Games of Desire (3 page)

And holding her ass with both hands, he brought her forward until her sex lips met his mouth. Her breath hitched in her throat and then slowly, so slowly she thought she’d forget how to breathe, he licked her.

Chloe would have fallen off the chair if Marax hadn’t held her steady. As good as he’d been at projecting sensation to her, it was a pale imitation of just how talented he was with his mouth. She threaded her fingers through his hair, but unlike his gentle touch, she couldn’t help but tighten her hands into fists as she gasped and arched. Almost blind with need, she braced herself as orgasm approached. She was going to come hard. So hard. So fucking hard.

Marax stopped cold. Chloe couldn’t speak, but did manage a sound that was a combination of frustration, disbelief and anger.

His lips were against her belly, so she knew he wasn’t talking aloud when she heard,
You can come on my mouth some other time. Tonight we’ll come together.

After kissing her below her navel, Marax lowered her back to his lap. She could see his face now, see his eyes, and the red glow had eclipsed the blue of his irises. She’d done this to him. Sensible, reasonable, always-follow-the-rules Chloe Donovan had driven this sexy-as-hell demon to the edge.

Guide me home.

He didn’t have to tell her twice. Chloe took his cock in her hand and positioned it at the entrance to her sex. Marax lowered her millimeter by millimeter, drawing out his possession of her until she was ready to plead with him, would have begged if she’d had the oxygen needed to form a sentence, even a single word.

Nothing had ever felt so right, so necessary before as taking Marax inside her body. She wanted to close her eyes, throw her head back, and just enjoy, but she couldn’t. Something inside her demanded she keep her gaze locked on his, that they share this joining in all ways. They both groaned when he was as deep as he could go.

For a moment, his hands stayed at her hips, holding her in place. Then he released her and sent,
Ride me, firebrand. Let your demon free and take me any way you want.

Chloe froze. What did that mean? Really? What did she—?

He rocked, arching his hips upward and she forgot all about thinking. She moved with him and then kept moving. Inside her, something began to coalesce into bright radiance. It wasn’t arousal or orgasm; it was different. Bigger. She bent to Marax, took his mouth with hers, kissing him with all the wildness, all the intensity she felt.

Her nails dug into his skin as she moved on him. He was so thick, so hard, so big and he fit inside her so perfectly. She ground her clit against him on her next downward thrust and buried her face against his throat.

The world narrowed. There was nothing now except Marax and her. Nothing except the promise of excruciatingly fierce pleasure growing inside them, bearing down on both of them. She didn’t only feel her own need, but she was aware of his, too. She altered her pace, working it so that they’d come together. Chloe knew she could do it and she wanted this.

Another need welled up inside her, mixed up with the pleasure in a way she didn’t understand. She slid down his shaft one last time and without warning, everything went to slow motion. Her orgasm began to break and she moved her head, shifting until she found the spot where Marax’s shoulder met his neck. And as the first ripple of rapture traveled through her body, as that incandescent something inside her exploded, Chloe bit him hard enough to taste blood.

It set Marax off and he began to come with her. His mouth was where her shoulder and neck met, too, and part of her waited, anticipated his bite. He fought it, she knew it in some instinctive way, but he lost the battle with the next wave of pleasure.

Marax bit her in return. It set off another swell of orgasm, one even sharper than the others that had racked her body. She whimpered and then screamed, unable to express her ecstasy in any other way. His roar was muffled against her skin. Chloe thought she’d never stop coming, that he’d never stop coming, and when it finally did end, she fell limply against his chest, letting him take her weight.

If this was what sex with a demon was like, Chloe didn’t think she’d ever be able to go back to humans. Marax had ruined her for any other man.

Chapter Four

Marax grunted as Chloe stirred, but she was snuggling, not trying to leave and he relaxed again, raising a hand to lightly stroke her back. Damn, she’d made him come hard. He grinned. This was the first time he’d ever lost awareness of his surroundings after sex, but he’d been out of it for who knew how long and his brain still wasn’t firing on all cylinders.

