Devil could have kissed Vivian. “Thank you,” he said softly, meeting the brunette’s kind eyes.
“Are you insane, Vivian?” Sami snapped, turning to glare at her so-called best friend. “He’s the one person that Molly should not be talking to tonight!”
“Samantha, he’s not going to leave,” Viv pointed out quietly, holding her ground with the skill of a practiced litigator. “One way or another, he’s gonna say his peace to Molly. I think that whatever he has to say to her is private, and if Molly were sober right now, she’d tell us to go so she could hear him out. We’re in the way here,” she said truthfully. “You know if I thought for a second that he’d either hurt her or take advantage of the situation, I’d throw him out of here myself.”
“Crap,” Sami muttered, her hard shell cracking slightly.
“Crap, crap, crap, crappity crap, crap crap,” Molly echoed from the sofa, tapping her little foot against the arm of the couch to some invisible beat only she seemed to hear.
“She’ll be safe with him,” Vivian reiterated to Sami gently. “Not all men are complete slime.”
“Yeah,” Sami conceded, wrinkling her nose as she studied the situation. “I know that. I’m just not sure where Devil fits on the shitty spectrum, Viv.”
“Let’s give him a chance and find out. Worst case scenario is that you get to unleash hell on Earth upon his soul, and I get famous for defending you during his murder trial. I’ll get you off, too. We’ll say you had hormonal deficiencies and weren’t in control of your body. No jury in the land would dare disagree with me. Men would be afraid of their wives, and women would give you the keys to the city. ”
Devil’s jaw dropped while Sami laughed. Maybe Vivian wasn’t as soft as he’d originally thought. She might well be the more dangerous of the two women.
“Alright, Devil,” Sami relented as she picked up her clutch from the coffee table, “We’ll go. Just remember one thing,” she said softly, taking a step forward to rest a light hand against his chest. “In the last half hour, I’ve thought of fifty ways to separate your penis from your person, and none of them are pleasurable, Sugar. You keep that in mind when our Molly sobers up, ‘kay?”
“Ohhhhh, penises!” Molly babbled drunkenly. “I like penises! Big ones, hard ones, thick ones…”
“Oh, my,” Vivian whispered as Devil winced, then patted his arm consolingly. “Good luck, Devil. I think you’re going to need it,” she offered before following Samantha to the front door. “But if it helps at all, I think she should say yes to the dress.”
“And I’m equally certain she should say no to the ‘ho,” Sami uttered caustically before she stomped out of the house.
Closing his eyes as the door closed behind the last woman, Devil sank down on the couch next to Molly. And then mere seconds later, he gasped as Molly’s hand suddenly found his crotch.
“Let’s see your cute, li’l penis, Debil!”
That’s when he knew for sure.
God really did despise the Devil in the worst possible way.
Chapter Fifteen
Devil’s mind turned to mush the second he felt Molly’s intrepid little hand slide into his slacks and encase his dick in her satiny hand. He knew this was the part where he should be protesting, but for the life of him, he couldn’t even find enough oxygen to breathe, let alone speak.
After several heartbeats, he managed to form words again and immediately defended his manhood. “For the record, no man ever wants to hear the words ‘cute’ or ‘little’ associated with his penis, Molly. Big and hard… those are the adjectives a man likes to hear, honey.” He silently cursed the fact that he sounded breathless and unsteady to his own ears. Thankfully, she was drunk and probably wouldn’t remember anything he said anyway.
“Hmmmm, no worries then,” Molly hummed, sliding her palm up and down his rigid arousal. Liquor always made her talkative, and today was no different. “You’ve definitely proved me wrong there. So, this is how you keep all your ladies happy, happy, happy. I wondered. After that kiss you gave me at the hospital, I knew it couldn’t be your oral skills. You can’t kiss for beans, but having a tree trunk for a staff will win you a lot of points of favor with the girls. I’m surprised any of them can walk after you’re through with them,” she mused, propping her chin against his shoulder blade as she continued running her hand over his hot arousal.
