Chapter 22: .•8.7•.

Gently closing the door for her, he quickly made his way around the car and to the driver's seat, noticing how she tensed up a little bit just as he sat in, keeping her gaze trained somewhere past the windshield as that red tint in her cheeks was still visible.

He could still feel that hint of arousal coming out of her every pore, after his earlier deliberately provocative show. He'd intended to make her feel like that. He was slowly working to lure her in after all. To entice her.

He smirked to himself. And with a twist of the key, the car's engine roared to life like an angered lion, sending a generous dose of excitement pumping through Nicholas' still veins since it had been quite a while since he had lastly touched the wheel, just enough to make him press that pedal to the floor, the car instantly taking off with squealing tires. Diana cried out in utter fright and shock as she felt herself quickly sinking into the leathered seat, her nails digging into the fabric as she struggled to hold on for dear life whilst they practically flew past the iron gates.

But just as Nicholas had heard her cry out, like suddenly snapped out of a trance-like state he immediately took his foot off of the gas pedal, reducing the speed as he took a glance in her direction.

Fuck.

"I apologize. I wasn't trying to scare you. Seems like these bad habits are rather hard to shake off," He rushed to apologize with another glance at her visibly shaken form, the girl letting out a shuddering breath as she struggled to gather her bearings, taking a rather mystified look to the equally startling and intriguing male sitting right next to her.

Her lips mildly parted on their own accord whilst she closely watched him, noticing how the breeze gently blew through his black locks as the roof of the car was down, the rays of sunlight caressing that concentrated frown marring his features and his inked skin as he focused on driving, with each movement and shift of another gear those muscles on his forearms and underneath his shirt visibly flexing, to her utter mortification making her feel so...aroused.

.••.

After that incredibly hot and embarrassing ride to her workplace they had finally arrived, the girl rushing to get out of that damned car as she couldn't bear another second of being so close to him.

So with an almost inaudible "thank you" she jumped out of the car as if it were on fire, the vampire watching her with amusement as she'd basically ran to the entrance of the coffee shop like a madwoman.

He couldn't help but feel so pleased of the effect he was slowly starting to have on her. On her body.

Diana pushed past the front door and hurried in, immediately feeling a haunting presence right behind her back. And judging by the swayed look on Dan's face from behind the counter as soon as she peered at him, she quickly realized exactly who was following her.

Oh no.

"Hi," Dan gave the male behind her a rather flirtatious smile, right before his baby blue eyes lowered back to her, giving her an inquisitive look.

Blowing out a sigh, she simply ignored him and went to their small changing room to take off her jacket and purse, then put on her working apron. And with a generous intake of breath, she mentally prepared herself before stepping out again.

She would've rather much preffered to remain locked inside that tiny closet as she knew that that annoyingly handsome male from outside was not going to leave so quickly. It was pretty much obvious that he was definitely set on trying to bother her with his presence as much as he could.

"Would you like a nice cup of coffee?" Her eyes went wide as soon as she heard those words coming out from Dan's mouth, feeling like strangling the hell out of him as she forcibly stretched her lips into a smile and finally dared to walk back to the counter.

"Yeah, why not," Nicholas answered with a smile of his own, his dark brown eyes quickly darting to the beauty that had once again graced them with her presence as she quietly slipped behind the counter and busied herself with filling up small jars of sugar, whilst keeping her back turned to him.

"How's that wound healing, darling?" Dan asked, placing the coffee in front of him since he chose to sit by the counter, his wandering gaze quickly returning to a knowingly smiling Dan.

Damn.

He'd almost forgottten all about it since it had healed within the first hour after he had earned it.

"It's fine. Can't even feel it anymore," He smoothly answered, his gaze once again shifting towards the girl as he could feel himself getting rather desperate to get her attention and take another look at those blushing cheeks and big round eyes.

"Oh, glad to hear that," He faintly heard Dan say as his attention was still averted to her, hell-bent on getting her to turn around and look at him.

"Diana," She could faintly feel goosebumps raising on her skin at the sound of her name being called out in such a sensual way, reluctantly turning to face the owner of that seductive voice.

And once their eyes met her cheeks lit up yet again, completely overwhelmed by the intensity of his roaming gaze.

"What time to do you get off so I could come and pick you up?"

"Actually, I-" She lightly squealed as she felt the mild sting of Dan's hand rather harshly slapping her ass, effectively shushing her up as he definitely knew that she was just about to decline Nicholas' offer.

Oh no you don't, missy.

"We usually close around 4 p.m," Dan told Nicholas with another smile and a wink, the girl widely staring back at her friend in disbelief after what he had just done.

He'd just sentenced her to another half an hour of pure torture.