Willow’s heels slapped against the pavement as she walked down Main toward her store. It was dark already, and she wished she’d grabbed her coat before slipping down the street. When she’d locked up the studio and noticed Dev’s truck sitting in the diner’s lot she knew she needed to talk to him.
She was only half a block from the diner when Levi Waite materialized on the sidewalk beside her. Before she knew what was happening, her back was pressed against the crumbling brick and his hands were lodged on either side of her body. He leaned into her personal space, although he didn’t actually touch her, at least not after he’d caught her by surprise and spun her around.
“Now, Willow, if you’d wanted company last night why didn’t you just call me? I’m a much better choice than Warwick. I wouldn’t have been sneaking out of your house before dawn. If you’d taken me home we’d still be locked up tight inside your bedroom.”
That first kick of surprise sent a burst of adrenaline through Willow’s blood, but her brain quickly realized there wasn’t a threat and cut off the reaction. Levi Waite was harmless, if rather annoying.
She reached up to elbow him away, but before her sharp elbow could connect with his soft belly the man was flying backward. It was as if an invisible string had been tied to his waist. His body folded in half, arms and legs flailing as he lost his balance and found himself ass-down in a heap on the pavement.
“Keep your hands off the lady,” Dev growled, staring down at Levi with enough barely checked heat to keep Sweetheart warm through winter.
Levi wasn’t smart enough to realize he was outclassed by Dev, who was bigger and carried more muscle. Or maybe he did and his pride wouldn’t let him stay down. Either way, he reacted on instinct, scrambling up from the ground and lunging for the man who’d knocked him silly without warning.
With a sigh, Willow stepped between the two men. With a hand to Levi’s chest, she said, “Stop.”
Dev grasped her by the waist and tried to pull her out from the middle of the testosterone sandwich. But that wasn’t going to work for her. She dug her heels in and grounded her weight. Tossing a glare at Dev over her shoulder, she warned, “Back off.”
Something in his eyes warned her he wasn’t going to listen.
Instead, she turned her attention to someone with the potential for a level head.
Looking Levi in the eye, she said, “Get out of here. And if you ever grab me like that again I’m going to knee your nuts up into your throat first and ask questions later. Understand?”
Levi met Willow’s glare and sized up Dev straining behind her. Apparently deciding that leaving held merit, he nodded and slipped away.
Willow waited until he was safely inside the diner before she turned on Dev.
“What were you thinking?”
“That you were in trouble and someone needed to help you.”
A sound of frustration buzzed through Willow’s chest. God save her from men.
“I didn’t need any help. I was handling it.”
The urge to wipe the skeptical expression off his face was strong, but somehow she found the strength to deny it. Just.
“Please, little girl, you’re barely strong enough to swat a fly, let alone knock some sense into that Neanderthal.”
Little girl. God, she hated when he called her that. It had always made her feel awkward and out of her element...although everything about Wick had made her feel out of her element. She might have deserved the nickname he’d delighted in throwing in her face then, but now...
Her teeth ground together beneath the weight of her anger. Her elbow flashed out. “I’m no little girl. Not anymore.”
Unfortunately, she didn’t find a target. The damn man was fast. Before she realized what was happening the world was spinning. Shadows surrounded them, blocking out the streetlights and weak moonlight. Her back collided with something solid and her wrists were pinned above her.
Willow blinked, trying to get her bearings. They were in the alley. Her mouth opened, air whistling past dry lips as she pulled oxygen into her lungs.
A block away were people and lights. Laughter and conversation. But here, in the dark with Dev, it felt as if they were utterly alone. Separate from everyone and everything. She thought maybe she should feel afraid, but she didn’t. Instead, an unwanted thrill raced across her skin.
“Trust me, I’m fully aware that you’re all woman.” Dev’s voice was silky, smooth and deadly. Her body reacted, pulsing to life at nothing more than the appreciation in his tone.
How could he make her feel this way with nothing more than a few well-chosen words? Wanted. Excited. Alive.
It had been a long time since anyone had made her feel that way.
Why did Devlin Warwick have to be the man to set her on fire? If any other guy made her burn the way Dev did, she’d give in and enjoy whatever he had in mind.
But Dev was the man holding her wrists above her head. She flexed her hands, testing whether or not he was satisfied with the point he was trying to make. But he didn’t let her go. Instead, the band of his fingers tightened a little more.
A wicked glint flashed through his midnight eyes. The only place he touched her was her wrists, but that didn’t seem to matter. She could feel him. The heat. The intent. A pulsing need that snapped between them, electricity just waiting for the circuit to close and shock them both.
“How are you going to get out of this one, angel?” His voice drawled with lazy curiosity, but something told her it was all an act. She didn’t have to touch him to know his muscles were taut with anticipation.
And all she had to do was look down to know that he was just as turned on as she was. Not even the dark shadows could hide the major hard-on straining against the fly of his jeans. They looked soft and worn, as though, with the right pressure, the material might just rip open and show her everything hidden beneath.
