“It’s a thing,” I told him, starting to measure out the ingredients for my famous brownies. Millions of questions zoomed around in my head and, realizing that it was the perfect time for some answers, I plucked at the first one that came to mind. “What happens if I get hit by a bus?”
Damon snorted. “You’ll be dead.”
“Okay then, so no buses. Can I fly?” They both burst out laughing. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“Can I turn people I don’t like into ferrets?”
“You aren’t in Harry Potter,” Damon responded, suppressing laughter. “Our world is much more awesome than that.”
“Don’t knock Harry.” I clutched at my heart as if he had wounded me. He threw his hands up in mock surrender.
“He’s not knocking Harry,” Lachlan said, mischief glinting in his eyes. “He’s merely pointing out that while Harry’s world was pretty cool, ours is fucking awesome.”
“True that,” Damon said.
“Maybe so, but I don’t feel like I belong in it,” I murmured, dimming the lightness of the mood in the kitchen.
Lachlan ambled over to me, catching my hand and giving it a quick squeeze. “You will, even Harry needed some time to settle in.”
Damon looked over at us, concern shining in his eyes again. Lachlan’s eyes, the color of the blue in a flame and burning just as hot, captured mine and a sense of peace and safety swept through me.
How was it possible that these guys were demons when they were being so nice to me? I wanted to ask them, but I was already too overwhelmed. I was just going to have to figure things out little by little as we went along.
Damon slid a sandwich over to me. It was easily the size of my head. I wondered idly if he were trying to fatten me up to use me as some kind of ritual sacrifice, then sighed and decided that if that was it, I would hear about it later.
All I wanted was to rest my wary brain with some TV and stress eating. “You guys have a TV in this place?”
“Sure,” Damon said, grabbing his plate. “I’ll go find us something to watch while you guys wait for the oven to heat up.”
“It should be ready in a minute or so,” I told him, starting to tidy up the mess that I’d made of the kitchen.
“No problem, take your time.” With that, he was gone. Leaving me alone with Lachlan and the fire that was still burning in his eyes.
We cleaned quietly for a few minutes, then he came up behind me and started massaging the tense muscles in my shoulders. “You’re safe here, Stevie. I promise. We’re right here if you need us and you will get used to this in time.”
I melted into his chest, allowing his strong fingers to loosen up some of the knots in my shoulders before turning slowly to face him. “Thanks, I just feel kind of...”
“Lost?” he finished for me when I couldn’t find the right word.
I nodded, realizing that I was standing in the circle of his arms, my lips only inches away from his. If I leaned up on my tiptoes, I would be able to kiss him. All the stress seemed to leave my body, pressed as it was against his. His heartbeat was steady against my chest, his lips slightly parted.
Out of nowhere, the deep, insatiable hunger was back in full force. I nearly moaned out loud when he brought his finger to my cheek and swiped some flour from it. “There we go, I think the clean up is done.”
The tension between us was broken when he stepped away from me just as the others burst into the kitchen. They were clearly debating something and didn’t pay any attention to me, flushed and breathing deeply from the brief encounter with Lach.
Jeez. If that was the way I was going to feel whenever I came close to touching any of them, living with these four was going to be the death of me. I might just melt into a puddle of desire and they wouldn’t have to worry about protecting me anymore.
“Settle this for us, Stevie,” Matteo said, sliding into a seat at the kitchen counter. “Women think the funny guys are hotter than the brooding ones, true or false?”
My eyes widened. “I’m not touching that subject.”
“Told you,” Rex said. “It’s not that easy.”
“Eat up, Stevie,” Lach said, pointing to my uneaten sandwich, light dancing in his expressive eyes. “You’re going to need your strength.”
What the hell did that mean? My mind jumped inexplicably to the training room and I groaned at the thought that I was possibly going to have to train with the hulks of muscle around me.
“I’m not letting you pummel me into the ground while I’m still waiting for the rest of my powers,” I cautioned them, only to be greeted by three very amused smiles and a scowling Rex—like the very thought offended him.
