A whimper escaped her throat at the desperation that ran through his command. She wrapped her lips around him, holding his gaze, trying to judge his response. The flutter of his eyelids seemed positive.
She couldn’t take his entire length, so she wrapped her hand around the base. The more she licked, sucked, and bobbed her head, the louder he got. His hips thrust in time with her attention, until he was fucking her face.
“Dip your fingers between your legs.” His voice was gravel. “Tell me if you’re as wet as you were last night.”
She gasped when her fingers slipped along her mons. She couldn’t talk, but she managed a nod.
“Play with my balls,” he said.
She glided slippery fingers along his sac. His grunts grew louder, and his thrusts more punctuated.
She fell into the rhythm, squeezing her legs together as best she could, to suppress the throbbing need. It didn’t work.
“Stop.” It sounded like he had to force the word out. He pulled back from her touch, breaking all contact between them.
“Did I do something wrong?”
He grasped her fingers and pulled her to her feet. “You did everything right. And while I love a good facial, this weekend is about your pleasure first.” He gripped her hips and set her on the stool again.
Irdu spread her legs with his knee and moved his hand between them. He stroked along her slit while he kissed her. The slow build was torturous and incredible, pushing her toward climax. He teased his fingers inside her, then pulled out to move to her clit.
Each time her breathing grew shallower and she was certain she was going to come, he’d change his position.
When he finally lingered his attention on her clit, orgasm ripped through her. She squeezed her eyes shut, letting the stars dance inside her eyelids and the clouds take her head.
She barely noticed when his touch fell away, but a heartbeat later, he thrust inside her in a single movement.
He hit the right spot to draw out her orgasm, and she cried out at the deep penetration. He moved his slick hand to her thigh and gripped hard enough to leave a mark, digging his nails into her skin.
Ronnie was hoarse when he spilled in her and that wonderful feeling of their auras mingling wrapped around them. She was going to have trouble, going back to her vibrator after a weekend like this, and it was only Saturday morning.
Chapter Six
Irdu leaned his weight against the counter, not breaking away from Ronnie. She kept her head rested against his chest and her legs wrapped around his waist.
“I’m really not supposed to keep you here all weekend. Not stuck in this apartment, anyway.” His voice vibrated through her. “I have to show you the wonders of the world.”
“Have to? You make it sound like work.”
“It is my job. But it’s definitely not work.” He stepped back to look her in the eye. “Especially today.”
A new flavor of heat spread through her, sweeter than the whipped cream from breakfast. It was still just a weekend of orientation, but at least it was a fun one.
“Where do you want to go? Anywhere.” Irdu made a sweeping gesture with his arm.
She didn’t have to think. “Everywhere. I want to see it all.”
“You’ll get there. I promise. Pick a starting point.”
That was harder. She ticked through the images she had in her head of all the beautiful places in the world. She might be better off rolling the dice to decide. Then she landed on the perfect spot. “Six Flags.”
“You’re one incredible surprise after another.” He brushed a thumb across her cheek. “We can go anywhere.”
“I figured you meant it the first time.” And she’d considered Scotland, Japan, France, even Russia. “But if this is about exploring my senses, I want to ride some of the tallest roller coasters, hear people laughing, and see the results of brilliant imaginations. I want to smell cotton candy and booze and sweaty crowds, and I want to eat and drink and absorb it all.”
“It’s hard to argue with logic like that.”
After a quick stop at Ronnie’s apartment for fresh clothes, and a shower that was cut short when they ran out of hot water, they stood at the gates to Six Flags over Georgia.
She tried not to gape at everything, but even standing in line, waiting to buy their admission, was amazing. There was so much to take in—scents, sounds, sights. And the emotion...
Demons could feel the stronger human emotions, and here those were as potent as baking brownies. Most of the feelings were joy. Ronnie could get high on the second-hand euphoria.
They bought their tickets and stepped into the park. “Where to, first?” Irdu asked.
“A roller coaster.” Ronnie’s answer came without hesitation. She had a huge to-see list, but that was at the top. “The inverted one, and then the one that plummets us straight toward the ground.”
“Ah...” Irdu looked hesitant for the first time since she’d met him, all of twelve hours ago. “If you want a roller coaster, you can ride me.”
She leaned into him enough to push him in the direction of the first coaster. “It’s not like you can get hurt on one of these things.”
“No, but they can evict my breakfast.”
Ronnie shrugged and stepped into the line. “I can go alone.”
He gave an exaggerated sigh. “No. I guess I can keep you company.” He didn’t sound disappointed. But he did fidget more than normal in line.
She had images of roller coasters in her mind, from her preprogrammed knowledge. She’d seen a few videos. They looked like fun.
She and Irdu slid into their seats, legs dangling loose, and the operator checked their harnesses. She didn’t know if the tension rolling over her was her own or from everyone else on the ride, but she loved it.
The ride jerked, then glided forward smoothly. It crept up a ramp, one painful inch at a time, cranking her anticipation along with it. They hit the peak, and the world seemed to pause.
