Heart of the Demon

by Cynthia Garner

  She shook hands with the manager and walked out of the bank.

  Finn looked at Ida and adopted a chagrined expression while he patted his pockets. “I don’t believe this.” He gave a low chuckle and shrugged his shoulders. “I must have left my wallet at home.” He flipped his wrist to check his watch and said, “I won’t be able to return before you close, so would you just delete that? I’ll come back another time.”

  Her sigh came out on a gust of aggravation. “Of course, Mr. Evnissyen. Come back any time.”

  Finn smiled and left the bank. Keira was waiting for him by her car.

  “I’d almost forgotten how much fun this is,” she said. Her eyes danced with blue sparks of excitement. “I mean, the sleight of hand at jewelry stores is one thing, but this, really laying it on and grifting money out of people, it’s something else entirely.” She laughed and looped her arm through his, hugging it to her side.

  Her enthusiasm had totally chased away the curmudgeon mode she’d been in before. While he liked to see her happy, her reaction was just what he’d been afraid of. Grifting, for her, was like a drug—one job was too many, and a dozen wasn’t enough. He needed to see what kind of space her head was in, see if maybe he could talk some sense into her. Though she’d been right earlier when she’d said there was no walking away. If he was successful in encouraging her to leave the group, he’d damned well make sure it was safe for her to do so.

  “Hey!” She leaned against her car and stroked a finger down his chest. “Why don’t we go to my place and celebrate?”

  This was the Keira he was used to, a woman confident in her appeal and not afraid to show her passion. “Sure,” he said. If he was at her place, he’d have her alone and they could have a private chat. Among other things. He nodded toward the money bag she held. “Aren’t we supposed to get that to Stefan?”

  “And we will.” She went up on tiptoes and pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth. “Just not right away.”

  He put his arms around her waist and tugged her closer. “What kind of celebration did you have in mind?”

  She winked at him. “You’ll find out when you get there, boyo.” She planted her mouth on his, giving him a kiss that stole his breath and started a fire burning low in his belly. When she drew away, both of them breathed heavily. She smiled and whispered, “Don’t take too long.” She hopped into her car and drove away, still with that huge smile on her face.

  Finn strode to his bike and pulled out into traffic. He’d thought perhaps she’d been distancing herself from him, but maybe he’d been wrong.

  Of course, he didn’t know exactly how she planned to celebrate her achievement. It was hard to tell with her. She might want to break out cake and ice cream. Maybe some champagne.

  In which case his hopes would be dashed and he’d be wrong again.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Keira went into her house and waited, hand on doorknob, until Finn sauntered past her. Then she closed and locked the door. Taking his hand, she led him back to her bedroom. She set the money bag on the dresser by the door and stared at him.

  By all that was holy, she felt like she was on fire. Her blood sang, her skin tingled, her thoughts scattered except for one.

  She wanted this man like she’d wanted no other.

  With a small smile, she turned on a lamp on the table in the corner of the room. Soft light brightened the room. It was enough to be able to see clearly, yet it was still romantic in tone. Her queen-size bed with its green patchwork quilt looked lonely. She planned to remedy that quite soon.

  Keira walked back over to Finn, kicking off her shoes as she went. Stopping in front of him, she let her gaze wander over his body and appreciated, not for the first time, what a strong, virile male he was.

  As she slid her hands down his back and then up and across his broad shoulders, she felt the warmth of his skin beneath his clothing. Clothing that was in the way. She wanted the feel of him beneath her fingertips. Skin on skin.

  She’d never before been so utterly consumed by a man. Oh, she’d had sex before and it was one of her favorite things to do, but this all-encompassing need was something new. Different. So different that it frightened her a little. What was it about this man, this demon, that moved her so?

  She lifted her eyes to his, seeing how passion darkened his blue eyes, and knew what was different. She loved this man. With his arrogance and his hardness, she’d experienced such gentleness from him that she knew he had it in him to be kind, softer than he let on. She was certain what she felt was love.