I bit into my sandwich almost violently and relished the taste of it, realizing that I had been absolutely starving. I knew that people said that hunger was the best cook, but I could taste the flavors of the sandwich more than I had been able to before.
It was delicious and I was so damn hungry, I felt like I could eat forever. Unfortunately, the sandwich was still only a sandwich and despite the fact that it had been huge, I devoured the whole thing and wished that it wasn’t done just yet.
I was about to offer to make more, knowing that if I was still hungry, the guys likely were too. The timer on the oven rang and Matteo took the brownies out, carrying his plate to the dishwasher. “Man, I’m stuffed.”
Never mind, I thought. Just me then. It was hard to believe that I was the only one who was still hungry, but the others stretched and patted their bellies, too.
“How about we go for a swim in the grotto and unwind a bit instead of TV?” Damon suggested. “It’s been a long damn day.”
The guys nodded enthusiastically, but I balked at the idea.
“It’s January, man! We might be immortal but I’m pretty sure we can still freeze our asses off,” I protested.
None of them seemed too concerned about that fact, they just smirked and headed for the grotto. Lachlan smiled and took my hand. “We won’t let you freeze your ass off, trust me.”
Chapter 5
The grotto was absolutely magical, with twinkle lights blinking from every recess and despite the cold, the water and the waterfall were actually really inviting.
To my surprise, the guys went to stand beside the water and without a word, bent down low and touched the surface with their hands. I couldn’t help but stare, wondering what on earth they were doing. The answer became clear when, less than a minute later, steam began to rise from its surface.
My jaw dropped and a chuckle fell from my lips as I clapped my hands. I was in awe of everything these guys could do and I had a feeling that I had barely scratched the surface.“Ohhhh, that’s so cool! Will I be able to do that?”
“Yup,” Damon said, his eyes reflecting like pools in a forest under the glimmering faerie lights. “We’ll teach you, don’t worry.”
“For now, your hot tub awaits, m’lady,” Matteo joked, making a sweeping gesture at the pool with his lips curved into a smile.
“I didn’t bring a suit.” Then again, who packed a swimsuit in January…especially when they were being dragged out of their house to escape a madwoman? It sure hadn’t been at the top of my list.
“You don’t need one,” Lachlan mused, the slow grin on his face making my stomach do a flip.
My heart sped up. They couldn’t possibly mean…
I met each set of eyes and knew without certainty that that was exactly what they meant.
Skinny dipping.
Heat spread from my chest to my cheeks and down the tops of my arms. I was full body blushing while they calmly surveyed me, their reactions varying from amused—Lach and Matteo—to coolly unaffected Damon, and completely stoic Rex.
“Ooo…okay,” I stammered, refusing to let the shyness that had crippled me in normal life cripple me now. Who knew? I could be dead by tomorrow. Smeet at the hands of Luci, the succubus. “But turn around then.”
They grumbled, but did as I asked. I wasted no time stri
pping to my underwear and climbing into the water. It felt amazing, the warm water lapped at my skin, soothing me as I lowered myself into its depths.
As if the water held healing qualities, I could practically feel the stress, shock and disbelief of the past twenty-four hours seeping out of my weary bones and tense muscles.
Just as I started thinking that I was okay and that I could possibly handle this, the guys turned around and started stripping right in front of me. None of them seemed remotely shy or ashamed as they shed their clothes, dropping it in careless piles at their feet. My mouth went dry as I drank in one after the other. It was the hottest, most erotic thing I had ever seen—which wasn’t saying much, but still.
Each one of them was sinfully sexy in his own way.
Rex was the shortest at a solid six foot plus, his body all rock hard muscle. There was nothing subtle about him. Even his tattoos were bold and black as night against his skin. They started just under his collarbones and twisted from there down his arms and over his chest and sides. They seemed to be symbols of some sort, but I couldn’t keep my eyes on only one for long enough to really make them out. His muscles bulged and knotted as he moved, his obsidian gaze never leaving mine as he finished stripping to boxer briefs that revealed a bulge that had my eyes widening as he stepped into the water.
