Demon Tempted (Karmic Lust) (11 page)

Samael grinned. “Eva wants you, and you and I both know that.” He unlocked the doors with the electronic key, and both men got in.

“Yeah, Eva wants me, but I’m unsure of what else she wants. I think her being human again has made it impossible at this point to fully get what’s going on with her.”

“One step at a time, bro. There’s been a lot of damage done by Eva. Perhaps this is the way it’s supposed to be played out.”

“You could be right. But this really fucking sucks.”

“No one ever said the female species was easy.”

“You got that right.”

Clay backed the car out and headed towards Diego’s. Eva was tying him in knots.
That much was certain.

The silence across the table as she sat down to dinner with Clay later that evening puzzled her. She’d been trying to talk to him all night. Trying to get him to talk to her was near impossible today. The most he’d said was a yes or a no with several grunts. He was being a child, and it was thoroughly irritating. Damn it, he was a demon not a kid. Why the hell was he acting so childish? She tossed down her napkin and stood.
Grabbing her plate and moving away from the table, she stormed out towards the kitchen. She placed her plate in the sink and leaned on it for a moment as she gathered her thoughts.

Clay’s mood swings the last few weeks added to the puzzle. One moment he was taking her tenderly and in the next he was silent and sullen. Her needs were on a whole different level now, being human. She required interaction, and she needed words and not silence.

She’d be damned if she was going to put up with his juvenile behavior, and she didn’t know what she’d done to cause it. Of late her breathing even annoyed him. She’d been making it a habit to have lunch with Oz every day when she was at work since then. The lunches with Oz had been just that, lunch and friendship. There was only so much she could take. As a demon, silence was welcome, but as a human female she was finding that she needed that kind of contact.

She needed to know what was wrong with Clay. All of which meant she’d have to go back in there and confront him to figure out what had pissed off the demon and put him in a state of silence. A noise behind her caused her to turn; Clay stood in the doorway, his arms over his chest.

Eva leaned against the sink and waited for a few minutes to see if he’d speak first. It wasn’t long before he obliged her.

“I’ve been waiting for days for you to confess that you went to lunch with Oz. In fact you’ve gone to lunch with him every day for the last two weeks. But still you haven’t spoken of it.”

There it was—the reason for his anger and silence. The fact that she’d dared to not listen to him and have lunch with another man.

“Clay, I told you that I was going to have lunch with him.”

“And I told you I didn’t want you to do it.”

“We will never agree on this. You don’t own me. You’re my guardian, not my keeper, nor my husband. You don’t have a really good reason for me not to go to lunch with him.”

“There is something wrong with that man. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. He gives off something that I don’t like.” Clay growled, and the oddest light came into his beautiful eyes. He took one step towards her, stopped then turned on his heels and left the kitchen. The slamming of the door let her know he was gone. When her hands started hurting she realized she was white-knuckling the sink.

She’d been right before—this wasn’t going to work. They were too volatile around each other. Both of them wanted dominance. One alpha too many, and they’d wind up tearing each other apart.

The sound of her cell phone ringing took her out of her reverie. She pulled it from her pants pocket and glanced at the number. Oz. Did she really want to take the call? It rang insistently again.
I need to take my mind off that moody demon.
Oz was pure distraction and harmless. She was going for it.

“Hey Oz, what’s up?”

“Just calling to see if you’d like to go have a drink?”
Why not?
A little voice in her head whispered to her:
Because Clay wouldn’t like it.
That made her all the more determined to do it anyway.

“Sure. Where would you like me to meet you?”

“There’s always Diego’s, or would you like to go somewhere else?”

Eva thought about it and decided that she wasn’t going to let Clay limit what she could do and where she could go.

“Diego’s is fine. We can even dance if you like.”

They talked a little bit longer while she washed the dishes and cleaned up then she was hanging up the phone and heading towards Diego’s against Clay’s wishes. Against that small voice in her head too.

****

“What are you going to do, Clay?” Salathiel asked, his voice a deep timber that was befitting such a large brute of an angel. He was all brawn, with chestnut-colored hair closely cropped and with light gray eyes that in different lighting shone blue.

There was obvious concern in the angel’s gaze as they both watched Eva drive off.

“The only thing we can do at this point—keep watching and protect her if we need to. Follow her, Salathiel. Keep close watch. Don’t let her know you’re there.”

“I won’t. I’ll be vigilant and let you know what’s going on, if anything.” Salathiel nodded, spread his wings, and he was off to watch after Eva.

****

“I really don’t understand why he thinks he owns me.” Eva picked up her apple martini and took a sip. Oz always insisted that be what she ordered since it was what he’d brought her the first time they’d met. They’d already danced a few songs and now were sitting comfortably at a corner table just talking.

Oz looked at her as if she had a second head.

“You really have to ask that? Damn, every male in here wants to own you.”

Heat filled her cheeks, and she took another quick sip of her drink. To be wanted above all other women, loved and desired? What would she do for those things? That wasn’t even the question really. It was more like: What hadn’t she done for those things before?

“There’s always someone more desirable than myself, Oz.”

He took her hand in his and patted it gently. Eva glanced at his hand holding hers. “Baby, you are desired.”

At his words, her gaze shot up to his.

“Oz…” She couldn’t get her hand out of his; he would not let her hand go. It wasn’t the type of hold that hurt, but it was firm.

