Page 31 of Hell Sent

“To try to get in the mood. It’s not that easy to do, sometimes.”

He frowned. He had thought she might not be enthusiastic, but he hadn’t thought she would have performance anxiety. “You do not need to do anything. I will take what I need from you, as you’ve requested.” He brought his hand between her legs. The sooner he began, the sooner she would stop feeling this stress.

“I know, but—” She sucked in a surprised breath as he touched her, and her body went rigid, but she didn’t move away.

He got the feeling, as his fingers homed in on her, that mortals didn’t approach intercourse in such a straightforward way. But she didn’t seem to dislike it. “You may relax. We’ve established that I can bring you to completion.”

She started breathing again. He had worried she might have changed her mind about letting him touch her, but then she leaned into him slightly, resting her hands on his forearms. Warmth thrummed through his chest. He wasn’t certain if it was her emotions he was feeling, or his own.

Feeling her arousal in the air, seeing the way she excited from his touch—it awoke a now-familiar desire in him. His body wanted hers for more than just feeding. He couldn’t pretend it didn’t.

“I enjoy touching you,” he murmured, though he knew it was strange for him to appreciate a mortal this way.He expected her to react to that confession with disgust or fear, but the emotion he felt coming from her was more akin to interest.

“Do you?” she asked, looking up at him from beneath her lashes. Need pounded through him.

He put his arm around her, pulling her up against his chest, and he carried her to the floor and laid her on her back. The outline of her body was only faintly visible through her thick clothes, which she needed to protect herself from the cold. He’d never encountered people who wore as many clothes as the people in Uulantaava did.

It had the curious effect of making her even more enticing. He imagined peeling off her clothing piece by piece to reveal more of her skin, to see how she reacted when he touched it.

He leaned close to her, letting his lips brush the cloth over the crux of her thighs. He still wasn’t sure what she would allow. He knew he could bring her to new heights of pleasure with his tongue, but he was certain it would frighten her. He’d seen the wary way she’d looked at his teeth.

“I will feel your skin now,” he said. “I will slick my hand with what is gathering between your thighs before I make you come.”He glanced up at her, uncertain. She looked surprised, but she nodded. Fire went through him.

“Remember the rules,” she said quickly.

He was already pulling off her trousers and underclothes. “I have not forgotten.” But he did forget himself a little as he roughly flipped her onto her hands and knees. He heard her gasp as he jerked her hips back against him.

His breath caught as the curve of her backside pressed into his thighs, his hardening cock nestling against her from behind his sarong. Instinctively, his hips locked and he thrust against her as his hands held her tightly in place.

This was too much. His attraction to her was unnatural. He’d never heard of someone behaving this way with a mortal. There was a difference between being fed and being seduced.He was meant to take joy in the weakness of mortals because of his power over them, not because he found beauty in their softness and gentleness.

It wasn’t that he enjoyed this because she was his for the taking—he enjoyed it because sheallowedhim to take her. Her consent and trust were an unexpected, taboo thrill. He had never seen a mortal earnestly enjoy what a demon did to them. It hadn’t occurred to him that it could be done this way.

They had both been forced into this arrangement out of desperation, but at that moment, there was only willing pleasure.

It was with no small amount of shame that he continued, unable to convince himself not to. He ran his hand over the soft, warm flesh of her hip, creased where her thighs bent. He could feel muscle beneath the surface, but it was cushioned by a layer of velvety skin. It was like she’d been made to be touched.

Absently, he summoned a third hand to run through her hair. It was slightly tangled from their time on the road, but it still felt as silken as it looked.

Raiya jerked, her fear spiking. She turned to look back at him accusingly, and then she saw his summoned hand.

It occurred to him that she’d never met his hands before, other than the one he used to replace his right arm. He directed the disembodied hand—the same transparent magenta as his arm, cut off at the wrist—to float in front of her where she could examine it. She looked surprised, but not displeased.So he made more of them.

The summoned hands touched her in all the places he couldn’t reach, all the parts of her that he wanted his hands on while his flesh-and-blood fingers crept between her thighs.A shudder went through her. Her head bent toward the floor, her body pushing backwards against him. All the fear and reticence was gone, and only wanton need was left.

He imagined freeing his cock and sinking into her. The thought sent fire over his skin, and also repulsed him. For an instant, he was transported back to the hells. Strong, rough hands forced things into his mouth, wove disgusting spells into him, touched and stroked him until he was forced to take pleasure in violation.

Bile rose in his throat. He could not tolerate being touched. He had only been able to complete intercourse with Nariel because she used magic to keep him ready.

He focused on her body instead of his: The softness of her bare skin. The quiet gasps she made. The way her muscles tensed and released beneath his touch.

She was nothing like any of the demons he’d met. She was content to let him give her pleasure without ever trying to take his. She didn’t demand anything in return. She didn’t push back. She didn’t bite.

It was his own selfish desire, rather than desire to please her, that drove him to press a hand against her entrance until she allowed his finger to slip into her. She gasped, her hands clenching, and the inside of her body felt as hot and strong as molten metal. She began to choke out a word, but it became a whimper, and she leaned back, pushing him deeper.

Her climax washed over him, airy and thick and perfect. It sank into him through her sex, through every part of her that was touching him.

He closed his eyes and saw stars. It was beyond anything he’d ever felt with another person. It was so good that it frightened him, because surely something this good couldn’t come without a cost.

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