Heart of the Incubus (14 page)

“You’re right.” Cresso turned away from her. “I
am
an incubus. That will never change.”

Genevieve swallowed back a sob. “I-I’m sorry.”

“Me, too.”

She rose and fled into her bedroom before she could disgrace herself any further. Throwing herself onto the bed, she buried her face in the covers to stifle the sounds escaping her throat. How could she have made the horrible mistake of allowing Cresso to touch her? Not just physically, but emotionally.

Jeffrey was one thing. His betrayal had stung deep, but she’d picked herself up off the floor and moved on with her life. If she gave
Cresso
her heart and he crushed it, as he would inevitably do…

She wouldn’t survive it.

…

Close to an hour later, Genevieve’s muffled cries finally subsided. Cresso listened in from where he lay on the bed in the connecting room. She probably hadn’t registered that he’d be able to hear her from this distance, especially with her door closed, but demons had far more acute hearing than humans did. Sometimes he forgot how new she was to his world.

Her occasional hiccup told him she’d fallen asleep at last, so he rubbed his face and tried to figure out how the hell he’d turned into such an asshole.

No wonder Genevieve had cried herself to sleep. She had to be feeling beyond vulnerable with a stalker on her heels. And what had he gone and done? He’d wrapped his allure around her like the incubus version of a date-rape drug and taken advantage of her in her weakened state.

He deserved to be gutted. Beheaded.

This was the lowest he’d ever sunk, and he’d had some major lows before.

Why did you have to go and touch her? You knew better.

The simple answer was he just couldn’t help himself. Even knowing she was too good for him, he hadn’t been able to resist. The memory of her aroused scent curled around him like a fist, making his stomach clench and his dick go hard. The damn thing would never allow him to fall sleep.

He couldn’t do this to Gen anymore, or to himself. What if he couldn’t control himself next time they were alone? He might force her. Not physically. His incubus allure would wear her down far before it came to that. But she wouldn’t
really
want it. And that would be tantamount to rape.

No getting around it—he had to feed…even if his heart rebelled at the thought.

Chapter Eight

When the hotel phoned in its wake-up call early the next morning, it took Genevieve a second to remember where she was. Then it hit her. Last night. The skinned raccoon. The hotel.

Making out with Cresso.

“Oh, God.” She buried her head under the pillow. Maybe if she closed her eyes and went back to sleep, she’d forget all about it.

No good. That just made her recall the crazy dreams she’d had last night. Suffice it to say, in her sleep, she hadn’t turned him down.

How was she going to face him today? Much as she’d like to pretend it had never happened, something had to be said about what they’d almost done last night. She couldn’t really tell him the truth; it would reveal too much. If only she didn’t want him so badly. But she did, and that meant she couldn’t give him the chance to break her heart.

Dread clogged her throat as she dressed for work and smoothed her hair into a loose ponytail. Getting a tooth pulled would be more pleasant than facing Cresso right now, but she couldn’t very well hide in here all day.

“Suck it up,” she whispered. Taking a deep breath, she flung the door open.

Cresso stood on the other side, in front of the breakfast table. A flicker of emotion lined his face at the sight of her, but it was gone before she could identify it. He paused in the process of buttoning his dress shirt and motioned to the tray of croissants and coffee that had been set up on top of the table. “Morning. I noticed you’re not much of a breakfast eater, so I only ordered a few things.”

There he went, being sweet again. “Thank you. I’ll grab some stuff to go.”

They walked in tense silence to the car. Lord, what he must think of her. Leading him on like that and then pulling away. Maybe he thought she’d done it on purpose, to torture him.

By the time they pulled out into traffic, she couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m sorry,” she said at the same time he said, “I want to apologize.”

Cresso glanced at her. “Just hear me out, okay?”

Now that she’d gotten up the nerve to speak, she wanted to get it out, but he looked like he needed to go first. “All right.”

“Last night…what I did was unforgiveable.”

“What are you talking about?”

His fingers drummed on the wheel, and he stared straight ahead. “I took advantage of you when you were vulnerable. There’s no excuse for it.”

Her mouth dropped open. “No, you didn’t.” When he shot her a glance that said he clearly didn’t believe her, she added, “I’m an adult. I knew what I was getting into. If anyone should be sorry, it’s me for leading you on.”

Cresso wearily rubbed at the back of his neck. “My allure drew you in. It wasn’t intentional on my part, I swear. But there wasn’t any way you could resist, and it’s getting harder and harder for me to contain it.” He let out a dry chuckle. “Like I said, monster.”

Ah, so that’s what this was about. He thought he’d forced her to do something she didn’t really want to do. How could she make him understand?

She reached across the space and grasped his hand. “I don’t know what my feelings toward you would be if you weren’t an incubus, but your allure is just one of the small things about you. It has nothing to do with your brilliance or your kindness. You’re a good man, and that more than anything is what calls to me.”

He met her gaze with a searing look. “But you still don’t think I’d be able to remain faithful. To you.”

Whoa, he was really laying all the cards on the table. She tugged her hand out of his and licked her lips nervously. Her stomach gave an anxious flop, and she pressed down on it. “I don’t know if that’s in your nature, but I know I don’t have it in me to find out.”

