Chapter 13 Payback
PAYBACK
Davarox
Davarox didn’t know how it would work. How they’d fit together in the end. But he knew he would upend his entire life to see Rosalind and Lazerath happy.
“You done eating?” Dav ducked his head to keep her from seeing those thoughts play out across his face.
She nodded, coming to help him at the sink despite his protests.
He finished the last of the drying and sent her off with a spiced biscuit to look around, which was probably more for his own enjoyment since he got to watch her ass as she leaned over to inspect his bookshelf.
Not like there was much more in the small living space.
She took out a book and flipped through it. “I like your place. It’s cozy.”
It’s lonely, Dav almost muttered. “It’s sufficient.”
“I really assumed you and Laz would share an apartment.”
The bowl nearly slipped from his grip.
“But I get wanting to have some separation,” she went on, oblivious. “I had—have a big family, but even I would steal away for some quiet to keep myself from getting too anxious.”
He’d known they had the latter in common, at least when it came to social interactions. “You miss them?”
Rose gave him a sad smile, sliding the book back in place. “Yeah, so much. I mean, Heck is wonderful, obviously—” She gestured between them.
Dav raised a hand. “Not offended. I get it. Well, I don’t, but I’d be a mess if Laz just disappeared from my life.” He set the bowl aside and shut off the faucet, then blurted, “And Sev. I mean, he’s more of a recluse, but we’re used to longer bouts of not seeing him.”
There was a flicker at the corner of Rosalind’s eyes, and for a moment, he wondered if this woman who seemed to see everything caught his slip. But then she shuffled closer and handed him a towel to dry his hands.
“I would like to know more about you, your past, but I also know that’s probably a heavy topic for tonight.”
It wasn’t hard for Dav not to show his relief. He wiped his hands and shrugged. “Not much to say. Blue hair and certain features give away at least one of my parents’ magical affinities, not that I knew them. I was gray and magic-less at birth, so they didn’t care to keep me around.”
Rosalind stuck out her chin. “Their loss. I happen to think you’re quite wonderful and have done amazing things without them.”
He smirked, leaning forward on the counter to get eye level with her. “Like enter a courtship where my best friend and I try to seduce a human?”
“Such a scandal,” she teased, tongue dragging over her lower lip. “She doesn’t even have a tail.”
“How do you balance without one?”
“Probably my massive brain.”
Dav’s eyes dipped to her lips. “Modest, too.”
“I was under the impression it interested you?”
“Why do you think I let you talk about work all night?”
Rose snapped her fingers and pointed at him. “Why didn’t you stop me? You know I can’t shut my mind off!”
He batted her finger away, prowling around the counter. “Maybe I had ulterior motives.”
Her eyes went wide as she stumbled back, retreating without any real fear. No, if anything, the darkening of her eyes told him exactly how unafraid she was. “Really. Letting me ramble about my stupid proposal and how I’m always ignored was—”
Davarox lunged, pinning her back to the couch as his arms came down on either side of her.
“Don’t say that word,” he growled. His eyes dipped to her lips, then the rapid rise and fall of her chest so close to his.
When he met her gaze again, there was no disguising the heat simmering in the rich brown.
“None of your work is stupid. It’s brilliant, and those jerks in city hall should be begging you for help. ”
Rosalind swallowed, still breathing heavily. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“So you really…”
“Had ulterior motives besides getting incredibly turned on by your passion? Yeah.”
The breath trembled from her lips. “Okay.”
“Good girl.” He leaned in, teasing his nose against hers. Savoring the flutter of her lashes as she closed her eyes. Breathing in her heat. “Bedchamber. Now.”
Rosalind blinked at him, tongue wetting her lips so close to his that he could have easily met it with his own. He wondered, for a moment, if she might go against his order. If she might tilt her chin just a little more, move her hands to his chest, drag him down to her kiss.
But she also craved the rush of relinquishing control, and it was an honor that she trusted him enough to shift to the side.
Davarox left his arm there, forcing her hip to brush against his hand before he removed it to let her pass. Maybe he dragged it a bit over her, letting his thumb tease under the hem of her top, across her stomach, until she had completely slipped past him.
He turned to watch the sway of her ass and the slow but determined steps she took toward his bedchamber.
“Sweater,” he ordered.
