Apparently, the theme tonight was ornery. He could play that. “You have a sharp tongue, female.” He caught a lock of hair in his fingers, and so much for not touching her. “May I suggest that you put it to better use?”
“May I suggest that you go to hell?”
“That insult has no bite, given that we’re already here.” Not technically, of course, since Azagoth’s realm sat on a special plane between the human realm and the demon one, but the barrier between Sheoul and Sheoul-gra was extremely thin, allowing far too much leakage between them.
She sighed. “What do you want?”
Bracing himself on one elbow, he leaned in, inhaling the fresh rosemary mint of her shampoo. His cock stirred, and whaddya know, that scent was apparently an aphrodisiac.
“Tell me,” he breathed into her ear. “Tell me why you’re here.”
“You really want to know?”
He inhaled again, this time catching the faint citrus spice of her skin along with the shampoo. She was a living, breathing dessert he couldn’t wait to taste.
“I’m not in the habit of asking questions I don’t want the answers to,” he said, letting his lips brush the skin of her cheek.
She inhaled sharply, and the unmistakable aroma of arousal rose up all around her. His body responded with a primal surge of hunger, and his rapidly swelling cock went all helllooo, baby on her backside.
Another inhalation, this time a little ragged. “I...ah, I was given a choice between being demoted and stripped of my abilities or mating you.”
Azagoth had known the answer, but hearing her say it felt like a punch to the nuts. Buh-bye, baby. “And how difficult was your decision?”
The mattress creaked as she turned over to face him. Light from the fire danced on her face, softening her features, but making her eyes glow with a defiant glint.
“I’m sensing that there’s a right and a wrong answer here, so why don’t you go ahead and tell me which one I should pick.” She propped herself up, matching his pose. “And why does any of this matter? I’m here. Isn’t that enough?”
No, it wasn’t. Being here wasn’t the same as wanting to be here. If he had any emotions left in him at all, he’d be happy if just once, someone—anyone—truly wanted to be with him.
“It doesn’t matter.” Impulsively, he kissed her on the forehead before rolling away to leave her alone on her side of the mattress.
Weird, but this was the first time his massive bed didn’t feel big enough.
Chapter Eight
Azagoth was gone when Lilliana got up the next morning. She experienced a fleeting twinge of disappointment, and then she buried her face in her pillow as she remembered feeling the press of Azagoth’s erection against her butt. The velvety tip had nudged her solidly between her cheeks, spreading heat through her pelvis as her nerve endings sparked with awareness.
Everything about Azagoth and his realm might be polar-level cold, but his body was definitely in the triple digits.
How she’d been able to speak a single word, let alone entire coherent sentences after that was beyond her comprehension. Her heart had hammered so hard and erratically that she’d felt it in her spine, and her lungs hadn’t been able to get enough air.
If things hadn’t gone rapidly downhill right after that...nah. She’d have told him to roll over to his side of the bed and stay there.
While she lay on her side and stared at the spanking bench across from her.
Yawning, she started for the bathroom, slowing to give the bench a swat for keeping her awake for a good part of the night while she played out scenes in her head involving it and Azagoth. Inevitably, those scenes had turned ugly when she thought about the other females who had enjoyed a good spanking at his hand.
Sometimes, an imagination was a terrible thing.
His bathroom was the only truly light part of his manor that she’d found. Rough-cut white marble gave the room a masculine edge, but it was modern and elegant, and she could spend hours in the shower. Though she had to wonder why he needed five shower heads and two marble benches, but the heated floor tiles were a nice touch. How many females had he brought in here, anyway? She pictured him naked, water and suds sluicing over his muscular body, and suddenly the shower got a lot steamier.
Stop it.
Now he was on his knees, his tongue catching rivulets as they cascaded from her breasts to her abs.
Stop it!
In the next moment, she was bracing herself against the shower wall as he licked her sex, alternating quick flicks against her clit with long, firm strokes through her wet valley.
Stop. It!
Her blood quickened and her breaths came fast and hard as she drove her hand between her legs. In her mind, it was Azagoth’s tongue circling her sensitive nub before thrusting inside her core, and when her climax took her a second later, it was Azagoth’s name that whispered across her lips.
And damn, imaginary Azagoth was good. Her knees shook as she dried off, but the mouthwatering smell of bacon spurred her on. Once dried, she selected a pair of skinny jeans, boots, and a form-fitting violet sweater from the wardrobe, then followed the aroma of food to the kitchen.
Where she found a redheaded female in ripped-up jeans and a lacy fuchsia corset doing dishes.
“Breakfast is on the table,” she said with a perky smile.
“And you are..?” She’d better not be one of Azagoth’s bedmates. Not that Lilliana was jealous. Offended, yes. Jealous, hardly.
The female wiped suds off her cheek with the back of her hand. “I’m Cataclysm. Call me Cat.”
“Azagoth failed to mention that he has a fallen angel for a cook.”
“He hired me this morning. And I’m Unfallen, not True Fallen.”
Meaning she’d been expelled from Heaven, but she wouldn’t be evil to the point of no return until she entered Sheoul and became a True Fallen.
“So you’re trying to earn your way back into Heaven, huh? I can think of better ways to do that than working for the Grim Reaper.”
She shrugged as she shoved a cast iron pan under a stream of hot water. “Life in the human realm with no angelic powers is dangerous for Unfallen. Here I’m protected from demons and angels alike. It’s a good gig. I wasn’t about to turn it down. Especially because suddenly, everyone is working overtime to drag Unfallens into Sheoul. I was almost caught twice in the last week.”
Lilliana found a towel to dry dishes and stepped up to the counter. “Why the urgency?”
Cat snatched the towel from Lilliana and pointed to the table, which was loaded with pancakes, bacon, some sort of egg casserole, and mixed fruit. It was enough to feed half a dozen humans, but Lilliana figured she could down most of it herself. She’d always had a healthy appetite, and food was a guilt-free pleasure.
“Sit,” Cat said. “And I don’t know what’s up, but everyone’s scared. Just six days ago, one of my friends was dragged into Hell. When I saw her yesterday...” She shuddered. “She tried to force me into Sheoul. So, here I am.”
As far as fallen angels went, Cat didn’t seem too bad. Besides, Lilliana didn’t have any room to judge, given her own disgraced status.
“So,” she said, as she filled a plate with food. “What did you do to get the boot?”
Cat bowed her head. “I fell into temptation.”
“Sex with a demon?” Lilliana slathered butter and syrup on the pancakes.
“A demon?” Cat wrinkled her nose. “No. Gross. Although...have you ever met a Seminus demon? Because if there’s a demon out there who can tempt an angel...”
She fanned her face, and Lilliana rolled her eyes. Yes, the sex demons were legendary lovers who, as a species, had gotten more than one female angel kicked out of Heaven, but was having a half-an-hour-long orgasm really worth the risk?