Page 19 of Accidentally Vacationed with an Incubus

I didn’t move until I heard the attic latch click shut. With a sigh, I stripped out of my clothes, folding each piece neatly before stepping into the bath. The moment I sank into the steaming water, a low, guttural moan slipped past my lips. The temperature wasperfect, the water wrapping around me like silk, coaxing the knots from my muscles.

Steam curled in lazy tendrils around me, the scent of lavender lingering in the air, along with that delicious undercurrent of amber and jasmine. I let my head tip back against the cool cast iron edge, willing myself to just relax, but my mind wouldn’t still.

I was supposed to be finding a date.

But instead of spending my afternoon in a bar, trying to find a kindred soul, I was shopping for snow globes to bribe the ghost. In fact, the thought of seeking out a potential partner hadn’t even crossed my mind today.

I swirled a hand through the water absently.

I guess I’d have to start in earnest tomorrow.

For most people, mortals and monsters alike, dating seemed effortless. A casual comment which turns into a conversation. A right swipe which turns into a spark. But for an incubus demon, every encounter was transactional. Not once had I ever sat across from someone, unguarded. Not once had I shared a moment with no ulterior motive, no expectation lurking beneath the surface.

I was built for seduction, not dating.

And what would I even say?“Hi, I’m Devlin, an incubus who wants to take it slow and get to know the real you. So, tell me—what’s your favorite book?”

I sank lower into the bath, letting the water creep up to my neck.

My gaze drifted to the notebook resting on the wooden tray.Would Jen Myers have any dating advice buried in her novel?

Most likely not. But at least it promised knotting.

***

I was in love.

If someone had cracked open my skull and plucked out the fantasy of my ideal mate, they would have created Mina Moonspire. Confident, clever, awkwardly hilarious—Mina had it all. Throw in a tragic backstory, and her raw vulnerability had me longing to pull her from the pages and wrap my arms around her in comfort. Exiled from her coven, Mina is derailed from getting her life back on track by a local pack of wolf shifters who needed a discreet witch to help them find a missing, cursed pack member.

The grump to Mina’s sunshine? Alpha wolf, Kieran Graymane.

Despite being a wolf shifter, I found Kieran weirdly relatable. The author had painted him as a reluctant alpha, a wolf shifter bound to his pack by loyalty but chafing at the weight of responsibility. His internal tug-of-war, his desire for freedom but tethered to duty, being forced into a marriage with the daughter of another pack’s alpha, mirrored my own struggles...kinda. It was a loose comparison.

Every barb Mina hurled at Kieran was met with his low, growling retort, which she promptly dismissed as though hewere a pup fresh off the puppy pads. She craved belonging—friendship, family, something bigger than just herself—but she refused to admit that she might just find thatwith him.

Lust tangled with longing, simmering beneath every sharp exchange, every stolen glance.

And when they finally surrendered to their desires, it was...

...awful.

The author, who could write a romance intense enough to make an incubus demon almost swoon, was absolutely atrocious at writing sex scenes.

Uninspired. Unexciting.Unbelievably disappointing.

It was as if the author knew the terms, but didn’t know how they fit together. I had an overwhelming urge to grab a pen and make some notes for Jen Myers. My mind drifted back to the scene I’d just finished—the moment thatshouldhave sent a shiver down my spine for all the right reasons. Mina and Kieran had been traveling through the dense, shadow-drenched forest when the storm rolled in, rain falling in heavy sheets. Mina, stubborn as ever, had wanted to push forward, unwilling to waste time, but Kieran demanded that they stop under the guise that the rain would dampen his senses. In reality, he just couldn’t stand the thought of her being out in the cold, his overprotective alpha instincts bristling at the mereideaof her shivering in the downpour.

Reluctantly, Mina conjured a tent. Inside, both of them dripping, soaked to the bone, they were forced to strip away their sodden clothes. Kieran lay awake, muscles tight with restraint, emotions roiling beneath his skin. His inner wolf pacing, howling,demanding.

He wanted her. Not just with the raw, burning lust of a man who had denied himself for too long, but with the aching, desperate need of something primal. Something inevitable.

And then—he’d heard it.

The faintest sound.

The softest clatter of teeth against teeth from the other side of the tent.

And just like that, he couldn’t resist.

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