Page 11

Angelo

Lydia’s knees buckled the instant our lips touched.

It wasn’t an uncommon reaction to an incubus’s power, but I’d never felt it like this before. It usually drew an amused chuckle from me. Stimulus, response. Easy. Humans were what I’d been born to hunt, and it had always been easy to get what I needed from them. But Lydia was more than human, infused with the energy of other creatures due to Indigo’s interference. The Kaloth demon was the most present, grafted onto Indigo and now Lydia’s magic through less savory means. It left an overwhelmingly spicy aftertaste to her naturally tangy mock orange. The jasmine notes had to be from Indigo’s meddling. They were almost gone now, with Indigo’s consciousness repressed. It felt incredible to have Lydia to myself—mostly.

My hands found the small of her back in a dance as old as time, drawing her in tightly. I should have waited. Should have marched out of the shop and been honorable. But she didn’t want honorable. She wanted to be ravished. I could feel it in the quiver of her lips under mine. The need billowed off her like a strong perfume. She hadn’t felt satisfaction in so long. And I could give it to her. I wanted to give it to her. I wanted to swallow her whole.

Lydia’s chest heaved, breasts straining against the white lace of her bra. I liked it. It contrasted nicely with her skin—the snowy color even paler than her ivory complexion. That complexion was flushed with desire now, the heat spreading through her in a slow, inexorable wave. She let out a breathless gasp when I tore the remaining blouse open, sending buttons flying to the corners of the room.

I needed this now, with Lydia, or I was going to go insane.

Her heart thrummed like a hummingbird’s wings. Another gift from foreign magic. The kelpie was a faerie, which meant a higher metabolism. It meant that in times of excitement, Lydia’s heart really raced. I wanted to hold that fascinating beat between my hands and feel it flutter like a butterfly against my skin. I could practically taste her excitement. I’d barely eased myself into her metaphorically, and I could already feel her drawing taut like a bowstring, a lifetime of being underappreciated bubbling to the surface.

I took it in one long draught. Took the doubt, the anxiety, the self-recrimination and drank it down alongside the trust she offered me so freely. It was bittersweet, an odd aftertaste that I nonetheless enjoyed. Lydia’s mouth tore free of mine, her breathless scream muffled. The hoarse sound of pleasure built and echoed beautifully like music. A smaller, almost adorable, sound escaped her throat when my teeth found purchase where her neck met her shoulder.

Lydia writhed, pressing every enticing inch of herself against me as she struggled. She was strong—stronger than most human women I’d met, thanks to her unique circumstances. But I was still stronger, and I reminded her of as much, caging her in so that even riding out the aftershocks required my permission. Her hands were trapped between our bodies, effectively shackling her.

“That’s cheating,” she said breathlessly, her lips curling in a tiny pout. I had the visceral urge to sink my true teeth into that shiny pink pout. I wanted to taste her more than I wanted air.

Still, I managed to step back when the words left her lips. Her eyes widened in shock as cool air flowed over her. I’d managed to get most of her blouse off before she had her first orgasm. That blouse now fluttered fitfully in the breeze from the AC unit. Her eyes looked huge and luminous in the low light of the shop. Her lips were swollen. Despite the intensity of my kiss, enough to bruise a mortal woman, it still wasn’t enough. I wanted to pull her close and live in her warmth. I’d never felt something this all-consuming before—something that dwarfed even my hunger for flesh.

“What are you doing?” she asked quietly, her expression almost eloquent with surprise.

“Stopping,” I answered, panting and in shock that I was doing exactly that. “I agreed not to cheat.”

Lydia’s eyes flashed with sudden fire—literal fire. I saw embers flicker in her pupil once before the demon magic within her settled enough to allow the flames to retreat. I didn’t know enough about the Koloth species to guess if that was a positive reaction or not. The only thing I did know was that Lydia wasn’t meant to have that ability. Nothing like this had ever happened before. There was no telling what Lydia’s natural magic would do when combined with a Koloth’s power. I didn’t have enough information to know what Indigo was doing to Lydia, and it bothered me—a lot.

“It was just an expression, silly,” she said, giving me a light shove. “Which of us is supposed to be the sex demon here? I’m playing hard to get. Keep up.”

