Mistfall(Book One of the Mistfall Series)

2. Man’s Best Friend





After a quickie shower I was standing in front of my closet. There wasn’t anything in there I wanted to put on, so I put my jinn skills to work. I went with a shimmery, midnight blue halter top and a pair of boot cut jeans. Skinny jeans with stiletto boots were what I really wanted to wear, but you can’t fight in stilettos. One of these days I’m going to wear clothes for fashion and not function. I decided to keep going with the magic and made my hair curl up into perfect beachy coils. I kept my make-up simple, with a little black eyeliner and my favorite lip gloss, Pucker Up Pink.

“Now for the accessories,” I told myself. In the top drawer of my dresser are a few of my favorite weapons for concealing. I chose two daggers that I could slip in my boots for easy access and a few small throwing knives I could carry in a purse. I grabbed my jacket and headed out the door with Melissa.






After a ten minute drive and an off-key rendition of The Beatle’s ‘I Am the Walrus,’ we arrived at our destination. The Lamp was your typical club. It had an upstairs and downstairs bar along with a dance floor. The only thing of note was the sign for the club. Above the lettering was an oil lamp in bright neon yellow with a ridiculous green cartoon genie coming out of it. I hated that thing and had, on more than one occasion, used a little magic to short out the lights on it. Even amongst Otherworlders, we were stereotyped in the human fashion.

We met Melissa’s boyfriend, Owen, and the rest of the litter by the front doors. Owen and his pack weren’t bad guys, I just can’t’ stand werewolves. They can’t go anywhere without each other, have an insane jealous streak, and their machismo attitude makes me want to throw up on a good day.

I would have rather stayed home, but it had been a long week and I could use a drink or four.

Owen wasn’t a bad looking guy. He was tall, dark, and handsome. Being a werewolf, he was all muscle. There wasn’t a space on this guy’s body that wasn’t defined.

He put his arm around Melissa’s shoulders in a way that could only be considered possessive. I was surprised he hadn’t urinated on her and marked his territory.

“Hey babe,” he greeted Melissa and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. He then turned to me. “Mags, I want you to meet a friend of mine.” Owen gestured to his friend, “This is David.”

Sweet flippin’ Hades, the hound was setting me up! If looks could kill, Melissa would be dead. I was shooting lasers out of my eyes at her. She shrugged as if she didn’t know anything and gave me an apologetic smile. Left without a choice, I composed myself and forced out a smile.

I stuck my hand out. “Hi David, it’s nice to meet you.” I could be civil, well at least I could try. Even if he wasn’t a werewolf, he wouldn’t have been my type. He was short, stocky, and ginger. Ginger!

He took my hand in his and brought it to his lips with a lascivious gleam in his eyes, “The pleasure is all mine.”

I took every last bit of will power I had not to roll my eyes. Pretending to shiver, I said “It’s a bit chilly out here, why don’t we go in?”

I looked to Melissa for support. She knew me well and picked up at the obvious pleading in my eyes. “Come on Owen, Mags is right, it is cold out her.”

Instead of relinquishing my hand, David held onto it as we followed Owen and Melissa to the bouncer outside the door, with the rest of the dogs behind us.

Vin, the bouncer was a demon and built like a brick shithouse. He was menacing looking, even more so with black eyes. No irises, no whites, just pure midnight for eyes. He also just happened to be a big teddy bear where Melissa and I were concerned. We had helped him out of a sticky situation involving a pixie and handcuffs. Don’t ask, you don’t want to know.

“How are my two favorite Witches?” he grinned and pulled each of us under an arm and gave us a rib cracking squeeze.

If you didn’t know Vin, his voice alone could make you pee your pants. He was a demon. Demons have this weird voice where it sounds like three people talking at once. Sometimes it even caused me to shudder.

I should mention that to everyone else, I appear as a Witch. Thanks to a potion of Melissa’s, nothing about me screams jinn. One part of the potion works like the Mistfall. If someone was to look at me closely, it diverts their attention. The other part is glamour, making my eyes blue.

Melissa and I call her potion brew in case company is around. If it comes up, she just explains that I have some type of weird skin condition, embarrassing yet effective. I just have to remember to use my hands or make up some mumbo jumbo that sounds like a spell when I use my magic. I try to keep that at a minimum in public to lessen my chance of exposure. I owe that girl my very existence.