“Sweet Christ, Molly,” Devil groaned when her hand tightened around him and slid over his length again. It was sweetly sensual torture, and he could feel himself swelling in her hand and forced himself to remain still. “What the hell are you doing?” he growled, finally finding the fortitude to grab her slim wrist in his hand and still her movements.
“If you don’t know, I’m not doin’ it right,” Molly replied with a giggle, somehow managing to keep her focus in spite of the shifting room around her. “I’ll have to try harder,” she surmised, rubbing her thumb against the weeping slit at the head of his manhood.
“Ah, hell,” Devil muttered, squeezing his eyes closed as a wave of pleasure crested over him. As good as her palm felt wrapped around him, though, he couldn’t let her erotic play continue. “Sweetheart, we can’t do this,” he murmured, pulling her hand away from his groin.
“So, lemmee get this straight. I’m good enough to marry, but not good enough to screw?” Cocking her head as he turned to face her, she squinted up at him. “I know I’m plastered, but even I’m not so sloshed that I can’t spot that faulty logic. Hell, I couldn’t even get a decent kiss from you! Copping a feel is the least you can give me!”
Devil’s eyes bulged as he turned to face Molly. Somehow in the short time he’d been facing away from her, she’d managed to lose not only her sweater, but her bra as well. Clad only in her business skirt, she stood with her hands propped on her hips, glaring at him. “Dear God, Sweetheart. You can’t do this to a man,” he muttered, quickly shrugging off his suit jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. Holding it together over her breasts with one hand, he pulled her toward him. “We need to get some coffee in you.”
“Don’t wanna,” Molly denied, pitching forward to snag her rum from the couch. “I’d rather drink this!”
The tussle that ensued over the bottle in her hand landed Molly flat on her back in Devil’s gaping suit coat with him pressed against her. Breathing hard, she struggled beneath him as she tried to keep her hold on the slick glass. “It’s mine!” she whined, bucking underneath him and gasping when his still-swollen arousal hit just the right spot.
Stealing the bottle of Captain Morgan’s rum from her unsuspecting hand when she moaned beneath him, Devil ground his teeth together as his eyes dropped to her breasts, her hard nipples standing at attention between them. Sweet Christ, she was spectacular. God had definitely smiled the day he’d put together this woman’s body. Perfectly proportioned and flushed in the most becoming shade of pink he’d ever seen, her breasts called to him, begging for his attention. He couldn’t help stroking the back of his fingers against the milky flesh of one peak.
Forcing his eyes back to her face, he took in her heavy lidded azure gaze and moist parted lips. God, she was gorgeous. “You know how you said that I couldn’t kiss for beans?” he whispered, setting the bottle on the floor before lifting his hand to cup her jaw.
“Uh huh,” Molly nodded against his hand, her eyes large as they met his heated stare. That darkened look he gave her pinned her as adeptly as his scorching body did.
“I’m going to prove you wrong, Molly,” he promised her tenderly, dipping his head to cover her sweet lips with his. He could still taste the sharp bite of spiced rum in her kiss as her tongue shyly tangled with his, rubbing and stroking in a sensuous dance. One minute bled into another as they each grew hungrier, nipping and sucking as their hands moved frantically over one another. Releasing her lips, Devil trailed wet kisses across her jaw to nip her ear lobe. “Still have complaints about my oral skills, honey, or have I made up for my fumbling attempt at affect
ion this afternoon?” he asked between gentle nips to her flesh.
“Y-yes,” Molly breathed, her eyes fluttering as he continued stroking her body with wandering lips.
Devil heard Molly’s low gasp of pleasure as he found a sensitive spot on the slope of her neck. “You like that,” he murmured against her skin as her fingers curled in his hair and she moaned deeply. He knew he needed to pull away… to back off and let her have time to absorb the feelings between them, but the selfish part of him – the part that had been way too long without a woman – goaded him into continuing to worship her body in spite of the better angels riding herd on his conscience.