A thrumming began somewhere behind my breastbone. It took me a second to realize the nearly subsonic sound filling the room was coming from my chest. Lydia shrank back—not in fear exactly, but in the way prey usually did. She was captivated by me and frightened by the power I could and would use to blind her to anything but me. For the first time in my life, I wanted more than just a night. More than a weekend, more than a fling. I wanted Lydia flushed and at my mercy for years—maybe even longer. Forever?

The realization should have made me run screaming from the room. Whatever commitment delusion had seized Fifi had finally caught up to me. Perhaps it was a familial plague or shared madness— folie à deux at its finest. And I simply... didn’t care at the moment. Not while she stood only a few feet away, half-dressed. The clothes were simply too much to bear.

“Strip,” I ordered, a little surprised to hear some of my demon’s voice in the mix. I usually had better control than this. “Now.”

Lydia’s chin lifted defiantly, and more fire sparked just behind her eyes. The incubus within me trembled with anticipation for the meal to come. It would taste even better if I chased the tender little thing down.

“Or what?”

“Or I’m going to shred every article of clothing on your body, lift you onto the cash wrap, and take you on camera. I’ll keep the security footage of the...” I considered, “next few hours as a souvenir. If you want to do this in your bed, you should probably run. When I catch you, I’m going to have you then and there.”

Lydia’s defiance faded. She paled at the threat, seemingly torn between horror and arousal.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“I would. And I’ll enjoy it even more knowing there’s a recording I can rewatch later. I’ll give you a head start. Ten seconds.”

What little color remained in her face fled. She seemed to realize how deadly serious I was. I didn’t care where I took her, just that it happened soon. But I knew her well enough that I knew she’d have to work up to a little voyeurism.

I laughed when she bolted, leaving a small, frightened squeak in her wake.

“Ten...” I began in a victorious sing-song. “Nine...”

***

Lydia

There was a demon literally out for my ass, and I could barely move in a straight line. I cursed Angelo’s name in my thoughts. It was his fault my legs were the consistency of cooked egg noodles and wouldn’t support my weight properly. I couldn’t remember a time I’d felt so satiated after sex.

Except, it hadn’t been sex. It had been a kiss. And yet I’d had one of the best orgasms of my life. I knew Angelo could use any touch to snare his would-be victims, but I’d never imagined climaxing after just a brief makeout session. But that’s exactly what had happened—something within me had unwound, luxuriating like a cat under the attention of his hands. He hadn’t just sabotaged my legs. He’d unlocked a new emotional equilibrium inside me, and it was throwing me off.

I cursed as I drove an elbow clumsily into the wall. The staircase leading up to the loft was narrow, and I was staggering like a drunk. At this rate, he was going to catch me on the stairs. I wasn’t sure how he’d make the positioning work, but he was a creative demon. I knew he could figure something out. If kissing him had made me see stars, I was certain whatever bruises it left on my back would be worth it.

Still, my heart kicked into a higher gear when I heard Angelo’s voice, a little nearer now as he approached the stairs.

“Two... one...”

The spurt of adrenaline gave me enough stamina to climb the rest of the stairs and collapse into the living room. I managed to crawl only a few steps before strong hands flipped me onto my back. I had only a second to see Angelo, black-eyed and demonic above me, before his mouth was on mine again, tongue plunging into my mouth mercilessly. The seal of his lips muffled the scream as a second, even stronger wave of bliss pulled at my thoughts like a riptide.

When I surfaced, he had followed through on his threat. Cool air from the AC unit gently blew across my bare skin. I didn’t look down to see how badly he’d mangled my outfit; I would check if Wanda could do repairs later. All I knew was that I felt incredibly exposed as those inhuman eyes roved over my body. Waiting for doubt to surface and choke me, it was mysteriously absent. I felt a bit of unease, like an entranced mouse before a serpent, but I couldn’t feel insecure while his power settled like the weight of an orgasm behind my navel.

“Lydia,” he said, his voice jarringly gentle against the inferno raging just beneath our skins. It looked like that restraint cost him dearly. “I need...”

“Take it,” I whispered, hands coming up to grasp his face. “Take me. I want you to. I’m done running. I want this. I want you.”

