The Demon's Song: Paranormal New Adult Romance Page 8

  “It was lovely,” Cadence said. She wanted to stand, but she seemed frozen in place.

  “Do you play?” Draven asked her as he stepped towards her.

  “No,” she shook her head. “My parents tried to force me into piano, but I couldn’t get into it. The teacher slapped my fingers when I messed up and I usually ended up in tears. I couldn’t even get through Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

  “You just need the right teacher,” Draven said, his voice low and rich. “Come,” he said as he held out his hand to her. “Let me show you.”

  Nerves crept over Cadence and even the wine couldn’t stop them. Still, she put her hand in Draven’s and let him help her to her feet.

  “Sit here,” he instructed as he moved the plush, antique chair he’d been sitting on towards her.

  Cadence did as she was told and waited while Draven moved the cello closed to her. With a gentle hand, he parted her knees and she waited while he worked to ensure the setup was right for her.

  “Now,” he said as he handed her the bow. “Just relax.”

  Behind her, she heard him pull the piano bench closer to her and her breath caught in her throat as he sat down right behind her. She could feel the heat coming off of him and it made her shudder, but she didn’t protest.

  “Here,” he said as he took her left hand in his. “Just follow my lead.”

  Cadence moved her fingers with Draven’s as he placed them on the strings. His touch was gentle and kind as they pressed their fingers to the neck of the cello.

  With his other hand, he found her left hand and brought it and the bow up to the cello. “Loosen your grip,” he instructed her before he brought the bow to the strings. “Now, play.”

  The melody that flowed from the cello as Draven guided her with a gentle touch was slow and simple, but nothing less than beautiful. Their song drowned out the rain as Draven moved her fingers and soon he let go of the bow and let her move it across the strings on her own.

  With his hand now free, Draven’s fingers found Cadence’s waist and he let them rest there while they played together. His cheek met hers and she could feel his lips so close to her own. He was so close to her, so tempting, and as their music played on, something new began to wash over Cadence.

  She let herself close her eyes as the beautiful music played on. Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was the soft notes of the cello, but she let herself let go as Draven’s fingers began a slow crawl over her belly and then they began to move lower.

  It was then that she let her head fall back and she did not protest when Draven kissed her. She didn’t stop him as his tongue gently explored her mouth, the taste of him was more beautiful than the wine she’d drank.

  She let herself surrender to him and let his kisses warm her body while she continued to pull the bow across the strings. Deep inside, she was scared that if the music stopped, he would stop his gentle caresses and in that moment, that was the last thing she wanted.

  His kiss distracted her from what his hand was doing and it wasn’t until he moved it down to the top her of jeans that she remembered it was there. Her body shivered as he touched her bare skin, but she did not stop him from what he was doing.

  It wasn’t until his finger trips moved between her open legs that Cadence’s mind realized just what was happening. His touch was tender, but as he stroked along the seam of her jeans, he ignited a fire in her that shocked her so deeply, she dropped the bow she was holding.

  The bow clattered to the floor in a furious racket and both of them knew that the moment was over. Cadence all but pushed the cello away from herself and she struggled to stand.

  “Sorry,” was all she could mumble as she tripped over her own feet in an effort to get out of the chair and flee the room.

  Draven said nothing as she left, but she felt his eyes on her as she bolted. His disappointment was obvious and it seemed to follow her out the room.

  Worse though, her own disappointment clung to her like a fine sweat. A part of her wanted what he had to give her, and that part was becoming more and more demanding.

  Chapter Eight

  The wine had done just what Draven said it would. Even after the strangest, scariest, worst, and yet most exciting day of her life, Cadence had found no trouble sleeping in the bedroom she had claimed as her own at Draven’s home.

  Even though the wine did help her sleep, she knew part of it was the odd feeling of safety that came with spending the night at Draven’s. Like the office, there were no shadows to cloud her vision and nothing to haunt her dreams. For the first time in years, Cadence slept soundly, like she did when she was a child.

  It wasn’t an alarm that woke her, or Jane yelling through the door that she would be late, but the sun spilling in through the window. It was the first sunny day that she could remember in weeks and as she woke, she began to remember she wasn’t in her own bed.

  The bed she’d slept on was old, but plush and comfortable. Antique, finely cared for quilts kept her warm and she forced herself to remember the night before, no matter how hard it pained her.

  She had almost given herself to Draven. Not in the library, that had just been him testing to see how far she would let him go.

  No, it was in his music room, with the music of the cello enveloping them both while his lips teased hers and his fingers caressed her. She had been ready then, or so she’d thought so.

  It was his delicate touch that had snapped her out of it though. When he touched the place that no man had touched before, her mind reeled from excitement and fear. Something had told her she wasn’t ready, but now there was almost a pinch of regret inside her. The moment had been so perfect and she feared she had lost her chance to rid herself of the shadows and nightmares that haunted her.

  Another voice inside her told her she would have her chance. She had six days and Draven would come to her again, that much was clear. She only had to worry about herself being too scared to say yes. That, and if someone else got to her first.

