“I don’t care,” she whispered and then sighed. “I just want to hear you promise you’ll be careful.”
Veiron shrugged. “I’m a demon. We’re not big on promises.”
Erin sighed again, her bare shoulders lifting with it. He wanted to kiss that milky patch of skin, desired to worship it and ease her pain. If he did, she would know that he felt something for her and that leaving her was the last thing he wanted to do, but he wasn’t sure what he was doing or how he was feeling or what were the right reactions to it all.
“I had that one coming.” She lifted her head and looked across at him, her eyes full of hurt that he had heard in her soft voice. “I forgot where you were from and I shouldn’t have said all those things about your home. I wasn’t thinking. It’s just... you’re nothing like the ones who held me captive and I don’t think of you as one of them, so I didn’t think that what I said was going to hurt you... but I should have... and I’m sorry I said it.”
Veiron stared at her in silence. She swallowed and her gaze slowly fell to her drink again, and she started poking it with her straw.
“Don’t worry about it.” He brushed the hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear and savouring how soft her skin was beneath his fingers. Skin he wanted to kiss every inch of so she would know that she was precious to him and he couldn’t get enough of her. “You’ve been through a lot and you’re entitled to your opinion. I don’t hold it against you.”
Much.
He shouldn’t hold it against her at all but he couldn’t shake the voice that kept telling him that whenever she cursed Hell and his kind, she cursed him too.
“But I hurt you.”
Veiron didn’t acknowledge that. She already looked miserable enough without him adding to it by confirming that she had wounded him with her thoughtless words.
He flagged the bartender instead. “Double whiskey.”
The man poured it for him and slid it across the bar, all without his gaze straying to Erin. Wise man. Never a wiser one in existence. A fight, even one using mortal strength, would make Veiron feel a whole lot better right about now and he would be quick to take anyone up on the offer they made by looking at Erin.
Wouldn’t that just impress the beautiful woman beside him?
He would probably seal his fate if he lashed out at any of the mortal males in the vicinity, even if he did withhold most of his strength. Erin would think him a monster.
“I thought you wouldn’t be able to drink,” she said, oblivious to the dark thoughts that were probably showing in his eyes, ringing them with crimson.
Veiron laughed. “I refer you back to my earlier comment. I’m a demon.”
“A demonic angel.”
Veiron swirled the whiskey around his glass, staring at the amber liquid. “Something like that... I think the popular term is Hell’s angel... most just call me a demon.”
Erin flinched. “I’m sorry.”
“About what?” He looked across at her. Something told him she wasn’t apologising for her outburst on the boat now.
“About letting Amelia keep me occupied all day when all I really wanted to do was take you back to our villa and get wild with you.” She smiled but it was short lived. “She kept telling me things and I think they were meant to drive a wedge between us but they only made me want to see you and be with you even more.”
Veiron smiled now. That sounded like his Erin, the rebellious woman who probably liked him more because of the bad things he had done. He kept trying to be a good man for her, to prove he had a good heart and was what she needed, and it turned out she wanted the bad boy instead.
“What did she tell you?” He sipped his whiskey and enjoyed the burn as he swallowed.
“She told me about what happened to you all and then Marcus told me more... about what Heaven and Hell did to you... and I understand why you want to get your own back.” She took another long suck on her straw, draining the last of her cocktail. “I’m worried about you, Veiron, and I know you’ll just tell me not to in that gruff way of yours and that you can take care of yourself, but that isn’t going to stop me from worrying when you go to Hell... I need to know that you’ll be safe because I... I care about you... a lot.”
Veiron’s eyes widened. Was she saying what he thought she was? He stared into her eyes, trying to see it in them, but she lowered them to her bare knees.
He smiled even though she wouldn’t see it. She didn’t need to feel awkward about what she had said, but if it made her feel better, he could confess his feelings in a roundabout manner too. “You know, I thought you hadn’t been wearing much when I first met you but this little number... fuck, do I want you when you look so sexy... and I want to kill every man who is looking at you... because you’re mine, Erin.”
She blushed and bit her lower lip, a beautiful touch of shyness that tugged at his protective side before she lifted her eyes and met his, sending a hot jolt through him that rocked him to his core. Damn, he wanted her right here and right now, regardless of the audience.
Erin reached across, all hint of shyness gone as her pupils ate up her irises, swamping her eyes with desire and passion that he had tasted firsthand and wanted to taste again, craved like a drug. She laid her palm on his bare chest and his heart beat wildly, blood rushing through his veins. Her caress was fire and what she said knocked the air from his lungs and made him want to wrap her in his embrace and fly away with her.
“You’re mine, too, Veiron,” she husked and dropped her gaze to his lips before dragging it back up to his, sending another white-hot bolt of hunger through him. “And I’m never letting you go.”
Veiron growled, wrapped his arm around her back and dragged her off her stool and into him. He claimed her mouth, crushing her lips with his and kissing her with all the force of his desire and need for her. She moaned, her hands pressing against his bare chest, searing him down to his soul.
