“What’s wrong with your attire? I thought you’d like it with the designs you gave Bobbins.”
I pushed to my feet. The thin, silky garment clung to me like a second skin, dipping down to reveal my cleavage. The second the dress grazed my nipples, they hardened. “This is way more revealing than the last dress I wore. More… intimate.”
“Indeed,” he murmured to my breasts. He quickly rose and went to the door. “I will have Ziggy deliver dinner.”
My shoulders sagged in relief as he opened it and quietly spoke to someone on the other side. When he closed it and turned to me, they tightened again. Tonight was the night, and the king who stood before me would not be swayed to wait longer. He smiled and snapped his fingers. The fireplace lit up and a fur rug sat in front of it covered with pillows. Music softly played from somewhere, but I couldn’t tell from where or make out what kind.
Astaroth ran a finger down my arm and clasped my hand when he reached it. His steadfast grip kept mine from shaking. “Let us talk.”
He guided me to the rug, and I sat curling my legs under me. Astaroth, however, reclined back next to me and crossed his ankles before taking my hand again. He flipped it over and ran a finger along the lines of my palm.
I ignored his touch and looked around the room again, trying to figure out where the music was coming from. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Our coupling,” he said, his finger tickling my hand.
My brows shot up. “Sex.” This was about to get even more awkward. I pulled my hand away and rubbed it on my leg to stop the tingling in my palm. “I can’t talk about it while you’re doing that.”
“Does my touch bother you so much that you have to wipe it away after?”
I stiffened. I didn’t know how to answer that. In the beginning, yes, his touch scared me because I didn’t know how our bargain would play out. It was different now. He was different—rather I was because I was finally seeing him for who he is. And if I were honest with myself, which I didn’t want to be, I liked him. That terrified me.
He gripped my chin and turned my head toward him as he waited for an answer I didn’t want to give. “Yes or no, Calista.”
I jerked from his grip. “This isn’t working for me.”
“What’s not?”
I waved an arm around. “All this. The fire, the rug, this dress, talking about sex right before having it.”
“You are avoiding my question.”
“Am not.”
“You are.” With a swiftness that took my breath away, Astaroth rolled me to the floor and hovered above me on his elbows. “How would you like me to take you?”
“I-I,” I sputtered, tongue-tied and heart galloping. My traitorous brain flipped through images of the karma sutra I read years earlier as every breath came faster and faster. I knew he could do each one of them without breaking a sweat.
He lowered his head and brushed his lips against my neck. My pulse jumped to greet him as I bit back a whimper, squeezing my eyes closed. “I would say the answer is ‘no.’”
“Why do you think that?” I breathed.
“Because you’re pulling me closer,” he said, chest rumbling with laughter.
My eyes popped open. Not only was my brain working against me, my hands were, too. They white knuckled the sides of his jacket, damn near ripping it off him. I quickly let go and tried to wiggle out from under him, but Astaroth slipped his handsunder my shoulders and tugged me back down. The dress made it easy to slide on the rug and bunched up around my waist almost exposing me.
“You have two choices. Walk to the bed and let this gown fall to the floor.”
I swallowed.
“Or I will remove it right now for you.”
Heat rushed through my body, pooling between my legs to do a little dance. I squeezed them together to get it to stop, but it was too late. It wanted one thing, and one thing only.
Astaroth.
Assertive Astaroth was sexy as hell, and that was a hard pill to swallow, especially when my mouth was as dry as the Sahara. My tongue felt like sandpaper when I tried to wet my lips. Might as well jump.
I tilted my head up and lightly grazed my lips against his. He remained still, watching me. The fire made the flecks swirling in his eyes look like a galaxy. I did it again with more pressure, only this time my tongue hesitantly slid along the seam of his mouth. When his lips slightly parted, I went for it.
