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“He will not tell that story again.” A muscle ticks in the demon’s jaw. “I took his teeth last. Slowly. Then, I took something else…you will not wear that either.”
“This is too much,” I say as he holds out the velvet in both hands. I mean, it’s horrible, but it’s also… so sweet.
“And you are not too much. They feared your power. I worship it. This belly. These hips. This mouth that says exactly what it pleases. You are the shape of my undoing and the feast I needed.”
I take the velvet bundle, my fingers trembling, but it’s still damp and…well, gross, so I leave it in his palm, the message received.
“You stood up for me,” I whisper. “No one’s ever done that.”
He sets the necklace down by the pool and rises slowly, towering, his hand cupping my whole jaw, fingertips tucked behind my ear, then trailing down to rest over the curve of my breast.
“Hear me, little flame.” His hand slides back upward, thumb dragging slowly along my lower lip. “You have changed me. I feed you from my hand. I snarl at rocks for being cold. I would lie down in the snow and let you walk across me to keep your feet dry.” The red in his eyes goes dark. “But I am still what I am. Do not ever forget it.”
“Okay,” I whisper, something inside me starting to shake. “So, I’m safe, but I’m not safe with you?”
“If you ever look at another man the way you look at me—if you ever want one—you will not get the demon who worships you. You will get the one who did that. The same if any man ever looks at you. He will get worse.” He tips his horns toward the bloody teeth.
I wait to be scared.
It doesn’t come. What comes instead is a lot hotter and a lot less appropriate.
“Noted,” I manage, my lips turning upward as I kick my feet in the hot pool. “For the record, there’s nobody else. There’s never been anybody else. I was the last virgin over eighteen in the whole town, remember? And who am I going to meet down here?”
“There will never be anyone but me.”
Everything inside me liquefies. The soreness between my legs begs for more of what caused the pain.
“Okay,” I say. “So. You just told me you’d go full demon on any man who looks at me, and I have never been this turned on in my entire life.” I let the robe slide off one shoulder. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to climb you like the biggest, meanest tree in Vermont. And you’re going to hold still and let me.”
He smiles, his cock jutting upward, full throttle and ready to go.
He doesn’t bend down. He doesn’t lift a finger to help. He just straightens to his full height, seven feet of him, with the horns scraping stone, and folds his arms.
“Climb, then,” he says. “Daddy is waiting.”
So I do.
After, with me still wrapped around him like ivy, he says it into my hair. “I would end worlds for the weight of your gaze.” His voice is wrecked. “I would burn eternity to taste your happy tears. You are my altar now. My reason.”
I turn my face into the palm cradling my head. “You’re insane.”
“I am Daddy.”
He presses his mouth to mine. His nails rake gently down my back, and I gasp into his lips as he hitches me higher.
“Say it,” he growls.
“I’m yours, Daddy.”
“Yes, you are.” His forehead drops to mine. “Now say my name.”
Oh.
Nine brides. Nine girls nobody waited up for.
“Okay,” I whisper. “Teach me.”
He does. Slowly, against my mouth, one kiss at a time.