Mine. She belonged to him now, hadn’t denied him and had claimed him as hers too, and had vowed to keep him.
He wanted to be hers.
Needed it.
He would give all of himself to her and take all of her in return, and nothing would stand between them.
Not even the Devil himself.
CHAPTER 19
Erin walked the shore hand in hand with Veiron. She had wanted to go straight back to their villa and make love with him but he had insisted that they walked a while, and while she had been annoyed at first, she was glad that he had suggested it. It was strangely peaceful on the empty beach under the moonlight, Veiron’s fingers locked tightly with hers, his large hand engulfing her smaller one and keeping the chill off her skin. Palms fringed the sweeping shore and the warm water washed over her feet, the sound of the shallow waves steadily puncturing the near silence. The noise of people at the complex was nothing but a distant hum this far along the beach. The only competition the waves had was the occasional party at one of the villas and they had left the last of them behind a few metres back.
A breeze blew in off the ocean, carrying the scent of saltwater, and Erin shivered.
Veiron stopped, untangled their hands, and wrapped his strong arm around her, pulling her against his bare chest. Erin snuggled into him and looked up, meeting his gaze. His eyes were black in the moonlight but not dark. They were warm and soft, full of feelings that she felt mirrored in her own heart.
She lifted her hand and cupped his cheek, sweeping her thumb over his lower lip. She wanted to tell him again to be careful when he went to Hell but couldn’t find her voice, didn’t want to spoil this moment between them. It wouldn’t be their last. Nothing would happen to Veiron. Marcus would go with him and together they would be safe.
Erin kissed him instead, tiptoeing and gently capturing his lips. She kept it light, bare brushes of her lips against his, her emotions running wild with her. Veiron surprised her by doing the same, sweeping his mouth over hers and holding her close to him, his hands gentle against her back.
&
nbsp; He drew away, breathing hard as though he had run for miles rather than stood still on a beach and kissed her. She was breathless too, alive with emotion and warmth, with all of her feelings for Veiron.
“I keep thinking about something,” he said and he sounded so serious that she pulled further away so she could see his face. He smiled wickedly. “Hot tub.”
Erin laughed. “It’s like you read my mind.”
His smile became a grin and he slipped his hand into hers, entwining their fingers, and started back along the shore with her. She walked beside him, letting the waves lap at her feet. Obviously she wasn’t walking quickly enough for Veiron’s liking because suddenly the world spun before her eyes and she was staring at his backside.
“Hey.” Erin punched his bottom and sighed to herself. So firm. The man had buns of steel.
“You’re slowing me down again,” he said with a smile in his voice.
His backside shifted as he strode purposefully along the beach with her slung over his shoulder and the cute dents either side of his spine on his lower back called to her. Erin hooked her hand into his belt, pushed herself up to relieve the pressure on her organs and fingered one of the dips with her free hand. Veiron practically purred.
The world whirled past her again and she was in his arms, cradled close to his chest.
“Damn, woman, you drive me crazy,” he growled and then kissed her, hard and rough, so passionate that her knees would have buckled had she been standing.
Erin wound her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, trying to make him growl again. He kept striding onwards and she had to wonder how he knew where he was going. Some sort of supernatural awareness of his surroundings?
He cursed under his breath and she looked down to see he was knee-deep in the sea. Maybe not. Erin giggled. Veiron growled. Not the sort of one she had wanted to hear. This one was born of frustration rather than desire.
“I said you drive me crazy, that includes scrambling my senses until I can’t think straight around you... fuck, I need you, Erin... tell me you’re mine. Tell me you’re only mine and I’m the only one you want in all the three realms.” The look he gave her was pure animal hunger and Erin melted, her blood heating to a thousand degrees, burning for him. “Tell me and I will swear to you that I am yours, now and forever.”
Heavens, could this man get any better? He growled, snarled and fought like a wild thing, like a warrior, but he had the heart of a poet. A heart that she was beginning to think now belonged to her.
“You’re the only man I want, and the only one I need.” Erin stroked his cheek, clearing a rogue strand of crimson hair from it, and looked deep into his dark eyes. They blazed red at the centre, highlighting his dilated pupils, a sign of his desire.
“Say it,” he growled, a command this time, one that made her heart flutter.
“I’m yours, Veiron, and only yours... now and forever... and you are mine.” The way he looked at her made her feel as though she had just made him the happiest man in what he had called the three realms and left her feeling as though they really were newlyweds, only they had just wed each other on this moonlit shore with words that promised eternity.
A dark possessive snarl curled from his lips and he kissed her, the softness of it surprising her when she had expected hard and passionate. He kept kissing her as he walked up the beach, heading towards their villa. Erin wriggled, anticipation making her restless. She wanted Veiron naked and in the hot tub, water frothing around them, and the wall that concealed the half of the deck nearest the villa hiding them from prying eyes.
She could barely contain herself as he took the wooden steps up to the deck and set her down. Erin swept her hands over his chest and down the ridges of his stomach, licking her lips the whole time. His eyes narrowed as she tugged his belt open and then set to work on his jeans, slowly popping each button.