“Hi Vin,” we both squeaked under the mountains this guy had for arms. I swear I heard one of the wolves growl. Vin narrowed his eyes at them, but let us go. His cute and cuddly demeanor was replaced with his usual gruff. “I.D.’s,” he grunted in his creepy demon voice.

Should have asked for their dog tags, I humored to myself. They handed over their identification to Vin, albeit reluctantly. Shortly thereafter we walked through the doors, the rest of the pack dispersing, aside from Owen and David.

“Wow, it crowded in here tonight,” I yelled to Melissa over the sound of the music. She nodded back in agreement, while being led by Owen through the masses. The crowd on the dance floor was pulsating to Skrillex’s ‘Kyoto.’

When we got to the booth, Melissa slid in on one side and David put his hand on my waist, nudging me to sit down on the other side. I swatted at his hand but he just laughed, making some comment about, “liking them feisty.” I could feel one of the knives in my boot itching to be used.

“We’re going to the bar,” Owen addressed us. “What do you girls want to drink?”

“Rum and coke for me,” Melissa replied.

“Don’t worry, I got you covered,” David cut me off as he walked off with Owen.

Maybe I could just stab him a little.

“What the hell?” I admonished Melissa, my voice rising in decibel. “This guy is a total piece of work and if he touches me one more time he’s going to find the business end of my boot!”

She looked sheepishly down at her hands. “Honestly, I didn’t know Owen was going to set you up, but when he introduced you to David, I didn’t think you’d mind. He’s usually pretty laid back. I’m not sure what has him acting so foolishly.”

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Mags, do you think you could hold it together for one drink?” she pleaded. “It’s so loud in here you won’t have to talk to him that much and after were done, we can go and dance without the boys. Please? I promise I will make it up to you. It’s just that I really like Owen and I don’t want to end the night early.”

I was purposely avoiding eye contact with her, entirely way too interested in the invisible lint I was picking off my pants. If I didn’t owe this woman my life…It took me a few minutes, but I relented and glared back up at her and nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Thank you. We’ll have fun tonight,” she assured me.

“I’ll take your word for it.”

The boys returned with our drinks. David sat down next to me and handed me a martini glass with some mauve colored liquid that I couldn’t identify, replete with umbrella and cherries.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“It’s called a Purple People Eater,” he replied.

Melissa choked on her drink. While Owen was patting her back, telling her to slow down, I whipped my head up towards David and looked him straight in the eyes, looking for any hint of recognition on his face of what I am. Only a cocky grin, that had nothing to do with my identity, showed on his face. I turned my attention back to my drink, tossing the frou-frou stuff aside and downed it in two gulps. Slamming the glass back down on the table, I grabbed Melissa and we high-tailed it out onto the dance floor.

We didn’t get far enough into the crowd as I would’ve liked. Melissa wanted to stay on the outer edges so Owen could see her dance for him. He was eyeing her like she was his favorite bone which caused the bile to rise in the back of my throat. Avoiding the sex-hungry stare David was giving me, I looked up at the second floor. That’s when I saw him.


Someone was staring at me, at least, that’s what it seemed like. I grabbed Melissa’s arm and pointed towards the guy.

“Do you see that guy?” I asked her. “I could swear he was staring at me.”

She shook her head. “I don’t see anyone.”

I turned to the spot where the man was moments earlier and saw no one there now. “Maybe he was just looking at the crowd and it seemed like he was looking at you,” Melissa shouted over the music that had just gone into a screeching new decibel level.

I shrugged my shoulders, looked up one more time to make sure. Maybe I’m just still keyed up after the ghoul attack and David’s choice of drink for me. I gave up and returned to dancing. Three songs later, I was slightly more relaxed, having fun dancing with my best friend.

Melissa nudged me with her elbow halfway through the next song, “Owen and David are headed this way, if you’re still avoiding him.”

“Thanks girl, I’ll see you in a little while,” I told her and headed deeper into the crowd on the dance floor. After the song finished, I was a bit warm, so I headed up the stairs to the second floor where it was less crowded.





I ordered a real drink from the bar (SoCo on the rocks) and sat at one of the tables by the railing. I would be able to see if the dog ever headed in my direction. Melissa and Owen were still dancing below, gyrating against each other in a way that only pointed to the eventual outcome of their evening. Dog-themed sexual innuendos were running rampant through my head. Have to remember a few of them for tomorrow morning.

