Page 60 of Hooked on a Demon
“Are you—” he says, at the same time she says, “I’m okay. A moment of overwhelm.”
He steps toward her, closing what little distance there was between them. “Did I push this too fast? I can totally take you home if you would rather be in your own space.”
This demon of hers.
Wait.
Hers.
Nope, not going to interrogate that right now.
Her hand comes up to rest on his tattooed forearm. “Declan, I’m fine. Sometimes the thoughts get to be a lot, and they come all at once. I needed a moment to collect myself, that’s all.”
“Oh.”
“I promise. I’m okay and I want to be here.” Eliana pushes up on her tiptoes and kisses his cheek. “I’m gonna go get ready for bed.”
He nods. Sensing his eyes following her as she walks away, she makes sure to give her hips a little extra sway with each step, evoking a growl from behind her. “You’re gonna be the end of me, Oaks.”
She laughs, light and airy, enjoying the impact she has on him. And that he has on her.
As she changes, she can’t help but be thankful that she has an appointment with Colson in the morning, which will allow her to unpack all of this. That thought causes her to pause, realizing the progress she has made. Not only does shewantto unpack it, but she’s almost excited to tell him about everything she’s feeling. Her mind flashes back to her lying spread out on the counter—well, maybe noteverything.
She uses the mouthwash on the bathroom counter to rinse her mouth as thoroughly as possible. Bundling up her clothes in one arm, she opens the door and walks back into Declan’s bedroom. When she looks up, he’s already lying on the bed, wearing only a pair of dark gray sweatpants. She’s seen him topless before while at the theater, but here, in his bed, well, the sight makes her mouth go dry.
Holy fucking hell, he’s hot.
His arms are thick with muscle, and his chest and stomach are more rounded and not perfectly defined. He looks like comfort and safety, like a life-sized stuffed teddy bear that she wants nothing more than to snuggle up with. As she takes him in, she finds the spot on his chest that would be the perfect place to rest her head. And his tattoos. Oh, his tattoos. The gray-scale decorative swirls and flowers dance up his arms and onto his chest, adding a delicacy to him that is unexpected. It’s such a soft design for someone like him, someone who seems larger than life, with such great power, yet it suits him perfectly. It’s balanced and gentle, like him.
His eyes catch hers as she continues to ogle him, and the corner of his mouth quirks up into the sexiest smirk she’s ever seen. “Are you planning to come to bed?” he asks teasingly as Buckley snorts from the corner, curled up in his own bed.
Swallowing, she nods. She steps toward the bed, then awkwardly turns to either side, trying to decide where to put her clothes. “Here,” he says as a smoky limb appears beside her. She opens her arm and it takes the clothes from her, bringing them to the bench at the end of the bed, where it proceeds to fold her clothes nicely, and places them gently on top.
She was telling the truth when she told him she wanted to be here, but it doesn’t remove the fact that this is their first night together and the unspoken expectations that hang in the air between them. Is he expecting her to sleep with him, given what they did earlier? Does she want to sleep with him? Well, yes, but it seems like such a bigger step than some oral. And as giddy as she was feeling a moment ago in the bathroom, she can’t help the hesitation she’s experiencing now.
The last man she had full-on sex with was Sam, and that continues to loom over her head as much as she doesn’t want it to. That she trusted him as much as she did, and that he ended up diminishing so much of her.
Her mind continues to waver back and forth on what she wants from tonight, leaving her frozen beside the bed.
Declan, noticing her growing distress, crawls over to her. “Oaks. Are you okay?”
His voice is calming, but his hands, rubbing up and down her arms, are what help to bring her back to the surface. It takes her a moment to respond, and when she does, her voice cracks a little as it’s still filled with all the emotion and confusion she was fighting. “I’m sorry…” she starts, but he interrupts, “Eliana, you never have to apologize for having feelings.”
“I—I’m sorr—” she starts again, before seeing the stern look in his eyes and correcting, “no, I’m not sorry, but it hit me that the last time I spent the night with someone, it was my ex and…”
“Hey,” he says, putting a finger under her chin so she can look at him, “that’s okay. I’d love to say I understand, but I know I never really will. Look, I know I invited you to stay, but you can back out at any point. I will take you home, as I already said. However, I want to be clear; I have absolutely no expectations about tonight. I just wasn’t ready to say goodnight yet. If you want me to sleep on the couch or on the floor, I will. I want you to feel comfortable here. So what would make you feel comfortable?”
Goddess, she doesn’t think she’s ever been asked that before. What does she want? It’s such a simple question, and yet, it still causes tension to build in her chest.
She smiles at him, hoping it comes across as endearing, as she says, “I don’t want you to sleep on the floor.”
“Okay.”
“I think I’d like to cuddle,” she adds.
“You think?”
Her hands fidget with the bottom of his shirt that she wears, and as she breathes deeply, his scent envelopes her, giving her the confidence she needs. “I want to cuddle. You looked like a teddy bear when I first came in, and it was the first thing I thought of. That you’d be perfect for a cuddle.”
