“You weren’t to blame, Nix.” Untrue, but any blame associated with him was unrelated to any action he’d taken in Hell. Her succubus had begun to awaken when he channeled his healing heat inside her in the Sherlock bar. He’d just upped the timeframe. All roads eventually led to that one moment…acceptance or death. “I made a choice, one that I’d have made either way. I struggled with my demon before the tavern and Hell.” If she’d faced the same decisions outside of Hell, she might’ve chosen death. With Nix’s life at stake, she’d taken the alternative option. “You realize I killed the entity in Pandora’s Box, right?”
“Yes.”
“I took her power, Nix, and I’m fairly certain I can wield it now. So, it makes sense the taste of my demon would have a different flavor.” She leaned forward, nipped his chin, and rubbed her breasts against his chest. His nostrils flared. “You have no idea what that bitch put me through for five years. I enjoyed killing her.”
She sat up again and shifted back against his thighs. She trailed a finger along the hard length trapped within his pants. Nix released a ragged breath, and watched her movements. “She screamed and tried to hide in the Box from me. She pleaded with me not to kill her. Pandora was terrified of me—us—and I still sucked her power and murdered her with glee. Make no mistake, without her trapped to the Box, she would’ve overpowered me because she is—was—stronger than me.” His hand grabbed hers and their gazes clashed, held. “That’s the woman I’ve become, a woman without emotions, who can take another’s life with ease and no regrets. That’s the woman you want to fuck, Nix.”
“No,” he shook his head. “That’s the woman I love and I will make love to. Do you think there’s a Sherlock alive who hasn’t made the same choice? Who isn’t a little dark or cruel when he needs to be?”
Sherlocks weren’t the topic at hand, but she understood his analogy and shook her head. Knowing what she’d become, he still wanted to be with her. Made no sense, none whatsoever. “You’re too stubborn for your own good.”
“Me?” he chuckled. “You’re still trying to talk me out of loving you.” He clucked his tongue. “That’s very bad-mannered of you, baby, and I thought Southerners were known for their manners.”
“Being in love is so overrated.” She experienced it firsthand. “Friends with benefits is the new trend.”
“Friends with benefits is lonely and unsatisfying. There’s no emotional connection, just fleshly pleasure, without satisfying the emotional needs.”
Nix shifted a hand from her hip to glide up her side and rotate the pad of his thumb over a nipple. Madison had to work really hard to keep her mind focused on the topic. “You think you’ll get emotional satisfaction from fucking me?”
He pinched her nipple, a small reprimand, and her belly jerked with pleasure. “We’re going to make love, not fuck.”
Making love—fucking—what was the difference? She’d had the first one with a demon; she wanted the second with the Ark of Heaven. He could call it what he wished, but she’d take what she liked.
“I want these off.” She tugged on the waistband of his jeans. “Now.”
Together they worked the jeans down. He shoved and she pulled until they were around his knees. As her focus shifted to his penis, he kicked at the pants in an attempt to free his legs. He was hard and thick. Even though inexperienced in the variations of the male form, she didn’t think he would be deemed exceptionally long. Just average, but thick and gorgeous.
And he’s mine.
Mine, too, Usha piped in as if she were being left out.
While he worked at getting his jeans kicked off, she bent and licked the slit of his crown. Nix hissed and stiffened beneath her. She didn’t wait for permission, but curled her tongue around the head of his cock and swirled.
“Fuck!” Nix said in a raw voice. Two swift kicks and she heard his jeans hit the floor. She went down on him, taking him all the way to the back of her throat. “Goddamn, Mads!” His fingers dove into her hair as she swallowed around his head.
He tastes good, her demon purred.
Feels good, also.
Swishing her tongue along the underside, she memorized the placement of each vein as she withdrew to the tip. Setting a rhythm, he tried to control the pace with his hands on the back of her head, but she refused to be rushed or slowed. The taste and texture of the man imprinted on her taste buds, and his grunts and groans were like aphrodisiacs she consumed.
