Page 168 of Devil's Deal

And I realize it’s an apology, though he’ll probably never say the words. My chest squeezes painfully, and I don’t know why, but I want to cry. I feel taken care of in a way that’s too intimate to put into words.

But sex with him isn’t supposed to make me feel so vulnerable. It’s a means to an end, and I wish I had managed to conceal my pain. If I had done it, he would have fucked me into the cushions and we would be done by now. He would tell me the truth. Instead, I’m trapped in this nightmare of being torn open not by his cock, but by his soothing, comforting tongue and patient touch.

“It’s fine,” I gasp, my core pulsing with eager heat that’s not an inferno but a slow sizzle. “Enough.”

He gives me a long, indulgent lick, teasing my clit, and looks up.

“Let me be good to you, darling. Just this once. I promise I’ll go back to my cruel ways soon enough.”

His voice is light like he’s joking, and still, I shudder with apprehension. But his touch grows more focused, more insistent, and soon I forget to be afraid. He pushes his tongue inside me, not far at first, and then licks and gently sucks my clit.

He takes me out of that tender, vulnerable space into more heat and need. Soon, I writhe against his mouth, and he holds my hips down to feast on me as he pleases, alternating between my clit and my pussy, and then, for a few licks at a time, slithering even lower down.

His mouth is busy, and yet he speaks, projecting his voice through magic.

“Remember how I told you to worship me? It’s my turn, my poppy goddess. You taste so good. Arousal and blood, all in your flavor.”

I moan and shake, my eyes opening and closing to the rhythm he sets. Sometimes, I descend into the darkness of my own mind. But then I emerge, looking at the gorgeous lights he put in the trees for me, and they dance around me, sparkles and shadows.

“You take this pleasure so well, even better than pain. Oh, the things I’d like to do to you. Maybe I’ll make you come so many times you will lose your mind and then drink your sated blood and take you while you sleep, exhausted. You will feel me in your dreams. Would you like that?”

“Yes,” I whisper, because there is no space inside me for anything but agreement.

When I come, I drench him with my juices, and he laps them up with covetous growls, holding my hips up in the air like I’m a sacred chalice he thirsts to drink from. I think he will be done then, my orgasm a payment for his wrongs, but he doesn’t stop. I protest when he sucks on my sensitive clit, so he plunges his tongue deep in my pussy and tastes me from within.

I fancy his tongue goes deep enough to tap at the entrance to my womb.

Soon, he makes me come again, harder this time, and I scream his name until I grow hoarse. His commanding nature shows through. He settles into a fast, demanding rhythm, and after the second orgasm, he spreads me wider still, tilting my hips up, and puts his mouth on my other hole.

He kisses me there, and I’m breathless from screaming in pleasure and dazed, so it takes me a moment to react.

“Why there?” I gasp out when his tongue dips inside me for the lightest lick.

“Because I want to. Because it’s yours. You can return the favor one day, if you want.”

And then I think about licking him like this, which is strange and yet makes me giddy with mischievous excitement. When he puts his mouth on my clit again, it only takes me a moment to come.

I’m floating, my body soft and liquid like sweet cream, the pleasure humming deep in my bones and core. The devil pulls away, sitting on his heels, a satisfied smile on his lips.

“There. Now let me try that again.”

Chapter fifty-two

Bitter

He slides up my body, settling his hips between my thighs. As he moves, he slides his hand along the back of my thigh from buttock to knee, pushing it up until my knee presses to my chest. He keeps his hand there, arranging me how he wants, and braces on one arm, high enough so his face is over mine.

For a moment, I think he will say something. His glittering eyes darken, growing serious. He opens his mouth, but when my brows pull together in question, he shakes his head and breathes out, closing his eyes for a moment.

When he opens them, I know the wait is over. He gently nudges himself in, and this time, it’s nothing but perfection.

I moan, inviting him deeper, and he sighs, opening my leg far to the side as he goes in, and in, and in, until I gasp from how full I am. Our bodies meet in a kiss, the flat circle of thorns lying against my entrance, completely harmless.

“Better, my darling?”

I don’t tell him not to call me that, just nod. I feel shaky and too hot, and it scares me how right it feels to have the weight and bulk of him inside me. He is substantial, and I feel him all over, like we’re not just joined physically.

I feel him in my soul.

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