Matteo was taller than Rex, albeit only by an inch or so. He was equally ripped, elegant force contained in golden skin adorned with intricately designed tattoos. He was leaner than Rex, but his muscles were gorgeously defined.
The tattoo that I had seen earlier peeking from the neckline of his shirt seemed to be a series of mythical creatures linked by some kind of thread that spread from his neck all the way down the right side of his body, over his shoulder and to his elbow.
He smirked when he caught me staring and proceeded to dive bomb into the pool, landing less than a foot away from me. I squealed as he splashed me, laughing when his head broke the surface. “Looked like you could do with being cooled down.”
Rex jumped on him and the two sputtered as my attention was drawn to Lachlan and Damon still standing at the edge of the pool. They were both taller and leaner than Rex and Matteo, although Damon towered several inches over Lachlan.
The only comparison that jumped into my mind was that Matteo and Rex were all rock, while Lachlan and Damon were more like steel, sharp edges opposed to blunt force.
Lachlan’s toned, broad shoulders tapered down to a strong chest with a smattering of light hair, past washboard abs and finally into defined hips with ridges that pointed like an arrow to his, ahem, swimsuit area.
His tattoos were colorful and covered his arms all the way to his shoulders where they linked over his chest in what appeared to be a set of wings. He moved lithely, more gracefully than the others, his seemingly ever-present smirk glued to his full lips. He watched me watching him through his shimmering cobalt eyes and blew me a cheeky kiss before executing a perfect dive into the pool.
Damon seemed unfazed by everything that was transpiring around us. His tongue darted out to wet his lips, but the movement wasn’t a nervous one. He fisted his shirt and tugged it off in one smooth movement, letting it drop beside Lachlan’s. I openly ogled the cut lines of his muscles, from his worship-worthy abs to the way that his biceps flexed, tattoos rippling as he pushed off his jeans.
He ran his hands through his midnight-black hair and lowered himself into the pool.
Damon joined the others, horsing around with shouts and waves of water crashing into the sides of the pool. I couldn’t make out who was who and realized that it didn’t matter.
The horribly embarrassing reality that I was scared to admit even to myself was that I was attracted to each one of them. Not in the way that I had been attracted to the life force of the guy outside the club, but in a primal way. In a ‘I need you inside of me’ way, which was nothing short of scandalous since there were four of them.
Desire pooled in my core even as I tried to fight it back. There was no possible way that I could actually need every one of them as badly as it felt like I did. No way.
I forced my mind out of the gutter and laughed nervously as I swam away from them. It had just been a long, confusing day. Tomorrow would be better, I would ask them what I needed to know and these insane wants and fantasies would fade away.
They were my protectors, nothing more. I was still trying to regain my composure as Lach and Matteo swam up to me.
Matteo arched a heavy eyebrow at me. “You hiding in this corner?”
“It’s going to take more than that if you want to hide from us,” Lach said, his amusement turning dark.
My hands shook as my nerves got the better of me. Whoever would have believed as little as a day ago that I would be swimming half naked with four super sexy demons. I certainly wouldn’t have believed it, especially if you’d told me that I wouldn’t be as afraid of them as I was of my own thoughts.
“I’m not hiding, just trying to pull myself together.”
“You could let us help you with that.” Lach raised one brow at me, a sexy smile on his mouth.
I gave my head a tiny shake, but then Matteo’s hand brushed my thigh and the same longing from the bike and kitchen settled between my legs. I needed a distraction or I was going to find myself doing to one of them what I’d nearly done to poor Abercrombie. “How about a race?” I asked brightly, my voice sounding shrill.
“You want to race us?” Lach asked.
“Why not?” I shot back, happy to be on safer ground. “You afraid of losing?”
