narrowed her gaze, but gave no indication she was at all flustered. “What does it look like to you?”
I inspected the heavy disk, about half an inch thick and three inches in diameter and etched with indiscernible runes on what looked like black carbon fiber. I had no clue what it was, but if the Council had chosen to store it in a high-security facility, then it must do something bad. I was familiar with the measurement scale of all things from bad to really bad to oh fuck this is going to leave a permanent mark. I’d guess this thing landed somewhere between bad and the permanent mark range.
“You have no idea,” she said on a ticklish peal. Snagging the disk, she danced away from me and around behind the black velvet couch. “Who are you, Cinder?”
“I am the Council’s security advisor.”
Chagrin heated my neck when she gave me the “seriously” look.
“The security wards were down for two hours,” I explained, “so I could set up the system. How could you have possibly known the window in which the system would be shut off?”
“I didn’t. Guess I got lucky.” She strolled down a hallway, and I knew she was going to hide the evidence.
I smoked ahead of her and landed beside a dresser, but too close to the dainty whitewashed piece of furniture, which caused me to stumble and land ungracefully sprawled across a low platform bed.
Parish giggled at my faux pas, and I could but shake my head at how out of my senses this vampiress made me. Me. The demon of hellfire, the Flaming One. It was as if wherever she went, I felt compelled to follow, whether or not I’d gain the stolen device. I simply wanted to be near her. Had the spell worked after all?
This was going to be a long night.
There was no way the demon would leave with ritrovatore d’anime in his hand. I’d been planning this heist for weeks, and had succeeded thanks to a little reconnaissance help from my tribe members who wanted only the best for me and my mortal father. Now, if the fire demon would get out of my way, I could hop a plane for Venice.
But the distraction of his insanely muscled body and those eyes that couldn’t seem to do anything but smolder at me, made me wonder if a little focused seduction wouldn’t go a long way in getting the demon on my side. A smear of black blood had dried above the leather and silver choker. Apparently the submission spell had not taken. Though he was following me around like a puppy dog. Hmm… No, I didn’t sense unconditional abandon on his part or even a smidgen of undying worship.
But he wasn’t as staunch as he liked to think. I knew I couldn’t physically defeat him, so I’d have to dig deeper into my wiles.
Opening the dresser drawer, I dropped the device onto a stack of silk panties and closed it. A flick of my finger and a whispered, “Claustro” restored the lock spell to the drawer.
Before Cinder could pull himself up to sit, I leaned over him, on the bed, and pulled open his button-up shirt with a daring rip. Mmm, crisp white cotton against deeply tanned flesh. I loved the white-collar corporate raider look on a man who could literally toss flames through the air. And his pants were midnight-black. Oh, baby, what a sexy combination.
“What the—?”
“There’s a handsome man lying on my bed,” I cooed. “Wouldn’t want to let this opportunity pass. Mercy, that is more than a six-pack. I didn’t know they made demons so sturdy.”
“I was forged Beneath. Of course I’m—”
I tongued his nipple, and he hissed with pleasure. “You won’t start on fire if I do this, will you?”
The whole fiery hands thing had freaked me, but I figured it’s because he was a fire demon. I didn’t have a fire extinguisher nearby, so I hoped he could keep his cool.
“Parish,” he rasped. “Not wise.”
“Maybe I should keep a bucket of cold water by the bed?”
“No. Won’t flame.”
I licked down his abs to his stomach. Oh hell, no belly button. What the heck?
“Beelzebub and all the demons in Beneath, what are you up to?”
I maintained seduction mode, but only by not looking at his smooth belly. “Up to? Only your stomach,” I said, then licked a trail higher to a hard pectoral. “Now I’m at your chest. A little higher?”
He gripped the back of my hair tightly, which pulled my tongue off his skin, but I could work with his angry vibe, and bracketed my knees around his hips.
I hadn’t realized demons could look so physically different from other paranormals. If he didn’t have a belly button, then he may not have a birth mother. I could buy into that. Corporeal demons were summoned from all sorts of nasty, or so I suspected.
“Your spell didn’t work,” he said through a clenched jaw, “so now you think you can distract me?”
“I have been known to distract.” Though it was much tougher going the more I thought about his unholy origins. Tossing my head to the side slid my long hair over his bare chest.
He hissed again in pleasure. “I’ll call your bluff. Let’s do this.”
Flipped around, I soared onto my back and landed the pillows with a cushy pouf. The demon crawled over me, his fingers sneaking up under my top. I knew he would get what he wanted—what we both wanted—before the night was over, and what I wanted was a distracted demon.
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