Page 41 of Demon with Benefits
“That’s the funniest shit I ever heard.”
“His eyes kinda reminded me of yours, and everyone knows about Mephistopheles and Faust, so...”
“The idiot who made a deal with the devil.” Meph chuckled.
A question about the legend was on the tip of her tongue. Here she was with Mephistopheles in the flesh, and she was more than a little curious to hear the infamous tale told from the devil’s perspective.
But she stopped herself. Something told her she wouldn’t like what he said. The demons had made it clear that they’d only evolved into something less evil over time, which meant they’d done things in their pasts that would probably horrify her.
What she was doing with Meph was all about escapism. She’d been guilting herself for her attraction to him for months, and she was tired of it. She didn’t want a reality check by bringing up stories that would remind her what he was.
Right now they were just Iris and Meph, and there was no past or even future—only the present.
So, Iris turned onto her side and unashamedly stared at the sheer perfection of his body. She was way past disguising her awe at his ungodly hotness, even if it boosted his already inflated ego.
He had made her come so hard she saw stars, multiple times. Her vagina had died and gone to heaven. He’d shagged her into oblivion and back, twice. If her blatant admiration made him more full of himself, it was only because he deserved it.
He grinned at her from the pillow beside hers, his naked body sprawled like a lazy cat in the sun. Like he was reading her mind, he chose that moment to reach his arms overhead and arch his spine in a luxurious stretch.
His skin pulled taut over his ripped abdomen, and those sexy veins above his groin stood out against the hard muscle. TheVlines leading like an arrow to his cock were accentuated too, and so were the millions of tiny muscles along his rib cage.
And thetattoos. There were so damn many of them, she couldn’t really tell what his natural skin tone was. Every inch of him was covered, even half his dick. The geometric designs on his groin continued down the top of his shaft like a map to the promised land.
She sat up suddenly so she could see better, and he continued to lay there all stretched out with that dopey grin on his face while she studied him. The sheer quantity of tattoos was so shocking, it was hard to notice what the individual designs were or anything beyond just the general appearance of a shitload of ink. But when she looked a little closer, she started discerning the different images.
There were a lot of Sheolic symbols and script that she didn’t understand and, honestly, was a little afraid to. A witch who wanted to live was not a witch who messed with Sheolic arts.
There were also a lot of dark images—skulls, haunted faces, freaky monsters. A singular eye with a snakelike pupil stared out at her from his sternum, and a crow with spread wings covered both his pecs. Below that, clutched in the crow’s talons, was...
“Is that some kind of binding sigil?”
“Yep.”
“What does it do?”
“It binds me to my human form. Keeps me from shifting.”
Her gaze shot to his, eyes wide. “Why would you want to tattoo that on your skin? It’s permanent. You can never shift.”
She was used to Mist, who disliked holding his human form for too long, and she didn’t blame the guy. Mist was huge in demon form and armed with deadly claws, talons on his wings, and sharp teeth. If Iris had the ability to fly, she wouldn’t have liked putting away her wings either.
But Meph had purposefully bound himself to his human form. What would make him do such a thing?
“That’s the point,” he said. “Trust me, it’s a good thing.”
“Why?”
He shifted, linking his arms behind his head in a way that made his biceps bulge and look totally biteable. “’Cause I look cooler in human form? I dunno.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t just tattoo a binding seal on yourself without a real reason. What is it?” So much for ignoring the past and living in the present. She was suddenly dying of curiosity.
He made a face. “I was bored of being a demon and wanted to switch it up?”
“Shut up and tell me the truth.”
“But I can’t tell you the truth if I have to shut up.”
“Meph, damn it. Why?”