Then the world dropped out from underneath her, as the coaster and passengers screamed down the first slope and into a turn. She spent the next minute and a half screaming and laughing, frequently both at the same time, while the machine introduced her to the kind of rapid shifts in gravity she could never get from magical flying.
When they slid to a stop back at the station, it was over too soon.
“Again,” Ronnie said, as they stepped back onto the platform.
Irdu laughed. Any apprehension he’d had before seemed to be gone. “You mentioned the falling-to-our-death ride.”
“Not the way I phrased it.” She couldn’t wipe the grin off her face
“It’s all good. I’m still in.” He grabbed her hand and kept her close while they wove through the crowds and back into the park.
When they reached the ride in question, the sign said there was a two-hour wait.
“We can stand in the ever-popular line ride, or we can come back later,” Irdu said.
Ronnie had already experienced having her guts rearranged, and she wanted to see as much else as was possible. “Let’s come back.”
“As you wish.” He wrapped an arm around her waist pointed her toward another part of the park.
It felt natural to lean into him. Her joy, plus his aura, felt like floating on a cloud. Best. High. Ever. They headed away from the rides, toward a series of small shacks. One boasted ice cream, and another pizza and pretzels. He passed all the food, and led her toward flashing lights and clanging bells instead.
People were shooting plastic guns at plastic targets. And for the most part, missing. She wasn’t sure what the point was.
Irdu handed over his money and grabbed a gun. “Watch and be amazed.” He winked.
“You set a high bar. I’m waiting.”
He aimed and fired three times in rapid succession. He hit the target with each shot. It was possible he was controlling the elements, using a puff of air, to make the target ping. She didn’t feel any shift in the magic around them
, though.
He kept going, and a small crowd grew around them. Some cheered each time he hit, and others tried to distract him.
He never missed.
“You can keep going, but you’re maxed out on the prize,” the guy behind the counter said apathetically.
Irdu set the toy weapon aside. “I’m done.”
A round of cheers went up behind him, but he was looking at Ronnie. “Which do you want?”
“What?” She was missing a point of reference.
He nodded at the giant toys on the back wall. “Pick.”
The purple panda caught her eye, and she pointed. The employee grabbed it and handed it to her. The toy was two-thirds as big as she was. It was perfect.
She squeezed it tight. “I love it. I have no idea where to put it while we’re here, but I love it.”
“Good.” He rested a hand on the small of her back and steered her away. The crowd disbursed.
“How did you get so good at that?” Ronnie asked.
Irdu shrugged. “In a past life, I was a competition shooter.”
She laughed. Hardly applicable to their line of work. Maybe some day he’d give her the full story. If they ever spoke again after this weekend. The idea that they might not made her a little sad.
“Do you want lunch?” he asked.
She wanted to try all the food in the park. That was probably a bit over the top, though. “Yes. As long as the experience is something I can’t get anywhere else.”
He screwed his face up, then relaxed. “I have the perfect idea.”
They rented a storage locker for the bear and headed back to the stand boasting Pizza and Pretzels.
“I’m pretty sure I can get either one from other places.” She wasn’t complaining. Simply making an observation.
“You said the experience. And I guarantee you’ve never had pizza like this.” Irdu ordered two slices of pepperoni and a large soda. It only took a few seconds for Ronnie to be handed a paper plate with a massive orange triangle on it.
He led her to a white table. The paint was chipped in a few places, and the chairs looked like they’d seen better days.
As far as Ronnie was concerned, it was perfect, because it was real. She had no idea how to eat her food, though.
Irdu folded his in half, to take a bite. It looked effective. She mimicked him. A wash of flavor hit her tongue, tomato and spice and meat and cheese in a muddled blend.
“It’s so greasy,” she said between mouthfuls.
“Is that bad?”
It was overpriced, had a higher fat content than it did nutritional value, and the people around them consumed it like it was the most perfect substance ever created. “Absolutely not. I love it.”
Ronnie was halfway through her slice, when she realized he was studying her instead of eating. She set her pizza down and reached for a napkin. “Do I have food on my face?”
He rested his thumb at the corner of her mouth and dragged it across her cheek, then leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was greasy and messy. And of course, fantastic.
He pulled back, still looking her. “I love watching you have fun. It’s contagious.”
“Contagious sounds serious,” she teased. “Maybe you should get that checked out.”
“Only if you’re the doctor.”
She liked the playfulness in his voice. “I’ll have to do a thorough examination, to make sure you’re all right. Check everything.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
They stayed until the sun set, doing as much as possible, while drawing each moment out as long as they could.
“My feet are killing me.” So where her calves. Her voice was raw, and her cheeks were sore from all the laughter.
He stroked his finger along the back of her knuckles. “The ache will vanish when we phase back to my apartment.”
She frowned. “I know.” She couldn’t hide her disappointment.
“What’s wrong?”
“I like the ache. It’s a reminder of the day.” Probably a silly thing to think, but that didn’t stop her from feeling that way.