  Yet she saw no reciprocity in his gaze. Lust was there, to be sure. Plenty of lust. But no love. She knew it was a bad idea to feel this way. Stupid, even. But there it was.

  While it might be a bad idea, love itself was never bad. She loved Finn, and she would do what she could to keep him from harm.

  Right now, though, she wanted him naked and in her bed. And she would take the lead on their coming together. She wanted to entice him. Not through any glamour, but through emotion. Through her love, perhaps he could find it in himself to do more than “care” for her. She wanted him to love her back.

  Keira pushed his leather jacket off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Then she set her fingers to the buttons of his shirt. She slid that off his shoulders, too, and it joined the jacket. Unable to resist the allure of his musculature, she traced her fingers up his biceps, over his collarbone and across his pectorals. She thumbed his tight little nipples, eliciting a sharply drawn breath from him.

  Leaning forward, she pressed a kiss into the hollow of his throat, then on his Adam’s apple, pausing only to draw back to study the tattoo that spread from the right side of his neck down onto his shoulder. “Why do you have this?” she asked.

  “It’s a holdover from my rebellious youth,” he murmured.

  “Really?”

  “No.” He chuckled. “I got this in a ritual my people performed. When a boy reaches manhood, he is given a marking.” He brought his hand over and briefly touched the side of his neck. “It identifies our demon and our place in demon society.” He dropped his hand back to his side.

  She traced part of the tattoo, smiling when he tilted his head, his eyes closing at her touch. “This line?” she asked.

  “That one marks the place where I was born. Everything above it is a replica of my grandfather’s tattoo. My mother’s father,” he clarified before she could ask.

  She gave a short nod and ran her fingers over more of the black lines. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It just looks like a bunch of squiggly lines to me.”

  He grinned and looked down at her. “That’s all they are, but they have meaning. Or rather they had meaning a couple thousand years ago. Today, not so much.”

  “Whether or not they have meaning, it’s still sexy.” She placed her lips against his neck. His pulse beat against her mouth, and soon hers matched its rhythm.

  Keira brought her hands to Finn’s head, cradling it in her palms, and gently urged him toward her. Their lips met, breaths mingled. This was what she’d been craving. The feel of him under her hands, beneath her mouth.

  She skimmed her tongue across the seam of his mouth and he opened for her. She slipped inside, softly caressing his tongue with hers, enticing him to follow her when she retreated. He gathered her closer, his big palms flat against her back. She moved her hands to his shoulders, curling her fingers into his firm muscles, testing his strength. When his mouth moved down her neck, she sighed and tilted her head to give him better access. His hot breath against her skin, the feel of his erection pressing against her belly…it was all going too fast. She was going too fast. She wanted this to be about him.

  With a soft sigh she pushed him back and moved her hands to his belt buckle. “I want to touch you.” Holding his gaze with her own, she whispered, “I want to taste you.” She unbuckled his belt, feeling his stomach muscles jump as the backs of her fingers brushed against his skin.

  She went to he
r knees in front of him. Unzipping his jeans with care, she pushed them down his legs. Beneath his gray boxer briefs, his cock lay as a thick wedge along his thigh. She tugged his underwear gently down his legs, freeing his erection. He stepped out of his clothes and kicked them to the side.

  Keira wrapped one hand around his shaft and touched the fat tip with a light flick of her tongue. He jerked and let out a harsh moan. She liked his reaction, so she repeated her motion. Another groan made her smile with feminine delight.

  With her left hand she palmed his balls, rolling them over her fingers, lightly massaging them. The muscles in his thighs grew taut, a fine trembling setting up in his legs as he fought for control.

  She aimed to make him see that all the control here was hers. Standing, she urged him backward until his knees hit the edge of the mattress. With a light shove, she pushed him onto the bed and stood between his spread legs.

  “God, Keira, you’re killing me.” When Finn’s heated gaze, full of yellow demon fire, fell on her, it was like the entire world held its breath.