Losing situational awareness wasn’t good, especially when he hadn’t done more than look for intruders when he’d checked out the room earlier. A wise demon identified the exits and what obstacles and potential weapons were present. The war with the vampires might have ended centuries ago, but old hatreds died hard. Toss in demon slayers and wizards with unknown allegiances, and the human world was filled with potential danger for the unwary.

Drowsily, he opened his eyes and examined his surroundings. The room was longer than it was wide with no furniture save the bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and the chair they’d used. It looked as clean as he’d been promised, but the decor was stark—black, white and gray—and utilitarian.

They were on the fourth floor, but the window opened out onto a fire escape that appeared narrow. Despite his hearing, he couldn’t detect the presence of anyone else nearby and no one had knocked on the door to ask about the scream. The room, he decided, must be soundproofed. Either that or he and Chloe were the only ones who’d gotten hot enough to have sex. Marax doubted that. Infinity had been created for steamy, illicit encounters.

He let his eyes drift shut again and enjoyed the sensation of Chloe’s soft skin and warm breath against his body. Trying to get more comfortable, Marax shifted and she immediately tightened her inner muscles, keeping his half-hard cock inside her. Blood started flowing south again and he let himself enjoy the build. He wanted her as much now as he had earlier, but need wasn’t clawing at him yet. He let himself sink into the sensations.

Before he was ready, his brain began to whisper insistently that he needed to listen to it. He brushed off the prod—he’d think later. All he wanted to do now was fantasize about what he’d do with Chloe next time and enjoy holding his woman.

That thought had his mind poking him again even more urgently. This time, Marax paid attention.
His woman?
His muscles stiffened.
No, it couldn’t be. That was impossible.
Chloe stirred against him again, maybe picking up on his agitation. Soothing her was as natural as taking his next breath.
See,
his brain said. He shook his head. Wanting to take care of the woman who’d given him such pleasure didn’t mean anything.

Yeah,
his mind said.
And you bite every woman who makes you come.

It couldn’t mean anything. She was only a quarter demon.

Marax wanted to be in motion. He thought better when he was moving. With a soft growl, he surged to his feet, still holding Chloe. Her protest sounded sleepy to his ears and he wished he could stay in that place with her, but he was too far on the other side now. He kept his arms around her until she had her balance and then stepped away.

And nearly fell back onto the chair because he’d forgotten he hadn’t taken off his pants. Marax yanked his briefs and trousers into place and zipped up. A wave of his hand sent the chair back to the windows and at last he could pace.

Except whenever he pivoted at the wall, he faced Chloe again. Naked, soft, sexy, languorous Chloe who made his cock twitch every time he saw her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “And don’t tell me nothing, I know better than that.”

Since the word
nothing
had been on the tip of his tongue, he ignored the question instead. On his next turn he nearly plowed into her and without thought, his arms wrapped around her to keep her from falling. The instinct to protect was at the surface, and telling himself he’d do the same for any woman he’d shared pleasure with might be the truth, but it wasn’t the whole truth and that scared him.

“Talk to me, damn it,” Chloe demanded.

Fear came out as anger. “You want to know what’s wrong? I think we’re mated, that’s what’s wrong.”

Marax went around her, continuing his path across the room. He couldn’t be mated to her. Couldn’t be. She didn’t have enough demon blood, he told himself again. He knew she didn’t because he’d made sure of that before he’d ever gone near her.

Her hand closed around his biceps with surprising strength. “What do you mean,
mated?
Do you mean we had sex? I know, I was here for that.”

She didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. He worked on taking it down a few notches, on controlling his emotions rather than letting them take charge of him, but the deep breathing raised a different kind of emotion. With his acute senses, the scent of sex filled his nostrils, the scent he and Chloe had created together, and all he could think of were the things he hadn’t taken the time to do with her. All the things she hadn’t done with him. That was bad enough, but then there was her body, naked and flushed and right in front of him.

The bed was right there. He could take her down on it and they could—

“Put your clothes on and we’ll talk.” He carefully freed himself from her hold and bent to retrieve her dress and panties. He took one look at her thong, handed her the dress, and shoved the torn panties into his pants pocket. While she pulled it on, he shrugged into his shirt. Maybe with all his clothes on, he’d stop dwelling on taking Chloe a second time.

