Page 12 of Wickedly Yours

I moved closer to him, leaning in slightly, wanting him to kiss me. Hoping he’d pick up on the signals I was dropping.

“I should go,” Zain murmured, brushing a hair off my forehead.

I frowned. “You don’t want to stay?” As far as I was concerned, a girl inviting a guy into her apartment was an explicit invitation for sex. But maybe he didn’t want to sleep with me. He hadn’t even so much as tried to kiss me. How old-fashioned was he? He was acting like the perfect gentleman. As much as I loved it, I also hated it. Because I really,reallywanted to jump his bones.

“I need to get back.”

“Will I see you again?” I couldn’t help the hopeful tone of my voice.

He chuckled. “Would you like that, moonbeam?”

Moonbeam.The nickname lit me up inside, filling me with a strange warmth. “Yes.”

I hurried over to my counter, jotting my phone number onto a piece of scrap paper, and came back to hand it to him. “There.”

“What’s this?”

“My number, silly. So you can text me next time you’re in town? Maybe we can have a proper date.”

He picked up my hand, kissing the back of it. “Sure, Luna. I’d like to see you again.”

It wasn’t everything, but it was a start. Shrugging out of his coat, I handed it back to him. “Thank you for this.” Instantly, Imissed his smell surrounding me, already mourning the loss. “I’ll be waiting by the phone.”

He gave me a weird look. “Waiting?”

“Just call me,” I said, laughing. Wherever he was from, it wasn’t around here.

Leaning up on my tiptoes, I kissed his cheek before he slipped out my door. The prickle of his scruff was rough against my lips, but I found I didn’t mind it. “Bye, Zain.”

“Goodbye, Luna.”

Later that night, wrapped up in the warmth of my sheets, I couldn’t stop smiling, already looking forward to the next time he came into town. I didn’t even realize that he’d never explained how he got through our wards.

FOUR

zain

What the fuck was wrong with me?

I’d come here with a plan. And yet one look at the girl I’d been willing to do anything to get, and I couldn’t carry it out. She waslight.Pure, unfettered light. How could I tarnish that with my darkness?

But I wanted to. I had to fight every base impulse not to take her, to claim her, to make her mine down to her very soul. To control her entire being so I could ensure she could never escape from my grasp.

Except then shesmiled.

Not at me. But I couldn’t shake the thought that I wanted it to be. A grunt forced its way through my chest.

Staring down at the scrap of paper I had in my hands, I frowned. I needed a cell phone now. Though I wasn’t sure how I was expected to know how to use the damn thing.

I could still feel her lips against my cheek, the way she’d leaned up on her tiptoes to be tall enough to reach. She was still too short, and I’d had to bend down to meet her. She smelled sweet, floral, citrus, and sugar, a scent I’d never foundso intoxicating before. It knocked me off my feet, how my body sang withrightnessthe moment I’d laid eyes on her.

Fuck.Who was I? I wasn’t a bumbling fool, ready to drop to his knees at the first sight of a woman. This was insane. It was biology, basic instincts, telling me she wasmine.

I’d found her.

Never mind that I’d originally sent Damien to do the same, and he hadn’t brought her to me.

I’d found my queen myself. Leaving the demon realm was a risk—it always was—but I’d been careful. If any demons had followed me, they hadn’t made their presence known, so I figured I was in the clear.

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