27 Ariuk #2
There was a brief scrape of shoes outside before the first man tried again, sounding much closer now. “You can’t just follow a smell into the women’s bathroom.”
Deus didn’t answer him. The door swung the rest of the way open, and a moment later he stepped inside and let it close behind him.
For a few seconds, neither of us moved after I turned away from the sink.
Deep green eyes locked onto mine beneath medium twists that framed a face unfairly designed to cause problems. His skin was dark like mine, his shoulders broad beneath a fitted shirt, and thick gold earrings caught the bathroom light when he tilted his head.
He wasn’t as enormous as Zel, but there was enough muscle packed across his frame to make staring difficult to avoid.
Then recognition clicked into place. I’d seen him at Pretty in Pink before. Not long enough to know who he was or what he was doing there, but long enough that those green eyes felt familiar now that they were fixed entirely on me.
His nostrils flared as he drew in a slow breath, and something in his expression changed. “Holy fuck,” he breathed, letting his back settle against the closed door while his gaze moved over me and returned to my face. “Angel.”
The name escaped before I had time to think better of it. “Asmodeus?”
His entire body reacted.
His pupils expanded until they nearly swallowed the green, and one hand flattened hard against the door behind him like he suddenly needed something solid to brace against. A dark horn began pushing through the twists near his temple while his tail appeared behind him and struck once against the tile.
“Well.” His voice had dropped several notes, rougher than it had been in the hallway. “That was rude.”
I swallowed, unable to stop watching the changes moving through him. “Deus?”
“Better.”
He pushed away from the door and crossed part of the space between us, slow enough that I could’ve moved if I wanted to. I didn’t. His attention had narrowed so completely onto me that I could almost feel it before he ever touched me.
“You know my full name.”
“Dante sent me.”
Deus stopped close enough that I could see the way his jaw tightened. “Of course he fucking did.”
“He’s been doing that a lot lately.”
“I’m going to kill him.”
The irritation in his voice was real, but it faded almost as quickly as it appeared. His eyes dropped to the water still clinging to my cheek, following one droplet as it slid toward my jaw before he slowly lifted his hand.
“Can I?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
His thumb touched my cheek, and heat flashed beneath my skin so quickly that I gasped.
Every nerve beneath his thumb seemed to wake at once, pleasure spreading along my jaw and down the side of my neck before sinking lower. My fingers tightened around the edge of the sink as the sensation moved through my chest and settled hot between my legs.
“What the fuck are you doing to me?”
Deus’s smile widened as his thumb traced slowly toward my mouth. “Touching you.”
I shook my head, my breathing already uneven. “That isn’t what touching normally feels like.”
He brushed his thumb over my lower lip, and my knees nearly gave out from something that should’ve been ridiculously simple. His gaze followed the movement with open fascination, as if the way my mouth reacted beneath his touch was something worth studying.
“Not when I do it.” He leaned closer, green eyes darkening again. “I’m Lust, Sweetness.”
His thumb pressed lightly against my mouth, and another rush of heat moved through me hard enough to pull a gasp from my throat.
“See?”
I stared at him, breathing unevenly. “Fuck.”
Deus smiled, but his attention never left my face. His other hand settled at my waist, and that same impossible heat spread beneath his palm while he stepped closer between my legs. His body crowded mine without forcing me back, and his tail curled slowly around my ankle, warm against my skin.
“I’m going to have a lot of fun overwhelming the shit out of you,” he murmured, his thumb still moving lazily along my lower lip. “But you need one word before I do.”
It took me a second to drag my attention away from where his hand rested against my waist. “What word?”
“Veyr.”
“What does that mean?”
The change in him was small but immediate. His expression lost some of its playful edge, and his hand went still against me. “It means I stop. Doesn’t matter what I’m doing or how far gone I am. You say Veyr, my hands come off you.”
I held his gaze for a moment, taking in the seriousness beneath everything Lust was already doing to him. “Some kind of demonic safeword?”
“Something like that.” His thumb brushed my lip again, making my stomach tighten. “Say it.”
“Veyr.”
“Good.” His eyes dropped to my mouth before lifting back to mine. “Now kiss me.”
I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him in.
Deus kissed like he wanted to experience every part of it at once.
