“Well, regardless, you’re here now so might as well make the best of it, right?” I ask with a shrug. “You can get the rest of this sorted out later.”
She nods then looks out the window at the darkness beyond and frowns. She faces me again. “Tell me about Dread.” A pale arm waves from under the jacket.
Naked arms. Kissable hands. It would be so easy to slide to my knees and push her legs apart and taste… I jerk my attention outside the carriage window. “What do you want to know?”
Fuck, her allure is hard to resist.
“Ummm… who lives here? Who’s my host family? Are they nice? And… how far away is Arcadia?”
My heart aches for this little dryad. Such a beautiful soul. Incubi don’t get possessive over women, but this one could prove to be an exception.
SIX♀♥♂♂♂♂HARLOW
Lennox would love her. Yes, I’ll have to keep my brother away from her at all costs.
I look over at her and smile. She’s just… so easy to look at. I have a feeling dryads might be my new obsession. “Let’s start with the first question.”
“Okay,” she says as she looks at me with her cleavage practically calling my name. There’s an innocence about her that might be as hot as her body and those damned violet eyes. Even now, she sits there all proper with her hands folded in her lap as she stares up at me with those wide eyes.
“Who lives here? Well…” I gesture to myself. “One very sexy incubus, his twin brother, and then there’s everyone else.”
She huffs, and it’s a cute pout-exasperation-mirth thing. The bumps in the road jostle us, but my come-hither stare remains on Everly. Fuck, I want her. Bad.
And then reality hits in when I think about the ass-kicking I’ll get if I touch her. Riven already warned me that she was going to test my restraint and he wasn’t fucking wrong. I just can’t be sure how he even knew that? As far as I know, he’s never seen her before.
“And my host family? Are they incubi as well?” She entwines her fingers in a tight ball.
“No.” I’m tempted to tease her. I want to give monosyllabic answers just to make her ask more questions so I can hear her little-girl voice. It almost sounds like bells ringing.
But she sits and waits, and I give in. I’m a sucker for a pretty face. “His name is Count Jean-Claude Von Zarovich…” I sneer at the last part. “The third.” Then I roll my eyes. He really is a pompous asshole. I raise a hand to my throat. I want to forget the happenstance history-etiquette lesson he imparted on me earlier.
“And he’s a…” Everly starts to ask. “What is he?”
I eye her closely. Seriously? She’s never heard of the count? “He’s a vampire.” Oh, wait, the vampire. I’m not ass sore about our conversation—much.
Her face pales to ashen. “A vampire? My host family is a vampire?” Then something dawns on her and her open-mouthed expression grows even more open-mouthed. “Is it a family of vampires?”
“No,” I answer and hold up a hand as if to calm her. Not that it works. “It’s just the count.” But he’s probably the equivalent of like six vampire host families. Dude’s strong, powerful. Old as fuck.
“I’ve never… I’ve never met a vampire before,” she says softly. She’s afraid. I can see it in her eyes.
Honey, you’re about to meet a whole slew of fuckers you’ve never met before, I think to myself.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be just as smitten with you as I am.” I give her a smile to comfort her, but her jaw drops, and I can almost feel a sub-sonic yelp only werewolves could hear.
Everly bounces her knee as fast as any jackrabbit, forcing me to pin my hands down and look away. She’s killing me, slowly. My cock twitches. More than once.
“Stop!” I grit my teeth, saying the word aloud, more to myself. Waves of intensity pour off me, and I fight the urge to reach over and touch her. Fuck, I want to touch her. Everywhere. Mainly between her legs.
“Stop what?”
I can’t look at her. I have to look away. “Whatever you’re doing. Stop it.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“For the love of your soul, go easy on me.” I close my eyes and breathe in deeply. She has no idea that I’m like seconds away from taking her right here, in this fucking carriage. I mean, I’ve done it before—ravaging a woman in a carriage—but never with a dryad and never with a virgin dryad. And never with a virgin dryad who will cause my death at Riven’s hands.
Hmm, maybe there’s a first time for everything.
“Am I hurting you?” Everly reaches out, but catches herself. “Tell me what I’m doing wrong.”
The snake in my pants seeks to reach her from across the seat. It’s pleasure and torture. Fighting prudence over gratification. “Stop with the knee.”
But it’s too late. My pheromone drug hits her, the aphrodisiac incubi exude when we’re hunting, and her pupils blow out. I can’t help what my body is doing to her. My resistance is fading. It’s already faded.
“Harlow,” she says my name and swallows hard. “Please… please stop whatever you’re… doing to me.”
“I can’t help it.”
The tendrils of my base nature call, whispering sweet reassurances… Such a needy little thing. Lost. Alone. Needing comfort. Half-naked… and give me all the signs I’ll be welcomed inside her.
She closes her eyes tight. “What is it?”
“It’s need. Desire…”
“It’s coming from you.” She still hasn’t opened her eyes and by the way her hand is twitching, she wants to touch herself but she’s fighting the need. I have
