Completely baffled by the fact that it didn't work, Xypher followed her. "Why are you still angry at me?"
"You groped me in the shower."
"That wasn't a grope, trust me. Had I known I was in there with you, I'd have made it count"
She spun on him then with fury in her eyes. "You . . . you . . . ugh!"
"I didn't do ..." He couldn't use that one because he had. "I don't know ..." No, moron, you do know what she's talking about. Telling her you don't will only make her angrier. "Oops?"
"Oops? Is that your answer?"
"Baby, there's no one else in die world for me but you?"
"Yeah, right. I don't believe that one for a minute. What do you think? I fell off a turnip truck?"
"Honestly? All I was thinking about was how beautiful you are. How much I wanted to feel your skin against mine and how I've never been this attracted to a woman before."
She paused while brushing her hair. "Really?"
"Yes. Last night, I made a deal with a demon to make you happy. Do you think I did that lightly?"
Simone swallowed as she glanced at the goblet. And he'd done it to keep her from worrying- he'd helped her and Gloria and had expected no payment or reward for it whatsoever. "You bled for me." How many women could say that about the men in their lives? "I guess that's worth a little embarrassment on my end. Sorry I overreacted."
Smiling, he cupped her face in his hands before he kissed her. He pulled back and gave her a wicked grin. "Is it worth a little something more?"
She tilted her head. "You keep playing your cards right and it might be. But don't get any ideas and come prancing into my dreams. If you do, I might geld you there."
Grinding his teeth in unsated frustration, Xypher rubbed himself against her and took one long, deep breath in her hair. "Just remember that you're slowly killing me."
"There are cures for that."
"Yeah, you naked on the bed."
She gave him a play fill grin. "Or you could take matters into your own hands."
He cupped her hand in his and pressed it against his swollen groin. "I'd much rather you take me into yours."
Simone swallowed at the large feel of him against her palm. He'd left the button on his jeans open and her thumb brushed up against the dark hairs that ran from his navel downward to vanish under his waistband. His breath fell against her face as his eyes pleaded with her for mercy. He rubbed himself ever so slightly against her hand and shuddered. "When was the last time you were with someone?" she asked.
"Centuries ago."
Her heart pounded at the thought. . .
The loneliness of that single statement tore through her. Centuries of not being touched. Centuries of abuse.
She looked down at the floor where he'd slept last night. He asked for nothing, and he expected to be rejected at every turn. To be abused and hurt.
This was a man who knew so little of kindness that even the simplest act of it baffled him. She remembered the torture he'd shown her, and it broke her heart to think of him having no comfort what so ever.
She didn't want to be another person who took from him without giving. It was time that he saw that people didn't have to hurt him.
And before she could stop herself, she unzipped his pants.
Xypher cursed in pleasure as she took him into her hand. Her cool fingers slid from the tip of his cock, all the way down to the base before she cupped him. His head spinning, he tilted her head back to taste her mouth.
This was what he needed more than anything else. No woman had ever touched him so tenderly. His lovers in the past had always been demanding. His needs and pleasure were secondary to theirs.
But Simone didn't demand. She gave. Always.
Simone burned as her desire tore through her, but this wasn't about her. Xypher had protected her, and she wanted to please him.
She pushed his jeans down his hips before she pulled back from his lips and knelt in front of him.
Xypher expected her to ship him, so when she took him into her mouth, it was all he could do not to cry out. Chills exploded all over his body as she gently tongued him. He ground his teeth against the exquisite torture as he remained perfectly still for her.
Her tongue licked and swilled while her hand stroked his sac. Nothing had ever felt better. He leaned forward to brace one arm against the bureau behind her and stared down at her while she pleasured him. Her dark brown curls bounced with each movement of her head.
But what struck him most was the relish on her face . . .
Simone moaned at how good he tasted. She could feel his muscles jerking and tightening as he fought himself His breathing came in ragged gasps while he gently stroked her hair with one hand.
She could literally feel how much this meant to him. How much bliss she was giving him by doing this one simple act.
Then with one feral growl he came in her mouth.
Xypher went temporarily blind as unimagined pleasure ripped through him. He had to lean with both anus; against the bureau to keep from falling. Staling down, he saw Simone look up at him with a hint of a smile on her lips.