“No, no let me finish. If you were mine, I’d give you everything you could possibly ever want. We would be powerful together.”

She shook her head and
blink
, all of a sudden she felt so lightheaded. She wanted to be desired, but there was more to it than that. Something elusive was hiding from her, and she couldn’t put her finger on it. When her head cleared, she took a sip of her drink and focused on a spot just above Oz’s shoulder.

“You know of course I’d love to have a man who’d give me all of that. But what I really need right now is my sister to forgive me. So that I can get back what I lost.”

“My dear, what is it you could have possibly done to your sister that you need forgiveness?”

“It’s a long, long story, Oz. I don’t think we have time to go over it. Let’s just say I was a fool and now I have to figure out how to make it right.”

“Why should you have to make it right? She should be the one to grovel and to make things better.” Something in his voice made her look up at him, and she frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it seems to me from our conversations that being the older sister, you’ve always taken care of Lili.”

“Yes and no.” She couldn’t tell him about the times she’d been looking out for herself and trying to keep Liliana from finding out the truth. He wouldn’t think her so wonderful if she told him all of that, now would he?

“You’re not telling me something. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Yes, we are,” she agreed fervently. God, what was it about him that made her want to agree to anything and everything he said?

“Then you can tell me anything.”

He pushed the apple martini closer to her hand again, urging her to take a sip. She drained the glass. The liquid burned a nice, heated path down her throat and warmed her insides. She raised her glass to show the staff she needed a refill, then set it down again.

“Some things can change one’s opinion about the other person though, Oz.”

“My opinion won’t change. In fact I will most likely think even more highly of you.” He gave her a charming smile, and she could not help but smile back.

They both grew quiet again when the waiter brought her drink to her. Once he’d moved away she turned her attention back to Oz.

“I don’t know…” She hesitated.

“I can give you anything you’d like.”

“That’s a very big promise.” Now where had she heard that before?

“Trust me … you’re deepest, darkest desire can be yours or even just something as simple as your sister forgiving you.”

She cocked her head to the side and leaned back in the chair with her arms crossed over her ample chest. “Anything I desire? Who are you that you can promise such a thing?”

“Does that really matter if you get what you want?”

She was starting to feel a bit uneasy so she picked up her drink and drank it quickly as she glanced at her watch. “I really should be going.”

“What’s the rush?”

“I’m just tired.” She gave a fake yawn to try to emphasize her newly acquired weariness.

“My dear girl, do forgive me,” Oz said smoothly.

“There’s nothing to forgive. Thank you for letting me unwind.” She stood. He got up with her, but she waved him back down. “It’s okay. I can walk myself out. You still have a full beer. We can talk tomorrow.” She waved and moved off toward the exit, where she turned back and gave one last wave.

Once outside the bar she shook her head to clear it, breathing in the clean, fresh night air. Her head cleared, and she once again had her faculties. The fog that seemed to have occupied her brain lately lifted.

The house was pitch black when she arrived, and she could only assume Clay was resting. She opened the front door quietly and tried to close it without making a sound. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. Once they had she progressed slowly through the hallway. Satisfied that she’d done just that, she crept past the living room, ready to head upstairs to her bedroom. Just as her foot hit the bottom stair, she heard Clay’s voice.

“Where have you been, Eva?”

She could hear the censure in his voice and didn’t want to deal with that tonight. She kept her back to him. “Not tonight, Clay. I haven’t been sleeping that well, and I don’t need this. So please, just drop it for tonight.” She didn’t hear him come up behind her, so she gasped when he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him.

He pressed his lips to the side of her neck from behind, kissing her softly, his hold at her waist tightening a bit.

“No talking. I will let our bodies do the talking for us.”

“If we’re going to do this, then it’s my turn to be in charge,” she insisted.

“Get upstairs now and undress. Then I will decide whether or not you’re in charge.”

He let her go, and she hurried up the stairs. Behind her, the rustle of his clothing was apparent. Eva couldn’t wait to be in her room to undress—she did so as she made her way up the stairs, dropping her clothes as she went. They were both naked by the time they stepped into her bedroom, and she flipped on the light switch.

He turned her quickly, kissing her right there in the doorway. He brought his hands to her body, moving up her to cup both breasts, pulling at her hard nipples. His touch thrilled her and shot pleasure all the way to her clit. She uttered a cry of unadulterated pleasure, her hands covering his.

“No … stop.” She groaned. If he continued to touch her like this, she wouldn’t be able to do what she wanted to do with him.

“We’re not going through that again, Eva. I’m not going to stop touching you.”

“It’s only for a moment,” she tried to assure him. “Go lie back on the bed. I want to try out that cock ring on you.”

“Eva, I never agreed to that.”

“But you’re a big demon, you’ll love it. I promise. Besides I want to see how it feels against my clit.” He finally looked as if he would relent, and she breathed a sigh of relief when he finally did.

Clay strolled toward the bed and stretched on his back, his cock jutting straight out from his body.

“Come on before I change my mind. I’m fucking hard as a rock.” She nibbled on her lip to stop the grin that spread across her face and could tell she’d failed miserably.

Damn, the man was perfection, his abs nicely sculpted and his cock thick and long. She looked at him a bit longer then made her way to the nightstand to retrieve the toy. She’d already put the batteries in the little wireless controller in anticipation of this happening.