One hand slid into my braids while the other tightened around my waist, lifting me onto the counter until my thighs opened around him.
His mouth moved over mine with a hunger that felt different from the others, less about taking and more like he couldn’t stand the idea of missing a single reaction.
I moaned into the kiss and dragged him closer. The answering sound came out of him low and rough as his mouth left mine and moved along my jaw toward my throat.
“Sweetness,” he breathed against my skin, the word vibrating against me while his hands kept moving. His fingers traced my waist beneath my shirt, and every inch they passed over lit beneath them until I arched into him without thinking.
Deus made a pleased sound against my throat and shifted his hand higher, feeling the way my body reacted beneath his palm before his mouth settled against the side of my neck. He sucked hard enough to make my fingers tighten in his shirt, heat blooming beneath his lips as he worked the mark deeper.
“Deus,” I whispered and he hummed without letting go. “That’s going to leave a hickey.”
Deus finally lifted his head enough to inspect the mark darkening against my skin. “Good.”
“You sound proud.”
“I am.”
His teeth grazed lightly over the same spot before his tongue followed, soothing the sting and sending another rush of heat through me. I buried my fingers deeper into his twists, my knuckles brushing the smooth curve of the horn growing through them as he shifted closer between my thighs.
That should’ve reminded me exactly who I was wrapped around. It should’ve reminded me we were still in a restaurant bathroom with people walking through the hall outside. Instead, I pulled him back to my mouth and kissed him until his hand slid down my stomach and beneath the waistband of my jeans.
My breath caught when his fingers moved lower. The closer he got to where I was already aching, the stronger that strange heat in his touch became, until even the brush of his knuckles against my skin made my thighs tighten around him.
Deus broke the kiss and searched my face. “Still with me?”
“Yes.”
“Want my hand here?”
“Yes.”
His smile deepened. “Good.”
Two fingers slid slowly through my folds, gathering the wetness there before circling in a way that made my head tip back against the mirror. I tightened my grip on his shoulder while he watched every change in my face, fascinated by the effect his own touch was having on me.
“This is fucking ridiculous,” I breathed.
“You’re dripping on my hand, Sweetness.”
I opened my eyes enough to glare at him. “That doesn’t make it less ridiculous.”
Deus only kissed beneath my jaw and let one finger press inside me. The stretch pulled another sharp breath from me, and when my hand clamped around his shoulder, he stopped immediately.
“Too much?”
“No.” I shifted my hips toward his hand. “Move.”
His finger curled inside me, slow at first, then again when my body opened around him.
Every movement seemed sharper because of whatever lived beneath his touch, and I had just started to lose track of everything beyond the pressure between my legs when a laugh sounded somewhere outside the bathroom.
My eyes snapped toward the door.
For the first time since Deus touched me, I actually looked around. Mirror. Sink. Locked bathroom door. Deus standing between my spread thighs with one hand down my jeans and a hickey already darkening my neck.
“Oh my fucking God.”
His mouth brushed the corner of mine, still distracted by my skin. “Wrong team.”
“No, I mean—fuck.” I caught his wrist before his fingers could move again. “Deus, we’re in a public bathroom.”
The realization clearly didn’t hit him with the same force. His eyes were almost black now, his breathing heavier as Lust sat visibly beneath his skin, and the slightest movement of his fingers threatened to wipe the thought from my head again.
I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to remember the word he’d given me. “Veyr.”
His hand left me instantly.
The change was so abrupt that I sucked in a breath. His fingers slipped free, his other hand released my waist, and the tail around my ankle loosened before he backed away from me. The pleasure tied to his touch vanished with him, leaving my skin almost painfully aware of the absence.
Deus crossed to the opposite counter and braced both hands against it. His horns had fully emerged through his twists, and only a thin ring of green remained around his blown pupils. He kept his eyes fixed on the wall while his chest rose and fell with slow, deliberate breaths.
“Holy shit,” I whispered, sliding off the counter and fixing my jeans. “I didn’t mean stop because I wasn’t enjoying it. I just remembered where we were.”
“I know.” His fingers tightened around the edge of the counter, but he still didn’t turn toward me. “Give me a second.”
I watched him take another slow breath. “What are you doing?”
“Thinking about Sister Agatha.”
I paused with one hand still at my waistband. “Who the fuck is Sister Agatha?”