“I never lose,” he replied, his tone so solemn, I sort of believed him.
“You’re on newbie,” Matteo growled in his husky baritone. He called for Rex to be the judge as Damon joined the line up.
“I have to warn you, I’m an exceptionally good swimmer,” I said, lying through me teeth. The only thing I was exceptional at was reading, but I’d always enjoyed swimming, so that was something.
“I’m sure,” Lach smiled. “Should we bet on this race?”
“Give her time to settle in, Lachlan,” Damon muttered, his eyes dark.
Lachlan drew back, looking affronted. “Who, me? I meant that we should bet on who does the dishes or something.”
“Is that so?” Damon threw back at him, a rare grin lighting up his face. “I’ll race you for it, then.”
“You’re on.” They took off like bats out of hell, which I supposed wasn’t too far off of reality, slicing through the water with the efficiency of a pair of sharks on the hunt.
“Now that we’re out of the running for having to do the dishes,” Matteo grinned, “how about we race just for the fun of it?”
“Let’s go,” I agreed, then sputtered as he took off without warning. We swam a couple of laps, but I had the distinct feeling that Matteo was purposefully matching my speed, or lack thereof. He would pull back just as he started gaining on me and let me win time after time.
After the third race, I was over it. “If you’re just going to let me win, why are we doing this?”
“Yeah, Matteo, take a page out of my playbook and get the win,” Lachlan called, his lean body perched at the other end of the pool.
Damon glared daggers at him. “You fucking wish you won.”
Rex sighed. “I’ve already told you, I couldn’t call that race without a damn photo finish. If you want to claim victory, you’re going to have to go for a rematch.”
He sounded exasperated, like he had to settle his fair share of arguments between the two. Rex turned his attention to Matteo. “You two, not so much. Give Stevie a head start and then race properly.”
Matteo smirked at Rex, then nodded and winked at me. “Fine, two laps head start out of four, but I’ll catch you at the end.”
“Two out of four? Oh ye of little faith.” I smiled at him, stretched my arms in a show that definitely didn’t have the desired effect of intimidating him and took off.
True to his word, I felt him pass me. Once we
reached the far end of the grotto, I touched the side and curled into a ball to turn over, but strong arms wound around my hips and pulled me under. My eyes flew open and I saw Matteo smirking at me in the shadowy depths of the water.
Then I felt his knees bend as he kicked off of the bottom before my feet even touched it and propelled us to the surface. Our wet chests were smashed together and my nipples hardened to beaded peaks at the simple contact.
By the time our heads broke free of the water, I was breathless with the need to kiss him. He kept his arms around me, forming a loose circle that was driving me crazy with the need for him to hold me properly.
His lips were too close to mine, so close that I could practically feel them on me. I needed to feel them on me. It was such an intense desire that it scared me. It was more than a need to kiss him, it felt like I was starving and needed to consume him.
Matteo took one look at my expression and crushed his lips passionately to mine. His hands slid straight to my ass and he dragged me roughly to his taut stomach. Our legs and arms tangled together and wound so tightly that I wasn’t sure where my limbs ended or where his began.
The hardness of his body against mine drove me wild after the inescapable tension of the day. A moan escaped my lips as his erection ground against my core. His tongue trailed over my lower lip, pushing between my teeth and opening my mouth.
His tongue found mine and stroked it until I was dizzy with the sensations that were rushing through my body and settling in my throbbing clit.
Every nerve in my body came to life under his touch, like he was breathing life into me. Or his life force was pouring into me.
His kiss was so seductive that I wanted nothing more than to delve deeper, to reach down and tug his erection free so that I could finally get the release I’d been desperate for all day and instinctively knew he could give me, but I stopped cold at the memory of the last kiss I’d been given. More specifically, what had happened to the guy outside of the club after he’d kissed me.
Her Demon Harem: Reverse Harem Duology 1 (The Succubus Chronicles) Page 4
