Page 22 of The Devil and His Goddess (Sinners Do It Better #2)

Harper

I RACED THROUGH THE HOUSE, turning off lights as I went. My heart pounded from the challenge I’d thrown down between us. Doing so was like teetering on the edge of a ledge. Falling forward into the dark unknown would be scary but exhilarating, while falling backward would keep things safe and as they had been.

Will he catch me?

Will he not?

Will we honestly give into our desires?

Or will we not?

The questions made a giddiness rush through my blood, warming me as I hid downstairs in one of the bottom kitchen cabinets. The cabinet typically held different bottles of alcohol and wine, but since it was dance season, the cabinet only had a couple of bottles in it, allowing space for me to join the red wine. Being small in physique came in handy sometimes, and this instance was one of those times. I cracked the cabinet door just a sliver so that I could peer out into the dark and silent kitchen.

Moments passed with the blood whooshing in my ears and my heart in my throat. Footsteps sounded above head. I held my breath, ignoring the rush of excited adrenaline that shot through me at the sound of him on the move. I listened carefully. The casual footfalls left my bedroom and went down the hall, straight for the stairs.

He took each step leisurely. He appeared in no rush, like he wanted to torment me with the knowledge that he was coming for me. His progress paused when he reached the bottom step before his footfalls resumed, coming down the hall toward the kitchen.

I held my breath and gently closed the small crack of the cabinet door. I covered my mouth with my hands and curled in on myself to make myself even smaller and quieter. Pins and needles practically danced around my insides in a giddy, nervous, and euphoric prance. I ignored the feeling and waited with bated breath as Perseus’s dress shoes gently slapped against the tile of the kitchen floor. His footsteps seemed to slowly round the corner of the island, and gradually, they began to walk toward the cabinet I hid in.

My heart had never pounded so hard. Trying to hold in my erratic breathing made a wave of dizziness hit me, but that, too, only added to the excitement of this moment.

His footsteps reached the cabinet I hid in. I braced myself for the cabinet door to be ripped open, but he kept going. He didn’t break his slow stride as he went past me, finishing his loop around the kitchen.

I dropped my hands from my mouth to clench them against my chest, which my heart practically beat to death. Daring another peek, I quietly opened the cabinet just a crack. I could hear his footsteps easier now, and the sound of his dress shoes against the hard floor carried him down the hall toward the home dance studio. Moments later, he came back down the hall, and his shadowy figure never looked this way as he moved back to the stairs and climbed them.

Biting my lip to fight my mischievous grin, I very carefully crawled out of the cramped space and stayed on my knees as I shut the door soundlessly. Getting to my feet, I tiptoed out of the kitchen and to the dance studio. Seeing as he’d checked this room already, I felt cheeky, changing spots to a room he thought he’d cleared.

I snuck inside and spun around to close the door as silently as I could. I let out a heavy breath, and no sooner had I done so than an arm wrapped around my middle and a hand covered my mouth. I was yanked back against a hard body.

“Found you,” Perseus whispered.

My heart leapt into my throat as desire flooded my core. He briefly released my mouth to spin me around in his hold.

“You cheated,” I chastised. “I said no demon powers.”

The fanged smile he wore widened. “You expected me to listen? I’m a demon, Goddess. We don’t follow rules. We break them.”

His lips cut off my rebuke as they found mine. The immediate jolt of euphoria that raced through each vein in my body made every reprimand I had die on my tongue. Everything inside of me zeroed in on the hard body pressing into mine and the soft lips claiming my own.

My back slammed into the door as Perseus hoisted me up into his arms, and I moaned as his tongue swiped in to tangle with mine. My clit pulsed as my upper thighs were forced apart to wrap around him, and his firm body pressed against that throbbing place. Already, that little friction through my sweatpants was making me go crazy . Not to mention, kissing him while knowing it was him was just as hot as I thought it would be. I rolled my hips into him, hungry for more of this.

“Fuck,” Perseus hissed against my lips. He squeezed my ass and pinned me against the door with a roll of his own hips, brushing the hard mass in his pants against my middle.

I reached up to tangle my hands in his gold curls, and it felt even better than anything I’d ever imagined. The strands were soft as they passed between my fingers, and when I tugged on the roots while deepening the kiss, he let out the sexiest groan I’d ever heard. It made me shiver in his arms and heat bloom hotter between my thighs.

“Perseus,” I whimpered against his mouth, though I didn’t know for what I pleaded. His name just slipped out before I dove back in, kissing him with overwhelming hunger.

Despite merely saying his name, he seemed to understand what had me begging. He set me on my feet, all so he could grip my sweatpants and yank them down. No sooner had they hit the floor than he was grabbing and kissing me again.

