Page 21 of The Devil and His Goddess (Sinners Do It Better #2)

Harper

“FUCK,” PERSEUS CURSED UNDER HIS breath.

His mounting anger was a sign that he’d come to the same conclusion I had—Drake must’ve woken and taken the opportunity to escape while Perseus and I were panicking, talking, or kissing.

Perseus’s black-and-red slitted eyes closed, and he rubbed at his forehead. “I should’ve killed him instead of knocking the bastard out.” He dropped his hand, and when he looked back at me, the ire he’d worn was replaced by a worried frown. “Did he hurt you?”

I stared at the spot where Drake’s body had been, unable to tear my eyes away. It took many seconds before I managed to get my tongue to work. “No,” I croaked. “Not really.”

A finger crooked beneath my chin. Gently turning my face to his, Perseus ordered, “Hold onto me.”

Without hesitating, I wound my arms around his waist. In the next instant, my vision filled with black shadows, and when they cleared a moment later, I found myself swaying on my feet in my bedroom.

“Lock yourself in here,” Perseus directed as he stalked around my room, checking beneath my bed and in my closet. “I’m going to make sure he’s really gone.”

I opened my mouth to tell him it wasn’t safe for him to wander the house alone with a psycho potentially here, but then I remembered what Perseus was. The black horns, claws, and demonic eyes were a good reminder. He wasn’t a mere human, mortal and open to physical harm.

Swallowing down my argument, I hugged my arms around myself and nodded. “Okay. Th—Thank you.”

Perseus slipped out of my room, and I locked the door as he’d instructed. I huddled at the head of my bed, squeezing a pillow as my mind raced to catch up with everything that had just happened.

Because holy fuck, it was a lot .

Drake was my stalker. The bashful, friendly guy that I’d worked with for the past two years was actually twisted and convinced that we were lovers.

I briefly wondered if I should call the police to report what had happened so they could track him down and arrest him, but what would I say?

Hey. This guy broke into my house and nearly attacked me, but thankfully, my demonic boss showed up to stop him. By the way, the only reason he got away was because we were too busy making out right after to heal his stab wound. Can you help me?

I rolled my eyes and buried my face in the pillow I clung to. It was so ridiculous. There was no way I could go to the police about this, not with Perseus being involved. Which led me to my next issue.

Perseus was a demon .

A demon I’d fucked around with on multiple occasions.

All the moments I’d fooled around with the demon flashed through my mind. Waking up to him tormenting me with my vibrator. Squirting on him. Making out while another man attempted to eat me out. Dry-humping each other in the alley while I called out Perseus’s name.

Thinking back on each moment and now knowing who I’d done all of that with had my heart leaping over itself and heat rushing through my limbs. Part of me found excitement in realizing it had been Perseus all along, but the other part was embarrassed and confused. I’d worked hard to ignore the draw to him only to have already crossed that line without realizing it.

A knock came at my door. I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound. The last time I’d heard a knock on the door, I’d opened it to a supposed friend that actually wanted to hurt me. If it wasn’t for Perseus’s deep voice calling my name, I wasn’t sure I’d have the courage to open it this time.

The version of Perseus that appeared on the other side was the one I knew best—bright green eyes, long fingers without black nails, and a head of nothing but golden waves. The sight made an eruption of warmth bloom in my gut, and the sensation only amplified as my gaze landed on his still shirtless body.

Clearing my throat, I opened the door wider to let him in and shut it behind us. “Did you find him? Is he really gone?”

Perseus stood in the center of my room as I leaned against the closed door.

“He’s gone,” he answered. “I checked the whole house and even a bit into the woods around the place. I couldn’t smell him anywhere or find him. And trust me. If he were still here, I’d smell him.”

I inhaled sharply as my wide eyes stayed locked on his. “You really are a-a demon,” I muttered softly. “Aren’t you?”

A muscle ticked in his jaw, and his gaze fell away from mine. “I am.”

I’d expected the answer. Hell, I knew the masked figure was a demon. But hearing Perseus confess it so plainly still made my knees nearly buckle. I took a deep breath and let my weight rest against the door.

I wasn’t sure which situation had me more shaken up—Drake’s invasion and near-attack or Perseus’s admission of his real identity.

“And you’ve been the one …” I licked my lips before finishing, “ visiting me?”

Perseus’s fists clenched at his sides as he went to my window. His bare, sculpted back was all I could see as he seemed to search the night beyond. “Yeah, and apparently, I’m not the only one. I never sensed anything nefarious from him at work. Occasionally, there were … worrisome scents from people at work, but those smells don’t always mean something dangerous. I never expected the source to be him and for him to have intentions like this.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to rub the sudden chill from my arms. “Me, neither. I knew someone had been sending me texts and voicemails, but … I never expected it to be Drake. I also didn’t think the person had the courage to actually approach me, let alone …”

The words describing tonight’s events died on my tongue. Perseus looked back at me then. He straightened and slowly closed the distance between us. His hand started to reach toward me, but at the last second, he closed his hand and dropped it to his side.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. I worried my lip before whispering, “What if he comes back?”

“Let him fucking try. I’ll rip him limb from limb and toss him into Hell,” Perseus snarled. His green eyes darkened at the edges like they were about to go black-and-red again.

