Sinfully Spellbound (Spells That Bind Book 1) (8 page)

I handed over a flash drive, and the detective nodded. “Now,
I just need to go over some standard questions.”

The detective asked Allie about old boyfriends, enemies, and
jealous would-be lovers. Thankfully, he didn’t insult Allie by insinuating she
was a prostitute again, or I was pretty sure either Delilah or I would have
assaulted him. It was pretty obvious Allie had been expecting that, and it made
me wonder how often people assumed she was just a sexual object.

By the time the detective left, Allie looked ready to drop.

Delilah left for her parents’ home shortly after the
detective. She’d only been willing to leave after securing Allie’s promise that
she wouldn’t stay alone. When I returned from walking Delilah to her car, Allie
had a lost expression on her face, but she quickly snapped out of it.

“I’ll ask Trevor if I can stay with him,” she said.

And that was how the argument began.

Dylan hadn’t taken my suggestion of staying at Trevor’s very
well, despite the fact that it made perfect sense. Trevor’s home was in a
secure community, much like the one Dylan lived in. When he hadn’t responded to
my perfectly logical argument, I’d decided to point out that Trevor’s home was
closer to the bridge, which would make my commute easier. If I weren’t
mistaken, Dylan had actually started grinding his teeth when I’d added that to
my list of reasons.

“I can’t stay with you,” I told Dylan for at least the tenth
time in the last fifteen minutes. After I’d finally finished packing, I still
had no idea where I was going. Since I was sitting in Dylan’s car at the
moment, I felt kind of ridiculous arguing with him. For some reason, I was a
very argumentative person around Dylan. It had to be his fault since I was
known for being agreeable and even-tempered. If I weren’t, I would have punched
Marcos in the junk months ago. “This is not how one-night stands work,” I
added, slumped down in my seat with my arms crossed in front of my chest.
“People call them one-night stands because you only have
one
night
together.”

I could swear I heard Dylan grinding his teeth again. That
was a habit he needed to break before he ended up damaging his perfect teeth.

“We didn’t have a one-night stand,” Dylan said in a calm
voice, which was at odds with his death grip on the steering wheel.

“You’re tired,” I said when he yawned. That probably
explained his crankiness.

“Exhausted,” he admitted with a sigh. “Why is this so
difficult?”

“Driving?” I asked and didn’t wait for a reply. “You’re too
tired to drive.”

Since we were at a stop sign, he turned to give me an
annoyed look.

“I meant, why is getting you to come home with me to hard?”
he clarified. “I’ve never had this much trouble with a woman before.” At least,
the moron had sense enough to figure out how stupid his comment was. “I didn’t
mean that the way it sounded,” he quickly added.

“Yes, you did,” I said with a humorless laugh. “Women don’t
give you problems. Then again, you never want more than sex, so we don’t know
if they’d be a problem the next day or not. I think it’s safe to assume they
wouldn’t give you any trouble if you asked them to stay at your place.” I let
out a frustrated breath. “It’s not that I’m not grateful to you for saving me
and wanting to help me. This is just not where I saw things going with us. In
case you hadn’t figured it out, I don’t date often.”

“Who’s Chet?” Dylan asked.

“
Chad
is my ex-boyfriend,” I replied. “He’s mostly
human, and we dated for about a year.”

Chad was a strange mix of human and demon that resulted in
him having a long lifespan but little else in the way of demon abilities.

“And he was stupid enough to break up with you,” Dylan
added.

I nearly laughed at the way Dylan sounded almost angry on my
behalf.

“Trust me. It was for the best,” I said, deciding to
elaborate. “Chad is the most uptight person in the world. Sex was never
anything other than missionary, and I’m just lucky I can orgasm if my partner
does.”

“Why’d you stay with him?” Dylan asked.

This was the part that was a little embarrassing to admit.
“It was just easier that way, for both of us. I didn’t have to find men to feed
my sexual energy. Believe me when I tell you that gets old fast. Chad had a
date for events he needed to attend. It wasn’t until he started having more
involvement with the demon community that we had a problem. He was embarrassed
to be with me.”

