Drake.
”  It felt good to say to Drake what had been boiling under my skin since I found out about all these crazy traditions.  “
I’
m willing to
make a deal with you.”

I knew I’d hurt him, but it was only fair he know the real me.  “If we get out of this mess, we’ll date. . . my way.  No escorts, no supervision, none of the crap everyone’s been trying to shove on me.  We’ll go to the movies.  If we have a good time and we both want to
,
we’ll go on a second date, then a third. 
If – and that’s a big if – years later we both get to the point that we can’t live without each other, then we talk about forever.  Deal?”

“I don’t need years to know you’re the one I want, Camille.”

“That sucks, Drake, because I do.  I want time.  I want to. . .”
I squeezed his arms that
had gone slack around me
, “savor you.  Get to know you.  I want something more than just a physical attraction.  I don’t want you to miss me while we’re apart
. 
I want your whole body to ache, to go through withdrawals
for me
.  When we get to that, if we ever get there, that’s when we’ll know we’re right for each other.”

“If that’s your measure, my body aches right now
,
and it has since the first day I saw you at Bruce’s wedding.”
 

“
Have you heard anything I’ve said? 
I don’t know anything about you. 
I’m all for running off with you and disappearing for a while, but I’m not
ready to marry anyone
.
  Unless I’m forced into it with Gage, it’s not
going to happen
.
”

“Camille,
we’ll find a way to get you out of this betrothal.
”  He waited a long minute before he continued, “
I’ll go along with you.  We’ll do things your way.  But I don’t need years, or months, or weeks – if I could get you to see through my eyes, to feel through my heart, you’d understand why I think the process you just laid out is ludicrous.  I know my heart.  When you decide that I really am the one,
trust me,
I’ll never let you regret it.  We’ll stay like this forever, fused as one.”

His words were like a drug
,
and I
,
an addict
,
desperately in need of a fix.  I rolled over so that we faced each other
;
my hand swept his face.  I studied him, worried that he,
like everyone else in my life I cared about
, would soon be taken away from me.  I traced his lips with my finger, touched his face with my palm
,
and ran my fingers into his hair.  Drake was beyond attractive
:
his ice blue eyes
held me in a trance
.  I said nothing
. 
I wanted to take him in, memorize everything about him.
 
I didn’t want to end our moment
,
but the self-preservation side of me took over.  I knew if we kept this up, he was right:  I would fall in love with him.  It wouldn’t be a crush or blind lust, it would be the rip-out-your-heart, falling
-
off
-
a
-
cliff love that comes once in a lifetime.  I would be devastated on my wedding night
to Gage
, a hollow shell of a person losing someone forever
whom
I could never have
. 
“
What are we doing?”  My question caught him off guard.

Drake smiled at me as he whispered,
“We’re acquainting ourselves with each other, Love
.
”
  His voice was happy, content
, but it turned amused when he added, “Unless you have a better activity in mind for this evening.”

I could feel the hopelessness of the situation seeping in.  Making plans to date was ridiculous when any hope for a future other than the one forced on us wasn’t possible.  “
I’m marrying Gage in a few weeks
,
and you’re marrying Bianca.  There’s nothing either of us can do to stop it.”

“
B
reak your engagement with Gage.”

“This stupid necklace would take my head completely off if I said that out loud.”

Quietly, he said,
“
Camille, we need help.  There has
to be some way to get it off.
”

“How?  We’re out of options, Drake.  All we’re doing now is
making the heartbreak worse - putting off our own goodbye
.”

He turned my face to him so I was forced to look in his eyes,
“
I can’t give you up.  Even if
it’s
just a few nights together, I want them.
”  I looked away, knowing his words cut clear through to my soul.  “
It’s better than a lifetime of regret for ignoring what little time together we
were
afforded
.  I’ll take what I can get, Camille
.”

“So, this is it?  I l
ie
here with you, praying that we’ll have one more night tomorrow
,
and the next after that
.  We’re going to run out of tomorrows. 
We
can’t wish the dawn away.”

“
For now, l
ive in the moment, Love.”  This time his voice was heavy with the same desperation I was feeling.
  He tried to comfort me by pulling me closer, and I tried to be comforted by drawing him in.  The feeling wouldn’t go away
.  O
ur nights were numbered, and our time together nearly over after it had just begun.
 

I wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince me or himself. 
“Gage is one of the most cunning men I know.  He may have a plan he hasn’t shared with me yet.  Don’t give up on us
;
we’ll find a way.”  Drake drifted off to sleep before I did; he spoke to me while he was sleeping.  I don’t know how many times I heard it before I drifted off with him, but I fell
asleep to the sound of Drake
’
s whispers, their own soft lullaby
: 
 
“Choose me, Love, choose me.” 
 

The next morning was much the same as our first
,
with
Gage knocking on my door
.  He
didn
’
t come
in
,
nor
did he allow
the guard
entry t
o my room.  I hid Drake in the closet, although I could hardly tear myself away from him.  I would have welcomed an eternity in
Zandra
’s prison if it meant that I could spend every night with Drake.
  I stole one final kiss as I closed the closet door.