Slowly, I clap my hands casually in front of myself, and her attention flits there in an instant. She blinks several times at the outline below my hips, and though she seems annoyed, her breathing increases. Her gaze averts but comes right back to my package.
And my heart’s pounding so fucking hard, it’s doing nothing but producing even more quality blood flow to the uprising south.
“Anything else?” I ask carefully.
“No more erections!” She shouts at random.
She was doing so damn good at being professional until that point.
Laughter shakes from my chest and skims over my lips as I watch her inky wings ruffle behind her. Her wings are her haven, but they also give her away.
She’s not a blusher. She’s not innocent enough to feel shame for her dirty thoughts. And she shouldn’t. She just... gets her feathers ruffled every now and then.
I take two daunting steps toward her, and her body reacts by steeling her spine even more, if that’s possible.
My fingers lift and instead of touching her long silver hair, I release a string of glinting smoke to caress her soft locks. She never takes her eyes off of mine, though. Even as I tell her in the quietest rumble of a voice, “You’re my handler, love. But I’m an incubus. Some things inside of me are too powerful even for you.” A filthy thought accompanies that statement, and I see it shine in her eyes the moment the same dirty thought flickers through her mind as well.
My index finger lifts higher, and I’m almost touching her cheek. The thin line of smoke caresses her skin, and the moment the contact is made, her lips part. Big gray eyes watch me with so much vulnerability, it fucking splits me wide open. My palm slides across her jaw, and suddenly, I’m leaning into her.
And she’s leaning into me.
My mouth is drawn to her like her breath gives me life. My lashes lower.
Just as her lips part ever so slightly more.
And a cruel whisper slips out before the heat between us bursts into sparking flames.
“No touching,” she says on a shaking tone. Her chest heaves against mine. For a single second longer, I feel every heartbeat she has to offer.
The command she gives is stronger than the demands of my heart. I step back. My hands fall to my sides, and there are so many thoughts clouding my mind, I have to shake my head hard to realize I’m still hovering over her. I linger long enough to see the fear in her eyes. I don’t know if it’s fear that I won’t listen... or that she’ll break her own rule herself.
I force my spine to straighten, and it’s even harder for me to force the smile to my lips.
The lust that was just dancing in my stomach is leaden and sickly now.
I keep smiling.
“What now, my Princess?” The title is foreign on my tongue, and I want nothing more than to call her all the sweet things my heart always feels, but I have to tramp that back down. I have to find a distance between us.
Gods knows she has.
“Now, we go to lunch.” Her wings ruffle behind her small shoulders, and the way she looks away from me and walks out expecting me to follow is like a knife sliding into my heart over and over and over again.
Pain is all I feel.
And yet, I smile.
4
Wasted Time
Aries
In the quiet hall, I pause just outside my door. Krave’s footfalls halt the moment mine do. My breath catches as confusing emotions tumble around inside of me.
Someday, things won’t be such a mess between us. My life won’t be such a mess.
Someday.
