Page 23 of Monster Mate

“You can’t say that and try to run away from me when I don’t respond quickly enough,” he bit out through clenched teeth. “All my blood rushed to my cock the second you said you wanted me. My brain needs a second to formulate words.”

“Oh,” she whispered. He groaned as she wiggled in his lap.

“Yes. Oh,” he said dryly. “So, I’m failing to see the problem. You want me. I clearly want you. What’s holding you back?”

“I’ve made mistakes before,” she admitted. “My last relationship was a disaster. I ignored red flags and it ended…badly.”

He was dying—dying!—to ask more questions about this prior relationship. But something told him she wasn’t ready to divulge all the details yet. “Are you ignoring red flags with me?”

Like the fact that I’m a soul-reaping demon from a hell dimension who killed someone in front of you when we first met?

“No,” she said without hesitation. “I don’t see any red flags. Nothing but green. But that’s what’s worrying me. Maybe we don’t know each other well enough to see the red flags.”

He nodded. “I understand. You’d like to know me better before officially agreeing to consider me as a potential romantic partner.”

“Yes.”

There still must not be any blood in his brain because he was only seeing her interest in him as a win. A big one. “I still don’t see a problem.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a man. It’s a problem because I feel like we should be getting to know each other, but all I want to do right now is ride you like a palomino.”

His cock throbbed painfully in his pants, doing its best to breach the leather to get to her. “Who says the two things are mutually exclusive?” he growled.

Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Who says we can’t get to know each other while we’re fucking?”

“Well…because sex has a way of complicating things.”

“Sure. It can. But I’d like to think we’re both mature, responsible adults. If things get complicated, we stop.”

She bit her lower lip. “You think it’s as simple as that?”

He had to tear his gaze off that lush lip before he took a bite out of it himself. “I think it’s as simple—or as complicated—as we make it.”

“So, you think we could…”

She gasped when he shifted her weight so that her clit hit his cock a little more solidly. “We can fuck as much or as little as you want. I’ll deny you nothing. If you want to talk before, after, or during, I’ll follow your lead. And when you want me to take the lead, I will.”

She got very quiet and still after that. He immediately chastised himself. He’d pushed her too far. He shouldn’t have put such a lascivious emphasis on the word take. “I can’t tell what you’re thinking,” he admitted. “Have I offended or frightened you?”

Roxie gave him a slow headshake. “No. I was just wondering why we’re still sitting here with all our clothes on when we could be in your bed?”

There went all the blood from his brain again. Looks like they were back to 2.1 seconds. “Hang onto me,” he rasped, barely recognizing his own voice in the guttural noise he’d just made.

She could’ve grabbed his arms. Or his hands. Or, fuck, she could’ve grabbed his horns. But not his Roxie.

She met his gaze defiantly and grabbed hold of his cock. “Ready when you are,” she whispered.

Oh, my queen. We’ll see about that. We’ll see…

CHAPTER 15

One second, they were in the reading nook, fully clothed. The next, they were in Riordan’s bedroom, naked, with him kneeling in front of her.

She sputtered. “Where the…did you teleport my clothes off?”

“Yes,” he said distractedly, gripping her hips so hard she’d probably have bruises the next day.

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