By her hair, he jerked her head up. “No more!” He moved one hand out of her hair and traced her lips with his fingertip. “Who knew you’d look so good with my dick in your mouth? The reality was so much better than my fantasies.”
Madison grinned, kissed his belly and moved upward, licking his nipples before continuing onward. She tugged his hands off her and slammed them down on the mattress beside his head. The hard line of his cock pressed against her bottom. Achy with need, she wanted him inside her so badly.
She lowered her head as if she planned to kiss him, but shifted direction at the last second and nipped her sigil on the underside of his bicep. “I’m tattooed on you, but the only way for you to be imprinted on me is for you to take me. My succubus wants you inside me really bad, Nix.”
He shrugged off her hand and palmed her nape. “What do you want?”
She rubbed her lips across his and then met his intense gaze. “I ache for you worse than she does.”
Nix rolled her to her back so fast the change in their positions surprised her. He shifted his position slightly upward and the tip of his cock pressed against her entrance.
Phoenix Birmingham would be inside her soon, claiming her in the most primal act of nature known to man. Madison’s skin tingled in anticipation.
Nix kissed her. Nothing slow or gentle about this kiss, it was hard and demanding. He reached between them and slid a finger inside her.
“Nix, no more play. I want you inside me,” she whispered against his mouth in between broken kisses. “I’m willing to beg.”
As he withdrew his finger, he planted his forearm beside her head and licked her wetness off his digit. His weight delightfully pressed her into the mattress.
“I was making sure you were ready for me, baby.”
“I’m ready.” She ran her tongue along his tattoos and nipped his shoulder. Nix tugged her head back to the mattress by her hair, wound his fingers snug in the locks and held her motionless. His potent eyes stared into hers, holding her hostage as his cock breached her vaginal lips. His thick head pressed into her opening and his slow penetration drove her crazy with need. Frustrated by his slowness, Usha screamed for all of him. Madison didn’t breathe as he pushed into her, but gloried in the fullness of his possession.
It seemed like it took forever for him to seat himself deep inside, as far as he could go, but she realized it’d been mere seconds. She panted for more.
In a thick, rough voice, he said, “You’re my woman now, Mads.”
Unable to speak, she nodded.
“Say it,” he demanded.
“Yes, Nix,” she whispered. “I’m your woman. Only your woman.”
Nix pulled all the way out and thrust back in, deep, and he watched her as he set the languid pace of his thrusts. Focused on the sensation of his strokes inside her, she lost herself and allowed instinct to take over. She pulled him down for a kiss.
When his lips slid down her neck, she slanted her head to the side and decided the man was indeed a god in the bedroom. A hand shifted off her hip, clasped her wrist, and a small stream of his power entered her.
Madison moaned as euphoria warmed her, spreading in so many directions she couldn’t identify if it came from his penetration or his unique magic pulsating into her. Gripping his shoulder with one hand, she held onto him to keep herself grounded to him. Maybe she wouldn’t shatter into a gazillion pieces, but she feared she would. Become ash beneath him when she went out in flames. There couldn’t be a better way to go.
He lifted his head from her t
hroat. “I love you, Mads.”
She wished he wouldn’t, but she spoke the words she never thought she’d utter again, “I love you too, Nix.”
As the final syllable left her lips, she gasped at what she’d said. Her heart clenched, ached with unimaginable emotions, but she spoke the absolute truth. She loved him so freaking much and for so long.
Nix spread his fingers to the top of her scalp and tugged her head back so her neck arched. He placed a kiss in the hollow of her throat and left a trail of moist kisses all the way to her ear.
Teeth nipped her lobe before he sucked it into his mouth. His words startled her. “You’ll never regret those words.”
He held her in that position, thrusting slow and deep, building pressure to the point she teetered on the verge of explosion. The hard rasp of his breathing hit her ear as his fingers laced around her wrists and drew them over her head. He pinned them to the mattress and lifted just slightly to peer at her as he increased the speed and depth of his penetration. His magic flowed into her, never ceasing in the rearrangement of her arms.
