by Grace, KD
She could hear the shower running in the bathroom, and maliciously she hoped it was a cold one that had nothing to do with being dirty. She turned off the lamp on her night stand and rolled over on her side, still trying to get her head around the events of the past twenty-four hours.
And suddenly she wasn’t alone. Suddenly the demon presence filled all the space beneath her skin and expanded beyond to wrap around her like silk. Once again she felt the full roundness of femininity wriggling close to her, nuzzling up to her, embracing her, and she couldn’t hold back a moan at the feel of tight nipples against her spine and soft pubic curls nestling up to her bottom. It didn’t matter that they weren’t physical. They felt stunningly real, and powerfully arousing. The warm breath against her ear was sweet and comforting. ‘Don’t feel bad, darling,’ a female voice purred inside her head. ‘He’s afraid, that’s all. He’s afraid I might damage you somehow.’ A hand cupped her breast, a thumb raked her hardening nipple.
‘Will you?’ Jill spoke out loud almost before she realised it. ‘Will you damage me?’
‘Of course not, my sweet Jill. Your flesh is precious to me, more so than you know. I would never harm you. Never.’
‘What do you want from me, Eleanor?’ This time Jill was careful not to speak out loud. For the first time since he sidled up to her in the pub, she wasn’t so anxious to draw Finn’s attention. This was her chance for a little girl talk. Girl talk with a lust demon. Jesus, the insanity of her situation was astounding.
‘All I want is to share your body, Jill. I’ve been around a long time. I’ve experienced so many things.’ Jill felt the brush of warm lips against her nape. ‘So very many things, and yet there’ve been long passages of time in which my consciousness has had no place to anchor. Oh, Jill, it’s such an empty space, eternity, when there’s no flesh in which to express consciousness.’ Eleanor snuggled still closer and a hand that wasn’t physically there moved down to rest against Jill’s pubis. She quivered at the touch.
Eleanor continued. ‘But you, my darling, have flesh, lovely, voluptuous, delicious flesh. And yet with it you’ve experienced so little. You fear the lust that partners flesh, what it longs for, what it’s capable of, what boundaries it may move beyond. I feel the ache in you, the need. I felt it before I took you. That ache to experience what you’ve not been brave enough to allow is what drew me to you, what I felt when you stumbled into Finn’s shop. You were like light shining into darkness. I could see nothing else. I wanted nothing else. But you.’
The embrace tightened and Jill found herself writhing against the mattress, grinding her bottom back against the demon femininity pressed next to her. It was then that she realised the hand she felt between her legs was not the imagined one but her own, fingers circling her clit and dipping in between the swell of her, still wet from the evening’s heat, still vibrant with the scent of Finn. And for a second she resented him washing the olfactory evidence of their lovemaking down the drain, covering himself in the unnatural scent of soap and deodorant, when she wanted him to smell of her, when she wanted him to smell of them, super-heated and driven, in the throes of a hard animal fuck. She inhaled deeply the smell of him on her body, inside her body, and contemplated the way her scent wrapped around it, mixed through it, enhanced it, made it smell like it belonged there, closer to her than any other scent that wasn’t her own. The imagined arms tightened around her and another warm kiss brushed her nape, feeling as real as anything she had ever felt. The circle and thrust, circle and thrust of her fingers intensified. She felt desperate for the release that was demanded by thoughts of the man now naked in her shower and by the fondling and cuddling of the demon woman whose caress, non-corporeal or not, felt urgent, insistent, needy.
‘What do you want, Jill Hart? You can have it, you know. You’re not Finn’s prisoner. As long as I’m inside you, you’ll never be anyone’s prisoner. If you don’t want to sleep, you don’t have to.’ She laughed softly. ‘I’m not as stupid as Finn thinks. I know exactly what your body’s capable of and what would most pleasure it, both things you would like very much to know. Isn’t that so?’
Jill nodded her response into the darkness. Then the voice felt closer still. ‘Get dressed, Jill. We’re going out.’
