Chapter 244
He took out the sweatpants. The material felt like liquid silk against his fingers. He didn’t even need to look at the tags to know they cost more than his combat boots.
"Custom sizing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"I was tasked with taking care of your Lyceum uniform so I know your size by now." Daphne replied smoothly, taking a slow sip of her water. Her violet eyes tracked his movements, waiting.
Zaeryn smirked. He set the clothes on the counter, hooked a finger into the knot of his towel, and let it drop to the marble floor.
Daphne’s gaze immediately dragged down his body, drinking in the sight of him fully exposed under the harsh kitchen lights. She didn’t blush or look away; she just watched him with that same sharp, appreciative hunger.
Unfazed, Zaeryn stepped into the boxers, before getting into the sweatpants. They fit perfectly, hanging low on his hips.
"I guess I should also put my top back on," Daphne was already putting it back on, before Zaeryn could protest.
Zaeryn pulled the black shirt over his head and then his attention back to the cabinets. "You really don’t have any real food in here." He gestured vaguely at the pantry. "Who lives like this?"
"Someone who doesn’t need to." Daphne took a slow sip of her water. "I can go days without eating and not feel it. Most of the time I just forget."
Zaeryn nodded slowly. That tracked. He’d heard enough about high-tier Vitae users and also been around them long enough by now to know food worked differently for them. They still needed to eat like everyone else, however it was less frequent and it was more of a habit than a necessity.
Still, hearing her say it out loud made the empty cabinets make a lot more sense.
"That explains a lot," he muttered, glancing back at the pantry. "I heard Kayla can go more than just a few days when she’s not on the frontlines."
"That’s right. On the Frontlines energy gets used up quickly so you need to replenish it regularly. You, on the other hand," she continued, her mouth curving, "are still catching up. Your biology hasn’t decided which category you belong to yet, so it still demands to be fed like clockwork." She paused for a second. "Which is why I ordered the steak."
Zaeryn’s mouth watered at the word steak, and immediately a deeper, heavier hum echoed outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.
A larger delivery drone descended into the kitchen, setting a heavy, heated metal crate onto the marble island before immediately zipping back out into the city skyline.
The smell hit Zaeryn instantly. Seared meat, and rich spices. His stomach gave a vicious, audible growl, making Daphne laugh at the sound.
She stepped forward, and tapped a sequence into the crate’s digital lock. The lid hissed open, revealing a massive, perfectly cooked tomahawk steak, still sizzling faintly, surrounded by a mountain of sides.
A few minutes later, they sat at the long marble dining table just off the kitchen, the tomahawk split between them. Daphne had pulled out actual plates, and poured herself a glass of wine from the bottle in the fridge.
Zaeryn didn’t wait for the ceremony. He cut into the steak and took the first bite, letting out a rough groan of pure satisfaction. The meat practically melted in his mouth. It was, without a doubt, the best thing he had ever tasted that wasn’t made by Ysmeine.
Daphne took a slow sip of her wine, watching him demolish the meal with obvious amusement. She didn’t really need to eat, but she still sat with him, casually stealing a few seasoned potatoes off his plate. The quiet, domestic silence between them was completely new, but it felt perfect.
Once the plates were empty and the gnawing ache in Zaeryn’s gut was finally replaced by a heavy, satisfied warmth, he leaned back in the tall leather chair. He let out a deep sigh, the incredible food and the liquid-silk sweatpants making him feel entirely relaxed.
He looked over at Daphne. She was resting her chin on her hand, swirling the last of her dark wine in her glass. Her violet eyes were already fixed intently on him.
Zaeryn let a slow smirk pull at his mouth. He rested his arms on the cool marble, holding her gaze. "So," he asked smoothly. "What now?"
Daphne set her wine glass down with a soft clink. The relaxed, unhurried energy from the meal shifted in an instant. A slow, wicked grin spread across her lips, her eyes flashing with that familiar predatory heat.
"Oh, right," she murmured.
She slipped out of her chair and walked directly into his space, parting her knees to straddle his waist with effortless grace. She settled her weight right over his lap, the soft material of her leggings sliding with heavy friction against his new sweatpants. She pressed her center against his groin, right where his cock was already surging back to life.
Zaeryn’s hands immediately clamped onto her hips, his thumbs pressing into the bare skin of her midsection.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning down until her mouth crashed into his. It wasn’t the soft, lingering kiss from the shower. It was deep, wet, and demanding. Her tongue slid past his lips, tasting of the wine she’d been sipping on and something delicious that was uniquely hers.
Zaeryn kissed her back fiercely, one hand sliding down to cup her heavy ass through the leggings, squeezing hard as he bucked his hips up into her.
Daphne let out a muffled, dirty moan against his mouth, grinding her hips down hard on his thick, throbbing bulge.
"Looks like the food did its job," she whispered against his lips, her breath hot.
Zaeryn let out a low chuckle, his grip on her ass tightening to hold her perfectly still against his erection. "Yes, and I’m ready for round two, Doc. Hope you still have some stamina left."
"I’m a Warlady, Zaeryn," she purred, dragging her teeth lightly against his lower lip. "You’re the one who’s going to need to keep up."
Before he could pull her in for another kiss, she pulled back, sliding smoothly off his lap. She deliberately dragged her wet center over his hard-on as she stood, sending a white-hot spike of pleasure straight up his dick.
She turned toward the stairs that curved upward, glancing back at him over her bare shoulder. "Bedroom. Now."