I took a nice long drink while scanning the rest of the crowd when I saw the stranger again, this time staring up at me. This was not a coincidence. He didn’t look like one of the monsters Iblis usually sent after me and he couldn’t be one of the Aelfadl, they don’t play cat and mouse, they just kill first and ask questions later. I finished my drink and headed down the stairs to find him.

I weaved my way through the crowd on the dance floor to where I saw the stranger a few minutes before, but he was nowhere to be found, again. A set of hands grabbed my waist from behind me, “You were looking for me?” he asked, his lips next to my ear. He was so close it was impossible not to smell him. His scent was earthy, like right after a rain storm, with undertones of fresh mown grass and pine. He was most certainly an elf. They all smelled like the forest, making them easy to spot.

I turned around, ready to demand to know why he was staring at me and hot damn he was gorgeous! The bronze god before me was wearing jeans and an un-tucked white dress shirt, his body stretching the material around his arms, chest, and thighs.

Mr. Sex Personified had a full head of sandy blonde hair, piercing turquoise eyes with gold flecks around the irises, and full lips you wanted to nibble on. I must’ve been lingering on him a bit too long because he cocked one eyebrow up and grinned at me. I could feel my cheeks turning scarlet but shook it off, not having time to be embarrassed.

“Why have you been staring at me all night?” I strained, trying to be heard above the music.

He took my arms, putting them around his neck and grabbed my waist, pulling me closer, his lips finding their way to my ear yet again. There was a distinct tingle going down my spine right before my body broke out in goose bumps.

“I was looking at you because you are beautiful and I found it hard to look anywhere else.”

He started moving in time with the music, leading me, while my brain went to mush.

“I..I don’t even know your name,” I stammered.

He pointed to his ear and shrugged, letting me know that he couldn’t hear me. I dropped my arms from his neck, settling on his chest to back away from him, feeling distinct ridges and valleys under my fingertips. I can’t say I wasn’t halfway interested to see him shirtless.

Unable to have a conversation in such close proximity to the speakers and him, I grabbed his hand and led him to the hallway in the back of the bar, near the bathrooms.

“Okay, what’s your name and why have you been staring at me all night? Do me a favor and give me the truth this time while you’re at it.” As flattering as his words are, I knew he was full of it. No one watches someone like a predator staking out its next meal without reason.

“My name is Luca. As for my story, I still claim what I said before. I will, however, add that I did not like seeing the wolf trying to paw his way all over you tonight. When I pulled you to me on the dance floor, it was to keep you from him. He was only a few steps from you. Luckily, his back was turned.”

I guess chivalry isn’t quite dead yet. “Oh, well, um, thank you and my name is Mags,” I said, tripping all over my tongue.

“Well Mags, I would like to buy you a drink, would you join me?”

“Sure, why not, but no Purple People Eaters please.”

He gave me a quizzical look. “What’s a Purple People Eater?”

“I haven’t a clue, but I definitely don’t want another.”

He brought his hand up and pointed to me. “Alright then, no crazy sounding drinks, but you have to promise me something.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Next time you come here you have to follow the rules, no pets allowed.” His straight face broke out into a huge grin and we both laughed at his joke. I told him that it wouldn’t be a problem.





Over the course of the next two drinks I found out a few things about Luca. He was twenty-seven, one of two children, and in town visiting a relative for the next two weeks. Good news for me, he only lived twenty minutes away on the Mistfall side of Eden, Kentucky.

I told him a little about myself, skirting around the truth as much as possible. I didn’t lie though. As hypocritical as it sounds, I’m big on trust, even when I’m omitting certain parts of my life that could get me killed. The redacted version included my parent’s death, my moving here, and sharing a house with Melissa.

I was pushing the ice around my empty glass with a straw deciding if I should have another, when I glanced at the clock above the bar. It was around midnight which gave me an hour to get home before the brew wore off. I could’ve stayed for one more, but didn’t want to push my luck.

“I should get going,” I told Luca.

“So soon?” he asked.

I nodded in response.

“Well, how about dinner tomorrow night? I’d like to see you again.

“That sounds like a good idea,” I replied, trying to not sound as excited as I really was.

We exchanged phone numbers and he offered to walk me to my car, but I had to find Melissa and get my jacket and purse. I thanked him for the offer, told him I was looking forward to dinner and walked away, his eyes on me until I disappeared into the crowd.

I made my way back to the booth, peeking around the people milling around in front of it. David was slouched down in the both intoxicated. Great, I thought, now I have to walk. At least I had my cell phone. We only lived two miles away so it was no problem to hoof it.