‘But what about Finn?’
‘Nobody knows Finn better than I do, sweetie,’ the voice came again. ‘Trust me, I know how to give him the slip. In fact I know how to give him something even better than the slip.’ She tsk-tsked. ‘Of course I’m not going to hurt him, you silly goose. I would never hurt our Finn. I’ll just give him a little something to think about. Go on now, get dressed. That’s a good girl.’
* * *
Thirty minutes later they were dancing in Juno. Jill was wearing the skirt she’d borrowed from Vivie, a black vest that showed plenty of cleavage, and the fabulous boots. Her hair was down and the make-up was minimal. Clearly not from the same school of fashion as Vivie, Eleanor had assured her that, in her case, less was more.
Jill was dancing, something she would never have been brave enough to do without Vivie there to egg her on. Vivie, Eleanor, what was the difference, she wondered. She still wasn’t brave enough to strike out on her own. ‘Neither is Vivie,’ Eleanor whispered. ‘That’s why she drags you along.’
And, in truth, this time was considerably different. Jill had danced with three different blokes since she’d arrived, and the one she was dancing with now looked like he might play rugby or something equally physical when he wasn’t shaking his very nice booty on the dance floor.
‘Mmmm,’ Eleanor purred against her ear. ‘He definitely fancies you, and I detect wood developing below deck.’
Jill wasn’t sure if the improvement in her peripheral vision came from being demon-possessed or simply from the fact that she’d never needed to sneak a peek at a man’s crotch before. But Eleanor wasn’t wrong. The guy’s fly was filling out very nicely indeed. The thought that Jill could be fucking him very shortly tightened her pussy in the tiny gusset of her thong, already damp with exciting possibilities. The knot in her stomach tightened in empathy at the thought of actually letting this bloke, this stranger, ride her. Before her encounter with Finn in Kinky Boots, she’d never even come close to picking up someone in a bar.
As the music changed to a slow beat, some song that Jill, with her total lack of interest in pop culture, didn’t recognise, the man pulled her into his arms. He wasn’t as big as Meinrad, but he was plenty big enough, and for a second she fought the urge to flee as strong arms closed around her and a hand settled low on her back just above the swell of her bottom.
‘It’s all right,’ Eleanor assured her. ‘He’s OK.’
The man, whose name she didn’t know, bent and brushed a kiss across her ear. ‘You smell so good,’ he said.
She smelled like Finn, she thought, and suddenly she felt guilty, which made her angry. She had no reason to feel guilty. She didn’t belong to Finn. She was nothing to him, other than the duty he’d been saddled with because the demon he was supposed to be controlling got out of hand. She expected some tart remark from Eleanor at that thought, but the demon said nothing.
Before she could think too much about it, the man’s mouth found hers in an awkward hunchback of a position that his added height required. The kiss was sloppy, too wet, too much tongue, too suffocating. He lacked Finn’s finesse in the lip and mouth department. The fact that she was making comparisons made her even more angry, but she was too nervous to press the issue and take back control of the kiss. Instead, she managed to level a palm against his chest to give herself a little breathing space. He mistook her effort as mutual attraction and guided her hand inside the open top buttons of his shirt to rest against a sweaty pec. ‘Come on,’ he panted, ‘let’s get out of here.’
She balked, and fought back panic. ‘I can’t leave.’ The sudden rush of nerves made her knees weak, made her feel like she might hyperventilate. ‘I’m waiting for a friend. We said we’d meet here.’
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Finn pulled her close, forcing the breath from her lungs. ‘I leave you alone with her for five minutes, Eleanor, and you get her into trouble. You see, this is exactly why I don’t trust you, why I keep you on a tight leash.’
‘It’s my fault,’ Jill said. ‘I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to … wait a minute.’ She stepped back and placed her hands on her hips, jostling a couple dancing behind them. ‘The last time I checked, I was an adult. I don’t have to ask permission to do what I want, and I don’t have to apologise for it.’
