Page 31 of Midnight with the Devil

“Ahh!” She whimpered when he found her G spot. He worked it harder, faster, until she shuddered and her walls clamped around his digit. The climax was swift but strong, and she relaxed, panting. Even he was impressed.

“Wow.” Diana suddenly yawned and snuggled deeper into the blankets. She didn’t even seem to notice when he pulled his hand from between her legs. He licked his fingers, tasting her sweet juices and loving the flavor. But her eyes were already closing, and she didn’t see how much he enjoyed getting her off and tasting her.

“Another time,” he said. There were still three hours until dawn, and he couldn’t leave her. Well, he could—but hewouldn’t.

Lucien pulled the blankets up around their bodies and watched the light ripple over the wooden ceiling until his own eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep with Diana in his arms.

Dreams full of seaside picnics, birthday cakes, and smiling faces haunted him with their mortal lightheartedness, chasing him into darkness with their sweet light.

“Lucien.” Andras’s voice jerked Lucien awake just as dawn was capping the horizon. The window of the hut was glowing with the golden light. Andras stepped into view as Lucien blinked drowsily.

“What is it?”

“You’re needed back in hell.”

Lucien growled. He didn’t want to move from this bed. Feeling the warmth of Diana’s body against his own was too enjoyable. The last thing he wanted to do was go into the cold depths of hell. Everyone assumed that hell was all fire and brimstone. But most of hell was cold and dark.

“What’s happening, Andras? I’m not moving until I’m certain it’s worth my trouble.”

“It’s the housewives. They’re causing trouble again.”

“You’re joking. Please tell me you’re joking. If I have to listen to one more of those women demanding a glass of pinot grigio…” Lucien growled, his eyes blazing red. He hated those damn selfish women.

“Give me a few minutes,” he finally said. Andras nodded and vanished.

Lucien looked down at Diana where she slept peacefully. He wanted to stay here with her in this small bit of paradise, but he couldn’t. The levels of hell, not just the gates, needed to be tended or else all hell would break loose—literally.

With a low growl of irritation, he slipped out of the bed and snapped his fingers. Clothes manifested on his body. With another snap, he stared through a doorway to his apartment in Chicago. He wrapped his little mortal up, still asleep in a bedsheet, and carried her through the portal into his bedroom. He settled Diana onto the bed, and she curled into a ball, murmuring something. He retrieved two more blankets and layered them over her. He glanced around, noting the partially open curtains.

Dawn was here, but she could stay here as long as she liked. Normally he wanted women he slept with out of his room right away, but with Diana, he admitted he liked having her here. She belonged to him. It was only natural he kept his possession close to him, wasn’t it? He wasn’t getting soft, and he damned sure wasn’t losing his edge. He was still the biggest badass there was. He just liked having his pet nearby, that was all.

Lucien glanced toward the feather still floating in the glass case, hoping she wouldn’t touch it. His skin prickled, and the scars between his shoulder blades ached, longing for the wings he’d lost.

No. I’m not that creature anymore. Father made sure of that when he let my brother Michael tear the wings from my back.

He closed his eyes, reliving the sensations of flying from millennia ago. He could still feel the wind whipping around him and the chilly condensation of the clouds as he used to break through the tears in the dimensions between heaven and earth. The missing wings were like phantom limbs. He swore he could still feel them, but he knew that was just his body’s imagination.

Diana stirred a little on the bed, turning on her side to face him. One hand stretched along the empty bed as though she searched for him. His lips twitched. He was irresistible to all women, and even quite a few men. The hunger for dark pleasure had no real limits, not when it came to craving the devil. He was like catnip to mortals. When you lived in the light, you always craved the taste of the dark, and sleeping with the devil was as dark as one could get.

“Sir?” Andras appeared in a doorway that hadn’t been there seconds before.

“I’m coming.” He chanced one last look at Diana before he stepped into the darkness, following Andras.

Diana awokein Lucien’s bed, less surprised than the last time to find herself there. When she moved, she winced. Her forearms were scratched from bending over on the pool deck while Lucien fucked her. Holy shit, she had slept with him, and it had been amazing.

God, I’m going to need some serious therapy. I had sex with the devil, and I liked it.

She pulled back the covers and winced as she realized she was completely naked.

“My bag!” She cursed. Had Lucien forgotten it at the villa in Belize?

“Lucien, I need my bag,” she shouted. Could he hear her from wherever he was? Surely he could.

Pop!She jumped as her duffel bag appeared on the floor by the bed.

“Thanks,” she said to the air, feeling that she was talking to herself.

I’ll just add it as one more thing to talk to my therapist about.

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