Carnal (Her Dark Desires #1) (5 page)

My
face lit up, and I hurriedly backed away.

Reluctantly,
he let go, looking disappointed.

It’s
just part of his job, to make you feel special
, I reminded
myself.
That thing you felt earlier was probably just some side effect from
the adrenaline. You’re putting extra meaning where there is none.

“Um,
thanks for keeping me steady,” I said, my voice shaky. “I, uh, appreciate
that.”

“Anytime,”
he said, frowning. He looked puzzled about something, and for a moment, I was
worried I had said or done something to upset him.

“Sorry
about that,” Elias said, coming up from behind us and clapping a hand on
Hector’s shoulder. “Sometimes a public example is the only type to knock some
sense into a youngling.” He looked at me. “Are you all right?”

“Er,
yes. Thank you so much for saving me.”

“It’s
my duty,” he said brusquely. “You’re one of mine.”

Oh.
So he hadn’t been doing it because he’d cared.

Douchebag
.

“Sally,
my colleague and I were in the middle of an important business discussion.”

Meaning,
“You need to scram.”

“Got
it,” I said. “I was just leaving.”

“Actually,”
Hector said quickly, “I was thinking about walking Sally to her car. I’m sure
she’s pretty shaken from the interaction.”

Hell
yeah, I was shaken, but not from that meathead.

Elias
raised a brow. “How chivalrous of you,” he said dryly. “Fine. I have a phone
call to make anyway.”

“I
won’t be long,” Hector said, clapping him on the back. It was weird seeing
someone being so chummy with Elias. I didn’t think he had any friends,
considering how scary he was. Then again, maybe that was just my own biased
perception of him.

Hector
turned to me and smiled. “After you.”

I
smiled back, grateful to him for being such a gentleman.

I
bundled my scarf around my neck as we walked outside. The air seemed chillier
today.

“Looks
like winter’s moving in early,” I said lamely, watching my breath turn into
little steam clouds.

“Yeah.
Even though it’s only September, we’re getting way too much cold weather too
soon.”

I
frowned. “That sucks.” I hadn’t even gotten to work on my tan that much this
year.

Looking
sidelong at him, I admired his profile for a moment. He hadn’t bothered
bringing his coat, and his cuffed burgundy shirt accentuated his tanned skin
and dark hair. When my eyes drew up to his face, I found him watching me back
with a small, amused smile.

My
face instantly heated. “Sorry,” I said with a nervous laugh. “I bet you get
tired of being stared at.”

“I
don’t mind with you,” he said softly.

A
hitch caught in my step, and I tripped. I blame the sidewalk; it practically
leapt up and attacked me. And I would have suffered an embarrassing face-plant
on the ground if Hector hadn’t stepped in and steadied me.

“Here,”
he said, tucking my arm under his. “Hold on to me. I think I saw some ice back
there.”

There
had been no such ice, but I smiled at how sweet the gesture was. “Thanks.” Jeez,
he was so warm, like he ran a few degrees hotter. “I can see why you never wear
a coat,” I said.

“Hmmm?
Oh, yeah, I have an abnormally high body temperature.”

Most
paranormals ran about the same as humans, around ninety-seven or ninety-eight.
Demons tended to run hotter for obvious reasons, and weres to an extent because
of their animal blood. But I wasn’t picking up on a were signature, and incubi
and succubi, while considered “demons,” weren’t hot-blooded because we weren’t
born demons. We had to be created, usually by a full-blooded demon or a Red
Witch or Warlock.

The
distance from the diner to the parking lot was too short for my liking. My
heart sank as we stopped in front of my car. “Thanks again for helping me back
there,” I said, trying to spend every second I could with him.

“You’re
quite welcome,” Hector said, smiling. “You know,” he added with a mischievous
sparkle in his eyes that made my knees weak, “we really should stop meeting
like this.”

I
snorted. “Yeah. Elevators. Were-fights. What will the public say?”

“I
could care less about the public,” Hector said, growing serious. “So long as
you don’t think badly of me, I can handle gossip.”

I
stared at him. “I could never think badly of you.”

Did
I know him? No. But ever since the elevator, that tingle – that comforting,
safe feeling – had lingered. Hector wasn’t evil, that I could be sure of. In
fact, it only served to heighten my already lethal attraction to him.

Hector
hesitated, looking like he wanted to say something more. I saw the shift in his
eyes, the conflict, and my heart sped up.

Pa-dum,
pa-dum, pa-dum.

When
he blinked hard, I knew he’d changed his mind, and I’d never know what he was
about to say. “So Elias tells me you’ll be heading to Elysian tomorrow?”

My
shoulders fell, and I ducked my head, hiding my face. “Yeah. I, uh, have some
work to do on my technique, it seems.”

Soft
fingers lifted my chin – and consequently, my gaze – to his earnest face. “Hey,
nobody can ever make you feel small unless you let them. Elysian isn’t a bad
thing. Look at it as a chance for change… good change.”

I
smiled at him gratefully. “I’ll remember that.”

His
hand lingered on my face, his thumb brushing the soft skin there before he at
last dropped his hand. “Well, I’d better get back before Elias has a meltdown.
He doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“Tell
me about it,” I said dryly.

Hector
gave me a wistful gaze, smiling. “Maybe I’ll see you at Elysian.”

I
smiled back. “Yeah. Maybe.”

Hopefully
.

With
a small wave, he turned and walked off. I watched him for a moment longer, sad
to see him go. There was just something… I don’t know, that felt “good” about
being near him, a rightness I hadn’t felt before.

Unable
to stand the cold, I started getting in my car but not before I caught Hector
glance over his shoulder one more time before he turned and disappeared behind
the restaurant.

My
breath caught. He’d looked back. Did that mean anything?

