by Cynthia Eden
His hands went to her top. Untied the straps with a quick flick of his fingers. Her bared breasts were desperate for his touch, the nipples tight and hard in the water. He caught the tips with his fingers. Caressed. Teased.
Made her want so much more.
Todd and Cara shot to the surface at the same time. The moment air filled her lungs, Cara was ready for him. She kissed him, sealing her lips tight to his—
Right before they sank beneath the water.
His fingers went to the bottom of her suit. Found the same easy ties to untangle. When the fabric floated away, he touched her sex. Pushed those strong fingers between her legs and made her hips strain toward him as he strummed the center of her need.
They kicked to the surface together. His hands were still on her. Her lips still on his. Her mouth lifted slowly.
Then he pushed her back against the wall of the pool. Spread her legs ever wider and thrust two fingers deep into her core.
Cara hissed as the pleasure lashed her. But she wanted more than just those fingers inside of her. “Todd . . . I need you.”
“Ah, damn, but you are the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.” His mouth pressed against her throat. Bit. Sucked the flesh.
“Don’t . . . ah . . . play.” But playing felt so good. “Make love to me.”
His head lifted. “I don’t have any more protection with me.” He sounded horrified.
Hell. Pregnancy wasn’t a major concern for her, but now really wasn’t the time to get into an explanation of her genetics.
The lust was riding them both too hard. Now was the time for relief. “Guess we have to improvise,” she whispered. It wouldn’t be as good as having that thick erection of his driving into her, but she was discovering that just about any sensual play with Todd was better than everything she’d experienced with others.
The man sure as hell knew how to please a succubus. A rare talent.
But she also knew how to please a man. Her fingers found the small nubs of his nipples. Tugged lightly. A growl rewarded her efforts, and she trailed the tips of her nails down his chest. The pressure of her nails wasn’t enough to hurt him or mark him, but just enough to sensitize his flesh and let him know what was coming.
Well, he would be coming. And so would she. But first—
Her fingers eased over the skin of his abdomen.
“Cara . . .” His voice had become guttural now, and the fingers inside her were still working her sex in a fierce, possessive drive.
Her climax was close.
Time for his.
The air crackled around them. The already warm water in the pool heated perceptibly as their passion flared.
She found the length of his cock. Long. Hard. She wrapped both hands around him, squeezed. Tested the length, moving from root to head. Again. Again.
The fingers driving inside her began to move faster. So did her hands.
He kissed her. Drove his tongue into her mouth in perfect time with the thrust of his hand.
Her sex contracted around his fingers. Her skin began to prickle as the sting of energy in the air surrounded her, so rich and sweet she could taste it ... just as she tasted him.
Her hands pumped his flesh. Squeezed tighter. Stroked harder. His body stiffened against her, the muscles bunching as he spiraled ever closer to his release.
Her fingers closed over the top of his shaft, caressed the sensitive head beneath the warm water.
Oh, but she was close—
He tore his mouth from hers, stared down at her, breath ragged and hard.
His thumb pushed against her clit and his fingers thrust deep again.
The fire within her erupted into a blaze as Cara choked out his name and greedily took the pleasure he offered ... even as she pumped him to his own climax.
His cock tightened, jerked. The face above hers flushed and she felt the hard jet of his orgasm.
Cara kissed him again, riding the wave of her orgasm, his, and funneling that energy right back to Todd so that his body shuddered as the fiery pleasure seemed to last and last.
When the climax ended, dawn had arrived in full force. Light blazed across the pool, sparkling on the waves.
Damn. It was a miracle they both hadn’t drowned.
Todd blinked and gazed down at Cara’s glistening face. He was so screwed.
Her full lips trembled. Curved into a smile that looked gorgeous, and a little lost.
So screwed.
But he felt good. Fucking fantastic, in fact.
He kissed those lips of hers. God, but he loved her mouth. The sweet bow of her top lip. The plumpness of her lower lip. The way her mouth fit against his. The way she tasted.
Her fingers stroked his cock. A final caress before she eased her hands away.
Todd exhaled. “Cara . . .” Now that the fog of lust was starting to clear, he knew they needed to talk.
But, if he didn’t get away from the naked temptation of her body, he’d forget about talking, again, and pounce on the lady one more time.
“I like you.” Cara’s words stopped him. “You’re . . . different, Todd Brooks.”
And she was far beyond any experience he’d ever had.
“That’s why this is going to be so hard,” she whispered.
He frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Now the smile on her lips was just sad. “We should get dressed.”
She disappeared under the water, sliding beneath the clear surface and swimming around him, before reappearing in the shallow end of the pool—close to the steps that led up to the cement and the waiting patio. He swam slowly behind her, the tension in his gut thickening.
Todd knew he wasn’t about to have the best conversation of his life.
He sure as hell hoped the lady wasn’t kicking him out. Not yet.
His gaze zeroed in on the graceful line of her back as she rose from the pool. Dipped low to the curve of her ass. He hadn’t showed her ass the attention it deserved yet, but he would. He’d show—
She turned a bit, reaching down to grab a towel off the chaise, and he caught a glimpse of her birthmark. A perfect half-moon birthmark above her hip. Left side.
