Chapter Thirty-Three
Dylan
Trevor avoided us for the rest of the evening, which came as no surprise since I figured he needed his space. The hard part was keeping Allie from tracking him down. It had been my plan to keep her busy with Nick, but the vampire had found a witch with a thing for younger men to take him home to her windowless basement. Most found it creepy when you wanted to show them your basement, but I guess it was a good pick-up line with a vampire.
Since Trevor was avoiding us, and I was tired, I took Allie home after only a couple of hours. She was fast asleep in the passenger seat of my car as I pulled into the garage. When I opened her door and undid her seatbelt, she stirred some and gave me a shy sleepy smile before looking away.
“A blushing succubus,” I said in wonder. “Damn, you are something else.”
“I’m exhausted,” she murmured in a voice that sounded more like an apology.
At first, I wasn’t quite sure why she was apologizing, but then it hit me that she was probably assuming I was planning to take her inside and fuck her. No denying, I wanted to do that, but she was tired, and I’d be happy just sleeping next to her.
“Let’s get you tucked into bed,” I said. “Neither of us has had much sleep in the last couple of days, and I need to be in the office by ten.”
“Don’t you have the morning off?” she asked sleepily.
“I do, but I have a few things I need to take care of before any clients come in,” I told her as I scooped her up in my arms, relieved when she didn’t complain.
“Don’t expect me to get up with you,” she said around a yawn.
Cradled in my arms, she looked innocent and sweet, and that made me hate the dresses she wore at SpellBinders even more.
“You wanna hear something crazy?” I asked as I carried her up the stairs.
“Sure,” she said. “Crazy seems to be dominating my life lately.”
“Just thinking about how much more I like you in your baggy sleep shirt turns me on.”
She let out a sleepy giggle. “Maybe you’re just tired of seeing my boobs on display.”
“I’ll never get tired of seeing your luscious breasts,” I said. “It’s just that I like seeing you relaxed. You act more like yourself when you’re dressed comfortably. The woman you try to be at work isn’t the real you. It’s just a part you play—one you don’t seem to like very much.”
She was quiet for a moment, and I wondered if she’d dozed off, until I set her on the bed and looked down into her eyes, which were studying me with some unreadable emotion. “What makes you think it’s not the real me? Or that I don’t like who I am at work?” she asked.
As I stared at her beautiful face, which was covered with far too much makeup at the moment, I considered my answer. “When you’re dressed like this, with the makeup and the sexy shoes and dresses, you look almost uncomfortable. Sure, the real you peeks out some, but not as often. When you’re wearing comfortable clothes with no makeup, you’re my Allie. You’re just perfect.”
Allie’s eyes drifted away from mine, and I could see her struggling with what she was going to say next. What we had scared her, and I got it because it scared me, too.
“You’re not at all what I expected,” she finally said.
“Is that a good thing?” I asked.
“Considering I thought you were a worthless man-whore, I suppose it’s probably a good thing,” she answered. “I need to go wash off this makeup.”
Obviously, she was trying to end the conversation because things were getting too serious, and we were touching on subjects she wasn’t ready to deal with. While I wanted to talk about this more, I decided pushing her would probably backfire. Besides, I’d had a lot of victories today. As I watched her disappear into the bathroom, I found myself grinning like an idiot. How could I not be happy about the end of this day? After the council meeting, I’d expected her to insist on staying in a guest room, but she was willingly coming back to my bed, and she’d agreed to date me.
No doubt about it, I was falling hard for Alana Talbot.