Page 69 of The Devil She Knows
Nine hundred and ninety—Her breath hitched in the back of her throat. “That makes me—”
“Lucky number one thousand, yes. You were supposed to be.” Her lips flattened into a line, her eyes solemn as she stared. “I was going to collect your soul, and I would be free.” She shook her head sadly. “Whatever that even means for someone like me.”
Weresupposed to be.Wasgoing to.Would be.Sam’s brain snagged on the words. “You’re talking like I won’t still be.”
She made a soft noise that if Sam didn’t know any better, sounded pained. “Sam—”
“You said everyone uses all six wishes. I still have one wish left.”
“And you and I both know you’re not going to use it.” Daphne’s eyes flashed defiantly, blue eclipsed by black. “Even if you tried, I wouldn’t let you. I won’t grant another wish for you, Sam.” Her shoulders rose and fell in a helpless shrug. “Ican’t.”
Sam’s heart pounded painfully inside her throat. “Why not?”
Daphne’s eyes dropped to her mouth, then rose again to meet her eyes, and slowly, giving Sam plenty of time to back away, she leaned in. Sam didn’t move, she barely breathed, held herself so still she nearly shook, her muscles all but quivering, a tense string just waiting,beggingto be plucked.
Stopping right at the last second, a hairsbreadth from Sam’s lips, so close she could taste the bite of bourbon on her breath, Daphne sighed sweetly.
“Call it a crisis of conscience, I guess,” she whispered, erasing the distance between them and capturing Sam’s lips.
She let herself get lost in it, the feeling of Daphne’s soft, plush mouth moving against hers. It was sweet, sweeter than she had expected, maybe even the sweetest kiss she’d ever had. Sweet, until with an enviably steady hand, Daphne cupped her jaw, claw-tipped fingers twining in her hair, what remained of Sam’s breath vanishing when Daphne’s tongue swept against the seam of her lips,forked.
Everything south of Sam’s belly button went molten and—it was pure impulse. Without breaking the kiss, she rose onto her knees and threw one leg over Daphne’s, straddling her thigh. She gripped her shoulders, digging blunt human nails into Daphne’s neck, and crushed herself closer. It wasn’t close enough.
Daphne broke away with a gasp, the opposite of what she wanted. “We shouldn’t.”
“Why not?” Her lips burned with the ghost of Daphne’s kiss. “Don’t you want—”
“Shut up.” Daphne’s hand tightened in Sam’s hair, drawing a gasp from her lips. The nails—clawsof her other hand pricked at the skin of Sam’s thigh through her pants. She glowered up at her with black eyes. “You’re grieving and I amtryingto be nice.”
Grieving?Sam had spent the better part of her relationshipgrievingthe relationship. She was so sick of mourning, so tired of feeling sad.
“What if I don’t want you to be nice?” Sam’s cheeks prickled with heat as she held Daphne’s stare and made a point of rocking her hips forward. “What if I want—”
Daphne dragged her down, muffling the words with a brief, biting kiss that stole her breath and made her shiver.
Her heart pounded, blood pumping a potent cocktail of fear and arousal through her when Daphne dragged a razorsharp claw up the front of Sam’s throat all the way from the notch at the top of her breastbone to her chin, tipping Sam’s head back so she could lay a trail of kisses from the corner of her mouth to her jaw.
The hand on Sam’s thigh slid higher and the heat between her legs grew hotter, insistent. Fingers slipped under Sam’s jacket and down the waist of her pants, gripping her ass, pulling their bodies flush, encouraging her to grind harder against Daphne’s thigh.
“Look at you. So desperate you couldn’t even wait two minutes to get your clothes off,” Daphne tutted softly, and Sam couldn’t help the whimper that left her lips, heat rising up her jaw.Desperate.She could feel Daphne smile against her throat, the scrape of teeth against her collarbone. “This is what you want, hmm?” Daphne rolled her hips up, meeting Sam’s frantic, rocking thrusts with her own.
Sam had felt desire before, but never like this. Like if Daphne didn’t keep touching her, the fire in her veins would burn even her bones to ash. It wastoogood, friction perfect against her clit, the pressure and pleasure almost too much, reducing Sam to high-pitched noises and fucked-out little gasps.
Daphne pulled back and looked at Sam with black eyes.“Are you going to scream for me, sweetheart? Come on.” The fingers tangled in Sam’s hair tightened, hard enough to make her scalp tingle and her cunt clench. Daphne bared her teeth in a savage smile and arched up, flicking the tip of her tongue against Sam’s bottom lip. “Give it to me.”
Sam’s lips trembled and the muscles in her thighs and stomach burned. Her calves were a minute away from cramping as her toes curled and—Daphne dragged her claws over the sensitive skin at the small of her back, sending Sam plummeting over the edge into pleasure so good, so sharp, that she cried out.
“Holy shit.” A breathless laugh escaped her, her head lolling against Daphne’s shoulder.
Daphne ran her fingers through Sam’s hair and huffed quietly. “Nothing holy aboutthat.”
Sam rolled her eyes and lifted her head so she could look Daphne in the eye. She was smirking, looking inordinately pleased, like the cat that got the cream.
“Shut up.” Sam’s fingers went to her mouth, pressing gently against her tender, bruised lips. “I thought you were trying to be nice.”
“Iambeing nice,” Daphne said, snatching Sam’s hand and pressing a kiss against the center of her palm. “Next time, I’ll show you what I’m like when I’m mean.”
The promise sent a shiver down Sam’s spine and made her insides clench. “Next time? As in, there’s going to be one?”