Shit.
Goose bumps grew on his flesh, his warning system going off too late.
In less than five seconds, he was out of the pool. Splashing water and storming toward her. “What the hell is going on?”
She whirled at his snarl, holding her towel in front of her. “Ah, Todd—”
He grabbed the edge of the towel, wrenched it away. Last night, it had been so dark in her bedroom that he hadn’t noticed the mark on her hip. But now, in the bright light of the new day, there was no mistaking it.
Just like in his dream. A perfect fucking match.
Impossible.
No, it should have been impossible.
A woman couldn’t just ... walk into his dreams.
And a man couldn’t transform into a wolf—but Colin had. He’d seen the transformation with his own eyes.
Just like he now saw the damn birthmark.
“I dreamed of that mark.” He stared at the smooth white skin. Skin that contrasted so richly with the dark half-moon. He lifted his gaze to her face. Found her watching him with worried eyes. “How’d I do that, Cara?”
The hair on his nape had risen. Oh, yeah, his alarms were ringing now. Shrieking, actually.
Her hand lifted. “Give me the towel.”
Todd realized they were both dripping wet and still naked. And that he was aroused. Confused as hell, but increasingly aroused.
He tossed the towel back to her.
She wrapped the terry-cloth around her body. “On the other side of the pool, there’s a small storage room. You’ll find some towels in there.”
“Cara . . .”
“We’ll talk, okay? Just ... you need to get dressed first.”
Fine. He spun around, military-style. His gaze flickered over the still water of the pool, saw her bikini floating on the surface.
His stomach clenched.
Damn it. Todd headed for the storage room. Found an oversize towel. Swiped away the water and secured the towel at his hips. Not dressed, but good enough—for the moment.
He went back to face his temptress, and ignored the growing chill in the air.
She stood at the edge of the pool. Hair slicked back. Eyes bright.
He stopped about three feet away from her. Waited. Questions tumbled through his mind. One after the other. How had he known about her birthmark? And when he’d woken that first night, with scratch marks on his arms, just what the hell had been happening?
Had their encounters been dreams ... or had they been all too real?
And why the fuck did he still feel so good? Energy and heat pumped through him, making him feel stronger than he had in months.
“I haven’t been completely honest with you, Todd.”
No shit. Her voice was soft. Tense. Her gaze darted to the left a moment, then returned, almost reluctantly, to his. “I’m not the woman you think I am.”
“Then who the hell are you?” Why was she talking in riddles? He wanted to know about her birthmark, not—
Her left hand lifted, toyed with the top of the towel. “Tell me, Detective—”
Oh, now he was back to detective? Like she hadn’t been moaning his name less than five minutes ago.
“—do you believe in monsters?”
Her question drove the breath from his lungs. “What?” Oh, Christ, he sure hoped she wasn’t gonna tell him that—
“Do you believe in monsters?” She repeated the question and licked her succulent red lips. “You really should, you know.”
“And why is that?” His heart pounded like a drum, the dull beat echoing in his ears.
“Because according to some people, I’m one of the worst monsters you’ll ever meet.”
Chapter 8
He jerked on his clothes, so furious that his hands shook. “Look, baby, if you want to blow me off, that’s fine, but don’t give me some bullshit about being a monster—”
“It’s not bullshit,” she said, blond brows rising in what could have been a flare of annoyance.
“—because I know all about real monsters, okay? I deal with them every fucking day. Rapists. Child killers. Fire freaks who burn down homes with nice old ladies inside—”
She flinched.
“Unless you’re about to tell me that you did kill Michael House,” and Jesus but he hoped she wasn’t, “then don’t screw around with me by throwing out labels that I understand one hell of a lot better than you do.” She’d hit his weak spot, and he was furious. Todd knew all about the evil in the world. Had known about it since his fourteenth birthday, when he’d watched that bastard Costa smile and shoot his mother straight in the heart. Monsters. Yeah. He knew all about the bastards, and the evil that lived in what they pretended were souls.
“I didn’t kill Michael.” She licked her lips again. Stood there with that towel wrapped around her and looked so damn good that he ached. “But I am a monster, Todd. I-I’m a demon.”
He’d just finished dressing when she made her announcement. He shook his head, slowly. “Run that one by me again, baby.” No way the lady had just said—
“I’m a demon, Detective. A real, honest-to-God,” her mouth curved slightly at that in a wan smile, “demon.”
Todd stared at her, not quite sure what to say. The automatic words, You’re crazy, trembled on his lips.
And he would have said those words to her—two months ago.
Yeah, back then, he would have laughed at her claim. Asked what her punch line was.
But that was two months ago.
Back before the dangerous night when he’d trailed his partner to the warehouse district on the darker side of Atlanta and watched his partner of two years stop being a man—and become a snarling, deadly beast.
A wolf.
Todd hadn’t said a word to anyone about what he’d seen. He’d followed Colin because the guy was his partner, and partners backed each other up.
He’d been shaken as hell. Stunned.
He’d planned to follow the wolf into the warehouse, help him, but the captain had paged him, said that he had to get back to the station ASAP—and that he knew where Todd was.