I sent Melissa a text: Hey girl, going home, gonna walk. Grab my purse/jacket? Thx.

The phone beeped. I looked at it to find that my message didn’t go through. 3G service…only when you’re outdoors because no one ever calls from inside a building. I put my phone back in my pocket. I would try and get a hold of her after I got home. I walked out the doors, said goodnight to Vin, and headed across the parking lot and into the adjacent park to cut through and shave ten minutes off my walk.






I was distracted, musing about the surprising turn of events in my night, so I didn’t hear David’s footsteps.

“Leaving so shoon shweetheart? I thought..hic..you and I were going to have a good time tonightsh.”

Fan-flipping tastic, I’ve got a drunk stray following me home. I turned around and saw David, drunk and staggering as he continued to walk towards me. I shook my head at him. “David, go back to the bar and leave me alone.” Please, please, please, I prayed to all the deities, hoping one could spare a second (They kept busy schedules).

“Why would I do that, shmexy?” he said while closing the distance between us.

“Because, I have no interest in you. Now go away before I call animal control!” I really wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation with a drunk and horny werewolf. Maybe I can magic him up a stuffed animal to hump.

The drunken look on his face was replaced by one of anger and hunger. And I don’t mean a t-bone and baked potato hungry either. “Now that wasn’t very nicesh of you to shay. I’ll give you one more chansh of coming over here baby. If you don’t, I’ll come over there and take whatsh mine, one way or another.”

That’s it, I’m going to neuter him. “So my choices are between letting you f*ck me or fight me? Well mongrel, I’m going to make it easy, I choose fight,” I snarled and dropped down to a crouch.

I freed one of the daggers from my boot and swiped up as he lunged at me, ripping through his pants, leaving a six inch gash along his thigh. My dagger wasn’t silver, so there wouldn’t be any lasting damage, but I could temporarily disable him long enough to make my escape.

Wolves are a little more special than the rest of us Otherworlders in terms of killing. Our weapons would hurt them, but unless the damage was severe, they healed easily. If you really wanted to hurt a wolf, have your weapons coated in silver. It screws up their healing, painfully prolonging it or causing death.

“You bitch! I’m going to make you pay for that!

His right hook made contact with my cheek, leaving me on my butt seeing stars. I could taste the blood from where he split my lip. I scurried back on my hands and feet, crab-like, to buy me precious seconds for my vision to recover. Looking through the stars, I could see he was no longer in control of his emotions. His body was becoming twisted and deformed, bones breaking and twisting into new shapes.

He was snarling and growling, in the throes of the change. I needed to do something quick before I had paws, claws, and snapping jaws to fend off and I didn’t think throwing a stick and playing fetch would do it.

When they change, werewolves are rather intimidating looking. They are about three feet tall on all fours and ten feet long, weighing in around two hundred pounds. I’m 5’8” and one hundred thirty pounds, you do the math.

I shuddered when I thought of the jaws. Becoming a butt-sniffing dog-jinn hybrid was not on my list of plans for the night. David was still immobilized in place mid-change as I headed back over to him, his transformation almost complete.

I wrested my other dagger loose and stabbed one up and through his snout, the other between his ribs, hopefully puncturing a lung. Backing away, I got caught by a paw, as he was full wolf now, his claws slicing away at my back. I fell to my hands and knees, screaming out in pain.

I felt as if I had been torn through with knives and now fire ran freely through my wounds. I couldn’t help the tears that were flowing freely. I palmed a fireball (I was created from fire, hence my natural tendency to use it), not worrying about exposing myself as a Iblian at this point. Before I got it off, David had tackled me to my back, his jaws inches from me.

He pulled the one blade out of his snout and gnashed his teeth at me, trying to find a meaty place to bite. I slammed the fireball quickly into his side so I could use both my hands to squeeze David’s neck as hard as I could. The smell of singed dog hair permeated the air around us as he howled in pain.

The gravel from the path I was lying on was digging into the gouges on my back, intensifying the agony I was already in. David kept snapping and batting his paws at me, trying to wear me out and it was working. I managed to find my one dagger still embedded in its chest. With one last surge of strength I grabbed it and twisted. He leapt off me with a yelp and fell to his side.

I could hear the gurgling as he attempted to breathe. He was going to be there for awhile until he healed and I didn’t want to be around when he did.