He shuffled us in the direction of the table at the side of the room, which was bare except for the small stereo. The table stood in front of two windows, which were currently blocked by closed blinds. We reached the table, and the blinds snapped open. Moonlight spilled into the room as the front yard came into perfect view.

I wanted to ask why he’d opened them—because clearly, it was him with his demonic abilities—but the question died the moment he set me on the edge of the table. He stood between my parted legs, kissing me with the vigor of a man who’d found his longed-after fix. All the while, his skilled fingers made quick work of removing my t-shirt. With it gone, I was left absolutely naked and exposed to him.

His bare chest rose and fell hard as he took a step back to look down at me with those black-and-red slitted eyes. I kept my hands braced beside me and my legs open, and as his shuttered gaze drank me in with only the moonlight to light up the space, my entire body flushed hotter. His attention alone was somehow bringing me to a near-shattering threshold, and I bit my lip against a breathy moan.

I obviously didn’t hide the sound well, because his eyes snapped back to mine. A devious, sexy grin pulled at his lips as he stepped closer. “Not your type, huh?”

Fighting off a small laugh, I recalled my early ridiculous excuse to keep him away. I tilted my head to push my breasts out and make my hair cascade down my back. My eyes raked over his towering and bulky bare frame with a smug look. “I’ve seen better.”

He chuckled, not buying my lie. “Oh yeah? Tell that to your glistening pussy.”

In the blink of an eye, his demonic features disappeared so that I stared at a human-looking Perseus once more. His fingers slowly drug up through the lips of my core, and my entire body shook from the jolt of pleasure that followed. My eyes closed, and my head fell back on a breathy sigh. Perseus’s mouth littered featherlight kisses up the column of my exposed throat as two of his fingers took turns curling and beckoning over my clit. My breath hitched, and I pressed my chest into him as the burning bliss grew inside of me.

“Perseus,” I gasped. “Oh, God. Perseus!”

“Lie to me some more,” Perseus demanded as he scraped his teeth along the underside of my chin. “Tell me how much you don’t want me.”

“I don’t want you,” I groaned, my fingers clenching where they held myself up.

“Tell me how much you don’t want my fingers playing with your slutty little cunt.”

A fresh wave of lightning hot pleasure shot through my limbs. Wetness coated my seam as the derogatory word lit me up inside like a fucking firework.

“I don’t want your fingers playing with me. I don’t want your mouth all over me. I don’t want you inside me.”

“Too fucking bad,” he growled. His fingers ceased their delicious toying as he sucked and nipped at my bottom lip before kissing me deeply. When he pulled back after only a single sweep of his tongue, he ordered softly, “Bend your ass over this table.”

I couldn’t catch my breath, even as I gave him a cheeky grin. “Make me.”

He growled against my mouth. His firm hands suddenly gripped my waist, yanking me off the table. I gasped and had to brace myself on his bare chest to keep from falling to the floor, but before I could fully right myself, he spun me around, gripped my shoulder, and shoved me down over the table. I hissed a delighted, shaky breath and pushed my butt out as he gave a warning slap to my ass. I yelped and fought against his hold, but he kept me firmly in place.

“Do as you’re told, beautiful,” Perseus cooed behind me as he ground his still concealed dick over my spread-open core.

I sucked in a sharp breath and braced my hands on the table beneath me. I burned so hot between my legs. With a wicked smile, I tried pulling away from him again, disobeying his orders. The warning rumble in his throat and tightening of his hold on me made the ache at my center even stronger, and when his hand smacked my ass hard, a jolt of pleasure nearly sent me over the edge of no return.

“Somebody likes being punished,” Perseus noted with heat and smoke filling his voice. “You a bad girl, Harper?”

“Always,” I answered breathlessly.

I wiggled my hips back against his groin, loving the friction against my open legs. My nerve endings were practically electrified as I shifted restlessly on my feet. I loved fighting him and pushing his buttons, but I was also getting desperate for his touch. I needed to be filled— quickly .

“How should I punish your bad behavior, hmm?” he asked, running his hand across my shoulder blades and up the back of my neck to pin me down harder.

My cheek pressed into the table, and I bit my lip to stave off the answer that wanted to escape.

With your cock.

I didn’t need to say the words. He knew what I wanted.

Which was exactly why he denied it.

“I don’t think you deserve relief, yet,” he revealed nonchalantly.

He dry-humped my folds, the hard mass of his dick rubbing against me but not filling me like I desperately craved. A fine sheen of sweat covered my body as I tried pushing my hips back to get the friction right where I wanted, but he noticed, which earned me another searing slap on my ass.

“What did I just say, Harper? Bad girls don’t get what they want.”