The order had been blunt. Get your ass out of there before you get Colin killed.
So he’d left. He’d taken a heavy knowledge with him—a knowledge he hadn’t shared with anyone—because, well, who would believe him?
At first, he’d had so many dreams about that night. Memories of that brutal shift. The snap of bones and the growl of the beast had haunted his nights.
He’d kept at his job, though, damn it. Bit back the instinctive fear that roused its head. And he’d stuck by his partner’s side, even when he’d been pissed and confused as all hell.
He’d thought that Colin was an anomaly, but now—
“Did you hear me?” Cara raised her voice. “I-I just told you that I’m a demon.”
Todd blinked. First werewolves, now demons. But Cara didn’t look like a demon. No horns. No tail. No forked tongue. Or was all that stuff he’d heard as a kid just bullshit?
“This is the point where most guys get really afraid and leave, as fast as they can.” She hesitated. “Uh, Todd? Can you say something? Are—are you all right?”
“No, I’m not all right,” he gritted. “My lover just told me she’s a damn demon.” Not the best news he could have gotten, but at least she hadn’t confessed to being a murdering demon. “You . . . don’t look like a demon.”
Now her smile really did break his heart. “Sure I do,” she said, and closed her eyes. When they opened a second later, they were black. Completely black.
“Shit!”
Another blink, and her blue gaze was back. “It’s just a little glamour,” she told him, lifting a brow.
Those eyes. He’d seen them before. The darkness. Black cornea. Retina. He’d seen it with—
Niol. That asshole at Paradise Found. He’d wondered why someone would wear contacts like that, but if Cara was telling him the truth, that meant Niol was a demon, too.
And that fact made a hell of a lot of sense when Todd remembered his strange attack in the bar.
“You’re handling this, um, rather well.” Cara gazed at him solemnly.
When Todd lifted his hand to shove back his wet hair, he noticed a tremble still in his fingers. Not that well, baby. He tried for rational. “Demons aren’t real.” He knew the statement was a lie the minute the words slipped out. His partner was a werewolf. If werewolves could exist, then why not demons, too?
Shit, but the world was even more messed up than he’d originally thought, and about a hundred times more dangerous.
“Of course, we’re real. We’ve been living with humans from the very beginning.” She held up her hand. “And before you start asking, let me just tell you, demons are not the spawn of the devil, okay? Total myth, that part. We’re just a . . . different race.”
Different race. Seemed simple enough—but his thundering heart wasn’t quite buying the simple explanation. Christ. “What kind of demon are you?” His gaze raked down her body. “And just how much, uh—” What had she called it? “Glamour have you been using on me?” A cold wind seemed to blow over him. The woman was too pretty. Too perfect looking by far. Hell, the only flaw on her body was that birthmark on her hip, and it really wasn’t a flaw so much as—well, a mark he wanted to bite.
Too perfect. He’d thought it from the beginning. Just what, exactly, was she hiding beneath the glamour?
Did he really want to know?
“Don’t be an idiot!” Cara snapped, and turned on her heel. She stomped toward the chaise and picked up a thin, blue robe. She shouldered into it, letting the towel drop to the ground.
Todd swallowed and absolutely refused to try and catch a glimpse of her naked sex.
“I’m not using glamour to do anything but camouflage my eyes, okay? In case you didn�
��t notice, they’re a bit of a giveaway, don’t you think? And it’s not like I want to go around advertising my true self to the world!”
“Well, your ‘true self’ is what I’m interested in.” Last night, he would have done almost anything to claim her. The lust had been that wild. Now, he couldn’t help but wonder ... how much of it had been real?
A demon. He didn’t know anything about demons or their power. It was so unbelievable. So insane, so—
True.
He knew in his gut Cara wasn’t lying, and too many facts and situations from over the years were rolling through his head.
So much made sense now. The angry stares in Paradise Found. The strange energy he’d felt there.
“I’m not using glamour to shield my body or my face,” she said, hands tightening into fists.
“So that crap about demons having horns and pointed tails is—what? Straight lies?”
“No. It’s true for certain very, very old and very, very powerful demons.”
Hell.
“I’m not a very strong demon,” Cara admitted and did her cheeks flush? Was the woman, ah, demon, embarrassed by her weakness?
“And just what kind of demon are you?” He asked her again, and wondered why she hadn’t answered him before.
Her mouth opened as if she were going to reply, then she stopped and pressed her lips together.
Uh, oh. Not a good sign. But, just how many demons were there, anyway?
“You’re not acting particularly shocked,” she said slowly, and, once more—not answering his question. There was suspicion on her face as she asked, “Have you met my kind before?”
Yeah, he just hadn’t realized it until now. No wonder he’d felt like half the world had been keeping secrets from him. They had. But not any longer. The rose-colored glasses lay shattered at his feet. “Cara . . .”
“Guys really do generally run at this point.” A faint line appeared between her brows. “Like I told you, fast.”
“You’ve told a lot of guys this spiel, huh?” Was that jealousy flaring in his gut? Sure felt like it.
“A few. Those who don’t run usually want me to prove that I’m a demon.”
“So you do your eye trick.”