“Chad is an asshole,” Dylan muttered, gripping the steering
wheel tightly.

“No, he’s not,” I said. “That’s how it is in the demon
world. Sex demons are ranked pretty low. All species seem to want to fuck a sex
demon, but they wouldn’t want to marry one.”

There was a beat of silence before Dylan spoke. “Witches are
just assholes in general. They don’t want anyone marrying outside of their
species. Hell, most of them don’t want anyone marrying outside of their rank.”

I already knew that, and this was the perfect opening to
tell Dylan how I knew about witch society, but I had no idea where to start. Of
course, when I revealed the truth about my father being a warlock, Dylan would
probably be ready to drop me at Trevor’s house, which was what I wanted. Or,
was it? There was no way this could end with a happily ever after. Dylan wasn’t
looking for anything permanent, and I still didn’t fully understand what he
wanted with me, other than the great sex we’d been having.

“Talk to me, Allie,” Dylan said, and it was then that I
realized I’d been lost in my own inner-musings.

“I don’t want to get hurt,” I said, not sure why I’d decided
to lead with that.

Dylan didn’t say anything as he pulled the car into his
garage. He actually remained silent as he parked and unbuckled his seatbelt.
Finally, he looked at me, and the force of his stare made me suck in an
involuntary breath. “And you assume I’ll hurt you? Just because some other
asshole hurt you, you assume I will, too?”

“You’ve hurt more than one witch in your time,” I said
softly.

“What exactly are you basing that on,” he asked, and I
couldn’t figure out if he sounded hurt or angry. “Is this based on the two days
you’ve known me? Or, could it be based on the short time we went to the same
high school?”

“You remember me?”

“No,” he admitted. “I was an asshole back then, and I never
noticed anyone who couldn’t do something for me. Worse, I was a rich asshole
who thought he could do whatever he wanted. It wasn’t until tonight that I
realized we’d gone to school together. Fuck! I don’t even know if we ever talked
in school.”

I shook my head, staring down at my hands, which were
clenched in my lap. “Not much. I mean, you didn’t hang out with people my age,
anyway. I was actually three years behind you. You weren’t really rude to me or
anything. If you were, I probably wouldn’t have been flirting with you at
Trevor’s. I was quiet in school, and there weren’t many of my kind there, which
was hard. Trevor talked to me, but most people didn’t.”

“So, that’s how you met Trevor,” he mused, as if I’d just
solved some great mystery. “I’m surprised he only just recently started talking
about you. Wait! I thought he said he met you at SpellBinders.”

“We reconnected recently. I didn’t talk to Trevor much in
school, but he was the first guy to ever tell me I was pretty,” I admitted.
Funny, I’d never had a crush on Trevor, even though he’d been nice to me back
then, but Trevor had always seemed more like a brother to me.

“That’s his gift,” Dylan admitted. “Trevor can see the
beauty in anyone.”

“It’s also his curse,” I said, earning a curious look from
Dylan. “Don’t tell me you’ve never seen how much trouble it causes him.”

Dylan raised an eyebrow. “I’ve seen it, but I’m curious what
you see.”

“Trevor falls for women based on the good he sees in them,”
I began. “He doesn’t see any of the bad stuff until he’s already involved.
That’s why he goes through so many witches. I’ve always wondered how he ends up
with the craziest witches around. The last witch he dated went through his
closet, donated all of his clothes, and replaced them with things she thought
were more appropriate. I got a frantic call, begging me to run to the store to
pick up clothes so he could go into the office. That is not the sort of thing a
sane woman does with a man she’s been dating a week.”

Dylan’s eyes widened. “I remember that day!” he said with a
chuckle. “Trevor never told me why he came in so underdressed.”

“It’s hard to find business attire at eight in the morning,”
I explained. “My options were limited.”

