Free Adrian by Celia Jade Page A

or how many women he slept with. Regardless, she’d suffered steamy fantasies about him the following three nights and now disliked him even more. Making sense of her contradicting feelings left her with two honest conclusions. One—she didn’t like him because he was a womanizer. Two—she was sexually drawn to him not solely because of his looks, but because he frightened her. Not too much. She was a tough girl. But enough to tempt the dark part of her female essence.
    Lydia didn’t want Adrian to train her. It’s not that she didn’t trust herself. She could withstand his wicked charm for a couple of hours, for goodness’ sake. He was just way too distracting. He was watching her, probably sizing her up, and she stole another glance at him. Long enough to catch the amused quirk of his mouth. Her pulse spiked. Damn him.
    She cleared her throat. “Daniel, can I speak to you in private?”
    Before Daniel answered, Adrian said, “I’ll get the sticks.” He went off in the direction of a large cabinet.
    She turned to Daniel and spoke in a low voice. “Look, I can’t train with him and I’m a tad pissed you chose him.” She injected enough insinuation in her voice to get her meaning across.
    A muscle flexed in her mentor’s jaw. “You don’t have a choice, Lydia.” He silenced her with a raised hand. “He’s one of the best trainers, regardless of any opinion you have of him.”
    “My opinion isn’t unfounded,” she muttered.
    His brown eyes remained resolute. “It has no place here. You’re a professional and so is he.”
    It was a lost cause. Her lip trembled with suppressed annoyance.
    Adrian returned and stood a few feet away, holding a tin can which contained several slim sticks with red tips. He gave it a little shake. “Shall we get started?”
    “Yes. She’s one of my best students,” he told Adrian. To Lydia, he said, “Focus.” With a nod, he turned and exited the building.
    Once the door closed, her awareness of the sexy vampire tripled. Have a nice fucking afternoon, Daniel. Avoiding Adrian’s gaze, she approached him.
    “What are those?”
    “Chop sticks, actually. There are five hidden spots with material taken from vampires. Use your skill to locate them and insert a stick in each spot.” He paused. “They’re not all in here.”
    Lydia reached out and grasped the bunch of sticks, then took a quick step back.
    His eyebrow arched and the corner of his mouth twitched again as he gave her an assessing onceover, not exactly sexual, yet it managed to leave a delicious burn on her skin.
    “Why so nervous?”
    It was a remark meant to goad.
    She turned and walked ahead of him, taking in her surroundings. “I’m not nervous. I don’t like you.” She felt the pause in his stride, pleased to have surprised him.
    “Really? I hadn’t noticed,” came the dry reply that suggested otherwise. “I don’t care why. My job is to prepare you for your exam.” His reaction was calm, yet there was an underlying edge present.
    Lydia looked over her shoulder. “Your scent masks the scent of the hidden material, so you might want to keep some distance.” It wasn’t completely true. She just wanted him as far away as possible.
    His low chuckle bounced off the walls. “I hadn’t planned on following you about. Let me know when you’re done, then we go outside.” His gaze dropped to her mouth, its heat a scorching kiss that sent an electric ripple through her body. She pressed her teeth into her lip and marched toward a row of glass bowls on a metal table.
    She closed her eyes for a few seconds, drawing deep breaths and exhaling slowly. Forget him. Focus. Her lids lifted and she gazed down at the first bowl. Like the others, it was without a lid. It contained strips of fabric. Nothing here. She moved to the next bowl, sniffed the musty contents and picked up the pungent iron notes. Hardly a challenge. She stuck a stick into the bowl. The remaining four bowls required more skill. The