I screamed, the sound a mix of pain and want. My ass cheek burned and throbbed in time with the pulsing heat in my pussy, and I wasn’t even surprised to feel how wet I was between my folds. Each movement of his hips sent a dull wave of pleasure ricocheting through my gut. It was so close to the full-blown explosion that I knew one touch to my clit or one hard thrust inside of me would ignite that inferno.

“P-Perseus,” I moaned as my entire body began to shake with the threat of release.

He still wasn’t touching me where I really wanted. He rubbed near where I ached, taunting me with his closeness. It was mere inches from where I needed him, but he kept toying with me, driving me wild inside with his denial. Somehow, that intense yet ignored need had me closing in on a breaking point.

“Please!” I begged, trying to push against his confined cock again. “I-I—Perseus!”

My body shuddered, and my mouth gaped open on a hard groan. The release came lighting quick, and my pussy throbbed with the orgasm. I was breathless, stunned, and still so fucking horny.

“Goddamn,” Perseus hissed behind me as I caught the sound of his clothes adjusting. “You want me to fuck you that badly, slut?”

“Yes!” I cried. “Yes, please!”

Not a second later, his dick plunged into me. My back arched as I let out a pleased moan. He was so big and wonderful seated inside of me, and when he pulled out only to shove back in, stars danced behind my tightly shut eyes. My hands dug into the table. I used it as leverage to move my own hips, meeting each of his thrusts. He fisted my long hair tightly, making my scalp burn in the best way possible, and he used it for his own leverage as he claimed me hard and fast.

I came a second time, quicker than I ever had from dick alone. The sound I made was near-embarrassing. I didn’t want him hearing how much I loved what he was doing to me, but the visceral reaction came before I could contain it. His cock touched places deep inside of me.

“You squeeze me so tight,” Perseus purred as he continued to pound into me. “Your cunt knows who it was made for.”

The filthy words and the claim he put on me made fresh hunger build. I liked him announcing possession of my pussy, more than I probably should’ve. But again, I didn’t want him to know how much I liked it.

“You’re fucking it now,” I agreed on an unsteady breath. “But it will never be yours .”

Perseus didn’t seem to like that. He swiftly pulled out with a wet pop, and he grabbed my shoulder to turn me over. Only he didn’t put me on my back. He got me on my side so that I braced myself on my left forearm, and he hiked my right leg up to force me into a standing split. He clutched my leg firmly to his torso, all while holding my gaze with his lust-filled green eyes. When he entered me this time, he did so slowly . The gradual stretch had my eyes rolling back into my head.

“Fuck,” I whimpered as a sweet hunger robbed me of air.

“Say that again,” he challenged.

I forced my eyes back open to meet his. The green orbs glimmered with possession, power, and desire as they stayed locked on my face. I opened my mouth to repeat myself, but he took that moment to slam into me, morphing my words into a loud moan. He shot me a crooked grin as he returned to a slow and sensual rhythm.

“Look out the window, Harper,” Perseus commanded roughly.

Shakily, I tilted my head back to do as I was told. The empty, dark yard filled my vision, and beyond that was the road and trees.

“I hope Drake comes back right now,” Perseus gritted out as he filled me up with deliberate thrusts. “I hope he’s looking in here, watching me fuck you. I hope he sees and learns that you’re fucking mine. Coming anywhere near you will result in a one-way ticket to Hell with me as his personal chauffeur.”

His possessiveness and threat to Drake sent delicious shivers down my body. Did I want Drake near me? Never again. But I wanted him to see. I wanted him to know that it never was nor ever would be him .

I looked back at Perseus, continuing to hold myself in the standing split while he plunged in and out of me. The position and slow yet sensual pace had my toes curling and breath hitching as pleasure built at my core. The sensations only grew as Perseus and I maintained our stare-off, watching the other slowly get closer to that dizzying place we both sought. Watching Perseus’s gaze turn molten with desire and seeing the way he controlled every motion he made was all I needed to finally tip the scale.

I wobbled on my one leg and would’ve fallen if not for the table under my arm and other leg in Perseus’s grip. The ferocity of the release was almost more than I could take, and when Perseus kept making deep thrusts, I worried I was going to have a repeat of the night he visited me while masked, making me squirt.

That worry expunged when Perseus’s movements quickened, and he took in a sharp breath. In the next moment, his lips parted on his own groan. His brow creased as his release swept through him.

When he pulled out, he let my leg go. I immediately swayed on my feet and slumped back against the table in an effort to keep my jelly-legs from giving out. You’d think my body could handle sex, considering my line of work, but I was surprisingly spent.

And satiated.

And addicted .

I finally knew what sex with Perseus was like—pure Heaven. Now that I’d had a taste, there was no hope of stopping. He was a demon and my boss, but I was tired of fighting against this attraction.

