A Demon And His Witch (15 page)

Making it to her suite of rooms, she slammed the door shut and activated the binding spells. She wanted no interruptions. No sexy demon barging his way in, tearing down the walls she’d built to protect herself.

I need him out of my life before I fall any further.
In order for that to happen, she needed to find Francisco and his mother. Needed to send them to hell, break the curse and get Remy out of her life for good.

The door splintered as something hit it and Remy stalked in, six foot something of male arrogance and hotness.

Not again. Was there not a door in all of Hell that could withstand him?

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She planted herself in front of him, hands on her hips.

“I’ve decided that since acting like a wimp and talking about my feelings didn’t work, I’m going to take a page from my stepdad’s book.”

Ysabel took a step back as he stalked toward her, his bristling maleness arousing. No. This had to stop. No matter how hot he appeared, she couldn’t let herself get distracted.

“I’ll sic Felipe on you if you lay a hand on me.”

“Good luck with that. I saw him through a window in the garden stalking a giant rodent.”

“I’ll turn you into a toad?” She held her hand up menacingly.

He smirked. “Go ahead, but keep in mind when I shuck the enchantment, I am going to be even more determined.”

“Why are you doing this? I don’t want you. Is that the problem? Is your ego so big you can’t handle a woman rejecting you?”

“Oh, you want me alright, my sexy little witch. Want me so bad it scares you. Well, I’ve got news for you. It scares the fuck out of me, too. But I don’t care. When the options are settling down with you for life and popping out little demonlings or watching you walk away, I know what I choose.”

For a moment, she couldn’t answer, could only gape at him as his words penetrated. Surely, she misunderstood. “What did you say?”

“I want you as my mate.”

No misunderstanding that time. She tamped down her elation by slapping it with the cold, hard truth. “You’ll hurt me.”

“Trust me.”

He asked too much. “I’m not the right woman.”

“You’re all I want.”

She shook her head lest his words weave a spell around her and make her believe. Yet despite all the warnings in her head, hope blossomed and love warmed her. How nice it would be to allow herself to love him. To trust him.

Sadness entered his expression at her rejection. “I know it’s hard for you, little witch, but I promise you’ve nothing to fear. Unless the thought of too many orgasms in a row freaks you out.” And that quickly, he changed from pensive male to the one she’d grown to love with the mischievous smile.

He lunged. She squealed like a little girl and ran. Not far though.

With his ridiculously long stride, he quickly caught her and tossed her over his shoulder. He laughed as she beat at his broad back with her fists. “Save some of that energy for the bedroom because you are not leaving until you admit you care for me.”

“I’ll kill you first.”

“I like a girl who’s kinky.”

“You’re impossible.”

“No, but I am horny.”

“How are we supposed to catch those souls if we’re fooling around here?”

“Some things are more important.”

“How can having sex with me be more important than ensuring you don’t burst into flame tomorrow?”

“I would let someone beat me with a cat-o-nine too, if you’d just admit you like me.”

“I hate you.”

“Close. I see we’ll need to work on that.”

Flipping her off his shoulder onto the bed, he quickly stripped out of his clothes and covered her frame with his own, pinning her to the mattress. It didn’t stop her from bucking and pushing at him. He didn’t budge, but he did clasp her hands in one of his fists and pull them above her head.

“Will you admit you like me?”

She glared, keeping her lips clamped tight less she inadvertently blurted out she loved him.

“Such a stubborn witch. I guess we’re going to do this the fun way.”

Oh no. She couldn’t let him have his sensual way. She’d melt under his determined touch and admit her affection, and then she’d end up screwed.
I can’t give him the power to hurt me.
Yet, what could she do to stop him?
Cast a spell on him? Call my cat to eat him?
A variety of things she could try ran through her mind, but she didn’t attempt any of them. Not with her heart racing, her pussy throbbing, and a part of her hoping, wistfully, that he meant what he said. It seemed his family’s insanity was contagious because she didn’t put up a fight at all as he set about seducing her.

