Page 22 of Orion: Galaxy Huntress

Chapter 11

Vice

This wasn’t like me.I was out of sorts. Unable to manipulate her. Filled with a bubbly warmth in my chest that not even screwing a person over could deliver.

I admit, when we’d first met, I’d pulled a fast one on her for the value of a cow. Naïve little sucker fell for it, too. But then when she hefted that beast into my bar, dripping in blood, something changed. My balls tightened watching her slice through that flesh like she was born to do it. Oh, and those incredibly sexy threats to cut me open … I bit my knuckle. The woman knew how to work me into a frenzy, and I wasn’t letting her go. She’d well and truly gotten under my skin, like a Hell parasite, burning up my flesh hotter than any pit in Hell.

Now that she sat before me sucking goddamn olives, my dick couldn’t contain itself. It boxed against my trousers to get into her pants and never leave. Big guy was willing to sign a one-million-year contract to be her slave. No one was stupid enough to do that. Well, except maybe Scientologists.

“All that hunting gave you an appetite, huh, kitten?” I magicked her another round of food and she kept picking at it. “Tell me, how’d you lift that heifer? You some sort of supernatural that I haven’t come across before?”

Damn, I wanted to solve this mystery before it killed me. I also must know everything about this woman down to her bra cup size, because once she was mine, I planned to spoil my little Hell kitty with sexy lingerie. I was going to deck her out in the finer things in life. Make her my sex kitten. Every kind of kitten.

She wiped oil from the olives off her chin and her eyes exploded as big as saucers. Her throat gulped loudly. The pulse in her neck went into overdrive. Panic, if I’d ever seen it. I sensed a lie coming on.

“Ah … I don’t think so.” And there it was. Nobody fooled the king of lies … unless you were a pain in the ass shifter going by the name of Ace. But he sucked at lying.

I swiped at the oil on her chin, sucking it into my mouth, then releasing my finger with a pop that made her jolt and her eyes hood. “Well, no average human goes around lifting that kind of weight, even on ‘roids.”

God, even her frown was fucking adorable. “Is roids a new form of magic?”

Damn, this woman made me laugh. Cooled my insides from tail tip to wing tip. A refreshing change after burning hotter than the fires of Hell.

Her pulse point thudded, and I smiled, delighted I had this effect on her and that I hadn’t lost the old touch. I noticed when her heartbeat accelerated and she got nervous, she kept stuffing her face as if she wanted to avoid talking. Fuck, no. That was my job to feed her. I grabbed her wrist, stopping her, taking the honor myself. Hesitantly, she accepted a bit of goat cheese from my fingers. I purposefully brushed the honey over her lips and dived in to lick it off. A soft gasp flew from her and she touched the spot where I’d laid claim to her mouth. Oh, yeah, Hell Kitty wanted more of that.

I grinned, playing my game to wear her down. Games were my life. I lived for fun and trouble. “Tell me, kitten, are you still exhausted, or do you have some energy for a game of Twister?”

She perked up a little. “I played lot of games when I traveled across Greece. Beat lots of patrons at the taverns at hand gesture games like morra and dice throwing.” She realized her mistake at spilling too much and tucked her head immediately and stuffed more food in her mouth. Woman hid more mysteries than the land of ancient Egypt, and I wanted to know every little juicy detail.

Greek, huh? Explained the sexy little accent that made my dick twitch and yearn to hear her scream my name over and over. I could pry into her soul and discover her life story, and normally I’d go right ahead, especially when it helped me get a better deal on a person’s soul. But I didn’t want to just own hers. I wanted to own her body and mind, too. Never met a woman who hooked me like this before. Except peering into her felt indecent and obtrusive, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Something really was wrong with me. I think she made my dead and black heart beat again, and that terrified me. I’d been tied to Hell for so long, slave to my father, doing his bidding, collecting souls. After so long, I wanted to live life on my own terms, make my own rules. No more KPIs. No more pressure. No more scolding if I underperformed. Really tired of having my faced used as a dartboard if I failed. One reason I’d made myself the best crossroads demon, winning the yearly award for the last five hundred years.

I scratched at my chin. “Never heard of those games. You’ll have to teach me. Are they naughty? Do you strip clothes if you lose? Those are my kinds of games.”

“No.” She snorted and placed a hand over her mouth. “I played for money.”

“Money. Devious little kitten.” I gave her one of my classic smile and wink combos to knock her off her feet. Always worked a charm with women. Although most never stayed longer than a night, and that was the way I liked it. This one, though, every indication told me she was different. Incredible strength, hunting skills, threatening, lush mouth, and promises to knife play me, not to mention the formidable power brewing inside her. “Tell me, did you swindle or win legitimately? Don’t break my wicked little heart now.”

“Legitimately.” She thumped me in the arm and my dick drooped with disappointment. We’d make a little Hell vixen out of her soon.

Already I got her to lower her defenses and not be so uptight. My little demon instincts told me she hid some deep-rooted pain and threw walls up to protect herself. It almost made my blackened heart feel guilty for what I planned to take from her when she seemed like the key to all my problems.

Kitten popped a dripping olive in her mouth and hell, I’d never wished to be anything more in my life than that damn fruit, so she could crush me under her teeth and bathe me in her saliva.

“You better stop eating like that, Hell Kitty,” I warned, “or I’ll put you over my lap and spank you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Teach me this Twister before I fall asleep.”

“Trust me, you won’t be falling asleep.” I collected her hand, tugging her off the seat, leading her into the living room. One click had the Twister mat unrolled on the floor, the spinner counter circling, and her shoes off. After I explained the rules to her, I said, “Ladies first,” and let her have the first spin on the board.

She spun the spinner and waited for it to slow. I considered using some magick to get her in the most ridiculous position, and fast. My cock ached to grind on her and get her into bed. But I could be a patient devil. Sometimes. I’d lived for nearly a thousand years, what was an extra few minutes of fun?

We faced off, left foot on the blue circle, right on the yellow. I moved first, left foot red, right arm yellow. Teasing her, I bent over and shook my ass in the air, eliciting a giggle. Hmm. Seemed like the stick up her ass had budged a little.

“Your turn, Hell kitten.” I swiped the board from her with my magick and flicked the spinner. “Right hand blue.”

I licked my lips as she got into place. Damn. I wanted to bite my knuckle. Bite my lip. Better yet, have her bite my lip, my nipple, my hard cock. Draw blood. Stimulate pain. Anything but this monotonous cycle I called life that I found myself stuck in.

We kept spinning, getting in a tangle, our bodies brushing, her breath hitching, heartbeat speeding up. She liked the contact. Fought it. Made my dick bounce with the challenge of seducing her. I didn’t shy in my attentions. Never had. Wasn’t in my nature. And I wanted her, more than I’d ever wanted another woman.

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