Tales of the Djinn: The Guardian (11 page)

“In the bedroom,” Elyse answered
reluctantly.

Cara hugged her when she came in. Her skin
was cold and she smelled expensive. “Hey, sweetie. I came to see if
you were joining us for dinner. Not that,” she added, gently
returning the navy pantsuit she was considering to the rack. “How
about your red dress with the low shoulders? It puts color in your
cheeks.”

“Bare shoulders are as bad as cleavage,”
Elyse said without thinking.

Cara looked at her. Oh, this was going to be
awkward.

“I have a date,” she admitted.

Cara’s eyebrows went up. “Aren’t you the sly
one? Who with?”

“Arcadius.”

Elyse returned her attention to the closet.
She knew she didn’t want to witness the expressions crossing her
cousin’s face. Arcadius might not have realized Cara was flirting
this morning, but Elyse knew better. The idea that Elyse could have
caught his interest instead would seem ridiculous to her.

Cara took a second to find her voice. “Your
new tenant, Arcadius?”

“I don’t know any other men by that
name.”

“But . . . you barely know him. And David’s
only been gone two months.”

“It’s not a serious date,” Elyse said.
Probably it wasn’t, she being who she was.

“What about the sidekick?”

In spite of her qualms, Elyse pulled the red
dress out and looked at it. “As far as I know, Joseph’s not
invited.”

“As far as you know.”

Frowning, she hung the red dress back up and
pulled out her trusty LBD. The dress’s cut flattered her slim
curves but showed zero cleavage. She held it up to herself,
confirming it didn’t expose too much leg either. Would wearing
black count as reminding Arcadius she was in mourning? And if it
did, was that a bad thing?

“Elyse!” Cara said.

“What?” Elyse asked, startled by her
exasperated tone. She guessed she’d been zoning out.

“You need to be a little careful. Don’t get
all—” she pulled a comic face “—like you did with David.”

“All what?” she asked, not understanding the
semaphore.

“Don’t throw your judgment out the window
just because this man pays you more attention than you’re used
to.”

“My judgment was fine when it came to
David.”

Cara pulled the face again.

“It was!” Exasperated now herself, Elyse
plunked her hands on her hips. “You never gave David a fair shake.
You were always running him down, rolling your eyes at the nice
things he did and said. You only introduced him by accident when he
came to visit with that ex of yours. From the start, he treated me
like I mattered, like I wasn’t a two-year-old. I would have loved
him for that alone.”

“Jeez,” Cara said. “Sorry for ruffling your
feathers.”

Elyse knew she was supposed to say she was
sorry too. Rather than give in to the urge, she pressed her lips
together stubbornly.

Cara heaved a dramatic sigh. “Fine. Consider
the subject dropped. I’ll tell Dad you made other plans for
tonight.” Her cousin’s anger was already fading. She smiled at
Elyse indulgently. “Wear the red,” she advised, wagging her finger
playfully. “Recent widow or not, you need to show that man what
Solomon women are made of.”

~

Against her better judgment, Elyse wriggled
into the shoulder-baring deep red dress. Her reflection in the
closet mirror told her Cara was right. She looked sexy, and the
dress did throw color into her cheeks. Pinning her hair up hid how
much it needed a cut and style. Her flatiron
might
have
helped, but if she weren’t careful, the straightener just made her
hair more insane. Cara was luckier on that front. She’d inherited
Aunt June’s hair. Elyse put on a necklace, then took it off. Ditto
for a delicate diamond tennis bracelet David had given her on her
birthday. She’d have gone without makeup except the shadows under
her eyes needed concealing. She pulled on hose, not stockings, and
slid into a pair of taller than usual black heels.

Her heart clenched a little when she surveyed
the end result. Within their frame of mascaraed lashes, her eyes
sparkled. She looked like a woman who was excited to see a man.

Maybe she shouldn’t have put on real
lipstick?

Her phone rang before she could wipe it
off.

“Solomon Property Management,” she answered,
per usual.

“Elyse,” Arcadius responded in his sexy
baritone. “I’m in front with the vehicle. If you’re ready, I’ll
come up and knock.”

He was calling to see if he could come up and
knock? Then the light bulb went off. “You bought yourself a cell
phone.”