Seeing his eyes briefly go dark had my thoughts redirecting to the very real demon I had in front of me. I should’ve been horrified that an intruder had been swapped for a spawn of malice, but all I felt was curiosity and wonder.

Studying his eyes, I asked, “Are you able to change into your … I don’t know what you call it. Demon form? Are you able to change that quickly?”

He held my gaze with a slight frown on his usually upturned lips. Instead of answering me verbally, he stood still while black horns appeared in his hair, his fingers sharpened into black talons, and his green eyes swirled with inky blackness until dark voids with a slash of red in the middle met mine.

My lips parted on a surprised gasp, but I didn’t turn away. I inched closer to look over all the new features he suddenly wore, as though seeing them for the first time.

“Aren’t you afraid?” Perseus grumbled as I picked up one of his hands to run the tips of my fingers over the claws.

His deep voice came out somber, like he expected me to shun him now that I knew the truth.

“It’s not my first time seeing a demon,” I teased with a small laugh. “You exposed yourself to me a while ago. I’ve had time to understand that … demons exist. Though, I’ll admit. It’s surreal realizing that he is actually you .”

The frown he wore deepened, and he looked away from me. “I guess the fantasy is ruined now that you know who is under the mask.”

“I wouldn’t use the word, ‘ruined.’”

His black-and-red eyes flicked back to mine. “What word would you use?”

There were many words I could choose—complicated, sexier, better . Instead of telling him any of them, I asked, “How did you know I have a mask fantasy?”

His lips twitched like they were going to crack into one of his usual playful grins, but the frown won out. “I’m an Incubus. Figuring out a person’s sexual fantasy is nothing for me.”

“An Incubus? Isn’t that a—”

“Sex demon,” he finished. His charm finally shined through as the corner of his lip lifted, which exposed a fang-like canine.

I wanted to burst out laughing from how much sense that made.

No wonder he’s so good at it.

Not daring to praise his skills directly to his face, I queried, “So what’s an Incubus doing running a ballet company or performing with a band?”

“What? Are demons not allowed to have lives? You think we just sit in Hell all day, thinking of ways to make the world a terrible place?”

My face instantly warmed from shame, because that kinda was what I thought. I wasn’t religious or anything, so I assumed, if demons were real, they were bad, given how people and the media portrayed them. I wasn’t expecting the creatures of Hell to be hot as sin and leading normal lives.

“Sorry,” I apologized quietly. “I guess that was judgmental of me.”

He chuckled. “I was joking.”

“Leave it to you to joke at a time like this,” I laughed disbelievingly. My gaze dropped to the floor as the lightheartedness faded from my chest. “What do we do now?”

“About?”

I shrugged. “Everything? What do I do about Drake?”

“You don’t need to do anything,” he answered immediately, his tone firm and leaving no room for discussion. “I’ll handle that fucker.”

“What are you gonna do?”

He smirked, showing off his sharp fang-like canines once more. “I’m a demon, remember? He saw me in that form, so I’m sure he’s smart enough to stay away, knowing the company you keep. Not that distance will keep him safe. As soon as I find the bastard, which I will , I’ll introduce him to a real monster. There will be no salvation for anyone who dares to hurt you, Harper.”

The clear threat in his words should’ve alarmed me. He was talking about killing Drake. But instead of breaking out in horrified chills, hot desire traveled down my spine before settling at my core in a heedy rush of desire.

The moment my pussy began to ache, Perseus inhaled sharply as his demonic eyes snapped down to the place where I squeezed my thighs together. Being an Incubus, he could probably sense the hunger currently robbing me of breath.

Instead of hiding what I was feeling, I finished my questions. “What do we do about us now?”

His throat bobbed on a swallow as he slowly tore his gaze away from between my thighs to meet mine. “Us?”

“It’s like you said. The mask is off. I know who you are, what you are, and I—I still want …”

His black-and-red eyes widened a fraction, and his lips parted. “You still want me?”

“Did you think me finding out the truth would change that?”

His gaze searched mine as silence wrapped around us. For a moment, I thought he was going to remain quiet, but finally, he answered, “I thought it was a possibility. You’d made a point of keeping me at a distance, yet I’d been with you, anyway. Not to mention the whole demon thing. I thought the truth might ruin things.”

The sincerity in his words struck a chord in me. Perseus was always flirty and charming. He didn’t doubt himself or what he wanted, yet when it came to whatever was happening between us, he did. His own uncertainty made me feel less alone in coming to terms with how complicated this was, like now he had worries about being more , too.

Funnily enough, his being a demon made him more human in my eyes.

Despite the doubt he struggled with now, he still wanted me.

Just as I still wanted him.

My heart began to race. Tonight had turned my world on its axis. Everything had shattered and reassembled into an all new world. With this change came the final push I’d needed to take that leap, to take that risk. I’d already tasted a sliver of that darkness, and it wasn’t nearly enough.

I wanted this demon.

I wanted Perseus.

And I was finally ready to be honest with him and myself.

I pushed away from the door to fully press myself against him. He took a small breath as my fingers ran over his toned flesh.

“Five minutes,” I said softly. “I get five minutes to hide. If you can find me without using your demon powers, you can have me.”

I shoved away from him, turned, and ran.