Page 39 of To Crave Deeply
“Did she tell you her name?”
Lori nodded once, the motion short and sharp. “Iveri. Her name is Iveri.”
I frowned. That was impossible. It couldn’t be her. Because she was supposed to be dead.
Dead and buried and definitely not cavorting topside in the body of my other half.
“Are you sure?” I asked quickly.
“Excuse me? You’re kidding, right? Do I look fucking stupid?” Lori said as she pulled back, an eyebrow arched over one eye and I had to hold back a grin. Nobody talked like that to me and I kind of liked that she was the only one. If anyone else did it, I’d have their heads in an instant. I do not tolerate insubordination and I will quite happily punish anyone for it. But Lori challenged me when I needed it the most, and I liked that she didn’t back down when I challenged her, either.
“No, you don’t look stupid. I would never think that.” She visibly relaxed in my hold and I couldn’t help myself as my hands moved from her shoulders to cup her face. “I just wanted to make sure because that particular demon should no longer exist. And if she does, it means that someone has been keeping secrets from me. And that is going to really piss me off.”
I could already feel my temper scratching at my skin as I fought to keep it under control. Once free, my temper reined me for days, making me succumb to its fiery clutches and burn like an inferno. In worst cases, Hellfire would literally cover me head to toe, and I’d become the Devil most people thought of. Still didn’t turn red and grow horns and a tail but I certainly became closer to the traditional version most people saw when they thought of me. Once, I let the Hellfire consume me for months, but that was a long time ago, and I thought I’d never have to deal with this again. Now, it looked like it was rearing its ugly head again and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to deal with it calmly. I worried that a part of me didn’t want to, and that was worse.
A gentle touch on my face pulled me from my dark thoughts and I turned to find Lori gazing at me with concern.
“I lost you for a second there. Are you okay?” she asked softly, her voice a whisper and it was doing wonderful things to my insides and distracting me from the rage threatening to consume me.
“I am with you here,” I replied as my hand curled around the back of her neck. “Just being with you is everything.”
“Show me,” she pleaded.
“Lori….” Fuck. Even I could hear the torment in my voice. I shouldn’t. We had so much shit to deal with and she hadn’t even mentioned the magic I could smell in the air. She was covered in it.
Her thumb trailed across my bottom lip and her eyes darkened with a hunger that matched my own.
“I’m not wet,” she murmured while stroking her thumb back and forth across my lip, pulling me under her spell and that lie… fuck. The taste of it sent a pulse of need straight to my cock.
“Lori…” I pleaded, but I didn’t know if I was begging for her to stop or carry on tormenting me.
A wicked grin curled those luscious lips, and I knew she had me wrapped around her little finger.
“I’m not even a little bit wet.”
Sweet fucking torture. I moved lightning fast and pinned her soft curves beneath me. A gasp escaped her lips as I wrapped my hands around her wrists and placed them above her head.
“You really shouldn’t lie to me, Lori,” I growled, my hunger getting the better of me. I was a powder keg of desire, anger and rage and I was barely holding back the river that was threatening to break the dam.
“Why not?” she replied saucily. “You seem to love it.”
I bent down and nipped at the spot just behind her ear. She gave a delicious little moan, and I couldn’t resist rolling my hips against hers just to hear that sound again.
“I do. Your lies make my body yearn for you. Such exquisite little morsels of sin that make me hard as a fucking rock.”
To me, a lie tasted like the best thing you’d ever eaten. But when Lori lied to me like this, when she was fuelled by desire and lust, they made my body quiver with need. I was like an addict and her lies were my only salvation.
“Your lies turn me on so much that all I can think about is you. The smell of you as I bury my head between your thighs and the taste of you as I drag my tongue over your pussy. Of the sounds you make when I’m buried so deep inside you that you can’t feel anything else but me. Of how your face blushes when you scream my name and come so hard your vision erupts into stars. Every time you lie to me, I want you to do it again because it makes me want to do all that and more.”
Her eyes were huge, her pupils blown, dark and full of lust as the shadows swirled frantically in time with her racing heart. I could feel her shaky breaths on my lips and my mouth was suddenly desperate to taste her. My skin felt tight, and I could feel the coil of desire tightening as she watched me watching her.
The air thickened with the tension between us, and we stared at each other, just waiting for that moment when it became too much, and we had to give in.
But then she fixed me with a firm stare, and I knew what she was going to say, but fuck it, I wanted her to say it. I wanted to hear the lie. I needed to hear it.
“I don’t want any of that,” she said huskily. “I don’t want that at all.”
And I was lost. I was completely fucking lost in her and I didn’t care one little bit.