“It is bright blue with an ocean wave
pattern! I can surf the net on it.” He wasn’t quite crowing, but he
was close.

Elyse smiled to herself. He’d wanted to use
his toy. “I look forward to admiring it.”

“Are you ready then?” he asked in a more
moderate tone.

She glanced at her reflection, reluctantly
relinquishing her chance to swap out red lipstick for colorless.
“I’m ready. I’ll come down and meet you. No need to run the
meter.”

When she stepped out onto the front stoop,
she didn’t find the taxi she expected. Arcadius had hired a shiny
white limo. For a moment, she couldn’t move. No one had picked her
up for a date in a limo since her high school prom—and that ride
had been shared between three couples.

Arcadius waited on the sidewalk, holding the
rear door open. His gorgeousness put the vehicle in the shade. He’d
left off his Cossack hat, possibly deciding it was too eccentric
for a date. Elyse had liked the thing for precisely that reason.
Still, she couldn’t deny he looked like a million sexy bucks in his
slick European overcoat and suit. He was tall and built in a pale
blue dress shirt and dark trousers, his sober necktie smoothed down
his front just so. She was glad her own coat was buttoned. She
totally wasn’t ready for him to see her outfit.

Ordering her legs to work, she continued down
the steps.

“Is this all right?” he asked, his amazing
eyes studying her expression. “The limousine seemed nicer than a
cab.”

She felt dazed as he took her hand to assist
her in. She’d forgotten to grab gloves. His palm—which pretty much
swallowed hers—was warm. As his long fingers curled around hers,
they felt both smooth and strong.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, conscious she was
a bit throaty. “You didn’t have to fuss so much.”

“Ah,” he said. “My apologies.”

He slid in after her and shut the door. He
didn’t actually seem sorry for overdoing. He was too confident a
male for that. She couldn’t help noticing he filled a lot more of
the seat than her. He wasn’t trying to crowd her, though his
greater size created an undeniably pleasant sense of vulnerability.
The limo rolled away from the curb. There must have been a driver,
but Elyse couldn’t tear her gaze from Arcadius’s handsome face to
check.

She guessed he noticed. His lips curved
slightly. “You’re beautiful tonight.”

“The magic of make-up,” she managed to
respond.

Arcadius caught her chin with one finger,
gently turning her face from side to side. Light though the contact
was, it set her nerves humming.

“No,” he said. “I’m pretty sure it’s
you.”

She blushed like a schoolgirl.
Don’t
squirm
, she ordered herself a second before she did. The move
forced her to realize her panties were dampening. “You, uh, were
going to show me your phone.”

“Was I?” Arcadius’s smile deepened as he
leaned in to her. “I think my former intentions have slipped my
mind.”

She wanted to head him off by saying his name
but no longer had the breath. His big hand cupped her cheek as
lightly as his finger had held her chin.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said.

Was she afraid? Her lips certainly trembled
as he brushed his across them. Gosh, his mouth was soft. And warm.
And he smelled amazing up close like this. His hand slid behind her
neck, his fingers supporting her skull as its weight fell back
helplessly. His lips pressed a little harder, their softness
molding over hers.

His tongue touched the very center of their
closed seam.

Elyse found herself clutching his coat’s
lapels as if this were her protection against drowning. That seemed
a real danger. Her panties had gone from damp to wet. He moved his
hand again, sliding his big palm across her shoulder and down her
tweed coat’s sleeve. Was Arcadius breathing harder? She couldn’t
tell over the sudden thundering of her heart. He squeezed her elbow
through the cloth, and a zing shot straight from the nerves there
to her clit. Elyse gasped against his lips in shock. Her nipples
had just hardened like they’d been pinched. Arcadius smiled, kissed
her one more time very softly, and backed away. Elyse blinked
rapidly.

“I had to do that,” he said.

“Well,” was all she could think to say. She
pressed one hand to her mouth, aware her lips were buzzing. David’s
first kiss, which had included considerably more tongue, hadn’t set
off fireworks this intense. To her dismay, she didn’t have the
presence of mind to feel disloyal.

“Should I apologize?” he asked.