"Are you okay?"
"No," he said raggedly. "I'm in ecstasy. I blew straight past okay the minute you touched me."
Laughing, she rose up in front of him, forcing him to push away from the bureau.
He gathered her into his arms and laid his forehead against the crook of her neck so that he could inhale the sweetness of her skin.
Simone closed her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and held him close. He was so calm and gentle like this ... a complete reversal of the snarling beast who'd shaved her into her car and then threatened her life.
She felt his hands on her thighs, lifting her skirt to her waist. His tongue toyed with her skin as he dipped one hand under the elastic of her panties to gently separate the folds of her body. The moment his fingers brushed her, she moaned and shivered.
Clinging to him, she leaned her head back as his fingers swept and teased. When he slid one inside her, it was all she could do to remain standing.
He was extremely talented with this hands. Honestly, it'd been at least a year since she'd been with a man. She'd forgotten how good this felt.
"Come for me, Simone," Xypher whispered in her ear. "I want to see your pleasure."
Those words sent her over the edge. Unable to stand it, she bit her lip and cried out. Still, he continued to stroke and tease until he'd wrung die last bit of joy from her. Her breathing ragged, she wasn't sure how her shaking legs were supporting her.
"Thank you," he breathed in her ear.
"You don't have to thank me, Xypher."
"Trust me, for that, I do." He stroked her cheek with his fingers. "No one has ever taken mercy on me before. Why did you?"
"I know you're going to find this hard to believe, but for some reason I don't understand, I actually like you . . . most of the time."
He shook his head as if the mere thought were incomprehensible. "Well, you also love Jesse. Obviously your taste in men leaves a lot to be desired."
"Obviously." She smiled at him until her hall clock chimed the hour. That jolted her back to reality. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a class to teach in less than an hour so I need you to get ready to come with me."
He laughed deep in his throat "Lady, right now you could tell me to throw myself under a bus to make you happy and I'd oblige you."
She joined his laughter. "Then it's a good thing I don't use my newfound powers for evil, huh?"
"For me, it is." He kissed her on the up of her nose before he pulled his pants up and zipped them. He paused at the door to look back at her with a tender expression on his face that absolutely seared her. "You following?"
She nodded before she went with him to the bathroom.
"You know," he said, indicating the tub with his thumb. "I'm not bashful. If you want to come in, feel free."
Simone could still taste him on her lips as she considered his invitation. Don't do it. You have a class to teach. But before she could stop herself, she was in the bathroom with him, watching as he shipped himself bare.
She let her breath out slowly at the sight of all that tawny, muscular skin. It made her salivate.
He flashed her a devilish smile before he got into the tub. "You can join me anytime you want to."
And she did want to, that was the problem. "It's all right, I actually need you to hurry so that I won't be late." She turned her back away from the silhouette of him against the curtain and brushed her teeth. As she did so, a weird sensation went through her.
Again she felt as if something were watching her. Rinsing her mouth, she turned around. Xypher was busy showering, and there was no one else in the room. "What is happening to me?"
"Simone?" Xypher asked.
She raised her voice to respond, "Nothing. I was just talking to myself."
He leaned out of the shower to check on her. "You sure?"
"Yeah. I just... do you have a feeling like we're being watched?"
"A feeling like how?" She shrugged. "I don't know. It's like there's something else here."
He tinned the water off. Opening the curtain, he reached for a towel. As nice a picture as he made, her concern was such that she barely noticed his wet body and that said it all for how creepy the sensation was. He wrapped the towel around his lean hips.
"When did it start?"
"A couple days ago. It's like something is crawling over my skin, and I don't know what it is." She let out a tiled sigh. "Demons can't come out in daylight, right?"
"Daimons can't, but a demon can. They're just not as strong in the daylight."
"Oh, that sticks. What about you? Are you weaker?"
"Not like a typical demon. It's good sometimes to be a hybrid god."
Good for him, but not for her sanity. "Fine, then. Whatever it is, it's just watching me. It hasn't done anything so let's ignore it."
Xypher watched as she headed back to die bedroom. He followed after her, but he wasn't so quick to let it go. One thing he knew which he hadn't mentioned was that when something watched someone, it was seldom benign.
Rather, it was waiting to find the perfect time to pounce.