Games of Desire Read online

  There was a roaring in her ears and she couldn’t manage to make her vocal chords work, so she sent her words to him instead. Maybe we could do that, too, if you’re up for two rounds.

  Marax stared down at her, and when he realized she was serious, the red behind his eyes became stronger. “I’m a demon,” he said and picked up his pace.

  Chloe’s lips curved. She was taking that as a yes, but then demons did have passionate natures. For years she’d been fighting to keep hers in check, but not tonight, not with Marax. She gripped his hand tighter.

  He used a shoulder to cut a swath through the throng and take them deeper into Infinity. As they neared the back, a vampire brushed past, handing off a passkey to Marax so smoothly that Chloe nearly missed it. A few more steps and they were through a door and into a corridor that was much quieter. The elevator was around a corner and opened the instant he pressed the button.

  As soon as the door closed behind them, Chloe turned to Marax and kissed his chin. He didn’t take her up on the invitation, although his body all but vibrated with need. “Why?”

  “Camera.” He leaned in closer. “I’m not offering you up as entertainment for bored security guards.”

  Chloe didn’t think that was likely, but before she could say that, the doors opened. How much trouble could they have gotten into when the trip was so short?

  “You’re underestimating how much I want you and overestimating my control. We could have spent a great deal of time in that elevator.” He hurried them down the hall until they reached a closed door at the end. There was a fine tremor in his hand as Marax raised the card to open their room. “Wait here until I make sure it’s clear.”

  She didn’t argue. Infinity might be a safe zone, but that didn’t mean everyone played by the rules. Demons and vampires and wizards had too much history of animosity to ignore basic precautions in a building filled with all three groups.

  He returned in a moment, wordlessly opening the door wider for her. Chloe didn’t hesitate. She’d wanted Marax since the first time she’d seen him tonight and the need had only grown. The latch closed with a soft snick and then they were alone. At last. She expected him to pounce on her, but he didn’t. Instead, he studied her face, his expression intent.

  “What?” she asked.

  Shaking his head, he said, “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you. I’m trying to come up with why.”

  Chloe could have told him it was the same for her, but she didn’t. If they discussed this, she might start thinking again and she didn’t want to do that, not when it might make her common sense regain control. She wanted tonight with him. Tomorrow was soon enough for second thoughts and doubts, for wondering why she’d done something so stupid. Now was for feeling. “Does it matter why?” She put her arms around Marax’s waist and leaned in as she spoke.

  “It shouldn’t.” He reached out, took her hips and pulled her tighter against him. “It shouldn’t,” he repeated, almost as if talking to himself.

  And still he hesitated. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want her. His body was nearly shaking from the restraint he held, but he did nothing except look at her. Chloe growled low in her throat, a sound she’d never actually heard herself make before. It startled her for an instant, then she realized. Demon. Were her eyes glowing like his, too? They never had before, but she felt less human tonight than she ever had. “Marax.”

  His lips twitched, but he didn’t quite smile. “You don’t understand. If I release my control, I might scare you.”

  Would he? She didn’t think anything he did could frighten her. “Would you be worrying about this if I were all demon?”

  “No.”

  “I want to be who I am tonight and I want you to be who you are, too. I’m not holding back my demon side—don’t fight what you are, either.”

  For a long moment, he studied her, perhaps weighing the truthfulness of her words, then the red of his eyes burned hotter than she’d seen it so far. Marax had let his demon off the leash.

  Chapter Three

  Chloe smiled as Marax surged forward, pressing her against the door. Finally! It seemed as if she’d been waiting forever for him. As soon as their lips met, she opened for him. What they’d done on the dance floor had been foreplay and she didn’t need more.

  She liked the way he kissed her, as if he were starving for her and her alone. Chloe met him with her own fierce demands. She’d been starving for him, too. Missing him though she hadn’t known it.

  His hands moved, found the hem of her skirt and pushed it upward. The dress had dictated she wear a thong, and as he caressed her bare cheek, she was glad she’d chosen this. Chloe shivered as his fingers slipped between her thighs.

