Page 14 of The Demon Crown

“Perhaps.” He placed his hand over hers and squeezed a little harder. “Move your fingers like this though, darling, or you’ll cut off my blood flow. You want to limit air, not blood.”

Her eyes widened as she realized what he was suggesting. The thief released her hold on him quickly, shaking off his hand as he chuckled.

She shook her head at him, displeased with the direction their conversation had taken. Again.

“How can you even think like this when your lips are blue?” she muttered.

Then he realized she was sitting in nothing other than her underclothes. Her leathers had gotten wet. Of course, he’d forgotten that she wouldn’t be able to sleep in those.

He hadn’t thought she would be beside him in nothing more than her underwear and a wrap around her breasts, though. She was... tiny. Muscular. Her sinewy body flexed with every tiny movement, and she shivered often. She was more athletic than most women he’d entertained, and he hadn’t realized just how much he liked that. The woman was...

Freezing. Just like him.

He’d been with Lust and Selene for far too long. Those two lovebirds had turned his attention away from the pleasures of the flesh and more toward what a woman might actually want. The sorceress had ruined him, damned woman.

Or maybe she’d just made him realize he didn’t mind helping others if he got something in return.

Uncurling his legs felt a bit like he was trying to force ice to bend. But he somehow managed as he rolled himself toward her and opened his arms.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“We’re both freezing. Desert nights can get dangerously cold, and both of us are wet.”

“Who’s fault is that?”

“Mine, little viper.” He shook his head at her spitting acid, before gesturing again with his hands. “Now come here.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She looked uneasy. Far more than he’d expected.

But she had to know that this was entirely about heat. He wouldn’t put her in a situation where she felt he would take advantage of her. He’d let her stick her hands down his pants and feel how much he’d receded into his body in cold if that made her feel better.

She bit her lip and as he stared at that plush pillow between the flashing white bite of her teeth, he had second thoughts. Maybe he wasn’t as cold as he’d thought.

“Fine,” she muttered. “But this is only to get through the night. Don’t take this for anything other than what it is, demon.”

“I won’t,” he replied with a snort.

She turned her back to him and scooted closer. She snuggled in hard, slamming her back to his front, her arms wrapped firmly around her chest. But that also meant that her rather impressively hard ass was right up against his cock and he’d be damned if it didn’t twitch for her. Because, by the gods, all this woman was in his arms and he wanted to curl her up even tighter.

Through gritted teeth, he asked, “Fine?”

“Fine.”

But he felt another shiver shake through her body and couldn’t take it anymore. Greed snaked his arm around her waist and tugged her even tighter against his chest. He curled his legs up against hers and then sighed as her warmth sank into him.

She was stiff for a few moments before relaxing in his grip. She even wiggled her shoulders a little closer to his chest, her own sigh echoing through his mind as he wondered what sound she would make if he did something else. Like tug her a little closer, just a bit lower. She was so small, he’d have to move her underneath his chin, but then he could slide between those hard thighs and...

“You’re thinking out loud,” she muttered. “Stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Talking about sliding between my hard thighs. They aren’t that hard, you know.”

Oh, she wasn’t going to say something like that without him taking advantage. Greed slid his palm down her waist, over her hip, and down to one of the thighs in question. He grabbed onto it, his palm holding onto the meat of her muscle. “Feels pretty hard to me.”

She sniffed, but he thought it might be with a little pride. She wasn’t ashamed of her body, no. But her words made him feel as though she’d almost goaded him into touching her.

Did she want him to touch her?

---