  “Oh, now, I don’t want you dead, not by a long shot.” She reached up and began to unbutton her blouse. His eyes tracked her movement, heating even more when the upper slopes of her breasts were revealed. “I very much prefer you alive. And moaning. In my bed.” She slipped out of her blouse and did a slow shimmy out of her slacks. That left her in a barely there red satin bra and matching lacy panties.

  The way his eyes lit up made her decide to leave her underwear on a bit longer. She slid her hands up his thighs, enjoying the feel of his hair-roughened skin against her sensitive palms. When she bent to take him in her mouth, her long tresses cascaded over his body, brushing against his flat abdomen and eliciting another moan from Finn. As soon as her lips closed over the head of his cock, his hips jerked, driving more of him into her mouth.

  He muttered an apology that she waved away with one hand. She twirled her tongue over him, tapped on the sensitive underside, and stroked over the weeping tip. All the while she caressed his inner thighs, coming close but never quite touching his sac.

  Without warning he surged up, grasping her waist to toss her onto the bed. He came down over her, wedging his knee between her thighs. As he stroked her hair away from her face, she grinned up at him. “You men never like foreplay,” she mock complained.

  “Yeah, well, we’re simple creatures. It doesn’t take much to get our motors revving at full speed. You don’t want me putting that engine in gear without you along for the ride, do you?”

  She gave him a pout. “I was in the driver’s seat, Finn. How much more ‘along for the ride’ could I have been?”

  “I don’t mind you driving,” he said. With economical movements he removed the rest of her clothing and came back down between her thighs. She could feel his hard length against the folds of her sex. He gave her that slow smile of his, the one that started in his eyes and landed on his lips. “But I prefer you to be fully engaged, if you know what I mean.” He tested her readiness with one hand.

  It was her turn to gasp and moan as he stroked two fingers into her sheath. In, then out. In. Out. He set a rhythm that had her hips rising and falling to his touch.

  He brought his mouth back to hers, his kiss slow and deep. Carnal excitement raced through her, making her toes curl, legs sliding restlessly across the coolness of the quilt beneath her. His chest lifted with a deep, sharp intake of breath and the kiss turned hungry. Urgent with a need that was almost desperate, the pressure of his mouth just this side of painful.

  His hands urged her thighs farther apart, then he was pressing inside her, one slow, tormenting inch at a time. She shoved her hips up, trying to make him go faster, but he only laughed and kept up his maddeningly slow pace. Finally his pelvis rested against hers. As he began to move he braced himself on one arm. His other hand came between her thighs to circle and stroke her clit.

  Her arousal ratcheted up another notch. Soon the room filled with the sounds of their breathing, rasping and heavy, joined by the slap of flesh against flesh, sharp cries and harsh groans.

  Keira felt her sensual tension rise to a fever pitch, stretching taut like a rubber band, before it snapped, throwing her into a maelstrom of ecstasy. Her entire body clenched and shuddered, and she cried out and clutched onto Finn.

  He held her while she thrashed beneath him, his jaw tight with the control he exerted over his own pleasure. As soon as she quieted, he gripped her hips, fitted himself to her more solidly and began pistoning into her. Hard. Fast. His eyes gleamed with yellow demon intensity, and she felt a renewed quickening of her body.

  She thrust her hips up to meet his downward plunge and reached around him to grip his tight buttocks. His movements came even faster, then he let out a shout as his completion emptied him.

  He collapsed on top of her, his breathing harsh and heavy, his cock giving a final few twitches inside her. When he started to move away she stopped him, wrapping her arms and legs around him. “Don’t move yet.” She gave a soft sigh. “I want to stay like this for a while.”

  “Like this?” he asked in a deep voice and canted his hips forward, driving his still semierect cock deeper into her sheath.

  Her breath hitched. “Yes,” she breathed. “Just like this.”