  “Get my zipper,” she murmured against his lips. She wanted more skin. Hers. His.

  Marax found it, lowered it. He was doing what she’d told him, but the price was high. She wanted his hand back between her legs. Instead, he stepped away. Before she could do more than groan in protest, he lowered the top of her dress to her waist.

  She hadn’t worn a bra and his eyes made her skin ignite. Sensations rocketed through her, too many to name, but Chloe knew she needed more. With a shimmy and a little shove, she sent her dress to the floor, stepping clear of the pooled fabric. Marax had too many clothes on, she decided, and she wrapped her hands around his tie, pulling the knot free and tossing it aside. He reached for her, but she brushed his hands aside and started opening the buttons on his shirt.

  “Damn it, I want to touch you,” he complained.

  “Then get naked.”

  There was a pause and then he started undoing buttons himself. With the shirt under control, Chloe moved to his trousers, opening them, lowering the zipper. Too impatient to wait, she yanked both his pants and his briefs down to his thighs.

  It was her turn to stare.

  She’d cupped him while they’d danced, so she’d known he was big, but she hadn’t guessed just how beautiful his cock would be. Thick, heavy, hard…for her. It jerked in reaction to her stare and that unfroze Chloe. She crouched in front of him, running a fingertip from base to head and back down again.

  “Don’t tease,” he warned.

  “Who’s teasing?” Chloe leaned forward and replaced her finger with her mouth, using her tongue to retrace the route she’d just followed.

  She nuzzled him, his shaft lying across her cheek and her hand stroking over it while she licked his balls. Marax began muttering, and while she didn’t understand the demon language, she knew he was cursing, using words to hang on to his self-command.

  Control was overrated.

  Chloe moved her way back to his head and took him in her mouth. Yes. She hummed her pleasure around him.

  “Don’t make me come,” Marax ordered, but he didn’t tell her to stop.

  He could say anything he wanted, that didn’t mean she had to listen. She circled his crown with her tongue as she moved her hand up and down his shaft. As hard as he was, she’d bet that it wouldn’t take long to get him all worked up again, so she could make him come and still have a him inside her before much time had passed.

  Images formed in her mind. In them, she was on her back on the bed, Marax between her thighs. She closed her eyes, trying to see the vision better.

  She could feel his beard on her inner thigh, his fingers stroking her sex. Chloe wanted his mouth on her. The kisses were sweet, but not enough. And then he was there, his lips and tongue teasing her clit as he slid two fingers into—

  Chloe opened her eyes and glared at him, her lips still wrapped around his cock. The bastard didn’t fight fair. He was deliberately sabotaging her plans by putting fantasies—and sensations—in her head, in her body.

  “All’s fair, sweet Chloe,” Marax said, voice thick. “And I did warn you not to make me come.”

  His hands remained threaded through her hair, but at the same time, Chloe could feel him sliding fingers in and out of her body, his mouth still teasing her clit. She lost track
of what she was supposed to be doing, too focused on those phantom caresses. He moved back far enough that he slipped from her mouth. She moaned softly in protest, but ghost Marax wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked lightly. Her moan changed to one of pleasure.

  He sucked harder and her moan went up an octave as an orgasm started roaring toward her. No, damn it, she wasn’t coming without him even going down on her for real.

  Surging to her feet, she lunged for Marax, wrapping her arms around his waist. It was a miscalculation. He lost his balance. His arms went out, trying to steady both of them, but his trousers were around his thighs, restricting his movements. They started to go down.

  Demons had power. She knew that, but seeing the upholstered chair travel across the room in time to catch her and Marax drove it home.

  That should unnerve her. It didn’t. Chloe had landed on top of him, her knees on either side of his thighs, and his erection was so close to her sex, she could feel his heat. She shifted, but her damn panties prevented contact. “Get this thong out of the way,” she said, her voice a half growl.