The soft music forgotten, their bodies made a melody of wet and fleshy sounds, muted moans and sighs, instrumental effects to the perfection of the tune.
Her belly clenched and heat burst from her loins in long, fiery tendrils. She realized Nix had marked her permanently, branded her as his from the inside out, imprinted his soul over hers, and now owned her completely.
Nix removed one hand, slipped it beneath her back, and rose up onto his knees. He sat back on his heels and brought her with him, impressing Madison that he executed the movement without slipping free of her body or halting the messian propulsion. Gently, he tugged her hand behind her back and anchored it with his at the base of her spine. She placed her other hand on his shoulder as he widened his knees, forcing her thighs farther apart. He slowly brought her into the full-blown straddle of his pelvis. He was buried so deep she could feel him pulsing inside her, throbbing against her cervix. Looking into his eyes, she gasped at the depth of his breach.
“You okay?” he asked.
“God, yes.”
“The messian at a tolerable level?”
She nodded.
Nix kissed her as his free hand clamped on her hip and guided her in the movements of the new position. Soon, she discovered she had a little more control like this and rose and dropped on him in a rhythm that could either penetrate deeply, or shallowly, depending on her wish.
His breathing grew as choppy as her own as she rode him. But this position—the way she took all of him and the widest part of his phallus stretched her opening—it was almost too much to handle.
“Nix….” she whimpered, as a new heat spread from her loins throughout her body. And it had nothing to do with his magic.
The hand clamped on her hip quickened their pace.
Breathing impossible, Madison could focus on but one thing…the way he felt inside her. The way each ridge and vein tugged against her flesh, teasing her, increasing her pleasure.
His gaze felt like a physical touch, as he watched, and waited for her orgasm. She liked that he was so into her. Nix slammed her down hard. Breath fled to the nether regions of the universe. Stars exploded in her vision and she climaxed with a low-grade scream, surprised by the intensity of her release.
Ravaged without mercy, she quivered against him, lost all control of muscle coordination. Every touch, every movement became a silent orgy of pleasure so intense, it catapulted her toward a third orgasm.
Madison clung to Nix, giving him total control over the moment. He angled her hips a shade closer and his pelvis scrubbed against her clit with each thrust.
“Zauohewoq fuc hi xea,” Beautiful way to die. She wasn’t even aware she spoke until Nix half-strangled on a laugh.
Time suspended as he yanked her down. Hard. A low-throated moan tore from her, the pleasure too much, grew a fraction painful, but…not. A guttural groan exited his lungs—the sexiest sound she’d ever heard, as he climaxed. His cock pulsing inside her was all she needed to take the third plunge with him. She threw her head back. A scream bubbled up her throat and would’ve emerged if Nix hadn’t slammed his mouth on hers and claimed it as his own.
Sated far beyond what a full-body massage could offer, she went limp against him, her forehead resting on his shoulder. Ragged breath tickled her ear as he nuzzled the spot behind her lobe, and stole the perspiration off her neck with the tip of his tongue.
Time stretched; her awareness grew. Bliss left her depleted and languid. In unison, their breathing tapered into evenness. Madison wasn’t sure any molecule of her body would ever be the same again. A thumb capered down her spine, ticking over each vertebra, halting at the crack of her ass and repeating the glide up to her nape. His other hand still claimed her wrist, feeding her more carbs than she would ever need in two lifetimes.
“Power off,” she said against his shoulder.
The power winked off immediately and he released his grip on her. The weight of her arm felt too heavy to lift and drape around his neck, but she managed. Even her head had suddenly become too heavy to elevate. Again, she managed. Emotions poured forth as she stared into his drowsy eyes.
Madison clasped his face between her hands. “My God,” she said. “My God.”
“You’re blown away, aren’t you?”
Surprised by his comeback, she laughed. “I don’t think your ego could take the truth, Nix.”