I
almost ran after him to give him my number. Succubi and incubi were forbidden
to have romantic relationships, as in, it was against our laws. Considering the
reason I became a succubus in the first place, I had been perfectly okay with
never being able to fall in love again.

Until
now.

Gritting
my teeth, I forced myself to get inside my car, and started the engine before
cranking up the heat dials. It felt like stones were strapped to my back as I
sat there, waiting for the heat to kick in. Was it the right thing to do,
giving up the chance to fall in love ever again? I didn’t think I’d be able to
after having my heart broken like that.

But
now, with the way Hector made me feel and the vibe I was getting off him, like
he might want me too, it made me reconsider.

Sucks
to be a succubus
.
I smirked at my pun and started backing up - then slammed on the breaks.

No,
it couldn’t be. I had to be imagining it.

For
one, it wasn’t nearly cold enough for frost, and the car hadn’t been cool
enough for it to form on the glass. But as I stared at my back window, the
impossibility of it being coated in frost wasn’t the eeriest part.

Someone
had scrawled a message in the ice, backwards so I’d be able to read it in my
rearview mirror.

I’m
watching you.

Chapter 4

“ARE
YOU SURE YOU saw something in the glass?”

It
was the second time Monique had said that since I’d pounced on her when she got
home that night, and spilled everything about Damien.

“Positive,”
I said, shoveling a mouthful of her homemade lasagna into my mouth. She’d
sweetly made it since it was my last night at the apartment. “I’m sure it was
the guy I met the other night.”

After
spilling everything out in a half-shrieked rush, Monique had gotten me to down
a glass of wine so I could tell her and Raoul about Damien and the eerie things
that had happened since I met him.

“Hmmm,
dangerous and delectable,” Raoul said with a sly grin. “He sounds positively
dreamy.” Raoul looked Arabic, like a hotter version of Aladdin. He also looked
like he’d come straight from a job, considering the nipple piercings, glittery
outfit, and heavy black eye liner. He was definitely one of the more, erm,
“dramatic” incubi in the Underworld.

I
rolled my eyes. When it came to bedmates, it didn’t matter to either of my
roommates the sex of the person joining them. They were what they dubbed
“universal lovers.”

“Yeah,”
I said dryly, “delectable up until he tries to make you explode into a pile of
goo.”

Monique
wrinkled up her nose. “Ew. Spare me the gory visual, please.”

“Sorry,”
I said with a sheepish smile. “But I’m serious. I really think this guy is
stalking me.”

“Have
you gone to the D.P.I.?” Raoul asked.

“No!”
I said, scoffing he would even think that. “You know they especially hate succubi.
They’d probably ask what I’d done to deserve it or try to find Damien so they
could award him a medal for doing the paranormal community a service. One less
‘whore’ walking the streets.”

“Eh,
they don’t all think we’re bad,” Monique said, though even she didn’t sound
that convinced. She’d been into one of the D.P.I’s lead detectives for a few
months. It hadn’t ended well. Paranormal relationships rarely did, especially
in our field, where such flights of fancy were forbidden.

“And
I don’t think they’re all bad either,” Raoul said with a purr. “Especially your
old squeeze.” He gave Monique a pinch on the arm, and she smacked away his
hand.

“Ugh,
remember the Commandments of Monique? ‘Thou shalt not speak of Derek
Morrison.’”

“But
you didn’t say we couldn’t speak of any other hot things,” Raoul said, turning
a mischievous eye on me. “I heard a certain incubus walked a little sweet
something here to her car earlier.”

I
nearly inhaled my lasagna. “There’s nothing to speak of. Hector’s not
interested in me that way.”

“Not
from what I hear,” Monique chimed in.

Great,
now they were double-teaming me. “You know that’s impossible. I mean, what are
the odds of a big Underworld celebrity going for a nobody like me?”

“Oh,
the going’s already gone, according to my sources,” Raoul said, getting up to
pour himself another glass of wine. “And by gone, I mean Hector’s fallen in
love with you.”

“He
has not!” I shrieked, though I secretly wished it were so. “He’s just-”

“Hot.”

“Well,
yes, but-”

“Sexy
as sin,” Monique said.

I
sighed. “Yes, that too, but he’s really-”

“Orgasmic?”

“You
guys! Stop it!”

They
snickered. Raoul came up behind Monique to play with her hair. She ran a hand
along his arm suggestively, and I already knew where this was going.

Contrary
to popular belief, us denizens of the Underworld still had beating hearts and
souls. Succubi and incubi could pull energy from each other without harming one
another, which was why you had a lot of “friends with benefits” in my line of
work. We were literally free to screw whom we wanted, so long as we didn’t
develop any romantic attachments. That was strictly off-limits.

Done
with my lasagna and stuffed to bursting, I ran a hand through my hair,
thinking. “There’s more to him than his looks,” I said wistfully. “There’s a
part of him he keeps hidden, like he’s afraid to show it to the world. It’s…
cute.”

Monique
sighed dreamily. “Ah, amour.”

“Oui,”
Raoul complied

Seeing
them standing there around the kitchen table, like we’d done so many times
before, drove home the fact I wouldn’t see them for a while after tonight.
Possibly never again, depending on how well I did at Elysian. My eyes started
to prick. “I really appreciate everything you guys have done for me,” I said,
meaning every word. “I don’t know what I would have done if you guys hadn’t
taken me in.”

“Aw,
Sally-doll!” Raoul gushed, coming over and giving me a hug.

Monique’s
eyes shone as she smiled at me. “Anything for you. After all, we couldn’t let
you end up at that dump, Wonderland, could we?”

“I
hear it’s pretty cool,” I said. “Kind of like an X-rated version of the fairy
tale. Plus, they have that whole legend about one of the doors to Faery being
in their basement.”