Page 303 of The Spider Queen

I shivered and clenched, I moaned as my body commanded. It was too much and yet not enough.

When I was naked, he gazed down at me with a languid look. He was the creator of sin, and here I was ready to sin with him.

His fingers glided across my naked flesh, causing me to tremble. The warmth from the fire teased my body, but inside I was a raging inferno.

Flames of want licked along my nerves, setting me ablaze.

Lucifer slid his face in between my legs and feasted. I gripped the bed linens and would have bucked beneath him as the onslaught of desire grew to be too much, but the fallen angel pinned me in place and had his wicked way with me.

And even as I coated his tongue with my release, he continued to devour me like he’d never get another chance.

When the tremors subsided, Lucifer lifted his head and grinned.

There was the man I recognized—and it made me grin back.

I reached for him. He wouldn’t let me worship his body the way he’d done mine. Every time I attempted to touch him, to bring him pleasure, he gently pushed my hand away. He evaded my tongue. It was as if he derived pleasure from the sheer torture of denying himself to me.

He shucked his trousers and then straightened to his full height. He stood tall and defiant, his wings expanded.

My heart pounded in my chest when I took in his glorious form. Fallen angel, indeed. Pride, stubbornness, an unlawful prince who lived to destroy.

I spread my legs and welcomed my destruction.

My eyes were closed, my cheek pressed to Lucifer’s bare chest. His fingers danced along my upper arm. Our legs were tangled and so were the sheets. Logs crackled in the fireplace, which was the only sound in the room. I couldn’t even hear any trace of the thunderstorm. It had run its course, it seemed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked softly.

“It wasn’t important.”

“Lie.” His fingers trailed over my arm to my spine. He flattened his hand against the curve of my back. “I love this part of you.”

I snorted. “You don’t smell how I thought you’d smell.”

“You expected fire and brimstone?” he asked with a low chuckle.

“Something like that.”

We fell silent again for a moment and then he asked again, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I thought only mortal men cared about bagging a virgin.”

“Don’t.” His tone hardened. “Don’t deflect.”

“Why does it matter? You were gentle. Far more gentle than I ever expected you to be.”

His hand moved from the small of my back to rest on my hip. “You had different expectations?”

I raised myself up so I could look at him. His wings were tucked underneath him, but the edges of one bat wing poked out. I wanted to stroke it, but I wasn’t clear on the rules when your lover had wings. Were they a no-go? Were they an erogenous zone? I’d have to ask later.

Lucifer’s indigo eyes were banked with lust, but he was momentarily lulled into submission by what had just transpired between us. My body hummed with pleasure, and it was only a matter of time before I wanted more.

We stared at one another. I’d been the most vulnerable I’d ever been in the most elemental way I knew. I’d been bare before him, but now he was asking me to be bare in another way. To strip off the armor of emotion completely.

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” I said lightly. “Tell me why you hate me and yet why you want me.”

“I don’t want you, Stella,” he said softly, reaching up to brush my tangled hair away from my face. “Ineedyou. There’s an inherent difference. And it’s…a foreign concept. Wanting, I understand. I want what I can’t have. I want my brother’s realm. I want to rule over it all. I want to take and take until I’m satiated. But I know nothing will be enough because that’s not my nature. I’ll always want more.

“But need?” He shook his head. “Need is so inherently basic.”