Page 16 of Caught in the Devil’s Hand

He lowered his head, but not in apology or submission. It was the way a dog hunched into itself when it growled at you. “It is. Do you agree to our deal, Shumei?”

“Yes,” she said in the barest of whispers, and the air between them shuddered. Her heart seized, both at the subtle flex of magic and at the terms it would enforce.

She watched him like prey watches a predator, lips barely touching the surface of the water. Gods, she was freezing. Now that he had his deal, she hoped he would leave, but something told her he wasn’t done with her yet.

“Then let us fulfill our bargain,” he said, opening his arms to her. She looked at him as though he had broken her favorite possession.

“But you had me last night. You can’t have me again until six days from now,” she said, shaking her head.

“Our deal was ‘from now on.’ Once a week begins today, and today, I will have you.”

Her mouth fell open in surprise, and she wanted to scream with frustration. Instead, tears pricked at the backs of her eyes.

“I meant from last night,” she insisted, despite knowing she’d lose this argument.

Displeasure supplanted his smug expression. “It’s too late to change your wording. I will have you now.”

Fisting her hands, she sat there defeated and waited for him to ravish her once again. But he didn’t move a muscle. He simply sat there, arms crossed, making her edgy as the silence between them stretched on. What was he waiting for? An invitation? He’d not get one, and besides, she didn’t even know what to call—

“What is your name, demon?” she asked, realizing she should know the name of her lover.

He seemed mildly taken aback. “Vallen,” he revealed. She nodded, trying his name out in her head. She wondered who had given it to him—his father, or the Damned One? Perhaps it’d been both?

Another moment passed, and she wondered again why he hadn’t moved or said anything. Why didn’t he take her in his arms and overwhelm her like he had last night?

“Well, what do you want me to do?” she asked, enormously frustrated.

“I thought you’d never ask,” he teased, earning an angry glare. “Come straddle my lap.”

The anger on her face fled before a wash of anxiety. The position was immediately clear in her mind’s eye, and she knew how vulnerable she would be with her legs spread around him.

“Shumei. Now,” he ordered. Though her normal reaction would be anger at his gall, the thought of what she was about to do, in broad daylight, made her heart rise in her throat.

“But the water’s cold,” she said. Indeed, her fingers were starting to ache.

His brow softened. “I’m not.”

“Oh.” Those two words sent a welcome flare of heat shooting through her.

She moved forward hesitantly, finding one of his thighs and then grasping his hips. If he felt any reaction to her hands on his body, he didn’t show it and she wouldn’t have noticed, anyway, so shy she could only look at his chest. She pulled herself onto his lap, and besides uncrossing his arms, he didn’t budge.

He really was warm. Very warm. She hadn’t planned on fitting her naked body so tightly to his clothed one—thighs squeezing his hips and chest pressed to his—but she’d gone stiff from sitting in the cold river and was desperate to thaw. Even so, she was too shy to take her arms out the water and wrap them around his neck, so she curled her fingers into the wet cloth of his dark blue jacket and absently noted the fabric was finer than anything she’d ever touched.

He lifted his arms, and she couldn’t help flinching. He paused. “Why do you cower?”

She couldn’t look at him. All she would find there would be his arrogance, his cruelty, and his lust. She couldn’t see that last one, too afraid of how quickly she’d reciprocate. “You made me bargain with you while cold and naked, and tricked me into…feeding you again. How do I know you won’t hurt me, sooner or later?”

Another pause. Then he touched his warm, firm lips to her forehead. “I’ll make you another promise,” he murmured. “I’ll never hurt you, at least not without your permission. If I break this promise, all agreements between us shall be void, and I’ll never come near you again.”

She gasped in astonishment, greatly surprised he would make such a promise—and greatly comforted. However, why he had included “without your permission?” When would she ever want him to hurt her?

“I’m going to touch you, Shumei. And only pleasure shall follow,” he whispered, pressing another kiss to her forehead.

She cast aside all thoughts of his promise and focused on the present. Water swirled behind her as he moved, laying his palms on her lower back. He moved them slowly, exploring the shape of her waist, the line of her spine, and the ridges of her shoulders. She melted a little more as his hands infused her cold skin with blessed heat.

“Look at me,” he said, not so much an order as a request.

She met his eyes. They were full of lust, to be sure, a drugged expression that hinted of carnal knowledge and deep longing, but there was no arrogance, no cruelty. He palmed her hips and rubbed his heat into them before sliding his hands to her thighs. She swallowed, fingers curling tighter.