Unconsciously, Willow’s tongue darted out to pass across her dry lips.
He groaned. His eyelids slid down but couldn’t quite hide the glitter of need behind them.
She was doing that to him. He wanted her. The baddest bad boy she’d ever met, the legendary lover who’d rocked her world and given her the best orgasm of her life, was standing in front of her, hard and throbbing because he wanted to touch her. Touch. Her.
The realization was heady. Without thought, a challenge she’d had no intention of issuing fell from her lips, “Maybe I don’t want out of anything.”
Shit. She was going to regret that statement.
“Jesus, Willow, are you trying to kill me?”
But probably not yet.
In a surge, he was against her. She was caught between the unyielding wall and the hard press of his body. His mouth found the column of her throat, latching on and sucking hard.
Her knees buckled; the only thing keeping her upright was his hold on her wrists.
“I’ve wanted to do that all night. Do you know how good you taste?”
She couldn’t make her throat work so she shook her head instead. Really, she’d never thought about it. Foreplay was something to get you from point A to point B. With Dev, it felt like a whole hell of a lot more.
Every nerve ending in her body was lit up like the town Christmas tree.
His mouth found hers and she sighed. With nothing more than the insistent pressure of his lips, he tugged her down into the maelstrom of desire he was building around her. His tongue stroked deep, invading and teasing, making her internal muscles clamp tight between her thighs.
He pulled away and stared down at her. They were centimeters apart, she’d been blessedly naked for him just last night, but she couldn’t fight the feeling that in this moment she was so much more vulnerable. That he could see more than she wanted him to.
“One taste of you is not enough. Do you kno
w how hard it was for me to walk away from you?”
“I didn’t give you much choice.” Her voice trembled, evidence of the fine tremor that had taken up residence in her muscles.
He shook his head. “I don’t mean last night. Ten years ago I had you just like this. Up against a wall in the dark. Alone.”
Every muscle in her body stiffened. For the first time since he’d taken possession of her wrists, she struggled against his hold.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” he growled.
“If you wanted to keep me interested then you probably shouldn’t have brought up the night you left me panting on my front porch to go screw my sister.”
His head snapped back as if she’d slapped him. “What?”
“That night. You left me and went to Rose. You found a girl who knew exactly what she was doing, not a child who couldn’t even kiss correctly.”
A harsh breath whistled through his teeth. His jaw went stone-hard and his eyes were flinty chips. He was pissed. Well, so was she.
But instead of arguing with her, he leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. His eyes slid shut, cutting off her window into what he was thinking. Tiny lines at the corners of his eyes flared out and the edge of his lips pulled down.
When he opened his eyes again Willow was surprised to see the anger gone, replaced by a bone-deep regret that made her breath back into her lungs.
“I didn’t walk away because I didn’t want you. I walked away because I wanted you too much. I thought you were a virgin, Willow. I didn’t want to take you against the side of the damn house. And I didn’t want you to make a hasty decision that you’d regret.”
Wait. What?
“I went home and jacked off to the thought of getting you naked. Twice. And even that wasn’t enough. I still woke up the next morning with a monster hard-on that wouldn’t go away.”
His body slid against hers, fracturing the thoughts that were racing around inside her head.
“This is what I wanted to do with you and wouldn’t let myself.”
His mouth found the open V of her shirt and skimmed across the edge of her collarbone. He popped the first several buttons until he found the lacy edge of her bra and slipped inside. Even before he touched her, her nipples were tight, aching points.
Letting go, the hand that had been holding her skimmed down the exposed underside of her arm. Her elbows collapsed, her hands landing heavily on his shoulders. Her muscles tingled as the blood rushed back into them. She hadn’t even realized they’d gone numb.
Before she realized what he was going to do, Dev’s body collapsed in front of her, his knees hitting the hard ground.
“Wait...don’t...” she tried to protest, but the words wouldn’t quite form.
Looking up at her through heavy lids, he said, “Let me show you exactly what I wanted to do that night.”
A steady throb of need centered deep in her belly. This should have bothered her, letting him touch her, expose her in a place where anyone could see them. But she couldn’t find the will to stop him. Wanting the heat of his mouth on her was more important than the possibility of discovery.
And part of her wanted to know. Wanted to believe that he’d had a difficult time letting her go. That he’d wanted her as much as she’d wanted him. That he’d been just as overwhelmed...
Callused fingers slipped beneath the hem of her skirt, pushing it inch by inch up the smooth expanse of her thigh. Her breathing was loud in her own ears, mixing with the silence of the night.
Willow watched him, unable to tear her eyes away. He leaned forward and ran his stubble-covered jaw across the skin he was exposing. A quiver shot through her and goose bumps chased across her skin.
And he watched her, his eyes never leaving hers. That single-minded concentration made her want to squirm.
The roughened pads of his fingers slipped around the bottom of her hip to cup her rear and he groaned. “There’s my fallen angel,” he whispered as he realized nothing covered her cheeks. He kept going until he found the tiny string that ran along the dent there. “You really do have a naughty streak.”