  She pushed the latter idea out of her mind. She was safe as long as she was with Draven. No one or thing would dare touch her while she was under his protection, that much he’d made clear. She just had to stay put until she decided what her best course of action was.

  Still, when she remembered the taste of his kiss on her lips, she couldn’t help but regret the way she’d fled from him.

  She couldn’t stay in bed all day and focus on her regrets. When she’d gone to bed the night before, she’d slipped off her clothes from the day before and chose to sleep naked. A part of her said she could feel safe, that Draven wouldn’t take her while she slept, but there was a part of her, a naughty part, that wanted him to.

  The door to the room she’d stayed in was closed and on the back of it now hung a set of silk pajamas. They hadn’t been there when she’d gone to sleep and she knew that Draven had been in her room, but the idea didn’t frighten her the way she thought it would.

  Her old clothes were nowhere to be seen and she took the pink silk pjs from the door. Draven had left her a pair of pants and a button up shirt that fit like they were made for her.

  Once she pulled them on, she found an old enamel hairbrush that looked older than the house itself and she ran it through her short hair. There wasn’t much she could do about her morning breath, but as she looked in the mirror, she at least looked presentable.

  When she left the room, she could smell something cooking. The salty scent of bacon filled Draven’s home and she went down to find just what he was making.

  “Good morning,” he said to her when she stepped into the kitchen. “I see you found the pajamas I left for you.”

  “Yeah,” she nodded. “Thanks for those.”

  “I took the liberty of making you breakfast,” Draven said, stating the obvious. “I trust you like eggs and bacon.”

  “You’d be right,” she said as she moved closer to where he was cooking. She didn’t want to be in his way, yet she felt oddly drawn to him and enjoyed wat
ching him while he worked. “Are you making any for yourself?”

  “No,” he told her. “I have an appointment with a client at nine and we should get going quickly.”

  “Oh,” Cadence flinched. “I was kind of hoping we could stay here. After yesterday I just... I don’t know. I just feel safer here.”

  “The office is just as safe with me there,” he told her. “No one can enter without my permission.”

  “I know,” she sighed. “It’s just, I don’t know. With everything I just... god I feel awful complaining about work.”

  “You need your rest,” Draven finished for her. “You’ve had a lot to take in in a very short amount of time. I understand. I can have one of the girls cover for you while you rest.”

  “What about you?” Cadence asked.

  “I need to go to the office,” Draven said. “One of my more, oh I’ll say, lucrative clients is coming in and I don’t want to delay renewing our contract.”

  “Oh,” Cadence nodded while she watched Draven put her breakfast on a plate for her.

  “I won’t stay a moment longer than I need to,” he assured her as he handed her to plate. “And you’ll be safe here as long as you don’t step outside. If you look, really look, you’ll see the wards on the doors and windows. They won’t allow anyone but me to touch them.”

  “Okay,” Cadence nodded.

  “If anything comes up though,” Draven said, his blue eyes so deadly serious that Cadence could see flecks of red in them. “Call me. I can be here in moments, understood?”

  “Yes,” she said. She couldn’t deny that the protective side he showed filled her with a silly kind of glee, despite how truly serious she knew her situation could become.

  “I do have to go,” he said as he pulled his suit jacket off the back of a chair.

  “Okay, she said as she followed him to the door, plate in hand. “Um, Draven,” she said as he slid on his shoes.

  “Yes?” he said as he turned back to face her.

  “Um, thank you for being patient with me,” she managed to say. “Maybe later we could... not that... but close. I don’t think I’m ready for everything, but I can try.”

  Draven tried not to react, but his blue eyes gave him away as they flash a lively red. Now that he had shown her how to see, she didn’t need to try so hard to make it work. Little things were becoming obvious to her and she smiled when she saw his reaction.

  “I’d like that,” he told her as he stepped outside. “For now, relax. My home is yours to enjoy.”

  He closed the door behind himself while Cadence watched and she heard the old tumblers turn as he locked the door. With the sound, for a moment she could see what he was talking about as a strange symbol flashed to life on the door.

  The symbol was painted in a deep rust and there were letters that Cadence couldn’t read. She only saw it for a moment, but it was enough for her to know it was ancient and she had no doubt that it would protect her.

  With Draven gone for the day, Cadence put it in her mind to explore his home. He didn’t tell her not to, in fact, he seemed to encourage it. So when she finished the eggs and bacon, she left her plate in the sink and made her way back up the stairs.

  The room she had slept in was at the very opposite end of the house from Draven’s music room, so she decided to start there. The first room she was in need of was a bathroom and luckily she found one right next to the room that had become her own.

  Draven must have been prepared for this turn of events. In the old bathroom she found an old claw foot tub that was filled with steaming hot water and there were a variety of oils laid out for her use. There were towels set out of her and on the sink rested a toothbrush and some toothpaste for her to use.

  She wasn’t about to turn down such a welcome surprise and she slipped off the luxurious silk pajamas before she grabbed bottles of oil at random and poured little bits into the water.

