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Devon happily took the silent invitation and, absolutely famished, delved into her risotto. She groaned in appreciation. “Man, Hunter is good.”
Tanner put a glass of water near her plate and then straddled the chair opposite her. “How long have you known him?”
“As long as I’ve known Adam, so … six years.”
“You seem to get along well with Hunter.” He tilted his head. “You two have never had any problems? He’s not jealous of the closeness you have with Adam?”
“No. Which makes me lucky.” They made idle conversation while she ate. Pushing her empty plate aside, she sipped some water from her glass while sweeping her gaze around the kitchen. The room was as spotless as the rest of the apartment. “You have a cleaner?”
“No.”
Whoa, he couldn’t be serious. “You’re a neat freak?” She hadn’t sensed that about him.
He shrugged. “I like to have a tidy home. I wouldn’t say it makes me a freak.”
“I like a tidy home. This kind of cleanliness screams ‘obsessive.’”
Standing, he took her plate and cutlery to the sink and rinsed them off before stacking them in the dishwasher. “The staff at the kids’ home where I grew up were strict on us keeping things clean and tidy. I guess it stuck with me.”
Devon’s chest tightened. Damn, it had to have sucked growing up in a home for demonic kids. He couldn’t have had much of a childhood since the staff would have needed to be strict or the children would have caused utter mayhem. “Is it still standing?”
“No. Knox bought it, demolished it, and then built a hotel over it. It was Larkin who named it ‘Crimson Grove Hotel and Spa.’”
She wanted to ask more about the home; wanted to ask how it was he’d ended up there, but the questions seemed far too intrusive. Plus, she could clearly see he didn’t want to speak more of it.
Slipping off the stool, she added her empty glass to the dishwasher. “Tell me about the newly vacated apartment you want me to stay in. Is it like this?”
“The layout’s pretty much the same. I don’t think it has a spare bedroom, though.” He leaned back against the counter. “Just so you know, you won’t be using my spare tonight. You’ll be in my bed.”
Her stomach did a little flip. “We talked about this already; we’re leaving it at a one-night stand.”
“And if I told you that when I left your place last night I went to a club, picked up a random woman, and then went home with her and fucked her brains out?”
Devon flinched, feeling like he’d slapped her.
“I didn’t do it. But that thing you’re feeling right now, that’s what you would have felt if I had. And you’re really going to tell me that we’re done?”
She sighed. “You can get sex anywhere, Tanner. Hell, go down to the Underground, there are pussies galore.”
“But there’s only one of you. It’s you I want.”
That hit her right in her core. Her body should have been too tired to react, but damn if her libido didn’t snap awake. “My demon won’t give you a month of its life, Tanner.”
His eyes hardened. “You won’t exactly be taking the time to look for a mate while you’re preoccupied with finding Asa’s friend. Where’s the harm in us having our fun in the meantime?”
“You don’t have to say ‘mate’ like it’s a dirty word, you know.” Her pulse skittered as he pushed away from the counter and slowly prowled toward her. And then all six-feet-plus of untamed power was towering over her, and her mouth went bone dry.
Devon probably should have backed away, but she felt trapped by that compelling gaze. His eyes shimmered with a need so basic and primitive that her nipples tightened. That need called to hers. Tempted her. Invited her in. Drew her closer.
He skimmed the tips of his fingers down the column of her throat. “Be honest, kitten. It’s not your demon that’s so opposed to this; it’s you. You have it in your head that all I want is to use you and then toss you aside.”
“Don’t you?” she challenged.
He lowered his mouth until it was only an inch above hers. “You want to know what I want to do to you?” he whispered softly. “I want to explore you. Savor you. Possess you. Over and over and over. Until I know every inch of you.”
Her stomach fluttered. Clenched. Twisted.
He kissed the corner of her mouth, traced the curve slightly with his tongue. “It would be using you if all I cared about was what I got out of it, but it’s not like that. You know it’s not. Outside my lair, you’re the only thing I give a shit about.”
Those words swathed her like a warm blanket. She wouldn’t melt. She wouldn’t.
“Love your scent.” Tanner brushed his nose along her elegant neck and breathed deep, letting himself drown in her sweet scent. The siren-call of it wrapped around him, heated his blood, thickened his cock. She was an enticement he couldn’t ignore. An obsession that just wouldn’t fade. A drug he’d always crave, no matter how many times he had her. And didn’t that just beat all.
