Chapter 23
Tobias
What the fuck are you doing, Kaseilon? I drag a hand over my face.
I should be getting dressed and heading back to the tour bus. Or at least checking in with the band to make sure they're alright. I got my dick wet, I came, she came. There’s no reason for me to stick around.
And yet…
I can’t find it in me to put my clothes on and leave. Not yet.
My mind is still racing with images of Joseline beneath me, the way her tight heat milked my cock. I'm not sure what I imagined fucking her would be like, but it was nothing close to reality.
The way her fiery nature melted away and she became putty in my hands. Hell, she begged for me to fuck her.
At the memory, my cock twitches, threatening to harden again. It's safe to say I enjoyed that more than I should have.
The shower cuts on in the bathroom, and I drag myself out of bed. After rummaging through my pants, I pull out my phone and check the band’s group chat for updates. At least they all saw the message I sent earlier.
Me: Creature spotted and dispatched downtown. At Joseline’s hotel.
Daire: Dramatic way to say you’re getting pussy but ok.
Steele: Nice.
Emrys: Can you two not take anything seriously?
Daire: No.
Sebastian: Would you fucks shut up and do a perimeter check?
Steele: 10-4 boss.
I roll my eyes and toss the dying phone aside; it probably won’t last another half hour. I eye my pile of clothes on the floor, indecision tugging me in opposite directions. Then I walk past them to the bathroom door and try the handle. It’s unlocked.
Slipping inside, my eyes fall to the shower’s glass door. Through it, I can make out the blurry shape of Joseline’s curvy form.
This is a bad idea. A terrible idea. But even as I tell myself how stupid it is, I pace to the shower door and slide it open.
Joseline jumps, clutching a soapy rag to her chest, and her eyes meet mine. Her black hair is a slick sheet around her, and water clings to her long eyelashes. Her plush lips, swollen from me biting them, are parted slightly.
“What are you doing?” she asks, her eyes dropping down my body and climbing back up. “Is everything okay?”
“Mind if I join you?” My voice comes out drier than I expect, but she steps aside to let me in.
Once we’re together in the tiny shower, steam swirling around us, electricity zaps through the air. I try to ignore it, but the tension is thick enough to choke on.
“Sorry if the water is too hot,” she says, still clutching the rag as she watches me. “Well, you’re probably used to that.”
“Funny.” I smirk and slip into the scalding spray of water. “But, yes. This is nothing compared to where I come from.”
I let the water run over me, drawing the ache out of my muscles, rinsing away the sweat, grime, and possible hellbeast remnants clinging to my skin. I'd been too preoccupied to care about them earlier, but I’m probably filthy. At least Joseline didn't seem to mind.
When my eyes snap back to her, she takes a nervous step back. It's small but impossible to miss.
“After everything, you still don’t trust me?” I chuckle softly.
“I mean, you did save my life…” Her soft expression hardens, and her eyebrows shoot up. “Wait a minute, how did you know where to teleport us? You haven’t been to this hotel room before.”
“Sebastian told me.”
Her eyes narrow on me, clearing not buying it.
A guilty smirk lifts the corner of my lips. I was hoping she wouldn’t put the pieces together, but I should have known better. Joseline is too smart for me to sneak things past.
“I thought it might be a good idea to know where you were staying, just in case.”
Her eyes narrow on me. “Just in case? So you, what? Stalked me?”
“I don’t stalk,” I scoff. “Besides, Sebastian did tell me where you were staying. But I came by to scope the place out on my own. Don’t give me that look. It clearly paid off, didn’t it?”
She doesn’t say anything, merely glaring at me as the steam builds between us.
“I’ve had countless opportunities to hurt you, sweetheart,” I point out. “If I wanted to, I would have.”
I take a step toward her, noting the way she shivers at my closeness. Her heart lurches, and anxious energy pours off her, filling the shower stall.
“What if it’s not my body I’m worried about?” Her voice is soft, nearly a whisper.
I cant my head to the side, mulling over her words. If she isn’t worried about me harming her, why does she still flinch away from me? What is she so worried about?
Her energy?
Her mind?
Her… heart?
At the thought, my own skips a beat. Regardless of how either of us feels, this can’t last past tonight.
It was a one-time thing. I swore to never take a human mate, and there’s no way she could want to be involved with a demon like me.
