by Elle James
Ever so slowly, I released the button and slid the zipper down over his engorged staff.
His cock sprang free into my palm and my eyes widened. “My, my, demon, looks like you were telling the truth about just what makes demons so…special.”
Blaise ripped the jeans from his legs and pounced on me, pinning my wrists to the pillow.
I reached up and bit his lower lip, dragging him down to me.
His cock poised at my entrance.
My legs wrapped around his waist, my heels digging into his buttocks. “Now.”
“No.”
I frowned, my pussy aching for him.
He pulled back, releasing my hands.
Then he was off the bed and rifling through his pants pockets until he unearthed a foil packet. “We need protection.”
I grabbed the foil pouch and ripped it open with my teeth, like I’d seen it in the one porn movie I’d purchased on a whim. Then I slid the rubber over his cock, having difficulty with his sheer size. The condom only went halfway down before it would go no farther. “Really?”
He shrugged. “Can’t find them big enough.”
Once again pinned to the mattress. I stared up at him. “Are you always so aggressive?”
“Can you believe, I’m holding back?” His words came through gritted teeth.
Oh, yeah, he was struggling to control himself.
A surge of power washed over me, at the same time I fought to keep from begging him to ram that thing into me. “Did I tell you I prefer to be on top? Or is this all part of the he-man-demon-chest-pounding act you put on for all your conquests?”
“You are not a conquest.” In the next second, he was below me and my head was spinning in my new position on top of him.
He grasped my hips and lifted me over his cock.
I positioned myself to take him in, his penis pressing against my entrance. A hot wash of liquid rushed down, trickling from my pussy. I eased down, taking him in a little at time, knowing he’d rip me if he slammed in all at once with his girth and the amount of force he was capable of.
His fingers curled around my hips, squeezing until pain combined with sweet ecstasy. Lower and lower I settled over him, until I felt I could take no more. His shaft stretched my insides so tight even the slightest movement sent a ripple of pleasure and pain.
I tilted up on my knees letting him slide back out of me to the tip before I eased back down over him. I repeated the process, rising and falling, rising and falling, slowly, steadily, his grip strengthening until he stopped me on the downswing.
“I can’t do this,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Do what?” Fear pulled me out of the moment. “You don’t want me?”
“Oh, baby, I want you, but much, much more than this.” He lifted me off him, setting me to the side. Then he was settling me onto my hands and knees. He positioned himself behind me and eased into me. Then he was pumping furiously, in and out. Already well lubricated and stretched, I didn’t rip. He didn’t tear me, only pleasured me beyond anything I’d ever experienced.
The animalistic position, his hands on my bottom, the way he thrust into me with all the power and tenderness of a real man, set me on fire. On his last thrust, he held me tightly against him, his body rigid behind me, his hand fisted in my hair.
The power, the intensity, the roughness all gave me a rush of excitement, triggering a cataclysmic orgasm. The tingling began in my toes, spreading inward to where our bodies joined. Every part of my body shook with the force of our combined passion.
Blaise eased me down to my stomach without breaking our bond, rolling us to the side where he spooned me, holding me close against his chest, his breath stirring the hair across my cheek. I didn’t even realize he was looking at the picture on my nightstand until he spoke again.
“Where is your family, sweet Katya?”
I stiffened. “Dead.”
“Even the little boy in the picture?”
“He disappeared shortly after that picture was taken.” I could recall my mother’s tears and endless suffering like it was yesterday.
“His loss broke your mother’s heart, didn’t it?”
“More than my father deserting us.” With my back to Blaise, it was easier to give voice to some of the pain that had built over the years. “After he threw us away, he’s lucky my mom bothered to give a damn about him at all.”
He brushed a tendril of my hair away from my face and pressed a kiss there. “Perhaps your father had good reason to leave. Perhaps he left to protect you.”
“You’re ruining the mood.” When I started to move away, his arms tightened around me.
“My mistake. Please. Stay. I promise, no more questions…tonight.”
After a few moments, I relaxed again and finally drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep, completely devoid of the usual nightmare. Always the same. My brother standing in a dark alley, holding his hand out to me, calling my name. Every time I reached for him, he disappeared. And every time, my heart broke a little more. I’d awaken, my pillow soaked with tears.
Not this time. I awoke to the fragrant aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Although where it had come from was beyond me. My pantry stayed in a pathetic state of empty. Why keep food that would only go bad? I didn’t cook. What I needed, I could get pre-cooked at one of the local diners or markets.
But this morning with sunshine peeking through the corner of my blinds, I couldn’t think of anything I’d like better than to drink a cup of coffee in bed…with Blaise…and maybe…
No. No. No. I had to get past this longing for him. When the investigation was over, I planned to go my way, and he his own. I wasn’t good at relationships and I already had too much on my plate balancing living in a new city and, since yesterday, working a new job.
Now, if we were talking casual sex…that was an entirely different subject. I might be convinced…. But he’d told me that wasn’t what he wanted.
The demon of my thoughts appeared, as naked as I was and completely relaxed, bearing a tray with two coffee mugs and two bagels slathered in cream cheese. “Do you always overanalyze first thing in the morning?” he asked.