  They were silent several moments until the laws of physiology took over and his softened shaft slipped out of her body. “All good things must come to an end,” he murmured and turned onto his back. Despite admitting to herself that she was in love with this man, she couldn’t tell him. Not yet. Not while she was so uncertain about so many things—his role in the rogue group, the old way of life he’d seemed to embrace all too eagerly. Would he give it up for her? Would he ever be free of Lucifer even after the group was finished? If he didn’t, if he stayed on as Lucifer’s enforcer, could she accept that?

  Once the job was done, would they have something strong enough to keep them together?

  He lay there a few minutes and then sat up and put his feet on the floor. With his back to her, he said, “As much as I’d like to stay, we have to get that money to Liuz.”

  She wanted to say, To hell with the money. To hell with Stefan. But he was right. She’d forgotten herself in Finn’s arms and had blanked out on the bag of cash sitting on her dresser. The sooner they got this to Liuz, the better. And she would try to get him to show her where the rift machine was so she could go and destroy it. They were running out of time.

  She’d hold on to the confession of love she dearly wanted to make and hope once she was able to tell Finn exactly how she felt, it wouldn’t be for naught.

  Of all the prets in the world, how had it fallen to her to save the whole damned world?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Keira and Finn cleaned up after their lovemaking, taking separate showers because bathing together would have served to delay them even further. She knew his self-control where she was concerned was tenuous, and when it came to her self-control, well, it was nonexistent. If she were to be in a hot, steamy shower with him, his big, naked body pressed against her, they’d never leave. Nearly an hour later she walked into the Devil’s Domain with the money bag in her hand and Finn on her heels.

  She made her way straight back to the private rooms, where the vamp standing guard let her in. The first door on the right was the room where Stefan had said he’d be. She’d give him his money and be on her way. Adrenaline still sang in her veins and the high of the job and memory of making love to Finn amped up her awareness of those around her, especially Finn.

  She got the sense that he wasn’t happy she’d had such a good time on the job, and on one level she wasn’t, either. However, she did recognize the joy she felt in doing what she was good at. Being successful always brought about a sense of well-being. She paused outside the door and looked at him. “Are you ready?” she asked.

  “Let’s do this and get out of here,” he responded. “I’m thinking maybe we need another celebration. What do you think?” His voice c
ame out low and languid and so full of desire and affection it softened everything feminine inside of her. She fought it back, knowing their time for intimacy was past until the next Influx had passed. After that, well, she really had no idea how things would end up.

  For right now she couldn’t let Stefan see how Finn affected her. The vampire thought he had a chance to get in her pants, which was where she needed him. In her experience with men, they were more malleable when they had sex on the brain, and she aimed to use that to her advantage. A Stefan she could manipulate was a Stefan she could defeat.

  She knocked on the door and heard him call “Enter.” She went inside. Finn came in behind her and closed the door. Without any fanfare she went over to a seated Stefan and handed him the money bag. “Here.”

  A slow smile curved his lips and he hefted the bag a moment before sliding open the zipper. He took out one of the bundles and fanned it. He laughed and looked up at her. “Job well done, my dear.” He glanced at Finn standing at her back. “You did your part, too, I’m told.”

  Keira glanced over her shoulder and saw Finn’s eyebrows shoot up. “You were told?” he asked. “You had someone watching us?”

  “Of course,” Stefan said, his tone evincing his puzzlement that Finn would be surprised to find this out. “I always have someone keeping an eye out on our new members.”

  Keira shared another glance with Finn.

  “That’s why I’m surprised it’s taken you so long to bring this to me.” His stare was pointed. “You completed your assignment over an hour ago.”

  What excuse could she give? She didn’t want to let on that she and Finn had been intimate with each other. She was pretty sure Stefan wouldn’t like that, and if he got jealous it might jeopardize her mission. “I needed to freshen up afterward,” she said. “Not to mention refresh my energy,” she added. Hopefully he’d form a picture of her frolicking naked on the grass.