He reached for her, but she stepped back again. ‘You left her alone.’ It was Eleanor using her vocal cords, and the change was so swift and seamless that it startled both Jill and Finn.
‘I didn’t leave her alone.’ He shook his head in confusion. ‘I didn’t leave you alone, Jill. I was right in the next room, I just wanted you to be safe.’
‘Well, as you can see, I am safe, so you can go home and go back to sleep now. That is what you want, isn’t it?’
‘Fuck.’ He spoke between barely parted lips.‘Is that what you think I want? You think I want to sleep? If I’d been able to sleep, I wouldn’t have heard you leave, would I?’
‘You heard us leave?’ Jill yelled to be heard over the music. Another couple jostled her up against Finn, but she pushed back.
‘Of course I heard you leave.’ He jerked his head toward the bar. ‘I’ve been standing there watching you. I don’t mind you having a little fun, but when that arsehole moved in for the grope, that was enough.’ Was she mistaken, or did she sense Eleanor was quite smug about Finn’s behaviour? But then her anger took over.
‘You followed me?’
‘Hell, yes, I followed you. You can’t really believe I’d let you out of my sight, can you?’ Then he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to him close and tight, taking her mouth in a brutal kiss that ended in a sharp bite. In a move that was startlingly swift he cupped her arse cheeks and pulled her tight against him. And Jesus, he was hard, and regardless of who might be watching, she practically climbed his body in an effort to get closer. Everything inside her sparked and the sounds Eleanor was making inside her head were positively copulatory as she ate Finn’s mouth and rubbed against him. ‘I want you so bad I can hardly stand it, Jill. Don’t you know that?’
She was tempted to fuck him right there in Juno with the whole Saturday-night crowd looking on, but instead she pulled away, and it was as though she were suddenly an island in the middle of a vast ocean with a clear view all around her. ‘No I don’t know that, Finn. And we need to talk.’ For the first time she wasn’t sure who was doing the speaking, her or Eleanor, but it didn’t matter. There were too many things that needed to be dealt with if she were going to survive being possessed by a lust demon. Finn ran a hand through his already mussed hair, squared his shoulders then led her off the dance floor.
* * *
They opted for neutral ground, an Indian restaurant whose name Jill forgot even before they were seated in a cramped corner near the back, the only place free in the late-night mishmash of clubbers and pubbers. Strangely she eschewed her usual biryani in favour of chicken jalfrezi. Even as the fiery dish burned her tongue and made her eyes water, she relished all the flavours she had never experienced before, but in the back of her mind she knew that Eleanor liked Indian spices, hot and steamy. Across from her, Finn picked at his korma.
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. ‘Why are we here?’ he asked.
‘Well, first of all, I’m hungry, and Eleanor was in the mood for a good curry. Secondly and most importantly, if you’re going to be Eleanor’s chaperone while she’s in residence, Finn, then we need to set some ground rules.’
He raised an eyebrow, polished off his pint of Kingfisher and motioned for the waiter to bring him another. ‘Ground rules?’
She leaned across the table and hissed at him. ‘I’m possessed, for chrissake, remember?’
He blinked.
‘And I don’t even know what that means. What little I do know is no thanks to you or your Sole Alliance mates. You ordered me home like a naughty child and sent me to bed.’
‘Jesus, Jill.’ He looked around as though he feared someone might be listening in, then leaned across so close that they nearly banged heads over the small table. ‘I’m trying to keep you safe, not punish you.’
‘I know that, really I do, but –’ she spoke between barely parted lips ‘– Eleanor’s a lust demon.’
He gave another quick glance around the room, then did his own version of talking without opening his mouth. ‘I know what Eleanor is, Jill. That’s the problem, isn’t it?’
‘No, that’s not the problem,’ she said. They paused politely while the waiter delivered Finn’s pint, and when he went off to take the order at the table next to them she said, ‘The problem is that a lust demon chose me to possess, Finn. That’s the problem. She could have chosen anyone, and she chose me because …’
‘Because?’ Finn said.
