Page 46 of Insurrection
He tossed me a wink and said, “That’s my girl. Shine.”
Swoon. Fucking swoon. He’d just called me his girl.
My eyes landed on the sweet Hellhound I’d found myself intrigued by. Damien looked dashing, and I genuinely grinned as he took my hand and kissed it politely. There was a heat simmering behind the kiss on my skin, likely due to his Hellhound nature, and my mind immediately drifted to how that warmth would feel a little further down my body.
Focus, Ama. Devil, how many men do you need?
I missed what Damien said to me as I attempted to tame myself, and I winced as I asked, “I’m sorry, what was that? I got a little lost in thought for a moment.”
He chuckled good-naturedly, thankfully not taking it personally. "I said that my House is only a table away if you need something tonight. I happened to get here first and swapped some of the place cards around," he ended by wiggling his eyebrows at me mischievously.
Smacking his arm playfully, I gushed, "That's amazing. I can't believe you did that, but I totally love you for it. Who did they originally have me by?"
His eyes widened, and his mouth opened and closed repeatedly as Fin made a grunting noise beside me. Completely unaware of my own words, I asked with my brows pinched together, "What? What did I do? I know I didn't fart or anything."
I was positive I’d done something far more embarrassing, but I’d found that, when in doubt…fart jokes. Fart jokesalwaysbroke the tension. They were the skeleton key to relieving awkwardness.
As I’d hoped, my comment snapped them out of their shock. Fin choked on a laugh, and Damien blushed deeply as he answered. "You uhm, just said that you love me for it. It's totally cool," he ended by holding up both hands in the universal symbol for "okay", with his pointer finger and thumb tips touching and his other fingers up.
He looked the total opposite of cool right now. More like frazzled, flustered, or downright flabbergasted. Apparently, I had a thing for “f” words right now, which made sense because it felt like all these boys were making me think of sinful things constantly—the biggest one beingfucking.
Had I really said I loved him? I suppose I had.
The tips of my ears heated at the fact that I had said “love” so nonchalantly. It was very much not a normal thing for me to say, and because my brain fucking hated me, I was now thinking of all of the princes in one room, making love to me at the same time. Where the hell did these ideas even come from? Seriously.
Fanning my hand to get some air moving, I panted, "Do they have air conditioning in here, or am I the only hot one?"
Distract everyone from the awkward conversation. Yup. That was smart.
"I think you're definitely the only hot one here," a rumbling voice purred in my ear. A familiar voice, attached to a man I hadn’t gotten to speak to more than a few moments, but with whom I already found myself enamored. Unfortunately, Drayven had scared him off before I’d had a chance to speak with him much.
Nico.
Finias rolled his eyes and motioned like he was throwing up, and I giggled as I turned around and properly greeted the Incubus prince. I had felt his powers reach out for me when we first met, and at the time it had confused me. It hadn’t felt grimy or pushy, like other Incubus and Succubus energies I’d felt.
It was teasing and gentle. Exploratory, even. Like he wanted my power to come out and play with his.
Nico’s eyes were like pools of liquid gold that drew me in immediately. This man was dangerous. Obviously, as a member of the House of Sin, it came with the territory that everyone was ridiculously good looking, but he was so much more than that. He oozed confidence that wasn't cocky, just self-assured. Like, when he knew what he wanted, he went for it, and nothing would get between him and what he desired.
And, at this moment, the predatory glint in his eyes told me that what he desired was me. In keeping with my new self-love motto, I allowed my Succubus energy to rise to the surface and reach out to him as I offered him my hand to shake and said, "Hello there, Nico. It's nice to see you again."
Disregarding my hand, he reached out and placed his hands lightly on my bare arms as he leaned into my ear once more and whispered, "The pleasure is all mine, gorgeous." As he spoke, I felt his energy twine together with mine, followed by a featherlight stroke where the slit in my dress exposed my leg. Damnit. He was good. Nico was literally so good at this—the man oozed sex, and my knees felt wobbly and weak.
How was he touching me, though? His hands were still on my shoulders, so I knew it had to be his power. Unless it was his...No, do not go there, Ama.
"Save me a dance," he quietly demanded as he pulled back from me and walked away towards his house's table, which seemed to be in the opposite corner of the large ballroom.
I swear, the man could read a dictionary and I'd end up in a pool of my own drool. His voice was so fucking sexy.
The clearing of a throat drew my attention back to Damien, who supplied an answer to my previous question, "The House of Sin and the House of Fallen were originally the tables closest to you."
"Thank fucking devil you changed that," Finias groaned out, and I smiled coyly, liking the slightly territorial tone to his voice. It wasn't jealousy, which made it all the hotter. His hand reached out to snake around my waist and settled lightly on my hip.
Damien's gaze immediately latched onto the move, and I saw his face fall slightly. My heart panged at the idea of making him feel uncomfortable or unwanted when he had been so amazing and supportive. Wiggling out of Fin's grip, I looked up at him and asked, "Grab me a drink?"
In a very bold move that shocked even me, as we had so many eyes on us, Finias leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to my forehead before walking toward the bar set up in the back corner of the room. There was already quite a long line. I suppose booze was the quickest way to ease the nerves at gatherings like this.
Turning to face Damien, I held out a hand and smiled, "Want to dance? I think he's going to be stuck for a while."
