"At least tell me your real name," Ladislas begged.
Anna raised a brow. She tugged at the dog tag around her neck and put it in front of his eyes. He took it gingerly in his hands and squinted at it.
"Anna Dunn," he read out loud. "Anna?" he questioned, looking up at her.
She smiled and nodded.
He grinned. It made him look positively evil. "Do you think I am a fool? I know well enough that you are not what you outwardly show. Just tell me if you don't want to say your real name."
She stared at him for a long second before putting on a stunned expression. Like she didn't know what he was talking about.
He laughed, a melodic and heavy laugh and she suddenly wished to confess everything. His eyes glowed into her and a strange pull almost made her open her mouth and spill out her gut to Ladislas.
Ladislas concentrated as he bore into her, slowly infiltrating her mind and forcing her to do as he willed. But the girl wrenched her mouth shut and looked at him, acting all innocent and aggrieved.
He didn't know what she really was, but she would make an Oscar-winning actress for sure.
"Can you really not speak?" he asked. When she tried, she kept choking and croaking over words. Her voice was barely audible, too. "Is it painful for you to speak?"
Anna nodded carefully.
"I will pretend to believe you," he responded immediately, not even pretending. He was straightforward. When she was scared, he was nice, but when she reverted to her fearless self, he didn't give her any excessive kindness.
The mood in the room had changed, but Anna wasn't prepared to talk to him. She leaned in and mouthed his name. The butterflies in her stomach began their work again as her hands traced over his naked shoulders, under his arms, and around his back where she ran them up and down, feeling the ripple of muscles under his scorching skin.
He sighed as he let the conversation go.
He buried his face in her neck and placed a soft kiss on her throat. She turned her head so that he could move his mouth to her ear.
He nipped at her earlobe with his teeth. As his hand palmed her breasts, he was hesitant, waiting for her to push him away.
She did push at his shoulder, making him sit up immediately and hold up his hand in silent surrender. Anna just gave him a reassuring him as she reached behind and unclasped the bra. She slid it off and dropped it on the floor, carefully avoiding Ladislas's eyes.
The silence in the room was deafening.
'What is he thinking?' she wondered.
Finally, she felt his fingertips between her breasts, lightly touching her skin. She looked up at him and his face held an eagerness. He sighed and brushed his fingers over the swell of her breast and she inhaled sharply as he traced over the nipple, hardening it instantly. He pulled back his hand and looked at her apologetically.
"Did that hurt?"
She shook her head. 'It just surprised me.'
She felt sparks shoot through her skin as he touched her. She shivered lightly.
"Do you feel that too?" he asked, looking at his hand intently. Ladislas was a man of supernatural origin. He knew the difference between chemistry and magic. Without his knowledge, he was using some of his magic on her.
He glared at his hand, wondering why his control was malfunctioning. The purplish bruise seemed to yellow just a little and he gritted his teeth, forcing his powers back.
Anna didn't know any of this. She was sure he was spouting lines. She grinned and winked at him. She ran her fingers through the length of his hair tied at the top of his head in a bun and slowly undid it. She caressed it as it cascaded down below his shoulder and then traced a path over his face and to his chest, mirroring his finger on her nipple.
'Beautiful,' she mouthed and gazed into his eyes.
"Is that so?" he asked, not in the least bothered. "You are the beautiful one."
She rolled her eyes, catching him in the blatant lie. She knew that her face was as unstriking as the dust on the street. If someone passed by her, they wouldn't remember her the very next second.
"I don't lie. You are." He was firm. "I have lived thousands of years and seen the human beauty standard change. You are the only one who caught my interest. That speaks volumes, does it not?"
Anna bit back an expression of exasperation. Again with the immortality claim.
"But I also know that I am timelessly beautiful. Celestial beauty never goes out of fashion," he shrugged. His smirk was wicked. Yeah, he knew he was gorgeous. He had been told by numerous women and men. "I'll allow you to experience it first hand," he boasted, cutting off any argument she might have shown on her face.
He kissed her again. She moaned softly as his tongue found hers. She arched into his touch, whimpering when he rolled his thumb over her hardened peak repeatedly. His mouth trailed kisses down her neck and chest and her pulse raced when she realized what he was about to do.
His tongue circled her nipple before he sucked it into his mouth and flicked his tongue over it.
"Oh," she cried out in surprise, unable to keep her voice in as a jolt of pleasure shot through her.
It was as if there was a direct connection between her nipple and her pussy. And she had never known about this. Ladislas glanced up, wickedness written all over his face.
At the back of his mind, the sound of her pleasure made him worry. Indeed, she could speak but she was having trouble with her throat. She really was hurting.
"Let's make you scream, shall we?" he said, a promise in his voice as he dragged his hand to her throat and circled it.