His voice was deeper than before, and his
blue gray eyes smoldered.
Bedroom eyes
, she thought, a fresh
rivulet of heat escaping her sexual folds. She really,
really
wanted to check out his crotch, to see if he was
affected too.

“Um,” she said. “No?”

He chuckled at her lack of certainty and sat
back against the seat. His face was still turned to her, his
expression hot and sleepy. He’d sprawled his knees, but she
resisted the temptation to peek between them. When he ran his
tongue across his lips, she shivered.

“This is going to be an entertaining night,”
he observed.

The gleam in his eyes made her as nervous as
his kiss. She knew she shouldn’t say what she did next even before
the words blurted out. “I guess this settles the question of if
you’re gay.”

His dark eyebrows arched upward. “What?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t really think you
were—and there wouldn’t be anything wrong with it—just, well,
Joseph
did
call you ‘master.’ You know, like master-slave
and . . .” She trailed off. Arcadius was staring at her as if she’d
spoken an alien tongue.

A moment later, he shook his head and pulled
himself straighter. “Joseph must have been confused about the term.
I’m his employer, not his master. We don’t have that kind of
relationship.”

“Right.” Elyse’s hands clenched her knees as
she fought not to mention how fluent Joseph’s English was.
Way
to go
, she thought.
A guy gives you one great kiss and you
insult his manhood
. Her dating skills were beyond rusty. She
snuck a look at him.

“Our work here is sensitive,” Arcadius
said—not angrily, thank goodness. “It’s easier and safer if Joseph
and I live together.”

She supposed gem dealing was dangerous. And
he and Joseph came from a different culture. Maybe in his country,
two straight guys sharing a one-bedroom was no big deal.

She
would
have shut up if Cara and her
uncle’s digs about her judgment hadn’t prodded her. “Why my
building? Why live in a basement apartment when you can afford
better?”

Arcadius smiled. He’d relaxed, his clothes
whispering on the limo’s leather as he turned on the seat toward
her. His tone was teasing. “Are you trying to convince me to move
out?”

“No,” she said. “As your landlady, your
reasons aren’t my business. As your . . . date, I admit I’m
curious.”

“We’re very superstitious. Your building had
the qualities we look for.”

“Like good feng shui?”

“Something like that.”

Elyse wondered what their superstition said
about violent murders taking place a stone’s throw away.

Her mouth must have made a funny shape.
Arcadius brushed her lower lip with his thumb. “Could you not worry
for one evening?”

“Maybe,” she said none too surely.

Arcadius seemed to find that amusing.

~

Arcadius wasn’t amused. He pretended to be,
but her assumption took him aback. She’d thought he was a lover of
men?
Him?
Whom countless women had fought to bed? Maybe he
was silly to take offense. His calculatedly gentle kiss had moved
her . . . until she started babbling about him and Joseph being gay
S&M lovers. He couldn’t help but scowl at that. If he was going
to make anyone his sexual captive, it was her. He’d very much enjoy
chaining her to a bed for a night or two.

He tugged the crease of his trousers,
conscious of how strongly the kiss had affected him—too strongly,
considering how circumspect it had been. He was uncomfortably hard,
as if the pole for a battle standard were planted between his legs.
Elyse cleaned up well, as the humans said. Her tapering ankles in
those high-heeled black shoes were impossible not to fixate on.

She’d be perfect wearing heels, a collar, and
nothing else.

Arcadius’s engorged cock throbbed more
energetically. He shouldn’t have let that image into his head. For
that matter, he should have satisfied his lusts in the shower last
night. To hell with discipline. He was supposed to be in control of
tonight’s seduction.

“Is this it?” Elyse leaned slightly across
him toward the window. Her neck was exquisite with her hair pinned
up. Belatedly noting the car had stopped, Arcadius glanced
outside.

“Yes,” he said gruffly.

The forgotten driver had gotten out. Crisp
and polite in his uniform, he opened the door for Arcadius. Humor
crinkled his eyes, so probably he’d seen them kissing in his
mirror. He stepped back as Arcadius emerged. “You got my number,”
he said in a thick New York accent. “Call me when you want to be
picked up.”

Arcadius nodded at him and helped Elyse out
himself.