Page 193 of Powerhouse: Boxed Set
Lucian Morelli stared back at me.
“Wait!” I called to Tristan. “Please look. He’s right there.”
But no.
It’d been years since Tristan had used the force of his frame against me, looming so tall over mine. He tugged me along with him, and I tried to yank him back, but his motion was too intense, jolting me straight into his chest and along with him through the backstage doorway.
“Enough,” he said, and held me tight. “I mean it, Elaine. Just fucking enough. Stop losing your head over Lucian fucking Morelli, or I’ll have to do something. I’ll have to warn someone, just to make sure you stay far away from him, to make sure you stay safe.”
His words were enough to stop me in my tracks, and I gulped in one hell of a breath at the thought. He was scared for me, his arms tense. Petrified for my life, desperate to keep me safe, even if it cost me an ocean of hell all around me.
And he was right.
He was right to be petrified for me. If Lucian Morelli was committed to chasing me down enough to head into the Meatpacking District, an area of the city he’d normally turn his nose up at, then there was no way I’d make it out of his hunt alive.
I needed champagne. Lots of it. At least there was a chance Blue Hawk would have a decent damn bottle of fizz backstage.
I made myself laugh, pasting on as happy a smile as I could manage. “You’re right,” I told him and made a crazy motion around my head. “Let’s go in and check out your conquest. At least I can gaze at the other Morelli look-alike up close this time.”
Tristan sighed and wrapped his arm around me, then led us to the dressing rooms.
“Gaze at that one as much as you like, just keep your damn head away from the real one.”
CHAPTER TEN
Lucian
I’d been aghostly shadow that leapt out to bite her, her eyes open wide as Tristan tugged her away. She’d known it was me.
The thrill inside me was magnificent, my mouth watering as I pictured her shock and horror—and something else. I’d felt something else in her stare.
She wanted me.
Just like she had when she was a plaything in my grip at the Constantine ball, she wanted me.
Holy fuck, I despised myself for it, but I wanted her too. I wanted her tight little slit.
This was about more than her being my wife. It should be about taking over Morelli Holdings. It should be about a big oldfuck youto my father. But more than that, it was about sex. Base. Feral. Elemental.
I pulled myself together as I headed for the exit, talking some damn fucking sense into myself. I wanted to destroy her little body.That’swhat I wanted. That’s theonlything I wanted.
There were drunken clusters of people outside the bar when I stepped out onto the sidewalk. I ignored the line of people hailing cabs, and instead found an empty few feet of shadows to wait for her. The front entrance finally swung open almost an hour later.
There she was, stumbling, almost taking a fall before Tristan grabbed hold of her and held her tight. She was swaying and gesturing him away, and I smiled to myself inside.
The Blue Hawk guy came out after them, and her friend was practically drooling in adoration.
I knew Tristan had somewhere he wanted to be going, and it sure as fuck didn’t involve Elaine Constantine screwing his chances of getting dick tonight.
Sure enough, she pulled away from him, shrugging as she stumbled and pointed at an approaching cab down the street. He called her back to him, gesturing, but she waved him away, clearly insisting she’d be fine as the cab pulled up next to her.
Tristan stared, torn. His musician friend was determined to pull him along in his direction, just as much as Elaine was determined to leave.
Her good friend Tristan hovered. Stalled. And then he gave in to them.
He held up a hand, signaling he’d call her, before heading down the street after a promise of dick, leaving Elaine alone with just a cab to protect her. I knew it. There was no damn way the Constantines would have ever let her head downtown, let alone with no damn security cover.
I hailed a cab quickly and shoved a few hundreds through the window. “Follow them,” I grunted at the driver, and again, he spun in his seat to face me.