He kissed her, while one hand fumbled at the hem of her shirt. His shirt. She’d not even stopped to change when she’d charged out of his home and headed straight to Lucifer’s office. Worry for him overrode any modesty she owned.

Up went the fabric, inch by inch, baring her flesh to his gaze. He stopped below her breasts as the fabric caught under her back. Anticipation held her breath. He didn’t shred the shirt like she expected at this snag, oh no, instead he dipped his head and placed his mouth over her fabric covered breast. The decadent heat of it arched her back and he took advantage, shimmying the shirt over her breasts, a slow ascent that proved maddening. And even worse, he left the top bunched around her arms and tucked under her head, so that when his mouth left hers and began to blaze a trail down her torso, she couldn’t even reach to touch him. To pull him closer. Not that the hand still gripping her wrists released her.

He held her pinned and exposed to his ardent gaze, and stare at her he did, the smoldering look raising her nipples into hard points while her sex warmed. Unbidden, she spread her legs to accommodate his body. But he didn’t place himself atop her like she wanted. Didn’t press himself against her core and rub where she ached.

Frustrated, and eager, she arched – hips, breasts, anything to try and connect with his body. He remained out of reach and she couldn’t stop a growl of impatience. It made him chuckle.

“Tell me, little witch.”

“Either fuck me or let me go,” she demanded, not ready to admit anything, but too aroused to not ask for more.

“Such language. I like it,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes. He pulled her arms down and held them fisted under her breasts as he shuffled lower. “I am never letting you go, my impatient cougar. And as for making love to your delectable body, I’ll do that, but not until you tell me what I want.” He murmured the last part against her rounded tummy.

Rubbing his face, and the rough growth of hair he’d not shaved that morn, he kissed his way down to her thigh, his breath tickling her skin and making her hips arch. He blew on the aching space between her thighs, and she yelled, so desperate to have him.

But he had other ideas.

“Tell me you like me.” He blew the request across her sex, and her toes curled.

“Never.”

A flick of his tongue against her nub made her keen. “Tell me.”

“No.” But oh, how she wanted to. Biting her tongue though helped her keep the words at bay.

Back and forth they went, him teasing, her denying. He got bolder with his sensual torture and as she panted, every inch of her screaming for release, he demanded she admit her feelings.

She tried to hold on. Tried to chomp off her tongue.
Think nasty thoughts
. Even tried to summon her magic, which slipped through her grasp as he kept teasing her. Wracked with pleasure, mindless with need for him, she finally blurted the words he wanted to hear.

“I love you, dammit. Are you happy now? I don’t want to. Oh, how I wish I didn’t, but I do.”

“Oh, my sweet Ysabel.” He growled her name as he raised himself over her. “My very own witch.”

The head of his cock unerringly found the entrance to her sex and he thrust. One stroke, two strokes. Her aching flesh molded to his shaft, squeezed around him. She dug her nails into his shoulders as he released her hands. Clung to him as she rode the pinnacle of pleasure. She cried his name when she crested, waves of bliss shuddering through her.

“Oh my beautiful witch, how I love you,” he whispered as he thrust one final time, spilling his seed hotly inside her. For a few minutes, she let her resolve slip and allowed herself to believe, to bask in the warmth of his love.

They stayed joined together, breathing erratic, their bodies flushed with sweat. A moment she would always remember as the most beautiful. The most pleasurable. The moment that sealed her fate.
Because now that I’ve admitted it, he has the power to hurt me.
The thought frightened her to her very core.

*

The moisture leaking from her eyes shocked him. She’d admitted she loved him and now cried. Silently, but still. It wasn’t what he’d pictured happening once he admitted his affection.

“What are you doing, witch? Please tell me those are tears of joy.”

She pushed at him and he rolled to the side. Up she popped, back ramrod straight, her entire bearing screaming
don’t touch
. “I need to be alone.”

“Talk to me, Ysabel. What’s wrong?”

“You got what you wanted. You made me admit how I feel. Now leave.”

“I’m a little confused. I thought being in love was a good thing.” He stood from the bed and padded over to her, spinning her to face him.