She fidgeted with her napkin, suddenly embarrassed and shy. ‘Because I’m inexperienced.’ She hurried onward, fearing that he might laugh. ‘But that doesn’t mean I’m not filled with lust, Finn, with fantasies, with desires, powerful desires. That’s why she possessed me.’
‘I still don’t see your point.’
‘The point is I want what Eleanor’s offering. I know that now. I want all that I’ve never had, all that I would never be brave enough to pursue without … well, without demon courage.’ In her head she heard Eleanor giggle softly at her turn of phrase.
‘So you want a fuck fest,’ Finn said. His jaw was set hard, his shoulders were tight and block-square.
‘I’m willing to be open about Eleanor’s desires, and about my own.’ She held his gaze. ‘What I’m not willing is to be treated like I’m under house arrest. If you don’t want to fuck me, that’s fine. But I –’
‘Wait a minute, who said I didn’t want to fuck you? I’d think it was pretty obvious how badly I want to fuck you.’
The people at the table next to them gave a quick glance and half sniggered over their bottle of white wine. Finn hissed a whisper. ‘If I were any harder, I’d be lifting the table off the floor.’
Jill choked on her water, and the couple next to them couldn’t make their efforts to pretend not to be paying attention any more obvious.
When the coughing subsided, she took a deep breath and spoke. ‘Then why did you opt for a cold shower rather than my warm bed?’
‘I thought that would be obvious too.’ If Finn had leaned any further over the table he’d have been on top of it. ‘I wanted to be sure it was you who wanted me and not Eleanor using you to get to me.’
‘Oh, it’s me all right, Finn. Eleanor may want you too, but I was there first without her, remember? And I promise you, there are things I want to do with you that don’t involve raising the table.’
His eyelids fluttered and the groan that escaped his lips was nearly painful. ‘Then why the hell are we here rather than at your place or mine?’
‘Negotiations.’ Again Jill wasn’t sure if it were she or Eleanor who had spoken.
‘Negotiations?’
‘What I want out of lust-demon possession.’
‘Jesus, you make it sound like a cruise or something,’ he said.
She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.
‘All right!’ He glared back. ‘Fair enough. And it’s safe to assume that what you want involves sex.’
She nodded enthusiastically. ‘Lots of sex. Kinky sex, dirty, filthy, nasty sex, and I expect you to be more than just a chaperone and a gaoler.’
&
nbsp; He raised an eyebrow and sat back in his chair as Eleanor took over the conversation.
‘I want a body that’s not a prison, Finn, and Jill’s is so very much the body of my dreams. And I want her amply rewarded for her generosity. There’s no need to play naïve with me, because we both know you’re not. Between the two of us, we know exactly how to reward Jill for playing host to me, and I reckon that’s the least we can do.’ The chuckle that slipped up Jill’s throat was wicked, and she felt it all the way down to her clit. ‘Oh, don’t tell me you don’t want to play with us, Finn Masters, because I know better.’ And almost, but not quite, before she knew what she was doing, Jill slid down into her seat just enough to place the sole of one sexy boot in between Finn’s legs and press it solicitously up against the delightful strain of his erection through his jeans.
He held her gaze, his eyes suddenly storm-cloud dark as she had never seen them, dark, and somehow frightening in a way that went straight to her crotch. Then he scooted forward in his seat and uttered a soft grunt as he pressed up tight against her foot. ‘Tell me what you want, Jill.’ He reached under the table and stroked her calf just above the boot with a warm hand. ‘Tell me what you want, and I’ll see that you get it.’
Chapter 9
‘I want to be tied up.’ Jesus! Where the hell had that come from? Was she out of her mind? She figured she could blame Eleanor. Didn’t Finn say Eleanor would make sure her darkest desires were front and centre?
Finn held her gaze. For a long moment he said nothing, only studied her as though he were seeing her for the first time. ‘You’re sure?’