I dragged myself up onto my knees and took a few deep breaths, summoning all the strength I could to get up off the ground and make it to safety. It took me a few minutes to stand as I struggled through the pain and exhaustion. Quickly as I could muster I walked down the path, back towards the street, leaving the fur ball behind me.

The club was closer than home so I headed back that way, hoping Melissa was still there. If she had taken off, I could count on Vin to help me. I made it as far as the parking lot before collapsing on my back.

While lying there, I felt Melissa’s potion wear off. It felt like someone ripped a warm blanket off, exposing me to the cold air. Great, if help does find me, they’ll just kill me now. I should have been more worried about that, but the thought was quickly forgotten. My mind was focused solely on the torment I was in.

After what could have been minutes or hours I heard feet shuffling towards my head.

“Mags? Holy hell, what happened to you?”

I opened my eyes and saw Luca towering over me with a horrified expression on his face. “Wolf,” I half whispered, still in shock, too exhausted to try and talk.”

He bent down to pick me up and I groaned when his hands touched the already painful wounds. Luca carried me to his car and paused before opening the door.

“I’m sorry. If I had walked you out none of this would have happened.”

“Not your fault,” I murmured in another half sentence.

Luca set me down as gently as he could in the seat before making his way to the driver’s side. He sat silent a moment, swore something unintelligible under his breath and started the car.

“Mags, I can take care of the wounds, but we need to get out of here. Where do you live?”

I gave him the directions, leaned my head on the cool glass of the window and closed my eyes while he drove away.

I didn’t want to move an inch by the time we pulled into my driveway. I begged Luca to let me sleep where I was.

“If I leave you where you are then you have to come home with me tonight,” he gently teased me and chuckled softly.

It hurt too much to laugh, so I just groaned and rolled my eyes at him.

“Do you think you can walk?” he asked

“I think so, but I’ll need your help.”

He came over to my side of the car, opened the door and helped me up. I felt lightheaded and steadied myself against his arms. I looked back to the car and saw that there wasn’t an inch of the seat that wasn’t now covered by blood, my blood.

Luca let me lean against him as he helped me inside, his warm body cocooning me like a safety net. He deposited me softly on the couch while he went around turning on the lights.

“Mags, I need clean rags, water, some herbs, and a few other things.” He listed off what he needed and I directed him, to the kitchen where Melissa kept her spell ingredients and the bathroom, for the rest of what he was looking for.

He laid everything in front of me on the coffee table and handed me a towel. “Um, you’re going to have to take off your shirt and, um, bra so I can clean you up,” he said with a slight pink rising in his cheeks.


“Oh. Could you give me a minute please?”

Luca acknowledged my need for a little privacy and turned his attention to the make-shift first aid kit while I struggled to get out of my shirt. My top was shredded, caked in blood and dirt. All things considered, I was more upset about the ruined halter top than the current state of my body. I really liked that top and it looked good on me.

After I had adjusted the towel to cover the appropriate parts of me I didn’t want on display, Luca gave me something he said would take away the pain. It looked like tar and smelled even worse. He promised me it wasn’t as bad as it looked. He lied. Tree bark and battery acid would’ve tasted better. It took me a few minutes to swallow it down, in between the gagging. Not long after, I started to feel the drink’s effects. It made me a bit woozy, but numbed the pain and sedated me.

Once I was feeling the full effects of Luca’s pain remedy, he had me lie down on the floor so he could clean the wound. His fingers were gentle and cool, comforting against the fire that surrounded the gouges in my back.

Maybe it was a side effect of the medication, but I was thinking of his hands on me in a more inappropriate manner. The thought caused goose bumps to break out against my skin and I shivered.

“Are you okay?” There was a tone of concern in his voice.

I turned bright red and it was a good thing my face was against the floor, turned away from him.

“I’m fine, it’s just a bit cold,” I lied, praying he couldn’t hear the nervousness in my voice.

“I’ll be done soon and then you can put on something warmer.” His voice was caring and soft which didn’t help me focus on cleaner thoughts.

“I could wrap myself around you to warm up,” I murmured.

He coughed. “What did you say?”

Oh crap! I said that out loud. Stupid pain potion! I tried to use the fog of the pain meds to cover my verbal diarrhea and prayed he hadn’t heard what I said.

“What was that?” I asked him.

