Page 19 of The Witch & the Grizzly

“A succubus?” Eva’s eyes widened at that admission. “Did anything…?”

“Thankfully, no. But I had the distinct impression that Morgryn would have loved it if something had happened. He strongly implied I fit her taste in men right before I left. I think he enjoys messing with me.”

Eva rolled onto her side, facing Nathan in a more comfortable position. “Wow, a succubus. I don’t think I’d ever be able to compete with something like that. That’s terrifying.” She said it half-jokingly, but it also reminded her that fae magic of the type Nathan wielded was out of her league.

Nathan, however, just stretched out on the blanket opposite her. He put the food and drinks back into the basket, which opened up the space between them. “Look, Eva. I was terrified that she’d try to proposition me. It’s been… a necessary part of my job, sometimes,” he said, and Eva’s heart clenched to hear that admission.

Of course… there’s no point ignoring his talent.

Still, it sucked to have it thrown in her face. Maybe her disappointment showed because he instantly modulated his tone and dialed up his smile.

“But since I’ve seen you again and promised that I wanted to try to do things normally for once… I’ve felt uneasy about that part of the job. So when I felt that she was interested in me, I kept praying, please, God, no. Don’t let this be something I have to do. I can’t. I refuse.”

Listening to those words helped Eva breathe easier, and the tightness in her gut disappeared. “Why?”

“I didn’t want to mess things up with you, not when we’re just getting started. Can you imagine it? I make that kind of grand promise, and then my current boss sends me off to screw a succubus. Christ, I may as well jump off a bridge now.”

She laughed at that, adding, “I think you should stay on the bridge.” She gestured to him to come closer, and he grabbed hers; their fingers entwined.

“All this,” she whispered, suddenly shy, “I’m really scared of messing things up with you, too. I don’t want this to be… just another fling, you know?”

“Me either,” he breathed, and the huskiness of his voice sent a bolt of arousal through her, hitting her square between her legs. Already, she felt a distinct dampness there. Her mind went back to those late-night moments of self-pleasure and how she’d wanted her hand to be his. She tried hard to picture it, to really bring that fantasy to life, but it broke the second she opened her eyes and saw her arm reaching down instead.

His eyes searched hers, looking for something. Maybe he found exactly what he wanted, for in the next breath, he moved closer and cradled her cheek. “May I kiss you?”

She made some kind of crude noise.

“English?” he asked, now smiling impishly.

Instead of yes or no, she said, “Kiss me.”

Slowly, he drew his face closer, giving her plenty of time to back out if she wanted. Her heart thundered, but she didn’t stop him.

Their lips met, and with that soft touch of sensitive flesh upon flesh, her memories sprang to life: his lips upon hers, hot and hurried and with the taste of alcohol; his tongue, driving into her mouth, hard at first, then soft, giving her room to push and pull along with him; her whimpering, desperate and needy, and desire flooding her like a tsunami, crashing over everything in its path so that only the emotions and the flood of chemicals mattered; the lust and need to connect with him, to be with him, to have him inside her.

Then she realized these weren’t just memories. She was doing this now, too. She gripped him, pulling him on top of her. She spread her legs and felt his hip bumping into hers. That contact drove her wild.

Their kisses grew more passionate as their lips danced across cheeks and necks – their tongues seeking skin. At one point, she let out a growl, almost tiger-like snarl, and she wished she had claws at that moment; she wished she had an actual tiger within her instead of just enhanced senses.

She felt him harden against her, and her lust intensified as if she had consumed a Potion of Avarice, wanting nothing more than to surrender to her raging emotions, to ascend to pure bliss in the motion of their bodies and the sounds that they made.

He let out a harsh breath, a choking whimper, and midway into a kiss, he pulled away from her, breathing hard. “Wait. Wait,” he rasped, pulling farther back when she tried to rear up to kiss him again. “Not now. I don’t want this to be anything more than kissing now. Eva, can you hear me?”

She came down to earth after a few deep breaths and clenched and unclenched her jaw. She sighed.

“I’m sorry. I think – I got too carried away. I didn’t want to ever…”

“Don’t worry. I understand. I just… not here. I want to take things a little slower. At least let us survive our first date,” he said with a low, breathless chuckle. “That way, I know you’re different. I hope that makes sense.”

“Yeah, I get it.” She reached up to kiss him again, but it was soft, chaste. “We got this.” She cleared her throat, and they awkwardly untangled themselves. He was still hard, noticeably so. She tried her best not to look too much in that direction, to at least spare him some dignity as he adjusted the way he sat.

At least she had zero doubts that he was attracted to her. It helped reassure her in a silly way, knowing he’d rejected a freaking succubus because he wanted to take things slowly with her.

It took them a few minutes to return to the conversation of earlier. It started slowly, hesitantly, but eventually became almost normal again. But how could it be normal, knowing that that kind of energy existed between them? She remembered more of the night than before, but she suspected she’d never fully have everything unveiled to her.

She really, really wanted to create new memories, though. She knew this one would stay with her for weeks, if not months, if not forever.

They finished off the food he’d brought, all the time trying for normal conversation, but the lingering electricity of the moment they’d just shared hovered over them like a ghost. It stirred the little hairs on her arms. It sent tremors down her legs just thinking about it.

---