I fucked.
I fought.
I moved on.
But Nikki’s arms were wrapped around my back, and her fingers gripped my T-shirt under my leather jacket as though I was there to rescue her.
Damn, I wish I was.
But demons don’t rescue.
We’re the bad guys and always will be.
Nothing I do can change that, and with a pang, I realized I shouldn’t even be here. Because by getting close to Nikki now, wasn’t I filling her with false hope for something that would never be? For somethingIcould never be, no matter how much I didn’t fit in Hell, no matter how long I stayed on Earth, I’d always be a demon.
But she was mine for now, and I was still yet to claim her. The warmth of her against me was distracting, the sun at my back nothing compared to the heat that radiated from her. My desire to touch her went beyond a fuck. Although I was dying to bury my cock in her sweet cunt, I wanted tofeelher, to watch her face as she came apart under my hands and tongue.
When she had called me, the need was heavy in her voice, hidden and tangled behind a whirlwind of emotions she couldn’t express. Would taking her physically while she was in this state be any better than taking her when she was drunk? I’d had no qualms about that the other night, but that was before I knew what the weight of guilt felt like against my chest—an incredibly human and weak feeling.
Frank was right—I was too soft.
A growl rumbled through my chest, and I pulled her closer to me.
She chuckled, shifting a hand around and patting my chest. “Did you just growl?”
“Yes,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Why?” She moved to pull away, and I held her tighter againstme. She didn’t fight but simply relaxed back into my hold, and I had to resist the urge to hold her tighter still, fully aware of how easily I could hurt her if I lost control of my strength.
“Because you’re upset.”
“Aw…” Her voice was muffled against my chest. “How sweet.”
I chuckled. “I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.”
She huffed out a laugh. “At this point, neither can I.”
When she pulled away again, I let her, and she looked at me with such intensity I almost took her right there. I knew this visit wasn’t entirely innocent, and her body burned hot against mine, as desperate for my touch as I was to touch her. Guilt and shame flared in my stomach, and I ignored it.
Keeping my secrets from humans was nothing new, so why should it matter this time?
Because it did matter.
Becauseshemattered.
Because I’d never really put two and two together that the people in Hell still have families and loved ones on Earth. Like humans eating meat, they know damn well where it comes from, but they can live in some sort of perpetual denial as long as they don’t have to see the process. But now there’s a connection from where I used to be to where I am now and where I wanted to be.
And it washer.
But it shouldn’t be. I wished it wasn’t.
If she needed my touch to forget as much as I did, then so be it. Because given another chance to take her, I wouldn’t waste it, and I’d taste every inch of her.
Her breasts pushed against my chest, and I’m certain she was curving her back into our embrace to intentionally enhance the sensation.
She shouldn’t play these games with me. She didn’t know what beast she was stirring.
The growl started again, and I stifled it. When Nikkistraightened, her hands lingered on my waist, brushing the waistband of my jeans under my T-shirt. My abs tensed as she dragged her fingers across my stomach before dropping her arms to her sides.
