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He briefly nuzzled my stomach before he rose, his knee cracking on the way up. I was still dazed as he cupped the side of my neck and leaned in to kiss me, thumb stroking my jaw. This kiss was slower, our tongues gliding languidly, and I shuddered when I tasted myself on him.

“Vince,” I panted when it finally ended. “I want to—”

The door opened abruptly behind me, making me almost topple back before Vince’s hands shot out to grab my waist and steady me. I whirled around and accidentally whapped him in the side of the face with my wing, which made him squawk in shock and stumble into a shelf, sending a box of paperclips crashing to the floor and exploding over our feet.

I stared at the Ghastly Boys, still breathing hard, my face flushed. Their yellow eyes shone from the shadowy depths under their hoods, and as one they floated a few feet back from the door in silence.

“Pens,” Vince blurted, hand shooting out to snatch a random box off the shelf. “We were looking for pens and the door shut on us.”

They said nothing. Clearing my throat, I tried to compose myself and smoothed back my hair as I walked out of the closet, giving the pair a cool nod. Their yellow eyes flickered from me to Vince as he slunk out behind me, holding a box of highlighters.

In silence, we walked swiftly down the corridor and turned the corner, at which point Vince snorted.

“Think they’ll say anything?”

“They never speak, so no.”

He snorted again and glanced over at me with a tiny grin, then hesitated before parting his lips to speak.

Before he could, Larkin and Seb appeared up ahead, walking hand in hand toward us. Larkin was holding a huge soda cup and slurping from the straw noisily. He choked a little at the sight of us.

“Holy crap, it’s you two. Together. And you’re not calling each other assholes.”

“You just missed it,” Vince said dryly, making my mouth twitch.

“But seriously though, what are you doing down this end of the building?” Larkin slurped his soda again, brows rising with interest.

I cleared my throat. “We just had our mandated therapy session with Corey. It was awful.”

“Fucking bullshit,” Vince agreed, somewhat convincingly. His voice was a little sly when he added, “It sucked.”

My sated cock twitched. I cleared my throat and lifted my chin.

“Yes,” I said, keeping my voice as inflectionless as possible. “It did, indeed, suck.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Room Fifteen

Crossbody

At 7.45 p.m. that evening, I sat in my car in the parking lot of the Elfknot Motel and stared down at the unanswered text I’d sent Vince several hours earlier.

I’ll be at the Elfknot Motel from 8 tonight.

Exhaling unsteadily, I finally unbuckled my seat belt and climbed out of the car. The parking lot was mostly empty once again, the pink neon VACANCIES sign glowing in the dark above the front office. I slowly headed that way, wondering if he was going to show up.

I glanced around when I pushed open the door, keeping my expression carefully blank. The front office looked dingy and as dated as the room we’d stayed in. Behind the desk was a man with dark curly hair. I remembered Vince saying he was an incubus. He was already eyeing me in appreciation.

Lifting my chin, I strode over and gave him a polite smile.

“Good evening. Is room fifteen available?”

He’d frozen in place, his eyes widening and slowly trailing up my frame to my face.

“Unholy shit,” he breathed. “It’s you. You’re him.”

A frown twitched my brows. “I’m sorry?”