Wild and Free (The Three #3)(132)

Furthermore, he was meeting her and her sister witches. Why she was at the door to his hotel suite, he had no idea.

Except she was Aurora, vexing in a way he liked.

“Good-bye, Father,” he murmured into the phone.

“Until later, Yuri,” his father replied.

Yuri ended the call, then unlocked and opened the door.

Her little, curvaceous body jolted when he did, as if she wasn’t expecting him to answer.

“You’re here, my sweet…why?” he asked as greeting.

“Hey, Yuri,” she returned.

“Hello, Aurora,” he replied, then ordered, “Now, answer my question.”

She looked beyond him and asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me in?”

He had no desire to ask her in. They had important tasks to see to that night. They had no business being in a suite of rooms that included a king-sized bed and two double beds, not to mention two couches.

Nevertheless, it was Aurora, and he had less desire to leave her standing out in the hall. Therefore, he shifted to the side to allow her entry.

She took his invitation and moved in, graceful on another pair of attractive, but ludicrous in the circumstances, high-heeled boots. She wore them with enchanting light gray slacks that hugged her generous heart-shaped ass and a very un-witch-like, stylish periwinkle sweater that did lovely things to her eyes and was woven so loosely, he could see the skintight matching camisole underneath.

He cast aside his reaction to her garments, shut the door, and inquired, “Do you have an assignation after our business tonight?”

She turned to him to give him startled but amused eyes. “An assignation?”

He moved into the suite while flicking his hand her way. “You’re quite fetching, Aurora.” He stopped several feet away from her and crossed his arms on his chest. “More fetching than normal. More, indeed, than need-be considering our business this evening.”

She lifted a hand and lightly touched a tendril of hair he had no doubt was not tucked in her attractive coiffure for the very purpose that it was more appealing curling around the skin in front of her ear. Appealing enough to make him want to touch it, curl his finger around it, and maybe tug it lightly just to see her response.

He tore his attention off the tendril and gave it back to her, prompting, “Aurora?”

She started before she wet her bottom lip, peering at him under the thick fan of her lashes, and whispered, “You haven’t kissed me yet.”

Bloody hell.

He sighed before he began, “Aurora—”

“It’s important you kiss me,” she stated on a rush, and he felt his eyes narrow.

“Pray, why?” he asked.

“We need that connection,” she explained.

“I beg your pardon?”

She made to take a step toward him, stopped, lifted her hands to her sides in a helpless gesture, and dropped them.

But she spoke.

“I need to be connected to you. The more connected to you I am, the better I can protect you.”

He needed to be connected with her as well, but not for that reason, nor would that be happening now.

“From what Barb has explained about tonight’s proceedings, it would seem you need to focus on protecting yourself,” he stated.

“You’ll still be there and you’ll still be in danger,” she returned.

“This is true, but you’re there to take care of me, as are your witch sisters, and beyond that, I can assure you, I’m quite adept at taking care of myself.”

“And I can take better care of you if we…” She trailed off, moved a step toward him, and began again. “Something’s happening between us,” she said quietly.

“No, my sweet,” he disagreed. “Something will happen between us after we finish tonight’s business. Before that, neither of us needs distractions.”

“But I—” she started.

“Want me to kiss you,” he finished for her. “Because you’re young, you desire me and tonight frightens you, so you came here hoping I’d give you something to see you through. And if the fates frown on us, the unspeakable happens and you don’t get through, at least you’d have something you wished to have before you die.”

“Okay, to put a very fine point on it…yeah,” she muttered, casting her eyes to the floor.

“Aurora, come here,” he ordered, and her gaze instantly came back to him.

She hesitated nary a second before she moved to him.

When she got close, for the first time, Yuri gathered her in his arms and brought her closer.

And he very much liked the feel of her there.

“Put your arms around me, my sweet,” he murmured when she seemed not to know what to do with herself.

She did as told, and when she did, he slid a hand up her spine to the back of her neck and around to the side where he stayed it, curled there.

“No harm will come to you tonight,” he told her quietly.

“Yuri—”

“No,” he stated, still quiet but now also firm, underlining his word by pressing the pads of his fingers into her flesh. “I will not allow it; your mother will not allow it. We will prevail tonight.”

“Okay, I believe you,” she replied in a tone that said she didn’t exactly, but she was trying. “Still, I don’t understand why you won’t kiss me.”