Without hesitation, Rosalind peeled the fabric away. Dav swore under his breath, palming his hardness as he appreciated the slope of her spine and the little dimples at her lower back. The long waves of dark hair cascading down and begging to be wrapped around his fist.
She rolled her shoulders, the only sign of uncertainty as she reached the open doorway. He was behind her in an instant, slipping the sweater from her hand because he knew she didn’t want to just drop it on the floor.
“You okay?” he asked, tucking her hair behind her ear so he could press a kiss to her cheek.
Rosalind nodded as she observed the room, the bottles on the corner of the bed, then glanced up to him expectantly.
Fuck, that did something to his insides.
“Bed. Face down.”
Davarox watched her subtly try to read the labels on the bottles as she followed his order, finding his restraint flimsier than it had ever been before. But he took his time folding her top before setting it gently on the chair in the corner.
The floorboards gave him away as he strolled closer to the bed, rolling his sleeves up and watching her tense and shift her hips with anticipation. “Nervous?”
“A little,” came her muffled response. “Curious is a better word.”
Dav grinned, kneeling on the bed before dragging her hair off her back to reveal her beige chest band. His fingertips skipped over the fabric and danced down her spine. Tracing patterns as he watched her skin pebble until he met the waist of her pants.
“You’re so beautiful, Rose,” he whispered, teasing under the fabric. “May I?”
“Yes.”
He moved slowly, deliberately, until he’d folded her pants alongside her top. The sight before him was almost enough to cave, but he had an objective tonight, and he wasn’t going to get distracted.
His hands dragged up her calves and the backs of her thighs until he could squeeze the flesh of her ass.
Okay, only a little bit distracted.
Davarox moved back to the bed, knees on either side of her thighs as he snagged one of the bottles. “You were right before.”
Rose let out a questioning hum.
“Laz told me quite a bit about the other night, even more than the conversations you had.”
She squirmed beneath him.
Dav uncorked the bottle and let the liquid fall into his palm, warming it. “But one thing stuck out to me.”
Her head tilted so she wasn’t speaking directly into his blankets. “That he got to finish inside me first?”
He knew she’d think that, the way he was straddling and teasing her, and it wasn’t wrong. He had plans to take a first away from Laz that would haunt the demon for a long time. But there was something else he needed to do first.
“He told me that you had a horrible muscle knot right here.”
Davarox ran his palms over her shoulder blades and up to her neck, spreading the massage oil onto her skin as he pressed his thumbs gently. Sure enough, the muscle under his touch was beyond tight, crunching with just the slightest pressure.
Rosalind sucked in a breath and then a very long moan. “Oh, fuck.”
“Blazes,” Dav cursed, staring down in horror. “I thought he was exaggerating.” He worked that spot a few times then leaned closer. “How much pressure do you like?”
It took her a moment to process. “You don’t have to—”
“I get to have my hands all over your naked skin to make you feel good. Trust me, this is not a chore.”
She blew out a breath. “You’re really strong, but I don’t mind it deep.”
His cock twitched. No, not a chore at all.
He went back to work, pleasantly surprised to find that his palms and thumbs succeeded in releasing a lot of the tension.
But he was conflicted. He felt smug that he could care for her like this, guilty that she carried so much stress, and then disappointed that it really seemed like no one had ever done this for her before.
“Still good?” he whispered, sweeping his fingers over her neck and down her spine.
“Mhmm,” came the mumble.
Davarox grinned to himself, pressing his hands to her lower back and earning her happy groan in response. He shifted his legs, sliding himself down her body so he could have a better angle.
Yes, to her ass. Obviously.
He snaked the tip of his tail over her hips and tugged at her underwear. “Lift.”
There was no objection as he stripped the garment with his tail so he wouldn’t get massage oil on the fabric. He dragged his hands down and over the globes of her ass and kneaded the flesh.
When Rosalind only let out a happy sigh, he squeezed and spread her slightly.
No reaction.
Smirking, he did it again. Not so subtly.
She sucked in a breath and tensed.
“Ah, she is paying attention.” His thumb teased down the seam, not so close to make her uncomfortable if she told him to stop.
“Dav.”
“Rose.” He teased her again, other hand still massaging the knot he found at the base of her spine. “Has anyone ever been back here?”
Even though she buried her face into the blankets harder, he suspected she was turning pink.
“What was that, baby?”
She turned her head just enough to blurt, “No.”