Page 16 of Bite Me

The sooner she got him his food, the sooner he’d be on his way and she could, silently, work on coming up with her other eleven steps.

“Hi. Welcome to Nine Holes, would you like a coffee with your donut today?”

Holy Swiss meringue buttercream. He was even more good looking from the waist up.

Dark skin, tribal tattoos on his arms, and blue eyes that reminded her of the waterfalls coming down into a lagoon at the edge of the ocean. Those eyes went wide, and he stepped back, like she’d shoved him. The bone carving on a cord he wore around his neck glowed with a brilliant blue light.

She’d seen that light before.

The skin over her breastbone tingled and she rubbed at it through her shirt. Oh. The necklace the woman in white had given her moved under her fingers.

Try as she might, she hadn’t been able to remove the necklace all week. She took a quick peek down her shirt and the charm that hung at the end of the chain was glowing too.

The customer narrowed his eyes at her and stepped directly into her personal space bubble.

“No, I want the soul shard you took from Cage Gylden.”

The closer he got, the more she wanted to rub herself all over him like a cat looking for some snuggles. She glanced outside. Yep. Still light out, so he wasn’t an incubus turning his allure on her. Which was the only thing she could compare this feeling running through her whole body to. She’d better get away from him, whatever he was. “Uh, I don’t think we have that flavor, but I can check in back.”

“Good try. You’re not going anywhere.”

He grabbed her arm and they both looked at where his skin met hers. A zap of dynamite more fulfilling than any sex energy she’d ever had overwhelmed her. All the bloodlust and need from the morning dissolved and the empty place inside of her didn’t feel so hollow anymore.

Scales rippled across his arms and neck, and the head of a dragon tattoo stretched up from under the collar of his shirt, literally moving across his neck.

What was this guy? Not incubus, not demon, not human.

The looked at each other and at the same time said, “What are you?”

A smile that made Jada go weak in the knees spread across the mystery man’s face. His eyes twinkled, and he placed one hand on her back and wrapped the other around her waist, pulling her to him. Each place he touched her tingled, intensifying the buzz of the necklace between her breasts.

This must be what the hypnotic allure she used on her victims felt like. Who cared if he was going to eat her? It was going to be awesome.

Adrenaline pumped through her like a syringe pushed it in. Her heart raced, and her lungs worked overtime. But, not from fear. Oh no. This was pure unadulterated, unfiltered, unimaginable lust. Different than the bloodlust she fought against. That had an angry, dark, empty force. The stranger’s touch filled her straight up to the top with excitement and butterflies and all the feels.

It all felt so damn good. She wanted him to kiss her. Stupid. Crazy. Why would he do that? One point seven seconds ago he’d been accusing her of theft.

He brushed his lips across her mouth, pushing his bottom one against hers, asking her to open for him. The only men she’d ever kissed were under the spell of the allure. She was still so surprised by his move to kiss her she didn’t respond, until he nipped at that lip.

Oh, yeah. She parted her lips and inhaled his flavor. His tongue played with hers, testing and tasting her as she did him. He was sour candy and the sea. She couldn’t get enough of him.

She pushed her hands into his hair and returned his fervor as good as he gave. Geez, he was a good kisser.

“Ahem.”

His lips were everywhere she wanted them to be and his tongue was doing things she didn’t even know she liked.

She was probably a slobbering mess, and he could be running the most popular kissing booth in the universe.

“Ah-ah-ahem.”

He broke the kiss way before she was ready. She could go on kissing him for days, and not need food, water, or air.

“Ahhhhhemmmmm. Sorry to interrupt.” Someone stood just inside the doorway to the café.

Eek. She hadn’t even noticed the bell over the door ring, much less another being in the room. Jada was staring up at her kisser and only caught the person out of the corner of her eye. How long had the voyeur been there?

Her guy flicked his gaze back and forth between her eyes and lips, but then stepped back, turning to be by her side.

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