“You were saying something about arms, legs, and me, I think.” Damnit, he did hear me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, trying to sound half out of it. Yep, not only did he hear me, but he knew exactly what I had said, word for word. Being a gentleman, he said nothing more about it and continued his ministrations on my injuries.

I must have fallen asleep because I was being gently prodded and Luca’s deep velvet timbre was floating around in my ears.

“Mags…Mags, open your eyes for me.”

I was a bit groggy, but opened my eyes, finding myself in bed. “How did I get in here?” I asked him.

“I brought you in after I finished binding your back. I thought you would be more comfortable in here while I worked on the injury to your face.”

Instinctively, I brought my hand to my cheek, wincing at the bruise that had formed from where the mutt had hit me.

Luca bent over me and brushed my hand away from my face, replacing it with his own. His thumb lightly caressed my bruised cheek and I closed my eyes, relishing in his gentle touch.

“Thank you,” I said.

“You don’t need to thank me Mags. If I had walked you out of the club this wouldn’t have happened and I can’t forgive myself for that.”

I opened my eyes and looked at the remorse and genuine concern on his face. “Luca…” I began to say he nothing to apologize for, when my brain kicked into high gear and I realized the brew had worn off earlier. My eyes grew wide and panic set in.

“You know what I am. Please, I’m not like the rest of them, don’t turn me in,” I pleaded as I shot up into a sitting position, grabbing the towel and keeping it firmly in place. My eyes darted around the room like a cornered animal, trying to find possible escape routes and potential weapons.

“Mags, calm down, you have nothing to worry about.” He grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “Your secret is safe with me, I promise. You need to relax though or your wounds won’t heal.

I scoffed. Like I was going to relax being found out by someone I had just met. I didn’t know where his loyalties lied.

“Everyone wants me dead, why should you be any different?” I demanded.

“For starters, I’m not everyone else,” he scolded, making me feel like a child. “The issue with your kind was a long time ago. Surprised as I am that you even exist, I doubt you carry your ancestor’s politics. Besides, I reserve the right to pass my own judgment on the character of others.”

Relief washed over me and I reclined back, thanking my lucky stars that I survived the attack and though, found out, wasn’t going to be strung up by my toes.

“I’m guessing you use some sort of glamour?” Luca asked and I nodded in return. “That would explain a few things,” he mused.

“Like what?”

“The fact that I could feel something was different about you, but when I tried studying you, I found myself distracted.

Luca had already found me out, so I didn’t see why I couldn’t tell him about the brew. I explained its inner workings. He found it rather ingenious.

He ran his index finger across my mouth. “You’re lip has healed and your bruise is already fading, but your back will still need a few hours. I suggest you rest and let the binding do its work,”

I had no argument with being told to sleep. My eyes were already drooping.

“You’re not driving home tonight, are you?” I asked. The bags developing underneath his eyes told me that he was well beyond tired. “You can stay here,” I offered before he had the chance to answer. “There are extra pillows and blankets. You can sleep on the couch.”

Luca’s eyes swept the room and he pointed to the overstuffed lounge chair in the corner. “I’ll stay here, the chair will be fine. I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re healed.” He gave me a small smile before he furrowed his brow and got lost in thought. I was going to ask him what he was thinking about, but never got the chance. His face evened out and he looked at me with a half-cocked smile.

“Before you go to sleep, there’s something I need to do. Something I’ve regretted not doing since you left The Lamp earlier.”

Confusion and curiosity danced through my mind at his comment “What’s that?”

Luca didn’t answer but leaned in, his hands entwining themselves in my knotted hair.

“This,” he smiled, bringing his lips within an inch of mine.

He paused only momentarily making sure I was receptive of his offering. When I didn’t back away he closed the short distance, enveloping my lips in his. His lips were soft and full, the kiss gentle. His tongue swept lightly across my lips and that tingle from earlier returned, only this time it went straight south and melted.

He broke away too soon, before our kiss had a chance to deepen. I think he did that on purpose, knowing that I hated the manhandling David had given me earlier at the club. I smiled at him awkwardly (You know the smile. The one you get the first time you kiss someone.) and could feel the flush rising in my face.

“No regrets?” I asked, filling in the silence.

“Not where you’re concerned,” Luca replied cheerfully, his perfect white teeth gleaming through the grin plastered on his face.

He let go of me, somewhat reluctantly and I settled down in bed while he took the chair. “Good night gorgeous” was the last thing I heard when I closed my eyes, letting the exhaustion pull me fully into dreamland.