  Marax reached up, and as easily as tearing a sheet of paper, snapped the waistband on each side of her hips. She’d expected him to just tug it aside and the casual display of demon strength made her gasp, her arousal deepening even farther. She lowered herself, his head sliding between the lips of her sex, but the deliciousness ended almost as soon as it began.

  He lifted her, putting her knees on each of the padded arms of the chair. Chloe made a sound of protest, but Marax said, “My turn now.”

  And holding her ass with both hands, he brought her forward until her sex lips met his mouth. Her breath hitched in her throat and then slowly, so slowly she thought she’d forget how to breathe, he licked her.

  Chloe would have fallen off the chair if Marax hadn’t held her steady. As good as he’d been at projecting sensation to her, it was a pale imitation of just how talented he was with his mouth. She threaded her fingers through his hair, but unlike his gentle touch, she couldn’t help but tighten her hands into fists as she gasped and arched. Almost blind with need, she braced herself as orgasm approached. She was going to come hard. So hard. So fucking hard.

  Marax stopped cold. Chloe couldn’t speak, but did manage a sound that was a combination of frustration, disbelief and anger.

  His lips were against her belly, so she knew he wasn’t talking aloud when she heard, You can come on my mouth some other time. Tonight we’ll come together.

  After kissing her below her navel, Marax lowered her back to his lap. She could see his face now, see his eyes, and the red glow had eclipsed the blue of his irises. She’d done this to him. Sensible, reasonable, always-follow-the-rules Chloe Donovan had driven this sexy-as-hell demon to the edge.

  Guide me home.

  He didn’t have to tell her twice. Chloe took his cock in her hand and positioned it at the entrance to her sex. Marax lowered her millimeter by millimeter, drawing out his possession of her until she was ready to plead with him, would have begged if she’d had the oxygen needed to form a sentence, even a single word.

  Nothing had ever felt so right, so necessary before as taking Marax inside her body. She wanted to close her eyes, throw her head back, and just enjoy, but she couldn’t. Something inside her demanded she keep her gaze locked on his, that they share this joining in all ways. They both groaned when he was as deep as he could go.

  For a moment, his hands stayed at her hips, holding her in place. Then he released her and sent, Ride me, firebrand. Let your demon free and take me any way you want.

  Chloe froze. What did that mean? Really? What did she—?

  He rocked, arching his hips upward and she forgot all about thinking. She moved with him and then kept moving. Inside her, something began to coalesce into bright radiance. It wasn’t arousal or orgasm; it was different. Bigger. She bent to Marax, took his mouth with hers, kissing him with all the wildness, all the intensity she felt.

  Her nails dug into his skin as she moved on him. He was so thick, so hard, so big and he fit inside her so perfectly. She ground her clit against him on her next downward thrust and buried her face against his throat.

  The world narrowed. There was nothing now except Marax and her. Nothing except the promise of excruciatingly fierce pleasure growing inside them, bearing down on both of them. She didn’t only feel her own need, but she was aware of his, too. She altered her pace, working it so that they’d come together. Chloe knew she could do it and she wanted this.

  Another need welled up inside her, mixed up with the pleasure in a way she didn’t understand. She slid down his shaft one last time and without warning, everything went to slow motion. Her orgasm began to break and she moved her head, shifting until she found the spot where Marax’s shoulder met his neck. And as the first ripple of rapture traveled through her body, as that incandescent something inside her exploded, Chloe bit him hard enough to taste blood.

  It set Marax off and he began to come with her. His mouth was where her shoulder and neck met, too, and part of her waited, anticipated his bite. He fought it, she knew it in some instinctive way, but he lost the battle with the next wave of pleasure.

  Marax bit her in return. It set off another swell of orgasm, one even sharper than the others that had racked her body. She whimpered and then screamed, unable to express her ecstasy in any other way. His roar was muffled against her skin. Chloe thought she’d never stop coming, that he’d never stop coming, and when it finally did end, she fell limply against his chest, letting him take her weight.

