He held out his hand, and I readily placed mine in his.
I didn’t know what I was expecting. A bowl of water so he could wash my hands, maybe? He liked to touch me and take care of things.
I wasn’t expecting him to deep-throat my pointer finger and groan. And I definitely wasn’t ready for the blast of heat that shot through me when his tongue stroked from the base of my finger to the tip.
Just before my brain could completely melt, I had the sense to jerk my hand back.
My finger left his mouth with a pop, and he gave me a devilish smile that continued to erode my thought process.
“Nothing has ever tasted sweeter. Allow me to feast on your flesh.”
I knew he wasn’t talking about my fingers.
CHAPTERFIVE
I hadto clear my throat twice before I could speak.
“First, it’s still disturbing when you talk like that because I picture you actually eating me like most monsters would like to eat a human. Second, I asked you not to make every touch sexual. It makes me more skittish about touching you again.”
He growled in frustration and raked his hand roughly through his hair.
“Iwant. Ineed.” The words were said in exactly the same crazy tone as he’d said them before he realized I was real, and I hurried to cup his face in my hands.
As soon as I touched him, he stilled and scowled at me.
“I’m not trying to frustrate you. I’m only trying to explain what I’m thinking and feeling so we understand each other. Please try to understand me.”
“Try to understand me, Goddess. I have waited for…” He looked away briefly. “The passing of time doesn’t matter. What matters is that you—for nearly an eternity—have continued to deny me at every turn.” The words on his skin flared into golden existence. “Have I not bartered and paid for every scrap you reluctantly surrendered? When will you yield what is my due?”
“I am not your goddess,” I said while stroking his cheek to keep him calm. “I didn’t negotiate any contracts or promise any payments. Remember how this conversation started? I only asked for two minutes of your uninterrupted attention in exchange for a hug. We sidetracked ourselves from there. Can we just go back to that offer?”
His frustration remained as he tersely nodded, which didn’t bode well for what I was going to suggest.
“Will you allow me to speak for two minutes without interrupting?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Would you like your hug first or after?”
He immediately stood and pulled me into his arms. I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned my head against his chest, enjoying the contact more than I should have. All this holding and touching would lead us down the path I was trying to fight. Yet, without it, he tended to make the world shake. What else could I do but walk the fine line the fates set before me and accept the small measures of comfort I found?
My hands smoothed over his back, mostly to reassure him but also partly just to feel the smooth texture of his skin under my fingers. He exhaled gustily and rested his chin on top of my head.
“Feeling a little better?” I asked softly.
“Yes.”
“Good.” I didn’t let him go but gave him an extra, gentle squeeze. “Then the two minutes start now.
“My name is Ashlyn Trammer. Since my uncle’s passing, I’ve lived alone in his one-story, brown house in Uttira. He was the liaison officer there. He kept the humans who lived in Uttira relatively safe from the mon—um, children of the gods, cogs for short, who also live there.
“Uttira is protected by a barrier that keeps the cogs in so they can’t run around hurting humans. It also keeps the humans who know about the cogs inside so we can’t tell the world they’re real and cause mass panic.
“Even though there are only a few humans in Uttira, my uncle’s job wasn’t easy. There are so many cogs that want to feed off of humans in some way. It doesn’t matter that consuming human flesh is forbidden. It still happened. And feeding off our essences is completely allowed. They make a game of it, trying to lure the humans to feed on them.
“Not all the cogs are bad, though. There are some nice ones.
“There are two griffins there, for example. As you know, their kind is inherently protective and doesn’t crave humans like other cogs do. And there’s a succubus my age who is uniquely un-succubus-like and mostly safe to be around. Her name is Eliana. She’s nice, and I considered her a friend.
