18 COLD SHOWER
COLD SHOWER
S UNSHINE MELTED INTO THE KISS. H E TASTED LIKE HEAT and spice, and his lips were startlingly soft, in opposition to the firm grip he had on her braid.
Water cascaded down her back, soaking through her clothes and running over her face and into her eyes. Raum hauled her closer, and her palms landed on his pecs to steady herself. His naked pecs. Warm water slid over smooth skin and hard muscle.
He pressed deeper into the kiss, and she heard the soft moan climb up her throat. Her fingers curled, nails digging into his skin.
He pulled back for only a second, and she shamelessly chased him.
But he had no intention of stopping. When his lips crashed into hers again, he pushed her back until her spine hit the tile.
He tugged her hair, exposing her neck, and then stooped to drag his mouth along the tender skin of her throat.
When he pressed his body into hers, there was no missing the hard length of his arousal against her stomach. She could have been wearing a snowsuit and she would have felt it.
The now-familiar sensation of desire electrified her blood. It sensitized every touch, every breath, every taste, until the need for more was all she could think about.
He did that amazing thing with his thigh again, shoving it between her legs until the hard muscle pressed against her pelvis, and her heart ramped up to a furious pace.
She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about kissing him since the first time it’d happened. She’d done it once more since, but she was far from cured of the addiction. It had only made her want more. And this time, it was different.
This time, she was kissing him because she wanted to, not because she was trying to lure him into a trap or because a succubus wanted to feed off their lust. This time, there was no subterfuge, no hidden agenda, no lies between them.
This time … he was drugged with demon scorpion venom.
The thought was like a splash of cold water to the face, and she pulled back with a gasp. There wasn’t far to go. The hand around her braid kept her head immobilized, and his body and strategically placed thigh kept her pinned to the wall.
But he let her break the kiss, leaning back slightly to give her space.
She stared into his eyes, the temptation to kiss him again so strong she couldn’t think straight. His eyes were clear in a way they hadn’t been before, but that wasn’t enough to make this right.
His body … If she let her eyes wander where they wanted to go for even a second, she was going to lose it. Just the peripheral view of the line of his collarbones and the divot between his pectoral muscles was nearly too much.
“We have to stop,” she panted, more to herself than him.
He didn’t laugh or smile or even twitch an eyelid. Stoic Raum was obviously back, but she still couldn’t do this.
“It’s wrong,” she reminded herself.
His brow furrowed, and those full lips that had been so deliciously soft against hers pressed into a hard line. He released her braid and dropped his hand, moving his thigh from between her legs and stepping back.
“Go, then.”
His words were neutral, carefully so. So much that she suddenly realized how he’d interpreted what she said.
“It’s not that,” she said squickly. I don’t care what you are, even if I should. I don’t care about the rules, even if I should. “It’s your … condition.”
His frown deepened.
“You’re under the influence. It’s wrong for me to take advantage.”
His eyes flared and a snort escaped him. “Take advantage?” She nodded mutely.
“You’re worried about taking advantage of me.”
“Yes.”
“Me.”
“That’s what I just s—Don’t laugh at me!”
He was definitely still intoxicated, because his face cracked into a breathtaking smile, and he laughed at her anyway.
“I’m serious! It would be wrong for me to initiate intimacy when you’re not capable of giving full consent.”
One step forward and a firm hand on her hip, and she was pinned back against the wall, that big, wet, naked body surrounding her. Golden eyes lit aflame as he pinned her with an intense stare.
“And what if I initiate it?”
“Absolutely not.” Her words were decisive, but her tone was not. The glint of victory shone in his eyes like he knew it. “I mean it, Raum.” She groaned as he bent and ran his lips along her throat again. “I will not touch you in a sexual way while your judgment is impaired.”
He released her and stepped back suddenly, leaving her bereft. They stared at each other while her chest heaved and her fingers curled into her palms against the urge to reach for him.
“Fine.” His voice was flat, but his eyes sparkled with some mysterious wickedness. He turned into the spray and tipped his face up, letting the water pour over him.
She was momentarily stunned.
He looked over. “Pass me the soap?”