My insides quivered. I wanted to reach out and touch him, to feel that warmth again and experience the explosion of sensations from the night before. “When I’ve had sex the night before with a paranorm, I think it’s justified.” I pushed the sheet aside and stood, reaching for the mug he proffered, fighting the urge to cover my nakedness. Hell, he’d already seen me in my birthday suit, and he wore nothing with no shame. Why not me?
I’m glad you feel that way. He smiled over his cup of coffee. You don’t need to hide such a beautiful body.
“Get out of my head, demon.” I pressed my fingers to my temples, feeling a hint of a headache coming on.
Blaise held up his hand. “I’ll comply, if you’ll answer one question.”
My eyes narrowed. “I’m making no promises.” Then I shook my head. “Why does it matter? You’ll just read my mind for the answer anyway.”
“Do you want me?”
His words cut through to my core, sending shivers of desire throughout my body. “Damn it. I have a job to do. Yes. I want you. But that means nothing. I want this coffee and bagel too. So what?”
He nodded and held the bagel out to me. “Eat. We have to be at the precinct in twenty minutes.”
“What?” I shoved the bagel aside and ran for the bathroom. “You could have woken me earlier.” I raked a brush through my hair and scraped it up in a serviceable ponytail.
“But you were so beautiful sleeping.” He leaned in the doorway. “Did you know that you talk in your sleep?”
“Did I call you names?” I ran a toothbrush over my teeth and dodged around Blaise. “Do you mind? I could stand a little privacy.”
He held out the thong panties I’d dug out of my drawer the night before.
I snatched them from his hand and slipped them on. “Aren’t you going to the station, too?”
>
“I’ll be ready before you.”
My brows rose, but I didn’t argue, continuing in my mad dash around my bedroom plucking clothes from my closet and drawers. “How do you know we are to be at the station in…” I glanced at the clock. “…fifteen minutes?”
He still leaned against the wall as naked as he’d been five minutes before, sipping his coffee. “I called. They had a detail assigned to Victor Stewart’s apartment last night.”
I paused in buttoning my blouse. “And?”
“Nothing happened. He never left.”
“So, we’re still going to talk to him today, aren’t we?”
“Yes, after we stop by the station. Detective Thomas wants us to check in with him first and give him an update on what happened last night.”
My heart flipped over in my chest as all that happened the night before raced through my mind. None of which had to do with the investigation, but all of which involved what had occurred in my bed. I gulped and refocused. “Are you going like that?” Just staring at his naked body had my mouth watering and my pulse hammering through my veins.
Blaise chuckled. “Only if you want me to.”
I tore my gaze away, concentrating on the boots I was attempting to slip my feet into. I slid the zippers up and straightened. “I’m ready.”
“Really?” He smiled that dangerously sexy smile that made my knees so weak I could have shot myself. Then he handed me the tray with our empty mugs. “If you’ll do the honors of taking this back to the kitchen, I’ll meet you at the door.”
I took the tray, trying—and failing—to avoid his touch. That electric shock of awareness zipped through my system, jolting me awake better than any caffeine could ever accomplish.
His eyes widened briefly and he held onto the tray a little longer than he should have before letting go.
If I wasn’t mistaken, he’d felt that blast of awareness as much as I had. And it had surprised him. Which led me to believe it wasn’t just a demon touching a human that sent that blast. It was him touching me. It was way too early in the morning to be dealing with that, so I turned to walk away, but I swung toward the kitchen faster than I should have, tripping over the comforter that had found its way to the floor during the night. The tray launched from my grip, scattering coffee mugs and bagels across the carpet.
In a blur of motion, Blaise caught me before I hit the ground, his arm circling my waist, pulling me against his hard, contoured nakedness. He straightened, his grip tightening to keep me from bolting.
Not that I could. Once in his arms, the rest of the world seemed to fall away. I suddenly felt as though my clothes constricted my ability to breathe.
He smiled down at me. “Careful, beautiful.” The words rumbled in his chest, vibrating against mine.
I opened my mouth to tell him to let me go, yet instead I leaned up on my toes and kissed him. What came over me, I don’t know, but I had to taste his lips.
For a long moment, he let me take the lead, then his hands moved up my body, clasping my cheeks between his palms, holding my face away from him. “Careful.” Then his lips crushed mine.
My hands settled on his waist, drawing him closer until his hips ground into mine, his cock hard and persistent, nudging against my belly. As if of their own volition, my fingers slid down his back to cup his ass.
The muscles flexed beneath my touch, sinuous and strong.
I wanted him now. Forget the investigation, forget the world. I wanted this demon inside me, thrusting deep and hard.
Blaise broke off the kiss, tugging my hair until I looked up into his eyes. “Much as I’d love to make love to you again, we have to go.” He picked up the tray and mugs, set them in my hands and turned me toward the kitchen with a pat on my ass. “Go, before I change my mind.”
In a daze, I walked to the kitchen, coming back to earth with each step. With returning brain cells, I wondered what was going on. I’d never responded to a man that way. And from the tension in Blaise’s smile, the clear restraint in his touch, I had the feeling he wasn’t used to responding to women this way, either. What was going on with us? I needed answers and I needed them now.
