“She gave me Nickelova’s heart.”
Meredith froze. “What?”
“She told me last night’s activities were her way of bartering with the demon for the heart. He’s an incubus. Sex is his currency.”
He left out the petty details. Meredith didn’t need to know how Soleil had basically asked him to come back to her on her terms. It wasn’t going to happen.
Meredith paused, her glass of wine halfway to her lips. “She still loves you.”
Silas snorted derisively. “No.”
“Yes. She allowed that demon to do those things to her for you. With that heart, you can control Nickelova. Ryker would never have given it to you without her intervention.”
“You don’t know that.” Silas sipped his wine. “And I think we can agree, Soleil seemed to enjoy every minute of the process.”
Meredith swirled her wine in the bottom of her glass.
Silas pumped his knee, anxious he might have upset her. “I’ll use the heart, but I hate what she did to get it. I can’t respect someone who does something like that. And the thought that she did what she did in some twisted way for me? It makes me sick. I don’t want to be responsible for what we saw. If anything, it makes it worse.”
“You’re not responsible.” She met his gaze and held it. “You’re not.”
“I know.” He shrugged. “Besides, what Soleil does or does not do is not my problem. In fact, at the moment I’d rather not think of her at all.” He reached across the table and brushed the back of her hand with his fingertips. “I don’t love her anymore.”
“No?”
“I find myself smitten with someone else.” He eyed her intently.
“Smitten?” She raised an eyebrow, her gaze dropping to where his fingers stroked her hand. Her bottom lip tucked between her teeth. Did she feel the electric charge building between them? Sense the tension like smoke in the air, growing thicker until he could hardly breathe?
“I enjoyed kissing you today,” he said, locking eyes with her. “I think you enjoyed it too.”
“I did, but…”
“But?”
“We work together,” she said softly. “A physical relationship between us would be inappropriate. It’s against department policy.” She blinked rapidly, leaning back in her chair although keeping her hand exactly where it was, under his.
Silas nodded. “You’re right.” He traced the veins along the underside of her forearm. She shifted in her chair. He could imagine her thighs pressing together under the table, and his erection throbbed to ease the cause of that particular affliction. He circled her wrist with his hand. If he didn’t take her right now, he’d never forgive himself.
“The problem is, Meredith, I don’t give a fuck about department policy.”
Meredith hadn’t expectedthings to get physical this fast. An hour ago, she thought he’d stood her up. But as Silas rose from his seat and rounded the table to stand in front of her, the evidence of his desire was impossible to ignore. Her eyes widened, and her cheeks warmed. But it was what was going on inside of her that made her heart race. A dull ache blossomed deep within her core, a vigorous storm of heat that made her squirm in her chair.
He tugged her wrist hard and fast, lifting her from her seat. The front of her robe brushed against his chest. “Oh,” she said. Goddess, she was still wearing the dreadful pink robe. Without a stitch of makeup and with her hair pulled into a careless ponytail, her appearance was hardly flattering. But the fire in Silas’s eyes only burned for her. By some miracle of the goddess, she’d bewitched him.
Her lips parted as she searched his face for any sign of insincerity or uncertainty. There was none. “It seems I don’t care much about department policy either.”
He threaded his fingers into her hair, cradling her neck. His lips grazed her pulse, working their way up to her ear. “I want to be inside you, Meredith. I want to make you whimper.”
“Maybe we should wait.”Was that her voice? She did not want to wait.
He ran his nose along her neck, inhaling deeply. “I don’t think we should wait.”
“As Alpha, I suppose you’re used to getting what you want,” she whispered, his arousal a sweet spice in her nose.
“I am.” His mouth hovered over hers. “But what I want is for you to want me too. I want more than a fling. If you’re not ready for that, you’re worth waiting for.” He took a half-step back. The gap that formed between them left her cold. The small distance was almost painful.
Her resolve toppled like a house of cards. “I don’t want to wait.” Sweeping forward, she rose on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. Meredith wasn’t a virgin. She’d been kissed before. But this kiss was different. As he responded to her advance, his mouth was territorial as if he was marking her as his own. His lips on hers were desperate and wanting. The kiss tested her boundaries, his tongue staking claim to every corner of her mouth, his massive body bending her backward in his arms. She melted. Hot, wet heat bloomed between her thighs. Whatever he needed from her, she was all in, unconditionally.
