Page 45 of Adepts and Alchemists
Fifi’s eyes sparkled with good humor when she held up a key ring. I took it gingerly by the largest of the keys. The one for the front door. I wanted to be damn sure I locked it. No one was interrupting my covert mission tonight.
“Keep the destruction to a minimum if you can.”
The knowing tone and sly smile made me want to melt into a puddle of mortified goo. Instead, I straightened the ties of the coat she’d loaned me. I didn’t have any that fell to my ankles. The leather substitute felt slippery and cold against my flushed skin. I ran hot these days. The night was chilly and only my new and improved status kept me from freezing in the kitten heels I’d dragged out of the back of the closet. The two-inch heels weren’t as impressive as I’d like, but they were the best I had on short notice. The business I had to discuss with Angelo couldn’t wait.
I made a dash for the front door, not stopping to watch Fifi climb into her car and leave the lot. I couldn’t think about her for long or the desire to squirm with embarrassment grew too great to handle. It took a couple of tries to get the key in the lock and let myself inside. The interior of the building was dark but for a solitary square of light near the back. Angelo’s office lamp let out a soft, diffused glow. If I’d been purely human, it wouldn’t have been enough light to see by. The demon within me though could follow even a pinprick in the gloom.
The slow, predatory grace of that powerful beast flowed through me and I let it. It felt incredible to glide forward, utterly sure of my purpose for once. We were in agreement. It had tohappen tonight. Enough stalling. Enough excuses. I’d found my prey and by God, I was going to catch him.
Angelo was bent over a letter with a frown on his face. It didn’t make him one iota less lickable. If anything, the stern patriarch thing was a good look on him. He’d loosened his tie sometime since the office closed, sorting through the busy work Fifi had foisted onto him at the last second. At my request, of course. I had to make sure he’d be waiting inside after hours somehow.
His gaze flickered up to me after a second. I’d been silent, but there was no way I could escape his notice for long. We were a mated pair. He could pick out my scent from a crowd of thousands. And with my new nose, I could pick out the smell of his skin beneath the musky scent of his cologne. It was like woodsmoke when the embers stirred and spat fire into the air. Heat bubbled in the air between us when he deliberately set his pen aside.
“Lydia,” he said, tone roughened by whatever he wasn’t letting himself show. It was the closest that he’d come to sounding like a normal man since I’d met him. His voice was usually a velvet assault on my reason. “I’m sorry. I should have texted. Fifi gave me extra work and—”
I flicked the door closed with my heel and leaned my back against the wood. For the first time in my life, I felt utterly at home in my skin. The insecurities weren’t gone, but at this moment they didn’t matter. Not when we were both here. Both alive. That would be enough for me for a long time.
“Shh,” I said, pressing a finger to my lips. His gaze flickered down to my mouth, noting with a soft curl of lips that I was wearing a shade of lipstick he’d never seen before. I’d borrowed the ‘harlot’ red from Wanda. It looked better on my new complexion than I’d ever dreamed.
Angelo leaned back in his chair, the slow perusal of my person heated enough to make the tips of my fingertips tingle with nervous anticipation.
“Are you cold?” he asked, voice low and sincere. The note of concern in his voice made my heart ache. “You’re shaking.”
“No,” I whispered. “I’m not cold. Not yet, anyway.”
I undid the sash of the coat, meeting his eyes with a defiant look before dropping the thing entirely. It slid off my shoulders to puddle at my feet. He’d ignored subtle. So I’d go with something a little more overt.
I hoped walking in without a stitch of clothing would be enough of a hint.
Angelo’s eyes widened for just a second before a slow, satisfied smile graced those perfect lips. Want flickered far back in his eyes and his shoulders angled forward. He kept the rest of himself in check, but I could feel an answering hunger in him. We shared that appetite now. His demon. Mine. He’d made a half-succubus out of me. I’d never have the same ravenous consumption, but I understood it. Liked it. Wanted to feel more.
“Come here,” he said, holding out a hand to me.
The note of command made me twitch. It took effort not to move toward him on reflex. I stayed where I was, heels firmly planted in the carpet. I gave him an arch look.
“Or what?”
“Or I am going to take you against the door. You’ve already earned a spanking for talking back.”
Another, more violent tremor seized me and I started forward, feeling like I was being pulled by an invisible leash. He watched me move, with particular emphasis on the sway of my hips and the jiggle of my breasts. He reached out a hand to roll one nipple between his finger when I drew close enough, smirking at the sound I made.
A little yelp escaped me when he pulled me onto his desk, arranging my legs to either side of his waist when he stood. The material of his dress shirt was probably nice, but it felt coarse against my sensitive skin. I let out a shuddering breath when he swept his fingers of his other hand from my ankle up the curve of my calf. It felt like he left glowing tingles in his wake. Every nerve ending came alive, and I scooted closer, trying to erase the scant room between us.
A paper crinkled uncomfortably under me and I pulled it out, prepared to toss it away. I paused when I spied an official looking crest on the letterhead.
“What’s this?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, feathering kisses across the edge of my jaw.
“Angelo—”
“It’s just an invitation to a family function from mother. She’s trying to score grandkids. I’m not taking you to a family event unless I’m damn sure you’re okay with being pregnant. The orgies and fertility rights make it pretty much a guarantee.”
That splashed a little cold water on my raging libido. I drew back with a frown. “Pregnant?”
He rolled his eyes. “Mother is obsessed. I finally got Fifi to agree to go, now that she’s settled with that sasquatch. They want kids. I don’t know if you do, so I’m turning the invitation down. I cankeepturning them down, if you want that. I know it’s a big ask.”
I leaned a little further away, considering it. He let me, though the frustration of unmet desire was evident when he ground his arousal against my thigh.