“Indeed.” Soleil cast him a pitying look. “You and your money are welcome here, but not tonight. I’m sure you understand. The incubus is bad for business.”
* * *
“I needed a release.You saw how dangerous my vice can be, Selene. I might’ve hurt you if I hadn’t used the bordello.” Still could hurt her. His wolf, although distracted, had yet to be appeased.
Selene didn’t say a word. She entered his apartment, looking tired and smelling slightly of sulfur.
“You shouldn’t have gone to Lost Things. That place is dangerous. A woman like you could get hurt.”
“A woman like me?”
“An acolyte. An innocent.”
Selene tossed her purse on the sofa and retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge. “I’m not as helpless as you think.”
“I don’t think you’re helpless, okay?” Jason took a seat at the table, feeling like a supreme asshole for everything that had happened that night. “I just think… what’s going on with me is a little out of your experience level. I don’t think this is going to work out. I need a different kind of therapy.”
She strode toward him, leaning her hip against the side of the table, her round bottom coming tantalizingly close to the place his hand rested on the white oak top. Move his pinky an inch and he’d be touching her, feeling the firmness of her flesh taut beneath the fabric of her jeans.
“I’m here for a reason, and I don’t give up easily,” she said.
He heard her voice as if his head were underwater. He pictured his hand stroking down her stomach. A growl rumbled deep within him.
He licked his lips. His mouth had gone dry, bone dry. And her body shimmered like a cool glass of water. He squirmed under her violet stare, his gaze raking over her chest, her torso, her legs. Although it was clear she’d sensed him staring, she didn’t move, didn’t pull away. His wolf stood and his human body followed, rounding the table and pressing in close to her. His hands came to rest on either side of her hips.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“You’re a beautiful woman. I know you’re attracted to me. I can smell it.”
“I’m here to help you. It’s time to begin your therapy.”
“Right. Tapping into my soul. Shouldn’t we get to know each other first?” He licked his lips and lowered his face toward hers. Deep down, Jason knew he was crossing the line, but fuck if he could control himself. Her soft voice, the delicate bones of her face, everything about her was erotically female. And her innocence, that pinnacle of virtue he’d tried to avoid before, was a huge turn-on. She was untouched, an unclaimed land waiting for an explorer to plant his flag.
“Jason, this isn’t…” She tried to slide out from between his arms. No way was his wolf going to go for that. His palm landed on her waist, her T-shirt bunching so that his hand touched a sliver of her skin. Heat scorched the narrow point of contact, electric sparks tingling through his arm and sending a wave of desire straight to his cock.
He lifted her bottom fully onto the table, positioning himself between her knees. She leaned away from him, her mouth working as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t form the words. Bringing his nose close to her neck, he inhaled deeply. The sharp tang of her arousal was tempered ever so slightly by a whiff of fear.
“Don’t fight it, Selene. It’s natural. I’m a male. You’re female. Just two people who need each other, taking solace from an unforgiving world in the safety of each other’s arms.”
“No,” she said, but the word was flimsy and hollow.
“Hmm? Your words don’t match the scent you’re putting off, sweetheart.”
“Don’t call me sweetheart. My name is Selene.” She patted herself on the chest between their bodies. “I’m Selene, Jason. This isn’t you. It’s your vice. Don’t let it own you.”
“What’s your vice?” He sniffed up her neck to her ear, so close her body heat seared his flesh. “You’re trembling. What is it that you can’t get enough of?”
She stilled within his arms, serenity seizing her, filling her from the bottom up. Her violet gaze snapped to his, and the blush bled from her cheeks. “Helping people,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
Selene’s hands landed on his chest. He had a split second to notice the symbols painted on her palms, to wonder what they meant and how long they’d been there, before a shock rocked his body. His muscles seized as a hook seemed to slide between his ribs and dig into his heart. Unable to move anything but his eyes, his gaze locked on hers.
“I didn’t want to have to do it this way. But you leave me no choice.”
ChapterFourteen
Selene’s vision blurred, everything vibrating like a plucked chord. The walls melted away, and her spirit left her body, crossing into a dark place of spiderwebs and flashes of light. Pulses of energy flowed along strands that crisscrossed around her. Memories. Jason’s memories. She was inside the core of Jason’s personality, every experience tangled around her like a puzzle begging to be solved.