“I’ll get the zipper,” he said as she began to reach behind her.

After he had the dress fastened, Marax stayed where he was. He wanted to take care of her. That was another checkmark on his mental list. They were adding up far too fast.

She faced him and the message was clear—it was time to talk. He scowled, but if he was right, she was in this with him and deserved the information.

“How much do you know about demons?” he asked.

Chloe shrugged. “I guess what any wizard knows. My dad was the half demon and he died when I was a baby, so I don’t have any insight from him.”

“Yeah.” Marax tried to figure out what else to say, but where did he begin?

“Just lay it out there. I’m tough enough to take it,” Chloe said.

And she’d read his thoughts, he was sure of it, and this was another sign he didn’t like. “Okay, straight out, here you go. The closest thing humans have to mating is marriage, but mating is more. When two demons mate, it’s for life. It means they’re locked to each other—and only each other—sexually until one of them dies. It also means they’ll defend each other against anyone and anything else. This last instinct is particularly strong in males.”

She looked confused. “So when you have sex with another demon you’re mated to her?”

Shaking his head, he said, “It doesn’t happen with just any demon, it happens between two demons who are meant for each other.”

“Like soul mates?” Chloe asked.

Marax hated that term. Humans bandied it about as if it were easy, but then for them it was. They called a person soul mate, married them, and ten years later decided they’d made a mistake and went on to the next. Demons didn’t have that luxury. There was no moving on, there was only forever and woe be it to mates who barely tolerated each other. Like his parents had until the day his father had disappeared.

Shaking his head, Marax pushed that thought aside. This was about him and Chloe, no one else. “Close enough,” he allowed. “A demon can love and marry anyone—our prince is married to a vampire—but a demon only mates with another demon.”

“Which leaves us out.” Chloe used both hands to push her hair behind her shoulders. “I’m not a demon.”

“Yeah, well, something sure as hell happened tonight and if you were half demon or more, I wouldn’t doubt we were mated.” Marax took a deep breath and got aroused all over again. “All the indications point that way. This hair-trigger desire, one stronger than we’ve ever experienced before? A sign. The incredible orgasm we shared, the fact that we bit each other here,” he tapped the mark she’d left on him. “The protectiveness I feel for you, the way you’ve read my thoughts when I haven’t sent them to you—all signs.”

“I haven’t read your thoughts.”

Hadn’t she? It was possible she’d made an assumption earlier, but it had been a damn good one. There was only one way to find out. With care, Marax walled off his mind, ensuring he wasn’t sending anything to her and turned away to hide his face.
Why’d you sleep with me? We both know you’re not the kind of woman who does one-night stands.

“Because I wanted a night where I could be me,” she said with heat, “where I didn’t have to be careful. I wanted a night to do something wild. It doesn’t mean more than that.”

That eliminated his last doubt, and he’d been hoping he was wrong. Grimly, he faced his mate. “I didn’t say that out loud and I didn’t send it to you, but you heard me anyway. A demon only reads untransmitted thoughts from his mate.”

“You’re lying.”

Her tone pissed him off. “Why would I lie about this? Do you think I want to be mated? All I came here for tonight was some stupid fucking antidote so my idiot nephew wouldn’t embarrass the family with his green skin. I sure as hell didn’t come here looking to tie myself for life to a wizard.”

The stunned expression on her face knocked the temper out of him. “What did you just say?” Chloe’s voice stayed soft.

Since he couldn’t get himself in any deeper trouble, Marax gave her this straight out, too. “I came here looking for your sister. Instead, I found you asking around for her.”

Marax wasn’t certain if she was going to hit him or cry. Of the two, he’d prefer the physical blow. He reached out to brush his thumb over her cheekbone—a wordless apology—but Chloe backed away, avoiding his touch. “On another night, I would have followed you out of sheer desire,” he assured her, “but I couldn’t tonight. I’m head of my family and it was my duty to solve this problem.”