Dylan looked thoughtful. “I wonder why he didn’t tell me
about that.”

I shrugged. “He was probably afraid you’d tease him about
it. It is funny that he only sticks to witches, when he’d have an easier time
ditching demons or humans.”

Dylan shrugged. “Maybe Trevor is secretly a hopeless
romantic.”

I hadn’t expected Dylan to figure that out. Trevor was a
hopeless romantic, expecting to find his perfect witch and live happily ever
after. He ran his mouth about how he didn’t believe in forever, but if that
were true, he would stay far away from witches, just like Dylan. Instead,
Trevor practically had every witch he dated living with him within a week. He
never gave himself time to really get to know them first. That was the big
difference between Dylan and Trevor. Trevor believed in true love to the point
of foregoing all logic. Dylan didn’t believe in love at all.

And there was my wake-up call. I undid my seatbelt and
climbed out of the car. “I really need to get some sleep,” I said. The sun was
already up, and I’d only had a few hours of sleep in the last couple of days.
Despite what this weekend suggested, I wasn’t much for late night parties.

Dylan nodded and walked around to take my bags out of the
trunk before letting me into his house.

“Where should I sleep?” I asked.

“My bed,” Dylan growled.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I started to argue, but
Dylan cut me off.

“I am exhausted and really on edge after saving your life,”
he began. “At the moment, I’m seriously tempted to put a binding spell on you
so you can’t get more than five feet away from me.”

I sucked in a sharp breath, unable to decide if I was angry
or a little turned on. I’d liked the binding spell quite a bit when he’d used
it on me before, but this threat wasn’t about sex. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Dylan moved so quickly, I didn’t have time to react. His
hard body pressed me against the wall, and his fingers threaded through my
hair, holding my head in place. “Don’t fucking push me, Allie. I’m not feeling
very civilized at the moment.”

I tried to nod, but it was impossible with Dylan holding my
head in place. For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me. Based on his
labored breathing and the way he stared at my mouth, I could tell he was
considering it. In fact, I could see him struggling with his own desire just as
much as I was.

Letting out a shaky breath, I worked to get my own body
under control. “Let’s just go to bed,” I finally said. “We both need sleep.”

Dylan released me, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t
disappointed.

Allie was going to drive me out of my fucking mind . . . and
I was practically begging her to do it.

Here I’d been thinking we’d worked things out at
SpellBinders. No, she hadn’t sworn her undying love, or even offered me her
phone number. Of course, I’d been arrogant enough to assume she’d simply forgotten
about that detail after the incredible sex we’d had. She’d agreed to call me
when she got home, and I was pretty sure she wasn’t just saying that to get me
to leave.

When I’d called her, I’d expected to find her slipping out
of her clothes after work, having forgotten her promise to call me. The really
crazy thing is that I’d been looking forward to talking to her until she fell
asleep. Instead of finding her safe at home, I’d called to find her about to be
murdered. Okay, there was always a chance the guy following her hadn’t been the
killer, but he’d been up to no good no matter how you looked at it.

Nothing was ever easy with Allie, and it made me wonder why
I wasn’t giving up on the whole idea of dating her. As I was climbing into bed
with sweatpants on, I knew this wasn’t just about great sex. I always slept
naked, but Allie was acting skittish around me, and I wanted her to feel safe
more than anything right now. Yep, this was definitely about more than sex.

My stubborn little succubus was still standing next to the
bed, arms crossed under her breasts, wearing the same sweat pants and t-shirt
she’d changed into at her home. All she’d done was slip her bra off, which made
it really hard to be a gentleman and look at her face with those beautiful, unrestrained
breasts being pushed up by her crossed arms. I braced myself for her argument
about sleeping with me.

“I need to tell you something, Dylan,” she said hesitantly.
“That first night, I didn’t tell you because I figured we’d never see each
other again, so it wouldn’t matter.”

There was a long pause, and I was left wondering if she was
waiting for me to say something first. “Is this where you tell me you used to
be a guy?” I asked.