“I didn’t bring any shorts,” he said, his deep voice stirring heat inside her. She wanted him to whisper things against her skin as he kissed it and into her ear as they made love. She craved the feel of his strong hands on her body and the bliss of being one with him again.
Erin pushed his jeans down to his knees, so he stood on the deck in his black trunks. She could let him go in the hot tub in his underwear but that would spoil the fun. “That’s a shame... you’ll just have to go in naked.”
“If I’m going in naked, so are you.”
Erin could go along with that. She went into their villa and grabbed the two white robes from the large bathroom. When she came out, she found Veiron in the bedroom, stripping off his jeans and his underwear. My, she was never getting used to how delicious he looked naked.
His cock was already hard, jutting out thick and long from a nest of deep red curls.
Erin wanted nothing more than to sink to her knees and worship him right there in the middle of the bedroom, but the words ‘hot tub’ kept spinning through her head and she knew if she took him into her mouth, they would never make it there.
She tossed one of the robes at him and stripped out of her shorts and bikini. Veiron growled at her, his hands tightly clutching the robe in front of him, every muscle on his broad body delightfully taut and pronounced. She wanted to lick him all over when he looked like that, so delicious and tempting.
He crossed the room to her and before he could grab her and kiss her, she ducked under his arm and threw on her robe. She reached the deck before he caught her, pulling her back against his front. He swept her hair aside and kissed her throat, licking and nipping it with blunt teeth.
“I want to taste you.” That wasn’t the first time he had said that and it wasn’t the first time she had reacted to the words with a flush of prickly heat and a momentary desire to agree and let him bite her.
The thought of Veiron taking her blood, tasting her, and marking her flesh had her tingly in all the good places.
“Let me taste you,” he husked into her ear and she moaned.
“Have you ever?” She couldn’t finish that sentence. Fear of what his answer might be stole the rest of it.
“Never,” Veiron breathed against her throat and kissed it again. “I have never wanted to do such a thing with anyone else, but the thought of tasting you, sinking my teeth into you... fuck, Erin... I think I might blow my load just imagining it.”
He ground his erection against her backside through her robe and she moaned again, groin pulsing in response and nipples tightening into hard buds.
“I want to mark you, Erin... I need it.” He rubbed against her again, hands holding her hips, harder this time, eliciting another heated moan that she couldn’t contain.
Erin nodded. She wanted it too. The thought of Veiron biting her, staking such a claim on her, had her heart pounding and knees trembling.
“Now?” she whispered, aware she sounded needy but too far gone to care.
“Soon.” He pressed another kiss to her throat and then released her.
Erin almost collapsed into a boneless heap on the wooden deck. Veiron stalked back into the villa but she didn’t follow him. She crouched by the hot tub set into the deck and pressed buttons on the panel until the lights came on and the water began to bubble and heat.
The tub was only shielded from view on three sides but there was no one on the beach and even if there were the odd couple strolling along it, it wouldn’t stop her from doing this with Veiron. She waved her hand through the water, feeling it growing warmer, her mind racing forwards to imagine making love to Veiron in it. She had never made out in water before and had never been in a hot tub.
When it was warm enough, she slipped out of her white robe and into the water. She sank down into it, so it lapped at her shoulders. The heat of it was wonderful but not quite blissful. She was missing a vital ingredient to make this one of the best nights of her life.
Where was Veiron?
She turned and leaned her back against the side closest to the beach, studying the dark villa for a sign of him. He emerged out
of the shadows wearing the white robe and carrying two champagne flutes in one hand and an open bottle in the other. His gaze fell on her and he stopped dead.
“Damn... you look wicked,” he breathed and she raked her gaze over him, settling it on the tented robe in front of his hips. Clearly, she looked wicked and he liked it.
Veiron set the two glasses and bottle down, stripped out of his robe and stepped into the tub beside her. Erin swept her tongue across her lips, tempted to cross the water to him and lick every inch of his erection to bring him to his knees.
Why not?
He went to sink into the water but she beat him to it, settling her hand around his rigid length and running her tongue up it from root to tip. He groaned and trembled, muttered something about people seeing. Erin didn’t care. She wrapped her lips around him and sucked, pressing her tongue along the underside of his cock. He moaned again, hands clamping down on her shoulders, breath coming hard and fast.
“Erin,” he whispered and then groaned, hips bucking. “God, woman, the things you do to me.”
Erin smiled around his cock and sucked the soft head, flicking her tongue over it. He groaned and then shuddered and pushed her backwards.
She looked up at him, water bubbling around her breasts, her hands on his hips. Veiron loomed over her, the hot tub casting blue light up the length of his body and illuminating his face, revealing his hunger to her. She had never seen him looking so hungry before. It thrilled her.
He sank into the tub beside her, still breathing hard, and settled his arms on the lip of it, stretching them out to follow the curved shape. She smiled when he closed his eyes and tipped his head back.
Inching through the water, she kept her eyes on him, trying to move silently. It didn’t work. He snapped his eyes open before she reached him and stared at her.
Her Demonic Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 5) Page 21
