Heat crept up my neck. How did I explainthattangled mess of desire and feelings? That my heart belonged to Nico, but I felt an undeniable pull toward Val and Amari? That I barely knew Kage, but knowing he was there gave me comfort?
Raphael’s voice cut through my spiraling thoughts. “You don’t need to explain your love life to me. You got off on my leg moaning their names. Pretty clear to me.”
I wanted the ground to swallow me whole. “I didn’t get off.”
Why had I said that? What was wrong with me?
“Shall we?” His wings unfurled again, and he watched me closely for any wayward hand tempted to stroke them. “I’ll need to hold you while we fly.”
I nodded, and his arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me against his chest. I tried not to think about how solid he felt.
Suddenly, he let go of me and spun me around so fast I got dizzy. “What do you have in here?”
Before I could answer, he unzipped my backpack. Laughter burst from him, and I spun back around, pulling the bag to my front to close it.
“You’re stealing my soap?” He was laughing so hard that he wiped his eyes. “What do you need twenty bars of soap for? Don’t they have soap in Inferna?”
I put the backpack on, not bothering to return his soap. “They do, but I like the smell, and I carve soap.” The words came out defensive, which only annoyed me more. Why did I care what he thought?
“Youcarvesoap?” His eyebrows shot up. “Do you underwater basket weave too?”
The mockery in his tone made my jaw clench. Of course he’d make fun of it. Everyone did at first. It was easier to dismiss something than to understand why someone might need it.
My fingers curled into fists at my sides. “Just for that, I’m not going to carve you one.”
“Oh, no, that completely ruins my decade.” He pressed a hand to his chest in mock despair, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
I turned away from him, focusing on adjusting the straps of my backpack again, even though they didn’t need to be. The most infuriating part of it was that I didn’t want to punch him.
I wanted to kiss him.
Had I turned into a succubus demon?
He grabbed me around the waist again, and this time we went airborne. Everything was a blur, and before I could give him a piece of my mind about warning a girl next time, we landed on a roof.
I gasped as I took in the vast expanse of water. Not because his fingers dug into my waist.
“That’s the Pacific Ocean. Usually, we land in Lucifer’s backyard, but I thought you might like to see it.”
He was giving me whiplash. One minute he was a complete asshole asking me if I had tentacles growing out of my pussy and making fun of my soap carving, and the next he wanted me to see the ocean.
It was beautiful. The ocean. Not him.
Definitely not him with his muscular arms and his gorgeous wings that quickly disappeared.
“Ready?”
I snapped out of my thoughts and had barely completed my nod before we were there.
We landed on a bed, and I wobbled on unsteady feet before I fell, taking Raphael down with me.
He didn’t move to get off me and smirked. “I never considered this as a tactic to get a woman under me.”
“Aren’t you scared my tentacles are going to get you?” I shifted under him since the soap was digging into my back.
“I’ll take that chance.” He looked at my lips before his eyes snapped to mine, narrowing slightly. “What are you?”
I’d never met someone who got under my skin as much as he did, and I wanted to scream. The worst part was how aware I was of every point where our bodies touched.
