“I like you, too,” Quin whispered a while later, and Glyma smiled without opening her eyes.
A keratin-tipped tail teased her arm, and her own tail responded immediately. They met in the space between their bodies, coiling, dancing. Then they settled into a proper knot on the center console, and both Quin and Glyma sighed.
Ten minutes later, the car stopped in front of Glyma’s building, and Quin put it in Park but left the engine running. Glyma opened her eyes and smiled at their knotted tails.
“I don’t suppose you want to come up with me?”
“Want?” Quin said with an arch of her brow, and Glyma chuckled. “I should get back.”
She’d been expecting it, but it was a lie to say she wasn’t disappointed. “Okay. Would a hug be inappropriate?”
“Well, we are friends… or something, right?”
“Or something,” Glyma said, and Quin ran a hand over one horn.
They both moved at the same time, and Glyma loved the way Quin ducked her face into her neck, as if she had to hide from how much she wanted this. Glyma cupped the back of her head and held her there, rubbing the base of her scalp carefully. She didn’t want to fray her locs.
The embrace lasted too long, yet not long enough, but when Quin pulled away, Glyma let her go. She didn’t get far, though. She stopped cheek-to-cheek with Glyma, lips whispering over her skin as she spoke.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” Glyma whispered, cradling the side of her face, keeping her close.
“For reminding me I’m alive.”
Glyma’s heart stuttered and flipped inside her chest, and she turned her head, nose grazing Quin’s. “And you expect me not to kiss you after that? How unfair.”
Quin gasped, her trembling exhale fanning over Glyma’s mouth. “I don’t think I’d survive it.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Glyma crooned, lips tracing Quin’s with every word spoken, and the Daemon’s eyes shuttered closed. “You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
Entirely limp now, Quin’s fingers twisted in the front of Glyma’s cardigan as she shook in Glyma’s hold. Glyma nuzzled her cheek, and she braved a kiss, a small one at the corner of Quin’s mouth. The Daemon gasped, and Glyma smiled. She saw a glimpse of her reflection in Quin’s window, and that smile was full of teeth.
Her Succubus aura was awake now, fully alert and salivating, but she locked it down. Quin’s energy was pulsing with desire, yes, but it was soured with fear. She wouldn’t take what Quinwas too afraid to give. So she kissed the corner of her mouth again, then withdrew.
“Look at me,” she said.
Quin squeezed her eyes shut tighter and shook her head.
“Quin, look at me,” she said, firmer this time, and Quin’s eyes shot open.
Flames erupted in her red pupils and a steady stream of smoke filtered from her nostrils and between her parted lips. Barely a touch, and Quin was already burning for her.
“When you’re ready, not just to survive but to live, tell me to kiss you, and I will. Can you do that for me, sweetheart?”
Quin blinked heavily, like she was having trouble focusing, and Glyma swiped her thumb over Quin’s bottom lip, letting her aura stretch just a bit. As it dragged over Quin’s, the Daemon shuddered, and it took every ounce of control for Glyma not to push her back into her seat and eat her alive.
“Can you do that, Quin?” Glyma asked again, and Quin nodded, slowly at first, then more forcefully. “Good girl.”
To Glyma’s delight—and Quin’s utter shock—Quin whimpered, actually whimpered, and her eyes widened in horror at the desperate sound. Glyma, for her part, grinned like an absolute fiend.
Quin’s arousal was thick now, and Glyma knew if she slid her fingers into her slacks, she’d find her hot and drenched. But Glyma would be good, so she didn’t test the theory.
“Do you like being a good girl, Quin?” Glyma asked, and Quin narrowed her eyes.
“Fuck off,” she said with no real heat to the words.
Glyma giggled and leaned back into her seat. “I’m going to file that away for later.”