Cresso was quiet for a long time before he finally responded. “Gen, I’m not him. I’m not the man who hurt you. I know there’s nothing I can say or do to convince you of that right now, but I wouldn’t do the things he did to you.”

“I…” Wait, had she ever mentioned her ex to him? “How do you know all this? How do you know about Jeffrey?”

He stiffened, his fingers tightening on the wheel.

“What?” She sat forward in her seat and stared at him intently. “What is it?”

“Demons have the ability to telepathically communicate with humans. It’s called dreamscaping. I…” He fidgeted. “I may have accidentally stumbled into your dreams once or twice.”

Stumbled into my dreams?
“How do I not know this? How do the other scientists not know?”

“Telepathic communication between different species hasn’t been thoroughly studied. Taeg’s father learned about this ability some time ago, but he never shared his discovery. And all my focus has been on this vaccine, so…”

The truth smacked her hard. “You know what Jeffrey did to me.”

Cresso flushed. “Yes.”

“And these dreams I’ve been having the past few nights. Of us…”

His lips pressed tightly together. “I’ve had them, too.”

“Oh my God.” She sat back in her seat. Confusion melded with anger, tightening her stomach. Here she thought she’d done a good job of hiding her emotions, and he could see into her mind all along. He knew exactly how she’d been humiliated by Jeffrey, down to the smallest mind-numbing detail. The bastard.

“Gen, I’m sorry.” He tried to grab her hand, but she snatched it away.

“Don’t touch me.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t know how to stop. You have to believe that.”

She shook her head, and when he pulled into the parking lot, she unbuckled her seat belt. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.” That was the honest truth.

He started to park the car, and she hopped out before it came to a full stop.

“Gen. Wait.”

“No. Leave me alone.”

Genevieve raced toward the entrance, uncaring how upset she looked right now. She needed to be by herself, to process all this. She needed to understand what Cresso wanted from her.

By the time she walked up to the guard desk, she’d managed to compose herself. But then Will gave her a cautious look. “You have mail. Um, Dr. Taylor asked me to give any more of these to him, but since it’s addressed to you…I found it slipped into our mailbox, but there’s no stamp on it.”

When he pulled out the envelope with the familiar scribbled handwriting, a flash of panic came and went, replaced by numb acceptance. Of course, there would be another letter. Anything else would be too easy.

…

He’d really fucked that one up. Somehow his attempt at an apology had morphed into a sordid confession of how he’d dreamscaped with her.

Good one, dumb shit
. Now she had even more reason to hate him.

Cresso threw the car into Park and raced out after Genevieve, but the woman had suddenly developed superspeed. She fled inside the building.

He caught up with her at the security desk, just as Will held out an envelope to her. If the cream color hadn’t already clued him in on who sent that letter, the way she blanched would have.

This was too much.

“I’ll take it.” He stopped beside Genevieve and smoothly relieved Will of the envelope. He wanted to burn the fucking thing, but that would be pointless.

Genevieve’s eyes flashed. “I can handle it on my own.”

“I know you can.” Yet he didn’t want her to be alone.

She looked like she was going to continue arguing, so he said, “Let’s talk about it in your lab.”

Her mouth snapped shut and she nodded before turning and marching toward the lift. He stepped in behind her, right before the doors shut. She held out her hand. After a moment’s hesitation, he gave up the letter.

The cold, scholarly expression slid back onto her face, and Genevieve tore the envelope open. She unfolded the piece of paper inside. He didn’t even have to look at it to see what it said. One word was stamped across the page, in letters so big and bold that they were visible from the other side:
SLUT
.

Her fingers shook as she lowered the paper, and that more than anything sparked an inferno of fury blazing deep in his chest.

“That’s it,” he growled. “No more of this.”

Genevieve took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. “What could we possibly do? We don’t know who’s sending them.”

The door opened, and Cresso followed her down the hall and into her lab. “I’m gonna question each and every person on that lift last night. It has to be one of them.”

“What if they don’t admit it? It’s not like we can beat them all up.”

“The hell I can’t,” he muttered.

“Cresso.” She turned to him. “Without evidence, we can’t do a damn thing.”

Shit. She was right, and he hated it. “I want you to stay in here. Lock the door to the lab. I’ll go talk with them and see what I can find out.”

When she gave him a shaky nod, he headed for the door. But then he remembered. There was a lot of unfinished business between them. He stopped and faced her. “Gen.”

Wariness lined her eyes. “Yes?” From the way her body stiffened, she didn’t want to get back into their discussion right now. She wasn’t ready.

Hell, it could wait.

“Don’t forget to lock the door.” With those words, he left.

Dr. Summers’s lab was his first stop, but she wasn’t there. Neither was Dr. Benedict, and since the scientists kept their labs locked when they weren’t present, he couldn’t get inside either one. So he walked down to the next floor and found Dr. Jessup in his lab. Not that he suspected the nagora demon of being the stalker. The old man was far too kind and gentle for that. But perhaps he’d be able to provide him with some information.