Especially not after seeing what her best friend is going through.
No. When we wake up in the morning, all of this will just be a memory.
I can promise her that.
“I told you this was just for tonight.” I take another step closer, and she backs up against the tile wall. “After tonight, it’ll be like none of this happened, you have my word. Okay?”
She swallows hard, blinking up at me like she wants to say something. Then she nods, and the tension in my chest eases a little.
Moving closer still, I take the sudsy rag from her and add more body wash. Her eyebrows scrunch closer together as I work, and she watches in near-horror as I start washing her body, starting with her shoulders and slowly working toward her chest.
“What the fuck do you think you're doing?” she asks, glaring at me like I've done something offensive.
Maybe I have.
Maybe human females aren't used to being taken care of.
“Like I said earlier, I do what I want,” I assure her simply as I wash her breasts before moving on to her soft tummy. She doesn’t complain or attempt to stop me.
She tenses when I drop to my knees in front of her to wash her legs, carefully scrubbing between them and reveling in the tiny gasp that escapes her. When she’s perfectly clean, I stand again and hand over the rag. She’s still staring at me in disbelief.
“But why?” she asks. “You could have left without a word. You don’t have to pretend to be decent for my sake—”
I lean in to cut her off, propping myself up with my forearm on the tile above her head. Our faces are mere inches apart, and fear bleeds into the steamy air around her.
“I’m decent for my own sake, not yours. Even demons have standards,” I say, a low growl rumbling in my chest. “Would you prefer if I was a monster?”
She shakes her head slowly, her eyes locked firmly on mine.
“Say the word and I’ll leave right now,” I assure her. “Or I can make sure you get clean and into bed before I do.”
She blinks up at me, those plush lips parting again, and something in me snaps. I close the distance between us, pressing my mouth against hers. My tongue swipes out to taste her, and her arms snake around my neck, pulling me down into the kiss.
Clean and in bed it is.
I reluctantly break our kiss and wash myself hastily before following her out of the shower. She tosses me a fluffy white towel, and I sling it around my hips, my eyes lingering on her as she dries off and runs a brush through her long, black hair. Then she leads me back to the room.
I expect her to put on some pajamas or crawl into bed to get ready to sleep; she has to be fucking exhausted after today. What I don’t expect is for her to whip around and drop her towel to press her naked form against mine. Her fingers trail up my chest, and my blood rushes south.
“You just showered,” I say as she palms my cock through the towel. “Do you want me to make a mess of you again?”
A mischievous smirk curves her mouth, and she squeezes my shaft. “I think I need to come one more time to sleep peacefully.” Her finger hooks under my towel and pulls, the fabric falling to the floor at our feet. “But I can always fuck myself after you leave.”
Like Hell she can.
My cock throbs, aching to be inside her again, and I walk her backward to the edge of the bed. The only way she’s fucking herself tonight is if I watch, but I’d much rather see her fall apart on my cock again.
I push her back onto the mattress and follow, settling between her thighs.
This time when I fuck her, I do it slowly, taking my time.
I learn all of her curves, all the ways I can leave her panting and gasping.
I kiss and lick over her flesh, tasting her, committing her to memory like she’s the only human I’ll ever use this way.
Chances are, she will be. I never plan to let myself get close enough to another human, but Joseline is different. The circumstances were unique.
And fuck, does her pussy feel like it was made just for me.
She comes on my cock, whispering my name like a hallowed prayer, before I pull her into my chest. She falls asleep on me as I run my fingers through her long hair, her soft snores the only sounds to break the silence of her hotel room, and I stare up at the ceiling until I feel my eyes closing.
No way am I falling asleep here. That wasn’t part of the deal.
Carefully, I pry myself away from her and tug on my clothes as quietly as I can, pulling my mask on last. Then I stand at the foot of the bed, watching her, my mind churning with complicated thoughts and emotions I was never supposed to feel.
I know I should leave; I’ve already been here too long. It doesn’t matter how much I enjoyed tonight, or how much I want to stay, I promised her it would mean nothing. The moment I walk out the door, everything will go back to the way it was before tonight. It has to.
With a final lingering look, I commit the image of her sleeping peacefully to memory. Then I turn and force myself out of her room before I can second-guess myself, dragging myself all the way back to the tour bus.