soft heat, his cock sliding deep. He shook, his head bending under the effort not to rip her jeans open, spread her wide, take her now.
“Give me more.” Ash’s back arched. “More.”
“More, yes. God. I can almost taste you.” But not yet. Her eyes had closed, and the agonized pleasure on her face deepened as he circled her clit. The small nub had stiffened, the only part of her that wasn’t soft, but still so wet, so hot. “Like this? Or faster?”
Her head turned to the side, cheek pressing to the floor. Her hips rolled, and she cried out.
Jesus, so beautiful. “Like that?”
“Yes. Don’t stop that.”
He never would. Frenzied, Nicholas bent his head, licked the corner of her mouth. Her lips parted under his. Her moans came from deep in her chest, pulled answering sounds from him. Her legs widened as far as his knees allowed, and his fingers slid deeper.
Oh, fuck. Nicholas shook, battling the need to rip off her jeans now, ram deep. Her passage squeezed at his fingers, so tight. With a soft cry, Ash rocked her hips, writhing, pumping against him, her wetness flooding his palm. Pinned by his hands above and below, out of control, her ecstasy so unadulterated, so clear, so obviously her only thought, she was the most incredible, sexiest thing Nicholas had ever seen. He could have watched her forever, taking his own pleasure just in this.
But she wasn’t waiting for him. Her body jerked, stiffened. She cried out, exposing her fangs. Her sex clamped around his fingers, sweet fucking heaven. Her eyes opened, shining red—crimson swept across her skin. Obsidian horns erupted from her forehead, curling back to her temples.
What the fuck was he doing? Had he forgotten what she was, or stopped caring? Had this been her plan all along, to
Shaken, he slipped his fingers from inside her. He released her wrists. Ash trembled beneath him, then fell back to the floor, panting. A soft laugh erupted from her, and she looked up at his face. She stilled.
“Nicholas?”
“Well done. You got me to let you go,” he said.
She blinked and half rose. Her head wobbled a little. Frowning, she reached up. Her mouth fell open when she touched the horns. She pulled her hand back, looked at her skin.
“Oh,” she said softly. “I see. I found what disgusts you.”
Disgust? Nicholas rose to his feet. Not disgust. His cock was still hard, aching. And he wanted her. He still wanted her. Even now, with all this on display, she was beautiful to him.
No, the problem wasn’t that he was disgusted. It was that he
“Nicholas?”
He shook his head. He couldn’t. Rounding the broken table, he headed for the door. He heard her get to her feet, but he couldn’t stop. Not until he got his head together again.
A soft noise made him look back. She hadn’t come for him. She stared at herself in the small mirror over the sink, instead, her fingers tracing the reflection of the horns in the glass.
“This is who I am?”
His chest tightened. His heart told him to keep quiet, to figure this out, to work it through. He didn’t listen to it. Didn’t know if he could trust it.
“Yes. As I’ve said.”
“So you have,” she whispered. Her hand fell away from the mirror. “ Again and again. So you were right . . . and now you’ve fulfilled your part of your bargain. I know what I am now. A demon.”
“No.” That wasn’t all she was. “We’re not done. We don’t know your name. We don’t know where you came from.”
“The bargain was ‘Who I am’—and I’m a demon. Anyway, it’s not your choice. I’m releasing you.”
God. She was right. He couldn’t do a damn thing about that. But he didn’t have to let her go. “You’re still bound to me.”
She fixed those glowing eyes on him. “Only until I find your limit. Then you’ll release me.”
No, he wouldn’t. Not with Madelyn still out there, posing a threat. Not as long as he drew breath.
“I won’t.” He started across the room toward her—and she vanished.
No, not vanished. He heard the door open, and turned just in time to see her leave.
The tightness in his chest hardened to a deep ache. God, he’d fucked up. How many times had he seen her fangs, her glowing eyes? And only thirty minutes ago, her
Somehow, he had to pay for it, make it right. He’d get his head on straight, so that he wouldn’t hurt her again.
But he wasn’t letting her go.
CHAPTER 13
Ash came back to the cabin when she heard Nicholas start the bath. Finally washing her off, probably. She was only surprised he hadn’t done it earlier—and she wasn’t sure she blamed him.
No, screw that. She blamed the hell out of him.
But it was difficult to stay angry, though she tried to nurture the emotion. After she’d looked in the mirror, Ash hadn’t known what to think. She had
If so, it was too bad she’d begun caring about what Nicholas thought of her. Eventually, though, it would probably fade. So really, the horns didn’t matter at all, except that they’d finally driven home what Nicholas had been reminding himself about all along.
She was a demon.
Now, she planned to act like one. She was going to frustrate him, use him. And even though, judging by her experience, that sounded more like what Nicholas St. Croix would do than what any demon would do, it just made everything more fitting.
A splash sounded as he got into the tub. Though it would be better if she could make the horns, wings, and fangs show themselves now, she didn’t need them. Appearing human, but
The small clawfoot bathtub sat in the opposite corner to the bed. She knew Nicholas hated it, that he preferred a shower that washed away the grime and sweat rather than sitting in a shallow, diluted pool of it, but he’d been making do. He’d lain back against the sloped, rounded end of the tub, elbows hooked over the sides, his head resting against the upper edge as if he were exhausted, knees bent and his feet braced beneath the spigot. She’d hoped he would seem crunched up in there, his long body in that short space, but no—and the narrowness of the tub only emphasized the broadness of his shoulders, the long muscles of his thighs.
His eyes opened when she crossed the room toward the bed, and although he seemed tired, burdened, he immediately sat up, his expression alert.
“Ash? Are you all right?”
“Fine.” She gripped the iron rail that served as a footboard, began dragging the bed to the tub. “I’m just coming in to see you naked.”
