“Not a bloody thing,” he murmured, and captured my lips in a scorching kiss. I was breathless when he pulled back in favor of rubbing his cheek along mine, until his lips were a hairsbreadth from my ear. “In fact, after being repeatedly shackled in front of a crowd, having hot wax poured over my nipples and being publicly flogged, I feel I’m about due for some sexual revenge. I believe this might be the perfect time to collect on that debt.”
Hopefully, the shiver that ran outward from the base of my spine to my fingers and toes wasn’t obvious to anyone but me. I consciously straightened and squared my shoulders, the movement pressing my breasts against the hard planes of Rans’ chest. A low male noise teased the edges of my hearing. An instant later, I was scooped into a pair of strong arms, and I let out a surprised yelp as the ground disappeared from beneath me.
Rans carried me upstairs, bridal-style. I clung to him shamelessly, not caring that it didn’t present the badass persona I was going for as I teased, “Mmm. So, you’re finally tired of playing subby-sub, huh? Are you going to be the big, bad Dom now? Should I be worried?”
Amusement rumbled through him. I could feel it as well as hear it, because my ear was pressed right up against his chest as he bounded up the stairs.
“How worried you should feel depends entirely on how bad you plan on being,” he said. “Though I’m going to go out on a limb, and guess that your inner succubus plans on being very bad indeed.”
Before I could come up with a witty rejoinder, he ducked into the bathroom—easing me through the door sideways so I wouldn’t bump against the doorframe. I lifted my head and raised an eyebrow at him, surprised that he hadn’t gone straight for the bedroom with its spectacular four-poster bed. He must have caught my confused expression, because a crooked smile tugged at his lips.
“Trust me,” he said. “For sex as filthy as what I have planned, only the bath will do.”
I swallowed a thoroughly undignified whimper as my imagination tossed up several possible scenarios. At the same time, an involuntary pulse of slippery wetness dampened my panties.
Okay, then.
A moment later, I was back on my own two feet. My ankle-length summer dress had buttons down the front, and his hands were already busy with them. I reached for his shirt, but he made a tutting noise. “Ah, ah. Not today, love. Keep your hands to yourself unless I ask for them.”
I pasted on an exaggerated pout... but I let my hands fall to hang at my sides, as ordered. My bra had a front clasp—one of the wonders of the modern age, if you asked me. Rans popped it open and my breasts spilled out. Cool fingers ghosted over my collarbones and shoulders, taking the sleeves of my dress and the straps of the bra with them... leaving goose bumps in their wake. The dress slid down my body to puddle on the floor, the bra falling on top of the ruched material. Fingers hooked the waistband of my cotton panties, pulling them down until I could step out of them.
While Rans crouched at my feet, he also slipped off my leather sandals one at a time, leaving me fully nude. Fingers trailed up the inside of my left leg as he rose smoothly—barely brushing across my pussy before the touch disappeared. Then he backed up a step, his eyes caressing my curves with a slow look up and down.
I stood before him, fully bared to his gaze even though he was still completely dressed. Oddly, rather than making me feel self-conscious, it made me feel... powerful. So much had changed in the past couple of months, and not all of it was bad. I was part succubus, damn it. Sex and sensuality were my birthright. Every time I let myself embrace that birthright a little more fully with him, it felt like coming home.
A secret half-smile still tugged at Rans’ lips. “Beautiful. Now, you should go and run a bath for us, while I get a couple of things from the bedroom. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“On it,” I managed.
“Good girl.” He tweaked my nipple and I arched into it, feeling our combined sexual energy swirling around the room like mist. His smile grew devilish, and then he was gone, closing the door as he left. I swallowed against the tingles rushing along my nerves and went to run the bath. The thing was an oversized, two-person monstrosity, because apparently if you were a rich and powerful demon with houses scattered all over the world, California water restrictions didn’t apply to you.
Or something.
Whatever the case, the bath was deep enough it required a marble step to enter. It had four polished brass safety handles inset in the basin—two at each end. The thing was also jetted, because of course it fucking was. The plumbing was set halfway along the side, rather than at the end like a normal tub—presumably so it wouldn’t poke anyone in the back while two people sat facing each other in the tub.
Once the water temperature was perfect and the bath was filling, I stepped into it and settled back, making myself comfortable. Maybe I should have been concerned about the fact that Rans was clearly off his sexual leash today. But it was a moot point, since my brain couldn’t accommodate being concerned and being this turned on at the same time.
Hey. Succubus, okay? Single-minded horniness was kind of our thing. At least, that was my story, and I was sticking to it, come hell or—I eyed the bath—high water.
Besides, it wasn’t as though Rans had