Perseus tucked himself away and stepped into my naked body. He placed each arm on either side of me and leaned down to place a soft kiss on my lips. “That was worth the wait.”

Laughing, I returned the light kiss. “For once, I agree with you.”

“Careful. I might get used to that.”

“Don’t count on it becoming a habit,” I teased as he bent down to grab my discarded clothes.

He didn’t let me put them back on myself. Instead, he held my shirt up and gently pulled it down my head before guiding my arms through it. I bit my lip as a rush of something light and airy bubbled up in my chest. The act was thoughtful and sweet, far from our typical interactions. I didn’t know how to act, nor how to make sense of the feeling welling up in my chest.

“So only food, dance, and sex we agree on?” he chuckled.

“Yeah. The three most important things.”

He finished pulling my shirt down and grabbed my sweatpants to hold while I stepped into the garment with my hands braced on his bare chest. With my clothes back in place, I could’ve stepped away. His job was done, so he also could’ve released me. But instead, we stayed there like that—his strong hands gently gripping my waist, my palms resting on his hard torso, and our eyes locked in a stare.

The sense of comfort I felt in his hold was unexpected. Like being in his arms was not only nice but right . That post-sex high was really doing a number on me, because while I’d given into temptation, I knew disaster could still strike. While this room was our own little world away from reality, he was my boss, a celebrity, and a demon beyond that door.

Was that going to stop me now that I knew what being with him was like? No. But I also couldn’t deny all the potential dangers.

“I can practically see your rampant thoughts in those blue eyes,” Perseus prodded.

I pursed my lips and traced a nonsensical pattern on his chest. “Can you? Some vision you have.”

“Harper,” he chuckled with only a slight bite of warning in his tone.

Relenting with a sigh, I admitted, “I don’t like getting all serious after sex. But I have to know what happens after tonight. Like, do we pretend this didn’t happen? How do we act at work? Do we—”

He pressed the tips of his fingers to my lips, silencing my questions. Instead of looking annoyed by them, he seemed to be fighting a grin. “We’re definitely not pretending this didn’t happen, because I have every intention of doing this again. Soon . And a lot of it. As for your concern about work, this doesn’t change anything. At work, I still expect you to train hard and be the principal ballerina I know you can be. I’ll be the boss, ready to give out roles and oversee the company as I see fit. What we do outside of work is no one’s business but ours.”

I nodded slowly, trying to really digest and accept his words. “And what about Drake? Do you think he’ll come back to work or come after me again?”

“I doubt it. For one, he failed and got caught, which will have him shaken up. Not to mention, he saw me in my true form, so he knows he’s dealing with something otherworldly, even if he doesn’t recognize what it is. He’d be an imbecile to come anywhere near you again. Not that it matters. I’m going to find him, either way.”

“You’re gonna go after him?”

“Of course I am. He sealed his fate when he dared to come after you. I already told you. I’ll break him for what he’s done. Until I do, it’s best if you’re always with someone. Don’t go anywhere alone until he’s been dealt with, okay? And if you’re ever in danger, all you have to do is say my name. I’ll hear you, no matter where I am.”

“How?”

“I’ve tasted you,” he explained, his voice dropping with a hint of salaciousness. “We’re tethered in a way now. It’s not as strong as an actual demon bond, but hearing you when you call my name won’t be a problem.”

I digested his words, letting it all sink in. Finally, I asked, “Aren’t you worried about … I don’t know. Doing something to him and getting caught?”

Perseus smirked, and his demonic features reappeared with the motion. His black-and-red slitted eyes held mine while his malicious sneer showed off his sharpened canines. “Don’t forget what I am, Goddess. I fear nothing.”

The confidence in his statement strengthened my own belief that everything would be okay.

“When is Aiyaha going to be back?” he asked. “I’m not leaving you here alone.”

“She comes back Sunday.” I chewed on the inside of my lip and looked down at my shirt to pluck at non-existent lint as I mumbled, “You can stay here if you want.”

He chuckled and tightened his hold on me. “Was that hard to say out loud?”

“Very,” I answered with an embarrassed laugh. “I’m hoping you’ll say yes to save me from feeling weird about it.”

He crooked his black-clawed finger beneath my chin and tilted my face up. His perfect lips caressed mine in an equally slow yet dizzying kiss. When he pulled back, he whispered, “I’ll stay.” His forehead dropped to mine, and he groaned, “Fuck. I’m ready for round two.”

I fought another laugh and stepped out of his arms. The remark alleviated some of the softness that had been clouding the air between us. I wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or sad about that.

I raked my eyes over him and headed for the door with a flip of my hair over my shoulder. “When you’ve earned it, Peasant.”