Irdu nudged her from the dwindling crowds and backed her against a wall, molding his body to hers. He kissed her hard, stealing her breath and swallowing her groan of surprise. He dragged his palm up her stomach, to tease her breast, and wedged his knee between her legs.
She ground into his touch, memorizing every sensation.
He pulled back to rest his forehead against hers. “I can give you all sorts of new aches that will linger the entire night.”
“You say the naughtiest things.”
“This isn’t naughty. This is barely foreplay.”
She sighed happily. “You have so much to teach me.”
IT WAS SUNDAY NIGHT. They’d done so much in the past two days, yet it wasn’t nearly enough. Technically, she had eternity ahead of her—as long as she didn’t fuck up, have her physical-body privileges revoked, and get sent back to Hell. Not that she planned on it.
But none of what lay in front of her would be the same as this weekend.
“What are you thinking about?” Irdu asked.
That she had to extract herself from him soon. “You’re awfully good at this.” But of course he was. It was his job to teach newbie demons how to love life without going off the deep end of sensory overload.
A shadow passed over his face and vanished under an impassive mask. “Yeah. I’m a real professional.” He worked his jaw, then snapped it shut.
She was going to push for more but didn’t want to hear what he was holding back. This was attraction. A lingering aftereffect of spending a weekend wrapped up in him. She wasn’t feeling anything beyond that, because this was just sex. The ache of having to leave Irdu was because they clicked, but she’d click with other people. Getting along didn’t mean anything beyond that.
Chapter Seven
Ronnie took a seat at the conference-room table on the main floor of the Ubiquity building. She was one of six demons and angels starting work as Reapers.
When Irdu strode into the room, her stomach flipped.
“Morning, all.” His gaze flicked over each face, lingering on hers for an extra second. “I’m Irdu. Your new manager. This morning we’re doing a refresher about the job, and then you’ll can have at it.”
New manager? Her gut plummeted into her shoes, and irritation flared inside. He could have told her. It wasn’t kind of an important piece of information to have. Keeping the information from her wasn’t technically a lie, but it was deceptive.
They didn’t have to hide what they’d done. Even if it hadn’t been company sanctioned, Ubiquity didn’t have an anti-fraternization policy, specifically because all of their employees liked to fuck.
“Any questions?” Irdu asked.
She’d missed most of what he said. She raised her hand anyway.
“Uriel.” He nodded at her.
“Ronnie.” She didn’t hide her irritation that he was pretending not to know what name she preferred. “Did you know before today who your new employees were going to be?”
He winced. “Yes.”
Lying fucker. Why did it matter? Because it was a breach of trust. And that hurt more than a lot of things, even from someone she’d only given her body to.
She didn’t have a follow-up question. She was content to simmer with her irritation for the next couple of hours, until he let them take a break.
“Ronnie. Give me two minutes?” he asked as she brushed past with the group.
She spared him the briefest glance. “No need.”
She should feel some sort of satisfaction at shrugging him off, but her anger grew through more orientation. Through lunch. And through her being introduced to the demon she would sit with through training.
She tried to focus on how the computer system worked. How it found potential cherubs. How she was supposed to know which flags were legit and which were meaningless.
But she couldn’t get h
er mind off Irdu. She pushed her chair away from the computer. “Can we take a break?”
“Sure.” Her trainer shrugged.
Great.
She stalked directly to Irdu’s office, pushed inside without knocking, and shut the door behind her.
“Ronnie?” He looked up, the question on his face matching his tone.
“You know what? I do want to talk.” Not the most brilliant line she could have led with, but it was an opener. “Why didn’t you tell me? Orientation is one thing. Oh hey, I’m also your boss. How hard would that have been?”
“I should have said something. You’re right. I just didn’t expect...” He raked his fingers through his hair. A gesture that had been so sexy sweet twenty-four hours ago, and now it pissed her off.
“Didn’t expect what?”
He sighed. “I’ve done this so many times, acting as a gateway to this world. As an introduction. It gets repetitive.”
She’d bored him? A lump grew in her throat, and she couldn’t swallow past it. “I’m sorry to be such an inconvenience.”
“But you aren’t. You weren’t. That’s my point. I had a blast over the last couple of days. If I’d know things would go the way they did, that you’d be so much fun, I would have said something up front.”
She pursed her lips. “And if things had gone the way they usually did?” She wasn’t comforted by his words. “You would have had a newbie to poke fun at on Monday morning. Someone whose secrets you’d pried into. Someone who worked for you, that you could lord something over.”
“No. I don’t do that. I haven’t done that. There’s just a little fun in catching a new demons off guard. No harm.”
“I’m so glad that the brand-new demons—me, others—can entertain you. During and after orientation.” She let the sarcasm drip from her words. “You’re a fucking asshole.”
“I’m also your boss.” His voice turned hard. Now he wanted to repeat it.
“Then I want a different boss.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
It could. She could demand it from Lucifer. She didn’t think it would go over well, if people knew she had a direct link to the ruler of Hell. But she was so furious, she was willing to call in that favor. “Make it work that way.”
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