Fuck, it felt good. Her hands moved restlessly through his hair as her body strained underneath his. He could taste her desire. He could feel her need, and the primal beast inside him wanted more. It wanted to consume her.
Those sweet caresses of hers were as intoxicating as any of the liquor she’d consumed and twice as dangerous to both of them.
And as she arched sweetly beneath him, he felt the leash begin to slip on his very tenuous self-control.
Chapter Sixteen
Molly absently wondered if this was what it felt like to be burned alive. Every inch of skin that Devil’s mouth touched felt like it had been branded by him...owned by him. His tongue was a heat-seeking missile and her body its target.
“Devil, yes,” Molly breathed as she rolled her hips and lifted her back from the sofa, thrusting her breasts toward his lips. “Please,” she moaned, tightening her fingers in his black hair.
“Please, what, sweetheart?” he mumbled against her collarbone.
Dropping one hand to her heavy breast, she lifted the weight into her palm and offered herself to him. She saw the hesitation in his clear blue eyes and she stiffened. “Don’t you dare choose to get noble now,” she threatened him in a voice gone smoky with desire.
“Molly,” Devil groaned, tightening one large hand around her hip to still her wanton movements. “It’s not a good idea, sweet. You’ll hate me in the morning.”
“I’ll hate you right now if you don’t,” she replied as his lips hovered just above her dusky nipple. Just this once she wanted to be bad. She wanted to take something for herself and feel good while she was doing it. She wanted all the pleasure she knew those beautifully formed lips could offer. She wanted it now. “Suck on them. Make me feel good, Devil. Make the ache go away,” she begged, still holding her breast. “Please!”
Her seductive plea melted whatever resistance he had left.
His head lowered and his tongue licked the tight skin around her nipple before his lips surrounded the peak and suckled gently. He shifted slowly from one breast to the other, sucking and nibbling, his tongue like velvet against the aching flesh.
“Mmmm, yes,” she moaned when his teeth scraped the tip of her nipple, adding just the slightest hint of pain to the almost unbearable pleasure. Tugging his hair, she softly ordered, “Do that again.”
“What?” he asked huskily, sucking gently on her breast before pulling his head back to blow gently on the wet skin. “What do you want, baby?” he asked again, nuzzling her firm mounds with his nose as he pressed another kiss just above her heart.
“Your t-teeth,” Molly panted, tangling her legs with his as she arched against his mouth. His teeth surrounded her left nipple and tugged gently.” The sensation he created with his lips and mouth only heightened the biting pleasure and her core clenched in response. “Oh, God, yes!” she gasped when his tongue circled the stinging pebble between his lips.
“You’re so responsive, Molly,” he praised, kissing a path back up her neck to her lips. “I like it,” he whispered before offering her another deep, wet kiss filled with passionate promise.
“More, Devil,” Molly demanded as she tightened her arms around his neck. “I want more,” she murmured against his mouth.
“Molly,” Devil whispered gently. “Honey, you don’t know how much more I want to give you, but…”
“Nuh uh,” Molly denied, lifting her head to nip his lower lip with her teeth. “You can’t tease me into a frenzy and leave me this way. It wouldn’t be the gentlemanly thing to do,” she chided, dragging her lips across his jaw to bite his neck. “You wouldn’t leave a lady in distress, would you?” she asked against his ear, licking the lobe provocatively as she rubbed her lower body against his. “I can feel how much you want me. Don’t ruin the image I have of you and disappoint me now.”
“Molly, I don’t know what you think you know about me…”
“Well, you’re reported to be quite the memorable lover. My sources tell me that you’ve never left a woman unsatisfied. Don’t tell me that you’re going to break that record with the woman you say you’re going to marry,” she teased, running her foot up and down his tense calf.
“Molly, sugar, we shouldn’t….”
Molly’s eyes darkened as she stared up at his clenched face, her earlier haze suddenly clearing for a bare moment. Oh, God. What if she’d made a horrible mistake? What if he simply wasn’t attracted to her? Sure, he’d responded when she’d held his length in her hand and stroked him, but that was a physiological response. He’d probably have had it with anyone. “It’s me, isn’t it?” she managed to choke, tensing against him as she struggled to sit up.