  The scent of roses and lavender filled the room as she climbed into the piping hot water. The heat instantly relaxed her muscles and she let herself sink down until the water was just at chin level.

  This is too perfect, her mind reminded her. It’s a ploy to get you to sleep with him.

  So what if it is? Another voice inside her snapped back. He’s sexy, he’s kind, and he’ll protect you. Is that so bad?

  Cadence was sick of the constant internal debate. She just wanted to turn her mind off as she enjoyed the bath Draven had drawn for her. She closed her eyes and forced herself to think of something else, but every time she did, Draven found a way to crawl back into her thoughts.

  The longer she laid in the tub, the more sensual her thoughts became. She thought about the night before, with his lips on hers and his fingers on her belly. She thought about his touch moving down her body and in her mind, she didn’t drop the bow and ruin the moment when his fingers found the seam of her jeans.

  No, in her fantasy, she let him continue. In her mind’s eye, his fingers slid under her jeans and began to touch her most sensitive, private places. His touch was warm and generous and with the water surrounding her, Cadence let out a soft moan.

  It was then that she realized it wasn’t his fingers that she felt, but her own. She had never been one for touching herself, but in that moment, she couldn’t stop. Draven filled her mind as her fingers coaxed her pleasure higher and higher until she felt something stirring inside her.

  “No,” something made her say as she sat up in the bath. “Not like this.”

  It wasn’t that she was against pleasuring herself, but she didn’t just want to imagine Draven touching her. She wanted him to actually do it. She wanted to feel his touch and let him claim her, no matter how unsure she was about the rest.

  That’s enough of bath time, her internal voice said as she pulled herself up from the water. Puddles formed under her feet as she got out, but she didn’t care. She needed to get dressed and find something else to think about beyond Draven Crane.

  Once she was dried off and dressed in the silk pajamas, Cadence brushed her teeth with the brush provided. She felt refreshed and renewed as she left the bathroom and began to explore once more.

  Most of the rooms on the second floor of Draven’s home housed bedrooms and some were filled with antiques, but one thing Cadence really wanted was a charger for her phone. It had been off for a day now and though she rarely got phone calls, she was starting to worry she might miss something important.

  In the end, it was the music room that revealed the one item she was looking for. Hanging around a guitar was a cord that looked like it might fit her phone and she took it with her when she returned to the library where she’d left her bag.

  By sheer luck, the cord fit and she plugged in her phone. With the little juice it had, she turned it on and found all of Jane’s frantic messages from yesterday, and a new one from that morning.

  “Work emergency?” her text read. “You’ve been gone all night. Did you meet a guy or something?”

  She was tempted to reply, she hated lying to Jane. She wanted to tell her the truth, or at least some form of it, but decided against it. At least for that moment. First she needed to figure out exactly what to say before she began. There was no way she say everything and not have Jane try to get her committed.

  Instead, she put away the book she had been reading the night before and made a mental note to explore more of the library later. For right now, she had more of the house to look through and part of her really hoped she might find a TV somewhere, even if it only got basic cable. She loved books, but sometimes she just needed a mental break.

  She didn’t find a TV, but the first floor had what she would assume was once called a salon, as well as another bathroom. All of Draven’s furniture was old, but timeless and nothing appeared to have a spot of dust on it. She didn’t know when he had time to clean the place, but it looked perfect.

  After her lazy morning exploring, she moved back into the kitchen in hopes of finding some kind of snack or somet
hing for lunch. She wasn’t sure what to expect from Draven’s fridge, especially since he said he didn’t have the need to eat, but inside she found more than enough.

  There was fresh salad, meats, cheeses, and more for her to select from. Unmarked glass bottles held sauces, condiments, oils, and more and she found herself sniffing things to determine what they were.

  In the end, she played it safe with a salad with a little oil and vinegar sprinkled over it. She crumbled up some of the cheese before she moved into the dining room to enjoy the meal she’d made herself.

  She was only a few bites in when she heard her phone begin to ring in the other room. She was tempted to ignore it and let it ring, voicemail would take care of it for her, but she forced herself up.

  It could be Jane, she said to herself. I shouldn’t make her worry more than she already has.

  She cut through the kitchen and jogged across the grand entrance to make it to her phone before the voicemail beat her to it. She was out of breath when she answered, but she tried to sound as cheerful as she could when she said, “Hey, it’s Cadence.”

  “Cadence?” Jane’s voice breathed heavy in her ear. “Oh my god, is it you?”

  “Of course it is,” Cadence replied. “Is everything okay?”

  “No,” Jane answered, her voice quiet and panicky. “Someone’s in the house. I think I hid before he saw me, but, oh my god, I don’t know. He’s weird and I’m really scared.”

  “Is he taking anything?” Cadence replied, hoping above hope it was just a burglar.

  “No,” Jane said. “Cady, I’m really freaked out. He’s like, some sort of meth head or something. His skin’s all gross and he’s growling. I think he’s looking for something.”

  “I’ll be right there,” Cadence said. “Call the cops, I’m coming.”