“I like sexy underwear. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Do you hear me complaining? I’m just upset that I can’t rip this skirt off so I can get the full effect.”
A thrill shot through her, but she clamped down on it, shaking her head instead.
He laughed, the grating sound heavy with suppressed longing. “How about a compromise?”
“What did you have in mind?”
Hooking his fingers in the waistband, he tugged the small bit of black lace over her hips and legs. Silently, he asked her to step out, and she did. With an appreciative smile on his lips, he tucked her panties into his back pocket.
“I’ll just keep them, instead.”
Oh, holy...the idea of him walking around with her panties in his pocket should have freaked her out. Instead, she found it entirely erotic.
“But I like those. They match my bra.”
“So now whenever you wear it you’ll think of me and what I’m about to do to you.”
He didn’t wait for her response, but swooped in and took what he wanted. His tongue slid over her sex, lapping at her as if she were the best thing he’d ever tasted.
She sagged against the wall, letting it take all of her weight. Her legs trembled, but her hips bumped forward, searching for so much more.
His fingers were already slippery with the evidence of her desire as he spread her open. The soft, cool breeze brushed against her sensitized skin. And then the heat of his mouth was there instead.
He found her clit and stroked it, the talented tip of his tongue driving her insane.
Hands buried deep in his hair, she hung on, searching for a safety line in the storm of sensation that was invading her.
He nipped. He sucked. He drove her to the edge and then backed off again, leaving her a whimpering mass of need.
“Please, Dev,” she finally managed to whisper, unsure she could take one more moment of the delicious tension without falling apart.
One, two, three more flicks and she was flying. She tried to muffle her cry, but wasn’t sure she succeeded. Wasn’t sure she really cared. Waves of pleasure washed over her, taking the tension away and leaving her languid.
If she’d had trouble standing before, now the only thing keeping her from collapsing into a pile on the ground was Dev’s strong hands around her waist.
He rose in a smooth, controlled motion. His hands slipped up her body to cup the back of her neck. He angled her up to him, claiming her mouth in a possessive kiss that had her tingling all over again.
She tasted herself on his tongue, that realization more intimate than anything he’d just done to her. And she liked it.
Her brain returned by degrees. Finally, she was coherent enough to say, “Well, hell, now I’m really pissed you walked away. Although maybe it was better. I would have spent the past ten years trying to chase another orgasm like that and something tells me it’d be hard to find.”
A surprised chuckle blasted from him, tickling across her temple and stirring the hair that had fallen from the knot.
His arms tightened around her. The heavy press of his erection jutted against her belly and the embers of the flames he’d just extinguished stirred to life again. She squirmed. He hissed out a choked breath. And she started to reach for him, but a sound startled them both.
A metallic rattle sounded from the opening of the alley. Dev’s gaze jerked in that direction. Willow tried to jump away from him, but his tight hold on her wouldn’t let her move.
He shifted his body, tucking her behind him so that he was between her and whatever was at the other end of the alley.
“Stay here,” he ordered. Before she could protest, he was stridi
ng away. Willow frowned and waited only a couple of beats before following him. Egotistical man.
His sharp glare was traveling up and down the empty street when she reached him.
He threw an exasperated glare at her over his shoulder. “I thought I told you to stay put.”
“Just because you can make me come doesn’t mean you get to tell me what to do, hotshot.”
Shaking his head, he said, “I don’t see anything. Maybe it was a cat or something.”
She shrugged. “Possibly.” There weren’t a lot of stray animals in Sweetheart, especially around Main Street. It was the heart of the tiny town and everyone worked hard to keep it clean and inviting. But it wasn’t as if there was a better explanation.
Grabbing her hand, Dev hauled her up next to him and tucked her beneath his arm. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
He was propelling her down the street before she could protest.
“Where are your keys?”
Willow looked helplessly up at him, feeling irritated by his pushy attitude, but somehow swept up by it, as well. Like the unavoidable pull of the moon on the tide.
Fishing inside her purse, she pulled them out. Dev took them from her, unlocking her door and holding it open for her.
Leaning down, he kissed her mouth. “Good night, Willow.”
“Wait.” She blinked. “What about...?” Her voice trailed off. Her skin flamed hot. Her eyes tracked downward to the obvious bulge behind his fly.
His mouth quirked up into a self-deprecating, half smile. “At least this time when I dream about you I’ll have reality to fill in the blanks.”
The soft slide of his fingers against her cheek left her skin tingling.
“I’m not making the same mistake twice, Willow. There are obviously a few things we need to talk about before we go any further.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little late for that?”
“No. Last night was a fantasy for you. I get that. The next time I have you in bed, I want you to know that it’s me touching you. I don’t want any masks or misunderstandings between us. But this isn’t the kind of conversation we need to have on a dark street. It’s late. You’re drained. I’ll wait.”
The Devil She Knows Page 7