Origin (Lux #4)(42)

Archer exhaled loudly.

Lifting his head, Daemon winked at me. “It’ll be okay.”

I nodded and barely remembered walking into my room, but there I was, staring at the bed Daemon had been sitting on earlier, as the door closed and locked behind me.

I smacked my hands over my face, stunned for a minute or two. When I’d fallen asleep the day before, I had been physically exhausted from using the Source and emotionally devastated from what I’d done. As I’d lain on that damn bed, staring at the ceiling, hopelessness had crept in, and even now it still had a hold on me.

But things were different. I had to keep telling myself that, to stop the bleakness from taking complete control. Pushing down what I’d done probably wasn’t something therapists across the nation would suggest as a healthy practice, but I had to. Those hours before I’d fallen asleep…

I shook my head.

Things were different now. Daemon was here. Speaking of which, I had this feeling that he was still nearby. The tingling had died off, but I just knew that he was still close; I felt it on a cellular level.

I turned, eyeing the wall. Then I remembered the door in the bathroom. Spinning around, I hurried into the bathroom and tried the knob on the door. Locked. Hoping my suspicions were correct, I knocked. “Daemon?”

Nothing.

I pressed my cheek against the cool wood, closing my eyes as I flattened my palms on the door. Did I really believe that they’d put us in two cells joined by a bathroom? Then again, they had kept Dawson and Bethany together in the beginning—hadn’t that been what Dawson had said? But my luck wasn’t that—

The door opened, and I tumbled forward. Strong arms and a hard chest caught me before I toppled right over.

“Whoa, Kitten…”

I looked up, heart pounding. “We share a bathroom!”

“I see.” A small grin appeared, his eyes sparkling.

Grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, I rocked back on the heels of my sneakers. “I can’t believe it. You’re in the cell beside me! All we—”

Daemon’s hands landed on my hips, his grip tight and sure, and then his mouth was on mine, picking up that soul-shattering kiss we’d started in the hallway. He was moving me backward at the same time. Somehow, and I really didn’t know how other than that he had skills, he managed to shut the door behind us without taking his hands off me.

Those lips of his…they moved over mine, tantalizingly slow and deep, as if we were kissing for the very first time. His hands slid around, and when my back hit the sink, he lifted me so that I perched on the edge, and he kept pressing forward, pushing my knees apart with his hips. The smoldering heat was back, a flame that burned brighter at the slow, thorough kiss.

My chest rose and fell rapidly as I clutched his shoulders, almost completely lost in him. I’d read enough romance novels in my day to know that a bathroom and Daemon were things fantasies were made of, but…

I managed to break contact—though not much. Our lips brushed when I spoke. “Wait. We need to—”

“I know,” he cut in.

“Good.” I placed my trembling hands on his chest. “We’re on the same page—”

Daemon kissed me again, spinning my senses. He was leisurely in his exploration of the kiss, pulling back and nipping at my lip until a breathy moan that would’ve embarrassed me any other time escaped me.

“Daemon—”

He caught whatever else I was going to say with his mouth. His hands slid up my waist, stopping when the tips of his fingers brushed the underside of my chest. My whole body jerked, and I knew right then that if I didn’t stop this, we were going to waste very valuable time.

I pulled back, dragging in air that tasted of Daemon. “We really should be talking.”

“I know.” That half grin appeared. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

My mouth dropped open. “What? You haven’t been talking! You’ve been—”

“Kissing you senseless?” he asked innocently. “Sorry. It’s all I want to do while you’re here. Well, not all I want to do, but pretty close to everything else I—”

“I get it.” I groaned, wanting to fan my face. Leaning back against the plastic mirror, I dropped my hands into my lap. Touching him wasn’t helping, either. Neither was that smug half grin of his. “Wow.”

With his hands exactly where they stopped under my chest, he leaned in and pressed his forehead against mine. In a low voice he said, “I want to make sure your hand is okay.”

I frowned. “It is.”

“I need to make sure.” He leaned back a little, his eyes meeting mine meaningfully, and then I got it. When he saw the understanding cross my face, he grinned. A second later, he was in his true form—so bright in the small room, I had to close my eyes. They say there are no cameras in here, but I know the room has to be bugged, he said. Besides, I also don’t trust the fact that they’re letting us have access to each other. They have to know we’ll do this, so there’s probably a reason.

I shuddered. I know, but they did let Dawson and Bethany stay together until… I forced that thought out of my head. We were wasting time. What did Luc tell you?

He said he can help us get out of here, but he really didn’t go into detail. He apparently has people on the payroll here and said they’d find me once I get something for him—something you’ve mentioned. LH-11.