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A pulse of heat thrummed through me, but then I shoved at him. “Stop it. I’m cute, maybe. I make people want to pat me on the head. But I’m not hot.”
“I never judged you by your clothing.” He leaned closer. “Youarehot, Addalee. Trust me on that.”
His mouth was so close to mine, so I gave into the impulse, and I kissed him. Softly. Maybe I should have asked first? But then Cruise closed the gap between us and kissed me back, harder. He wasn’t a gentle kisser, but I craved his hunger. I sighed, leaning into him. Yes, let him lead me. Let him take control of it. I was so sick of having tothink think thinkall the time.
Couldn’t we just be? It seemed…we could.
Our bodies pressed against each other, so I could feel how instantly hard he got. I rubbed myself against the ridge of that heat, causing little electrical sparks to dance up my spine and pool between my legs. Running my hands under his t-shirt, I could feel his muscles jump when I touched him. He was fit and strong. Truthfully, not someone I could ever have seen in my life, and if I wasn’t possessed, I would’ve gone my whole life without ever knowing him. I accused him of having preconceived notions about me, but I met him pre-loaded with a ton of misconceptions about him. Didn’t I worry he would be a snob?
He kissed me gently then pulled back. “You’re so beautiful, and I’m going to get carried away.”
Baby steps are probably important. Despite the thought, I couldn’t help but wonder…what would she do to me if Ididhave sex? What punishment could she enact? Every decision I made had a consequence, so the question was simply whether the crime was worth the punishment.
I decided to be open with him. “Honestly, I wasn’t at all sure you were interested. You were the only one who didn’t ask me on a date, or some semblance of it, after this is all over. If you were interested, I thought you’d ask when they did.”
Even in the darkness, I could see him smirk. “Well, since I intended to move you into my house, I figured they could stealyou away for a few hours here and there, if they wanted. When you get home from your dates, you could climb into my bed.”
I laughed, despite myself, even as another of those little pulses had me moving restlessly against him. “Now, there’s the ego I was expecting.” I kind of loved it, because I was sick in the head enough to be thrilled because it had nothing to do with my demon. “Your sister, in my dream, told me you were soft inside.”
He caught his breath, his gaze suddenly serious. “That exact phrase. Shit. Yes, I think you’re seeing James, Addalee. She used to say that to me. Cruise, you’re soft inside, she would say, and I’d tell her to shut it. She stopped saying it after she was possessed. The demon took so many things from us, and not just years with my sister. It stole them. I’m not going to allow yours to continue to steal time from you.”
A pounding on a door sounded from a distance away. Cruise rolled over and turned on the light, illuminating the room for the first time. I blinked. The enormous room connected to a living area where two more doors waited.
“Where are we?”
“It’s a school for adults to learn to deal with demons. No kids at this location. You have to be older than eighteen to even get admitted, though most of the patients are much older.” He walked toward the door. “I own a suite. You can fund an area and they name it after you.”
I smiled at his back as he so casually talked about buying an entire wing of a school dedicated to helping humans with their demons. Because he was rich, and that was something rich people just did, I realized. To him, it was no stranger than hitting the after-holiday chocolate sales at the stores would be to me.
I pulled the sheet up to my neck, hoping to hide the fact I only wore a t-shirt, since I noticed the outfit. In the dark, it didn’t matter, but suddenly it seemed relevant.
“Hey,” Nathan said as he entered, and he gestured over his shoulder with his thumb. “I’m not staying over there with her. I’ll stay here with you two.”
I rolled over and lifted my head. “Nathan?”
“Hi, Addalee. Sorry if I woke you.” He kicked off his shoes. “My sister has done it again. Family drama every time I come around, I swear. For someone so good at what she does, she sure handles other matters poorly.”
Cruise gestured at the bed. “Want to cuddle with her? Me on one side, you on the other? It’s the whole touch thing.”
Nathan grinned. “In a word,yes.”
Chapter
Eleven
The posters featured cats and kittens in various capering poses. I pinched my lips together as I considered a little tuxedo- wearing kitten hanging onto a watering can in a garden. Somehow, the cat didn’t fit in the stuffy room with its brown walls and loudly ticking clock. My demon was awake…and pissed. Every so often, she would make me punch myself in the face. Rolling my jaw to loosen the latest blow, I stared harder at the kitten’s wide, empty, thoughtless blue eyes. I would be badly bruised if she kept it up, and there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop her. The door opened, and an unfamiliar woman entered the kitten-poster room. My demon hissed, so I assumed the woman must be an angel-blooded person or otherwise demon-bane. Angels seemed to cause the hisses.
Nathan entered on the woman’s heels. He winked at me, and my cheeks heated up, despite my demon’s hissing. I didn’t care what she thought of him. Nathan was fantastic. He had held me all night, I remembered, closing my eyes to relive it. He and Cruise held me tight, and when I started to have nightmares, he’d said something in a strange language that scared the nightmares away.
Plus, he was ridiculously handsome. Like, he could be on the cover of a romance novel handsome.
Behind him, I spotted Danvers. He grinned at me as he entered the room, and something about his dark eyes still seemed a little dangerous. They dressed him in some kind of uniform—khaki pants and a black- collared t-shirt—yet they couldn’t diminish his raw masculinity.
They all sat down around me, their gazes falling on me like a combined weight.
“I see she’s awake and mad.” Nathan sighed. “Well, we got her down for a bit.”
Danvers took my right hand. Static crackled across my skin. “She usually has you hit yourself with this one. I’ll just hold it so she can’t for the moment, okay?”
