Exposed: Laid Bare (Laid Bare #1)(19)

Dahlia


Lucien Chambers led me along the icy trail back to his mansion, a Tudor monstrosity that loomed like a ghostly specter on this cold March day. I shivered and quaked in my winter boots. I hoped Lucien couldn’t feel my uncertainty, my fear, as it was certainly possible with my arm looped through his.

Whether my sudden trepidation was brought on by anticipation of what would come next, or by outright terror, I couldn’t be sure. See, the problem was for as much as I longed to be with Lucien—and oh, did I ever—a part of me feared him. I feared the unknown surrounding him, I feared not knowing what he really was, and I feared just how insanely connected to him I felt.

This might not end well. I had to accept that possibility.

A shudder ran through me, prompting Lucien to ask, “Are you having second thoughts, Dahlia?”

I shook my head firmly. “No,” I replied.

Lucien slowed up. He spun me to him and cocked his head, assessing me. I smiled up at him. Damn, he was tall.

I guess he saw through my forced ease…or maybe he read my mind, since he said, “We can always turn around, you know.”

His voice was smooth and low and I couldn’t discern how serious he was.

“I’ll walk you back to your car if you want,” he continued. “You can return to your apartment, continue on as you have. It will be as if we never came upon one another over by the lake. Whatever you want, Dahlia, I will do…for you.”

He gestured to the frozen body of water now in the distance. We’d walked quite far already, closer and closer to the point of no return. “Do you want to go back?” he asked once more, this time only as a whisper.

Lucien clearly wanted me to stay, continue on with him. Swallowing hard, I replied, “I can’t go back, Lucien. You know I can’t just turn around and leave.”

He had this hold over me, and it felt stronger than ever now that we had reunited. He knew this, he had to.

“I do,” he replied softly, a response to my thoughts that he could hear when he so desired.

I started to turn away, but I wasn’t sure which way to go—back to the car, or to Lucien’s.

He grabbed my hand, making my decision for me. I was going nowhere until he’d said his piece.

“Listen to me, Dahlia,” he implored. “I can do more than make it as if you never saw me out here today.” He lowered his voice and his slight British accent became more pronounced. “I can give you a memory that will leave you thinking you drove up to the park to get away for an afternoon. You’ll forget you ran into me, you’ll forget all of this. But more than that, I can remove every memory you have of me.”

“What?” I was horrified. I wrenched my hand from his, and gasped, “Why would you offer to do such a thing, Lucien? Is that what you really want?”

“No,” he said, his angry dark eyes meeting my own unhappy stare. “If I wanted that I would have left you be over at the lake.”

“So, why are you giving me an out? You sought me out.”

His eyes penetrating, he murmured. “Yes, I did seek you out. I sensed your presence, and I came to you. And that is precisely the reason why I am now giving you, as you so eloquently put it, an out.”

I smiled, this time genuinely. But Lucien’s frown remained, furrowing his raven brows. He had no idea how unearthly beautiful he was, especially at times such as these, when he allowed me to see his vulnerability, his frustration. Usually Lucien was well-aware of his effect on the people around him, particularly me, but I could see how in this moment he had no idea just how incredibly appealing he was.

“What?” he asked, head cocked slightly to the right.

I reached up and swept back an unruly lock of raven-black hair that had fallen to his forehead. “You’re beautiful,” I said, smiling. “And your accent, it becomes more pronounced when you’re worked up over something.”

Sighing, he said, “Well, you certainly have the ability to work me up, Dahlia. Don’t you?”

Lucien’s momentary lapse of control, so unlike him, betrayed how frazzled he was. It was uncharacteristic of him, but so very endearing. His frailties, if you could call them that, made him more human-like. Quite a feat, considering I knew he was something far more than merely human.

“I do work you up,” I teased, nudging him with my shoulder as I slid my hands into the pockets of my coat. “But I don’t do it on purpose.”

Lucien had once told me I was his weakness. Now I clearly saw that was true. There was some part of him, like in me, that could not bear to let go.

Knowing that made it easy to say, “I don’t want to go back to my car, Lucien. I don’t want you to make me forget about anything that happened today. And I definitely don’t want an out. I want to remember everything that has ever happened between us.”

His brow shot up. “Everything, Dahlia?”

His tone was light. Lucien Chambers was actually engaging in flirtatious banter. I knew then that we had a real chance at something special.

“Yes. I wouldn’t give up a single memory, not one moment we’ve shared.”

“Good,” he replied, shooting me a dashing smile. “Since I never had any intention of letting you go so easily, anyway.”

“Oh, really?” I took a step back.

He took a step forward, and retorted, “Yes, Dahlia, really.”