Mutely, she reached and patted the shelf where the soap was, only to realize everything had fallen on the floor and the bar was actually next to her feet. She bent, picked it up, and rose to pass it to him.
Her eyes slid up his very aroused body on her way up, and she suddenly forgot how to breathe. And now her heart was pounding twice as fast, and she couldn’t seem to focus on anything except the images seared into her brain. She didn’t dare look again, though she desperately wanted to.
She mutely handed him the bar of soap, and he started washing himself like it was normal to bathe with a fully clothed angel in his shower.
“But—” The sputtered protest came out against her will.
He glanced at her, and the corner of his mouth curved. There was an evil glint in his eye, reminding her that even in human form, he was still very much a demon.
His next words proved it. “I know when to bide my time, angel.”
He turned away and kept washing, and Sunshine stayed rooted in place until she realized she was staring at his muscled shoulders, at the indent of his spine and the subtle arch of his lower back, where it curved out to the most spectacular ass in all the worlds.
She’d never particularly cared for the backside of a man until right this moment. Now she was obsessed.
A moment later, he looked over his shoulder again. “You’d better stop staring at me like that, or I’m going to pin you back against the wall and finish what you started.”
“I didn’t—”
“You’re the one that came running into the shower.”
“You tripped and fell!”
He just looked at her, one eyebrow arched.
Gather your wits, woman! She fled the shower, closing the glass door in a cloud of steam, and stood on the bathmat, her wet clothes creating a small lake around her.
They were filthy too, and she had no desire to clean them.
Any clothes that had been to Hell and back were ready to be repurposed as rags.
She needed a shower too, in fact.
She glanced back at Raum and nearly cried at the dark outline of his body, discernible through the condensation-fogged glass. Surely this was a test harder than any the Dominations could think up for her. Surely she deserved some reward for her resilience.
For an angel who’d once thought herself not tempted by flesh, she was a wreck.
She left the bathroom, water trailing behind her. Thank the Spheres her apartment had two bathrooms.
She must have stayed in the other shower for half an hour, scrubbing every inch of herself and washing her hair, repeatedly reminding herself of her good intentions so she didn’t run back to Raum and take him up on his earlier offer.
When she was done, she blow-dried her hair, running the comb through it while she stared, unfocused, at her reflection in the mirror.
Despite her troubling arousal, she was exhausted and emotionally charged from everything that had happened in Hell. Facing her fear and revealing herself to the demons in Murmur’s lair was a big step, one she hadn’t thought she was ready for.
What shocked her the most was that she didn’t think she’d ever have been ready if it hadn’t been for Raum. Not even her need to find the book had provided sufficient motivation, but the minute Raum was in danger, all else ceased to matter.
What kind of angel developed such affection for an underworld enemy? How had her priorities shifted so drastically in so short a time?
And when had she stopped caring about the answer to those questions?
When she finally emerged from the bathroom, a fluffy towel wrapped around her middle, she tiptoed back to the bedroom and found Raum fast asleep in the bed.
Her heart softened at the sight of him sprawled across it, somehow taking up the majority of the queen-size mattress. His dark skin against the crisp white sheets was unbelievably enticing, and the voice reminding her such desires were forbidden faded a little more into the background.
She went into the walk-in and donned black lace panties and a slinky satin nightgown that fell to mid thigh.
She could have chosen a baggy T-shirt or flannel pajamas, but she didn’t.
When she finished dressing, she could have gone to the guest bedroom, but she didn’t.
She could have flashed to her chambers in Heaven or even slept on the couch. But she didn’t.
She padded across the room, pulled back the covers, and slipped into the bed beside the superheated body of the demon she was coming to care for far more than she should.
In his sleep, he turned to his side and instinctively pulled her against him. One hand got a surprisingly tight grip around a fistful of her hair, and the other reached around her body to cup her breast.
She snuggled into him, a smile stretching across her face. Closing her eyes, she exhaled slowly, feeling the tension bleed out of her muscles in a way even the hot shower hadn’t achieved.
Raum’s hand slid down the curve of her waist and over her hip, and then he cupped a possessive hand over her core, fingers trapped between her thighs.
She fell asleep loving the feeling of being held by him. Never wanting to give it up.
It was his seventh and final day at the inn.