“A good thing?” She laughed bitterly. “How is it a good thing to fall in love with a demon-whore? How long before you cheat on me and break my heart? A day? Two? Maybe I’ll be lucky and you can hide it from me for a few weeks.”

“You’re it for me, Ysabel. From now until one of us dies. I will touch no other.”

“You say it so convincingly,” she said, her tone wistful. “But, don’t forget, I know all the false promises. I’ve heard them before. I just don’t understand why. I was perfectly fine letting you have your fun with me and then walking. Why did you have to try to make it into something more? Something you know won’t last?”

“But I’m telling you the truth.” Exasperation colored his words, and still she sadly shook her head. Did she not understand how it worked when a demon mated? That despite their reputation, once they bonded it was one female for life?

“I wish I could believe. Please leave.” She pulled away from him, but before he could grab her and shake some sense into her, a furry menace jumped between them. Teeth bared and growling, bloody Felipe dared him to get close enough for a bite.

“Ysabel. Call your cat off.”

Turning her back on Remy, his witch instead stalked into the bathroom and the feline stepped closer, still snarling.

“Get the fuck out of my way. I need to talk to her. To make her understand I mean what I say.”

It seemed the hellcat wasn’t interested in letting him say his piece and given the choice between losing some limbs or hurting her pet, Remy did the only thing he could. He turned on his heel and left.

As he stalked the castle corridors, he tried to figure out where he’d gone wrong. She said she loved him, and he, for the first time, declared himself to a woman. Used the Big L word, and not fallen over dead.

And in the biggest cosmic joke of all, his love made him lose his witch.
How? How is that bloody possible?

And how can I fix it?

Time to talk to his mother. Surely she had some crazy plan to win over the trust of the one he loved. He just hoped it didn’t involve bathing in muds from the Obnoxious Swamp again. The last time it took weeks to get the stench out of his hair and it never did grow him a pair of horns like his mother intended.

Thank Lucifer.

Chapter Twelve

Remy left without even trying to pit himself against her cat, and Ysabel cried.

Dirty rotten jerk, telling me he loves me.

How dare he raise her hopes? How dare he get to her to admit she cared? Killing him was looking like a better and better prospect all the time, if only she could muster the strength to do so.

I can’t do it. I can’t end his life.
Cowardly of her and weak, yet, she just had to think of his beautiful eyes and earnest expression to lose the fortitude. But, she did have a friend who might help her out.

Heading to Nefertiti’s tower, Ysabel caused the damned roaming the streets, and even the demons in her way, to dive to the side for cover. Perhaps it was the scowl on her face or the electrical static making her hair dance or the fireballs she kept lobbing – a corporal manifestation of her turmoil. Whatever the reason, no one dared to say a word or stand in her path as she made the short trek to visit her friend.

Rapping at the tower door – and admiring the new knocker shaped like a man on his knees with his arms bound behind his back – she tapped a foot impatiently as she waited. It took only a short moment before the ornate portal swung open to reveal the handsome figure of Geoffrey, the butler, standing at attention. Literally.

Naked but for a loincloth that did little to hide his straining erection, a must for the staff in this place, Geoffrey bowed her in.

“If my lady witch would follow me, Mistress awaits in the garden.”

Spinning on one heel, the butler walked down the corridor, the muscles of his shapely ass flexing. Normally, she would have allowed herself to admire such a prime specimen, even if she would never think of touching, however, consumed with thoughts of Remy, all she could think was how her demon sported a much better set of glutes.

Ruined. He’d ruined her to the point she couldn’t even admire another male. With anger now a companion to her misery, she stalked into the garden and found Nefertiti sitting at a wrought iron bistro set, sipping a lemonade while watching her gardener – who wore nothing but a straw hat, a tiny loin cloth and a set of shears. Averting her gaze, Ysabel sat across from her.

“Hey, Nef.”

“Ysabel. You naughty devil. A little imp told me someone got lucky last night, but judging by your smile it mustn’t have been very good. I’m surprised. Remy has impeccable technique. Or so I’ve heard. I never tried him out myself. Apparently, belonging to a harem doesn’t appeal. His loss.”