Nix pressed her back against the mattress and withdrew from her body. Bereft and feeling lost without him inside her, Madison wasn’t prepared for the odd emotion. Curling up against her side, he propped his head up with his hand and threw a leg over her thighs, dragging her closer with the strength of his muscles. She turned her head to face him, and he plucked strands of hair off her damp face, securing them behind an ear.
“I was blown away,” he confessed. “Never experienced anything so powerful before, baby.”
Madison trailed her fingertips along the line of his eyebrow, following it to the tapered tip. Everything she thought she knew from her former life lay in shambles, razed by the reality of this man. Her sexual fears were eradicated with multiple orgasms and in the aftermath, replaced with a new knowledge.
I like sex with Nix.
“A penny for your thoughts, Mads.” Nix watched her closely.
“It’ll cost you a nickel,” she teased.
Dimple alert!
“I’d pay you a million if I had it.” He tapped his chin and feigned a thoughtful pose, before shifting his expression into a mock frown a moment later. “Oh, wait, I do…and then some. Thanks to a blonde-haired vixen. I won’t mention names, but her name begins with an M.”
Madison didn’t attempt to cage her amused grin. “You haven’t touched a dime of that money, have you?”
“No. I put Amos’s name down as the beneficiary and promptly forgot the account number.”
She shook her head. More money than Amos could spend in his lifetime sat in a bank drawing interest waiting for him the day he hit majority. The money had been intended to make life easier with Nix’s Sherlock duties. Stubborn man. That hard-headedness was only one of the many reasons why she loved him.
“I was thinking nothing about my life was the same and a new future was being paved with you by my side.”
His dimples blazed again and Madison pressed her thumb over one of them. He wrapped his arms around her and snuggled down with her as he licked sweat off her shoulder. “Your perspiration tastes like honey, Mads.”
“That’s just ridiculous.”
“Truth.” He swished his lips back and forth against her dewy shoulder. “I’m betting it reflects your succubus.”
She sighed at the possibility. A trait that could draw men like flies to honey. “I wish you wanted a normal woman. Safer.”
“Why?” He sounded horrified and a frown plowed deep grooves across his forehead. “A normal woman couldn’t handle my world.” He pulled the covers to their hips. “
And I think you’re perfect, baby.”
“I wish I was normal, Nix.” She trailed her fingers across his jaw. “But if I was, I wouldn’t have met you, would I?” He kissed her fingertips when she touched his lips. “Life’s too short to be wasted on wishes that never come true.”
Nix caught her hand and licked her palm. “You’re wrong. Wishes come true. I’ve only made one wish in my life. You.”
Her breath quickened. He had no proof they would last. No proof she wouldn’t need destroying.
“Don’t look so terrified by that statement, Mads.” His palm circled her belly. “I have enough faith for us both. We’ll survive anything that comes after us, even if the universe starts throwing fireballs.”
He’s way too good for us, Usha said in a flat tone.
Madison blinked, surprised by the demon’s candor. When a monster recognized that fact, nothing in the world made sense.
His hand shifted and slid between her legs.
“Again?” Her voice came out gruff and unused.
“I want to play some more, Mads.”
He may be too good for us, but I want to keep him. On that they both agreed.
Nix kissed her neck and she slanted her head to the side to give him all the canvas he needed to work with. He sucked on the sensitive spot between her shoulder and throat as she weeded her fingers in his hair.
“If you don’t object, spread your thighs for me, baby,” he said against her flesh.
Madison didn’t object. Neither did Usha. She opened her legs and let him draw her into a world where her name and worries didn’t exist, where nothing but the power of his love reigned supreme.
Chapter Forty-eight
Nix was jarred awake from a nightmare where Micah came for Mads, ending in tragedy. Struggling to breathe, he stared at the ceiling. A patch the size of a small bus bubbled as if smoldering in a dying camp fire. Sulfur and ash encroached, stinging his eyes, the acrid scent burning his nostrils. The heat prickled his skin as if an inch from his face and sweat rolled down his brow.
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