Page 63 of Baking and Angels

At last, she pulled away and looked up at him. “I know what you said, but I am still going to do something to help her feel a little better.” She broke from the hug and turned to lean against the island counter beside him, her gaze falling onto the smart surface of the refrigerator. “How about this as a compromise: it can be like with the eggs the other day, right? I’ll make an ingredientyouwill cook with and give it a positive intention. That was a very low cost, and it had a big impact, right? We made a whole office of people feel better.”

Rafferty sighed, finally understanding that he was the one that hadn’t gotten it. This was Helena. She would do whatever it took to help whomever she could. She was a woman who risked her own soul to give a demon like him respitefrom hell.

Rafferty moved closer until his body was just on the edge of her aura, and it sparked a memory. Something he used to know, and just then realized he hadforgotten.

She inhaled sharply at his approach, lifting her face to him as she sensed the shift as she woke up from her deeperthoughts.

Without a word, he raised his hand, brushing it over the edge of that otherworldly aura, hovering just outside the uncanny feeling. The action sent a shiver through both of them.

“What was…” she started to say, but closed her eyes as he did it again, savoring thesensation.

“Do you remember, the second time you summoned me to your kitchen… do you remember throwing the frying pan through the glass?”

She snorted, the memory apparently a funny one for her now, and she opened her eyes, the sensual feelingsdisturbed.

He reset his hand again, hovering it just over her head, the pulsing of energy feeling so real to him. It should have been subdued because she hid it behind a physical body in creation, but she had no control or, apparently, awareness of it. That needed to change now.

Brushing down his fingers again, this time, he shifted just a little more into the aura and her giggles disappeared. A quirk of worry appeared between her eyebrows, before she caught his hand, stopping him.

“What… is that?” she breathed. “What are you doing?”

“You know,” he said. “It was the same thing that you felt around me.”

She shifted on her feet, confirming the truth. “Touching you was like caressing a battery. I’m doing that too, aren’t I?” She closed her eyes tightly. “I wasn’t sure based on how you were acting, but I have that weird aura thing going on,don’t I?”

He nodded.

“Does it hurt you?” she asked, her eyebrows showing full concern.

Shaking his head quickly, he attempted a reassuring smile. “No, it doesn’t hurt. But it is intense. It can be very intense when you are not hiding yourself fully behind the human form.”

She nodded. “I know what you’re talking about. It was the hardest part about…” He wasn’t sure what she was going to say, but she shook it away. “But you’re touching it right now?”

“I know.” He moved his hand, caressing the aura just inches from her neck. Another shiver washed through her and her lips parted in a pleasurable “Oh.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she breathed, even though she clearlyliked it.

“There is something about it that I want to help you explore,” he said, stepping from her side to in front of her, bracing his hands on the counter to either of her sides. Trapping her there but not touchingher. Yet.

Again, she inhaled at the sensation as he moved his presence into her aura, her eyes going wider, her lips parting as if ready tobe kissed.

“There, you felt it again, didn’t you?”he asked.

“Yes,” she said, letting her gaze go soft, concentrating on what she was feeling. This time she raised her hand toward him. “I sense you, too. Your space. Your aura.”

This time she caressed down his human aura, and he arched toward it, the sensation skimming down his skin, straight to his groin, which was rushing to fill with blood.

The surprise on her face was comical.

“Oh! Oh,” she said as she put together what was happening. Her fingers moved, wafting around his head, and his body obeyed the motion, tipping himself toward her, like a flower bending its face toward the sun. He longed now for her fingers to sink into his hair once more. Every fiber of his being ached for her to grip him and take him, force him to submit to her will and scream inpleasure.

“This is how succubi do it!” she whispered, shocked.

“Hell, yes,” he agreed, the rumble deep in his throat. “Our auras influence each other and are a potent tool against humans. It can inspire them to great acts of violence and terror, but if you pull it back enough, manipulate it just so, it does… this…” At last, she sank her fingers into his hair, the eerie feeling continuing its shift to something intoxicating, overwhelming his senses. He lost control and pressed his body against hers, grinding his aching groin against her leg.

“Rafferty,” she breathed, her own fever pitched up as both her hands came around his head, pulling him into a kiss. And she devoured him.

She wore a long skirt, and it was up past her hips instantly. The winter stockings gripped her thighs, leaving a strip of bare skin between them and her panties. He lost all control at that sight.

---