Page 92 of The Demons We Hide

My back tenses. "What if I don't ever want to talk about it?"

He shrugs. "Then you don't."

I eye him suspiciously. "That seems too fucking easy."

Lex releases my face, but he doesn't need to hold me in place anymore. I stare back at him willingly, meeting his gaze with nothing between us. "Nothing in life is easy," he tells me seriously. "But I can try to make it better for you however I can. Right here, though?" He dips his head, smoke-colored eyes boring into me. "Right now? All I need to know is one thing."

My throat clamps tight. No. I can't tell him. Not yet. Maybe not ever. I don't care if that means my monster remains free and my nightmares continue. It's hard enough to admit it to myself. Through glass coated insides, I respond anyway. "What's that?"

His eyes never leave mine. "Do I need to kill anyone?"

I cough, surprise shocking me out of the automatic lockbox I'd been slowly sending my emotions back to. "What?"

"Do I need to kill anyone?"

I gape at him. "You can't be serious." Lex's expression doesn't change, doesn't shift. He merely stares back at me waiting for an answer. "No!"

He sighs and leans back against what I realize is the back tire of his SUV. "Fine," he mutters. "But if you ever need me to, you tell me."

"You're fucking insane."

The grin he offers me morphs his face from one of a serious gangster offering his dark services to one of a handsome teenage boy. Fuck me. Both kind of turn me on, and that's more surprising than I'd thought it would be. Honestly, after everything I've been through, I'd have thought that attraction and arousal were things beyond me now. Those kinds of emotions should be tainted.

"So are you," Lex reminds me, leaning forward and nudging my cheek with his nose. "Or did you forget that I've already gotten rid of a body for you. I'd do it again."

I stare at him for a long moment. "You ... mean that, don't you?"

His lips press a kiss to my jawline. "Yes."

A shiver skates down my spine, and I wrap my fingers around the arm in front of me to keep myself from reaching for him in another way. My body and mind are at war. One side trying to remind me that we just had a mental breakdown, and the other not giving two shits.

"Take the offer, baby," Lex murmurs, drifting his lips up my jaw to my cheek and then to my ear. I swallow, tightening my grip on him. "Take my gifts. Takesomething." He practically begs in that low, sexual tone. "Takeeverything."

"Why?" The word chokes out of me as he takes the lobe of my ear between his teeth and gently bites down. The sharp point of his canine worries the skin and I gasp, my thighs clenching together.

If Lex answers me, though, it's drowned out by the renewal of my pounding heart. Last time my emotions overwhelmed me and I shut them off, it took me weeks if not months to turn them back on. But Lex has chased away the fear in a matter of minutes and replaced it with warmth. My eyes slide shut as he releases my ear and presses a kiss to my cheek again.

Then, his mouth is on mine and I cave to my body's desires. I kiss him back.

36

LEX

Juliet holds my hand on the way back to Silverwood. She’s relaxed, or at least far more than she was earlier, and so, I hate it when I start to feel her tugging away from me. Each passing mile beneath the wheels of my SUV drives us closer to home, and I can sense that, even if she keeps her fingers against mine, mentally she’s pulling back into herself.

It makes me want to cut her open, dive inside and drag her—kicking and screaming, if I must—to my side once again. Whatever happened at work had set her off and though she hasn’t mentioned what it is yet, I know it’s going to be a mess.

We pull up in front of Nolan’s house a little while later and for a beat, she doesn’t release my hand. The plan had originally been to take her back to my place, but on the way to grab her, Nolan had sent a text, telling me she was cleared to head back to his place. No doubt, Nolan is still worried about her finding out my secret, but having her so close makes it hard not to want her there, in my space, surrounded by me.

I close my eyes and savor the feel of her palm against mine. The only thing that would make it better is if I knew that by dragging her hand towards my cock, she wouldn’t pull away.

“Thanks for the ride.” All too soon, she leaves my skin cold and reaches for the bag at her feet.

“If you need another,” I start to say, swallowing the rest as she pops open the passenger side door and glances back.

“I won’t,” she says.

My brow puckers. “What do?—”

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