It was all the urging he needed. He nudged my thighs apart with practiced ease and watched my face as he coaxed every inch of himself inside me. I didn’t know when he’d removed his pants. I wasn’t sure if he had, or if his need to take me had been so great that he’d just shoved them down enough for movement. A smirk curled the edges of that full, kissable mouth as he watched my reaction. I wasn’t sure what face I was making, but he seemed to like it, judging by that almost purring sound his demon made when it fed off me. The aftershock of that sound was an almost perceptible vibration, edging me closer to a sobbing climax.

“I can’t,” I gasped eventually. “It’s too big. Too much.”

The belly laugh that earned actually thrust his hips against me, plunging his erection deeper inside me. I keened, tears pricking my eyes. It was overwhelming. It wasn’t just that he was huge, though he was. (A sex demon couldn’t go around sporting a lackluster appendage, could he?) It was also the feeling of having him so deep in my head, stroking something inside me. I doubted anyone else he’d slept with could sense things the way I did. I could almost feel his demon at work, taking from me. It didn’t hurt, per se, but it was an invasion of a place inside me that had been hitherto private.

“Do you want me to stop?” he whispered.

“If you stop, I will literally kill you.”

I wanted this. I wanted to give him what I could. He’d waited so long, respected every boundary, and put up with my insanity. Not only that, but I’d waited so long. Now, I wanted to feed him, even if I was the meal. But... this was going to take some getting used to.

“Want me to go slow?” he asked, skimming my ear with his nose. The velvet of his lips brushed my face, and I writhed. I couldn’t help it. It felt obscenely good to have him still and full inside me. I was sure I’d die and go to... wherever I was meant to go if he did more.

“Yes.”

Angelo pulled out, laughing at the keen protest that escaped me. I hadn’t even realized I could make that needy sound. I was learning a lot about myself today. Angelo made it up to me, shedding his pants and underwear in a move that belonged on the cutting room floor of a Magic Mike rip-off, deemed too dirty for the R rating. Every inch of him looked like well-aged perfection.

I almost cried in relief when he drew me to the couch, spooning me against him. I let out a hiccupping gasp when he thrust into me again, moving in gentle surges. It was like the ocean sucking at my toes, rather than the avalanche it had been moments before. He seemed to know, without words, how to handle me delicately. I wanted more. I wanted to enact scenarios on him that would make Penthouse salivate for a tell-all. I wanted him to take me hard on his desk someday. But my psyche couldn’t handle more than a gentle tussle. We’d have to work up to the kinds of things I liked to read about in my guilty pleasure romance novels.

Angelo showered gentle kisses over my throat, shoulders, and upper arms—anything he could reach. When he truly began to plunge into me, his teeth found my pulse and held on, anchoring me with the sharp, enticing pain of a love bite. It was a simple point of contact, but one I clung to as he gained momentum, setting a punishing pace.

He manacled my hands when I tried to reach between my legs. His coarse fingers felt like a textured glove as they found and stroked my pearl, driving spikes of feverish pleasure into me. I felt warm. So warm and so...

I screamed again. I couldn’t help it. I was helpless before an inferno. It saturated every part of me, but in Angelo’s embrace, it didn’t hurt. I was consumed by the fire, and it felt incredible.

When I could finally blink back to reality, I found Angelo resting on his side, watching me with an amused smirk.

“Was that five times or six?” he asked.

I frowned at him. “Trust a man to keep score.”

“I only get one, Bean.” He licked his lips, drawing my gaze down to his mouth. I wanted to kiss him again. It felt like an ache, a hunger igniting at the sight of him. “And I enjoyed mine immensely, in case you were wondering. It isn’t about competition. Not with you, at any rate. I’d like to know the exact number when I rub Rodney’s inferiority in his face.”

That probably should have made me angry, but I could only manage a light laugh.

“Eight, if you count the one downstairs.”

“I don’t. That was an appetizer. You wouldn’t be half as responsive if you’d had someone worthwhile before I came along. Sated women require a little more effort than that. It tells me Rodney is even more of a limp-dicked bastard than I originally thought.”

I nodded. “If it happened, it was never on purpose.”

“It will be now. Your orgasms are mine, Lydia. I’m going to taste every single one. Understood?”

I raised an eyebrow. “What if I want to do it by myself?”

“Mine,” he insisted, a touch of that demonic growl in his voice. “You are mine.”

I should have argued. But I couldn’t. It was the truth.

“Yours,” I agreed.