“What?” Devil asked, startled by the pain he heard clouding her voice. “What are you talking about?”
“All those women that you’ve been with…that you’ve satisfied…I’m not like them, am I? That’s why you’re hesitating. I’m not hot enough or worldly enough to want to sleep with, is that it? It’s why you kissed me like a sister in Nana’s room. It’s me you don’t want, isn’t it? I really was just a convenient woman that you knew would pass your grandmother’s standards.” Shoving his broad shoulders, she fought tears. “Get off me!” she ordered harshly, kicking her heels into the sofa as she pushed for leverage. “Get off me and get out!”
Molly teared up as Devil tightened his grip on her, pinning her to the couch with his hips while he captured her flailing arms and held them by her head. Even though she squirmed, he held her carefully as though aware of his superior strength, and that only angered her more.
“Molly, stop!” he ordered the struggling woman. “Listen to me, damn it,” he urged when she finally subsided and stared at the ceiling above her. “I want you. You can feel how much I want you,” he said softly, dipping his head to speak against her ear as he rolled his hips against hers, letting her feel the extent of her effect on him. “I’m trying to do the honorable thing here, and you’re wreaking havoc on my nerves, woman,” he admitted huskily, pressing his lips against her cheek.
“Why?” Molly questioned bluntly. She could feel his eyes on her, studying her, but she refused to look at him. She couldn’t. Not yet, anyway. Her body still throbbed for release, and anger coursed through her. She just wasn’t sure who she was madder at: him or herself.
“Why?” he echoed, his brows drawing together in confusion as he stared down at her.
“Why are you trying to be honorable with me? Am I really that different from the other women that you’ve paraded through the office the past year? I’ve got needs just like they do, Devil. It’s been two years, for God’s sake! Two years since I had a really good orgasm that I didn’t award myself! What the hell does a woman have to do to get laid in this city?” she asked sharply, then groaned loudly. “Why couldn’t you just be a normal guy and take what was offered?”
Yeah, she’d decided.
She was definitely angrier at him.
If he’d just gone with the flow like any normal guy, she’d be immersed in the Big O by now. Instead, she lay pinned, half-naked and humiliated, beneath a sexy man who’d suddenly decided to learn how to work his moral freaking compass. He decided NOW to listen to all those lectures she’d been giving him for the past year?
She had to have the worst luck with men in the history of the world!
As she felt his shoulders quaking ab
ove her, she shifted her gaze back to Devil and decided that she just might commit murder if she ever got the bastard to roll off her.
“I really hope your life insurance is paid up, Devil Delancy, because I’m going to kill you for laughing at me right now!” Molly shrieked as she began to twist beneath him again.
Chapter Seventeen
Twelve hours later
He knew he was surrounded before he ever opened his eyes.
Years of plotting corporate takeovers had conditioned Devil Delancy to waken quickly, instantly alert and ready to do battle. Some accused him of having some kind of hokey sixth sense that permitted him to sense when danger was nigh. He didn’t know exactly what it was that allowed him to do it, but he was grateful.
Especially this morning.
Carefully cracking open one eyelid as he remained perfectly still on his makeshift bed, he immediately met the yellow gaze of one severely pissed-off feline perched on the back of the couch he’d commandeered last night. He knew without looking that on the arm of the sofa yet another animal waited for him...this time, one of the canine variety. The low growls emanating from the dog’s throat promised him he’d lose a couple of toes if he moved too quickly this morning.
“Coco, Chanel,” he greeted both of Molly’s beloved pets warily as he slowly sat up on the couch. “It’s nice to see you both again.”
The cat hissed and took a swipe at his bare shoulder with his thankfully clawless paw, while the dog growled again and dove for Devil’s bare foot, latching onto his big toe and snarling.
“Son of a bitch!” Devil swore, jerking his foot back beneath the soft throw Molly had draped over the back of her sofa. “Down, Cujo!”
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