  If this was what sex with a demon was like, Chloe didn’t think she’d ever be able to go back to humans. Marax had ruined her for any other man.

  Chapter Four

  Marax grunted as Chloe stirred, but she was snuggling, not trying to leave and he relaxed again, raising a hand to lightly stroke her back. Damn, she’d made him come hard. He grinned. This was the first time he’d ever lost awareness of his surroundings after sex, but he’d been out of it for who knew how long and his brain still wasn’t firing on all cylinders.

  Losing situational awareness wasn’t good, especially when he hadn’t done more than look for intruders when he’d checked out the room earlier. A wise demon identified the exits and what obstacles and potential weapons were present. The war with the vampires might have ended centuries ago, but old hatreds died hard. Toss in demon slayers and wizards with unknown allegiances, and the human world was filled with potential danger for the unwary.

  Drowsily, he opened his eyes and examined his surroundings. The room was longer than it was wide with no furniture save the bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and the chair they’d used. It looked as clean as he’d been promised, but the decor was stark—black, white and gray—and utilitarian.

  They were on the fourth floor, but the window opened out onto a fire escape that appeared narrow. Despite his hearing, he couldn’t detect the presence of anyone else nearby and no one had knocked on the door to ask about the scream. The room, he decided, must be soundproofed. Either that or he and Chloe were the only ones who’d gotten hot enough to have sex. Marax doubted that. Infinity had been created for steamy, illicit encounters.

  He let his eyes drift shut again and enjoyed the sensation of Chloe’s soft skin and warm breath against his body. Trying to get more comfortable, Marax shifted and she immediately tightened her inner muscles, keeping his half-hard cock inside her. Blood started flowing south again and he let himself enjoy the build. He wanted her as much now as he had earlier, but need wasn’t clawing at him yet. He let himself sink into the sensations.

  Before he was ready, his brain began to whisper insistently that he needed to listen to it. He brushed off the prod—he’d think later. All he wanted to do now was fantasize about what he’d do with Chloe next time and enjoy holding his woman.

  That thought had his mind poking him again even more urgently. This time, Marax paid attention. His woman? His muscles stiffened. No, it couldn’t be. That wa
s impossible. Chloe stirred against him again, maybe picking up on his agitation. Soothing her was as natural as taking his next breath. See, his brain said. He shook his head. Wanting to take care of the woman who’d given him such pleasure didn’t mean anything.

  Yeah, his mind said. And you bite every woman who makes you come.

  It couldn’t mean anything. She was only a quarter demon.

  Marax wanted to be in motion. He thought better when he was moving. With a soft growl, he surged to his feet, still holding Chloe. Her protest sounded sleepy to his ears and he wished he could stay in that place with her, but he was too far on the other side now. He kept his arms around her until she had her balance and then stepped away.

  And nearly fell back onto the chair because he’d forgotten he hadn’t taken off his pants. Marax yanked his briefs and trousers into place and zipped up. A wave of his hand sent the chair back to the windows and at last he could pace.

  Except whenever he pivoted at the wall, he faced Chloe again. Naked, soft, sexy, languorous Chloe who made his cock twitch every time he saw her.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. “And don’t tell me nothing, I know better than that.”

  Since the word nothing had been on the tip of his tongue, he ignored the question instead. On his next turn he nearly plowed into her and without thought, his arms wrapped around her to keep her from falling. The instinct to protect was at the surface, and telling himself he’d do the same for any woman he’d shared pleasure with might be the truth, but it wasn’t the whole truth and that scared him.

  “Talk to me, damn it,” Chloe demanded.

  Fear came out as anger. “You want to know what’s wrong? I think we’re mated, that’s what’s wrong.”

  Marax went around her, continuing his path across the room. He couldn’t be mated to her. Couldn’t be. She didn’t have enough demon blood, he told himself again. He knew she didn’t because he’d made sure of that before he’d ever gone near her.