Page 83 of Legacy of Temptation

“If you’re sure.” He gestured to the living room. “I can take the couch.”

Not good enough. She’d still be alone. Taking a deep, bracing breath, she told him exactly what she wanted. She’d never been shy.

“I want you to sleep in the bed.”

“I’m not letting you take the couch,” he said, and she almost laughed at how utterly oblivious he was. It was kind of adorable.

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

Logan’s eyes flared as he finally caught on. Then they darkened and narrowed. His jaw set hard, the muscles twitching along the bone. “That’s not a good idea.”

Closing her lids, she whispered, “I know.”

She didn’t need to open her eyes to read the sudden electric shift in the room. The air felt thick with desire, but no more so than his smoky voice.

“I don’t want to be right next to you,” he growled, “keeping my hands to myself—”

“I don’t want you to keep your hands to yourself.” She stepped into him. At this point, it was all or nothing, and she liked to gamble. “I want them onme. All over me.”

Holy shit.

Logan couldn’t believe this was happening. He looked down at the beautiful, exhausted female standing so close her heat scorched his skin through his T-shirt.

“It’s not a good idea,” he repeated. “Bad enough I couldn’t control myself during combat training when we only had one demon to worry about. Now, we have an international incident, and a vengeance demon after you.”

The heat in her eyes cooled a little, but she was still throwing off a carnal fever that he wouldn’t be able to ignore even if he wasn’t one-quarter sex demon.

“Exactly. We could wait for a perfect time, but when will that be?” Her fingers trailed down his shoulder, leaving tingles everywhere they touched. “I heard you talking to Mace earlier. About Draven and someone else. Your ex? The demon?”

He hadn’t been sure how much to tell her about that, but in the moment, he couldn’t deflect. Her life was on the line, and ultimately, The Aegis was well aware of who Lilith was and what she was capable of. Them knowing she was an active threat might not be the worst thing ever.

“The demon who has been stalking me isn’t my ex-girlfriend. She’s Lilith.TheLilith. My grandmother.”

The color leached from Eva’s face. She swallowed. Hard. And then sank down onto the end of the bed. Instinct had him wanting to step back in preparation for a blow to the face.

But Eva wasn’t Maja. Still, his shoulders tightened as he waited for her reaction. And maybe a knife to the gut.

“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “She’s real? I mean, of course, she is. I just thought…I don’t know what I thought. Your grandmother isLilith. The most infamous succubus ever.” She frowned as she considered what he’d told her. “Why would your grandmother be stalking you?”

“Long story. Basically, she’s always felt that the Horsemen were disappointments because they aren’t evil psychos. Then my uncle Reseph, who you would know as the Horseman known as Pestilence, killed her right after I was born. When Azagoth destroyed Sheoul-gra and released the billions of souls back into their physical bodies, she came back. She’s been plotting revenge for decades and chose now to reveal herself.”

She rolled her bottom lip between her teeth and thought about that. “How dangerous is she?”

“Take whatever you’ve heard and multiply it by twenty on the atrocities scale,” he said. “We all hate her. But if it makes you feel any better, my paternal grandfather is an angel. I know you guys know who Reaver is.”

That didn’t seem to make her feel better.

“Reaver.” She stared blankly at him. “He slept with Lilith and created the Four Horsemen. Not much is known about him after that except that he lost his wings and then got them back after he saved the world from an apocalypse.” She shook her head. “Wow. I think…I think I’m having trouble processing all of this. I sound like an Aegis encyclopedia.”

“I know what you must be thinking—”

“No, you don’t.” She shoved to her feet, her eyes flashing as if she hadn’t looked ready to pass out just a couple of moments ago. “I’ve always been a risk-taker. I’m not as afraid of things as I should be. I was a journalist before I joined The Aegis, a reporter for some very anti-demon networks.”

“I’m aware,” he said. “I did a little research.”

She gave him a firm nod. “I wouldn’t respect you if you hadn’t.” She turned and paced to the sliding door to look out over the compound’s extensive grounds. “I’ve had stalkers. I even had a death threat when I exposed a vampire colony near a Houston elementary school.” She swung back to him. “But this is different. There’s a lot going on. I’m in real danger, and it’s kind of crazy, but it’s sort of making me feel like I need to burn off some energy. You know, live life to the fullest. In case I’m going to die. Is that weird? Is it weird that I want a handsome, powerful man to give me a night of pleasure to forget all the shit?”

No. No, it wasn’t weird. Because he had just had one hell of a shitty day too, and right now, losing himself in a hot, willing female might be the last chance he had for a respite before all hell broke loose. He had a terrible suspicion that things were going to get very fucking real, very fucking soon.

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