My question had the desired effect of making Allie laugh,
and her shoulders relaxed as her arms dropped to her side. “No, but this might
bother you more.”

“Ah, this is the part where you tell me you’re part witch,”
I said and enjoyed Allie’s shocked expression.

“You knew?”

“I figured it out when I figured out we’d gone to school
together. The only succubi we ever had at our school were part witch,” I
explained, trying to keep my voice neutral. There was no denying that her
admission made me uneasy. I’d avoided witches for a reason, and now I found
myself with one staying at my house.

“And you still want me in your bed?”

“Yes, I still want you in my bed,” I said, because no matter
how much her witch heritage scared me, I didn’t want to give her up. “Let’s get
some sleep.”

Slipping out of her sweatpants, Allie climbed into bed
beside me.

I laughed at the irony of the situation.

“What’s so funny,” she asked, rolling to face me.

“You’re the only woman I’ve ever brought back here,” I
explained. “The only woman I’ve ever had in my own bed. I was so arrogant that
I always figured a woman would be glad I’d brought her here, but the first time
you ran out on me, never planning to see me again. This time, I practically had
to force you to come here. You aren’t very good for my ego, sweetheart.”

Allie laughed and moved closer. “Your ego doesn’t need any
stroking,” she said as her hand settled on my bare chest.

“But I really like it when you stroke me,” I teased.

That won me another laugh. “What are you doing to me,
Dylan?” she asked sleepily.

“Not a clue, but I think I’m becoming addicted to you.”

“Not funny,” she said, giving me a light swat. “That can
happen with a succubus.” There was a hint of fear in her voice. “If we feed on
one partner too many times, they can become addicted to us, and you don’t want
to deal with the withdrawals when you’re ready to move on to the next woman.
Funny how that only happens with warlocks.”

“I was addicted to you before you fed on our sexual energy,”
I admitted.

“I have a confession to make,” she said.

“What’s that, sweetheart?” I asked, trying hard to keep my
hands to myself, when all I really wanted to do was touch her.

“I never fed on sexual energy with you,” she admitted. “That
was my intention the first time we came back here. It had been a long time
since I’d fed during sex, and your bet seemed like the perfect opportunity.”

“Why didn’t you feed?” I almost held my breath in
anticipation of her answer. This was big. She hadn’t fed on me during sex,
which meant Allie hadn’t used me. Okay, maybe she had used me in some way, but
not the way I’d thought.

“I had a crush on you back in school,” she admitted.

“You did?” I asked, my face splitting into a huge grin.

“Yes, and that’s why I didn’t feed on the sexual energy.
This was like a fantasy come to life, and I didn’t want to ruin it by making it
about feeding my succubus side.”

Wow! Hearing that sex with me had been her fantasy made me
feel pretty damn good about myself.

“Ugh!” Allie groaned. “I knew stroking your ego would be a
mistake.”

“But we’ve already established that I like it when you
stroke me,” I teased. “Can’t you stroke my ego just a little more?”

“I promise to stroke you all you want in the morning,” she
offered, and my dick was immediately standing at attention and waiting for her
hand to wrap around it. My dick clearly did not understand that we needed
sleep.

“You amaze me.” I pulled her closer to my side. “When I
first made that bet with you, I was planning to use you for sex,” I told her,
feeling a sense of peace with her in my arms. “I’d planned to take you up to
one of Trevor’s guestrooms for a few hours and then leave, but I couldn’t do
it. After an hour with you, I knew I liked you too much to use you. If you’d
told me you didn’t want to go through with your end of the bet, I would have
let you walk away, no matter how much my dick argued with me over that.”

“I like you too, Dylan,” she admitted so quietly, I barely
heard her.

I wanted to say more, but I had no idea what to say.
Instead, I allowed myself to fall asleep, trusting Allie would still be here in
the morning. Okay, I was a little tempted to cast a binding spell, but in the
end, I had to trust her.