I summoned every ounce of anger I could muster and slammed the tray on the counter. The bang and clatter of dishes helped further my grasp on reality. “I’m not in the habit of fucking my partners.”
“Note taken,” he said from the other room.
I jerked the dishwasher door open and jammed a mug into the rack. “And I’ve never lost focus on a job before.”
“Before what?” He grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair and slid his arms into it before striding across the floor and standing in front of me. “Before you met me?”
I glared up at him. “Yes. I never lost focus before I met you.”
“I could say the same about you. I was never drawn to a human woman before I met you. The only women I’ve been even remotely attracted to are other demons like me.” His eyes narrowed and he reached for my shoulders, his fingers digging in. “Are you sure you’re not a demon?”
Chapter Seven
My insides turned cartwheels at the way his touch made me feel. I fought the need to lean into him, pushing against his chest instead. “Hell, no, I’m not a demon. I’d think I’d know it if I was.”
Blaise’s grip tightened. “What do you know about your father?”
I shook free. “Nothing. I barely knew him before he left. All I know is my mother loved him so much, it tore her apart when he abandoned us.”
Blaise opened his mouth to say something, closed it and zipped his jacket. “We’re going to be late.”
I grabbed my jacket from the floor where it had fallen the night before, crammed my keys in my pocket and headed for the door.
“Forgetting something?” Blaise held up my shoulder holster with the gun.
I slipped the holster over my shoulders, buckled it and slid my arms into my jacket, making tracks for the door as I shrugged into the leather. My blood boiled in my veins from Blaise’s incessant questioning about a man I hated to the very core of my being. And the residual sexual tension didn’t help slow my pulse in the least. I held onto my anger like a shield, determined to put this obsession with a demon to bed…er, rest…er…out of my freakin’ mind before it drove me crazier than I’d already become.
At the station, we found Detective Thomas in the conference area labeled War Room. He had a dry-erase marker in his hand and was making notes on a large white board. All the attacks and their dates were listed, the people involved and any correlations to each that had already been discussed.
“Glad you two could make it.”
“Any other attacks last night?” Blaise asked.
“No. But then there has only ever been one on any given night.”
“So we can expect another tonight if we don’t find our mad scientist before then?” I interjected.
Thomas nodded. “That would be my guess.”
I walked around the conference table, getting as far away from Blaise as possible. Not that it helped. I was hyperaware of his presence to the detriment of my concentration. I filled in the detective on what we’d learned from our visit to F&L labs the night before. “Maybe we should split up to question all the different scientists from the reanimation lab. We could get through the list a lot sooner.”
Thomas shook his head. “No, you work as partners. We don’t know how dangerous the man behind these attacks can be. So far two homeless men have died, and Felding’s secretary is in the hospital in a coma. The widow would be dead if the doorman hadn’t come to her rescue as soon as he did. I prefer you two to stick together.”
Blaise nodded. “I agree.” He jerked his head toward the door. “Ready to hit the road, partner?”
Much as I hated to admit it, I was half glad the boss forced us to stick together. Still kinda new in the city, I didn’t really relish the idea of knocking on doors of potential killers by myself. On the other hand, being in close quarters with a demon�
�oh all right, with this particular demon—was having a detrimental effect on my ability to think straight, and my body felt like all the blood inside was hopping. I couldn’t relax for a moment without worrying that I might end up in his arms again.
Damn it, what had happened to all my promises to myself to be independent, to never need anyone, and particularly not any man?
I stomped toward the door, patting the gun beneath my arm, telling myself that if I had to, I’d use it on Blaise if he didn’t keep his hands off me.
Will you shoot yourself if you can’t keep your hands off me?
“Get out of my head, demon,” I warned.
We’d appropriated an unmarked police car from the precinct to make the trip. With me driving, I had my hands full dealing with traffic, as good an excuse as any to keep the idle chatter to a minimum. The ride to Victor’s apartment was accomplished in silence. I refused to speak, working at how to block my thoughts from the mind-reading demon.
If he knew what I was doing, he didn’t say anything, allowing me time to stew in my own juices.
Victor’s apartment was in a fancy brownstone in Brooklyn. I’d called F&L to make sure he wasn’t expected at work that day. As early as it was, he should still be at home. Maybe even working in his basement reanimating dead people for fun. Wouldn’t it be nice to bag the perp in action? Then the investigation would be over and I’d be free of my partner.
As I parked illegally against the curb, I pulled the gun from the shoulder holster, checked that a round was chambered and the safety was on before tucking it back in place. “Ready?”
“I’ll let you go first.”
I smirked. “Afraid I might shoot you?” I slid from the car without waiting for his response.
“Yes.” He waited for me to lead the way.
It was just as well. I was anxious to get the interview over, make my arrest and be done with it and Blaise. I buzzed the apartment number we’d ascertained was Victor’s and waited for a response.
Nothing.
Again, I hit the buzzer.
One of the inhabitants of the building let herself out the front door.
