My stomach rumbled, weighting my interests slightly on the side of food.
I sat up and stuffed pillows behind my back. “That smells incredible.”
He placed the tray across my knees and leaned down to kiss me. I tilted my head and closed my eyes as his soft lips moved over mine.
Placing my palm on his chest, I could feel his incredible heat pulsing against my chilled flesh. It warmed places much farther south than my hand.
He lifted his head. “Eat. Regain your strength. You’re going to need it.” His smile was two parts sexy and one part mischievous. My heart did a little flip when I saw it.
I picked up a crunchy strip of smoked meat and tasted it, closing my eyes in bliss. A few bites of buttery pastry later I took a breath and wiped my hands.
“Gerch sends his regards.”
I smiled, happy the big red guy was all right.
Dialle watched me eat. Normally I would find that disconcerting. But given the limited time we had left together I relished it. I reached over and touched his cheek with my hand. “You seem very chipper this morning.”
He placed a kiss on my palm. “I have you back, safe. My court is healing. I am feeling chipper, my queen.”
Remembering the hell I’d been putting him through for weeks, I felt suddenly shamed. Dialle definitely had his wicked side. He was, after all, a very powerful devil. But he’d treated me well for nearly the entire time we’d been together and I owed him more trust than I’d shown him.
I plucked at a chunk of pastry and frowned. “About that queen thing…”
Dialle grabbed the tray and set it aside.
“We will discuss logistics later.”
I shook my head. “I need to get this off my chest.”
He pushed a strand of hair off my face. “I will give you two minutes.”
I sighed. Where to start? “I no longer have my magic.”
“One minute thirty seconds.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Your clock is fast, bud.”
His grin had become more weighted to the mischievous side. “That isn’t all that’s fast. One minute two seconds.”
I shook my head. “I’m no longer qualified to be your queen.”
“How can one small woman be so wrong? Thirty seconds.”
“Dialle!”
“Time’s up.”
He crawled up my body and covered my mouth with his own. I shoved ineffectually at his chest but it was no use. I’d like to say he was too strong and he overcame my feeble rebuke, but the truth is that I was just too weak to resist the taste of his lips and sweet breath. I wasn’t strong enough to resist the hard, insistent feel of his long body against mine.
My fingers curled into his gauzy shirt and I found myself pulling him closer…moaning against his lips.
Our clothes disappeared with a thought and any resistance I had disappeared with them.
I slipped my hands over his pecs, tweaking the hard brown buds of his nipples, and then down the firm ripples of his belly, toward the rigid shaft between his legs.
My fingers enclosed his thick cock, stroked it lovingly, and my thumb slipped across its tip to harvest the delicious drop of promise glistening there.
Dialle groaned into my mouth and slipped a hand under my butt, lifting me and sliding me down the bed so that he could cover me with his body.
It was a delicious feeling, being pressed into the soft mattress by his wonderful body. I was gently weighted, enveloped in heat and silk-sheathed hardness from chest to toe. Dialle’s scent enveloped me, cocooning us in a private world every bit as consuming as the Shadows, but ever so much more pleasant.
I arched my belly into the hard ridge of flesh pressing against it and rolled my hips. Dialle’s tongue found the seam of my lips, flicked the sensitive flesh until I opened, then slipped inside.
His taste infused my senses. My body blossomed, recognizing his touch, his taste, his smell in the most elemental ways.
Every nerve ending in my skin expanded in response to his ministrations, creating an almost painful awareness of flesh against flesh. My taste buds opened to receive the sweet and spicy offerings of his skin and mouth. My muscles quivered to hold him more tightly. My nipples tightened painfully, rising for notice in the hopes that he would bathe them in moist heat. And my pussy moistened, sending warm liquid streaming down my thighs.
Dialle chewed my bottom lip gently, slipping downward to suck my nipples into his mouth. Tangling my fingers in his hair, I opened my legs wider and wrapped them around his waist, begging for relief.
Dialle licked his way along the valley between my breasts and up my throat, stopping to bathe the spot where his daemon mark used to be.
I stiffened at the memory of its loss, but Dialle’s hands slipped along the inside of my thigh and across the engorged bud of my clit, driving all thoughts of magic and daemon hickeys right out of my mind. My head fell back and I shivered as Dialle’s talented fingers slid into my pussy, driving exquisite sensations inside my body and along my aching clit, where his thumb stroked.
I lost myself in the sensations. My head thrashing against the down-filled pillows, my limbs tightened and the spiral of lust building in my belly started to unwind, sending shards of bright pleasure shooting through my body.
My toes curled hard against the soles of my feet and I cried out, feeling overwhelming release slamming through me. My muscles softened even as my sexual channel clenched and tightened around Dialle’s invading fingers, exuberantly embracing them.
Wave after wave of pleasure swamped me until I was limp from it, my body flushed and panting in the aftermath.
Dialle covered me and drove his cock into my body, burying it to his tight balls. My satiety exploded into awareness and need once again.
He clasped my hands and lifted them above my head as he thrust into me, hard, deep and slow, rolling his hips with each thrust to maximize sensation.
He sucked on my chin, nibbled.
Pleasure spiked, swirled.
My pussy throbbed, clenched.
Every thrust spun through me as a tsunami of delight, tightening my nipples and making my clit throb.
I groaned out his name, cherishing the feel of his body inside mine, swelling, stroking the hungry flesh along my pulsing channel.
He plunged deeper, harder, until the world exploded into bright colors.
My skin expanded, sliding against his, my fingers twitched in the heavy silk of his hair, and my pussy closed over his hard cock, embracing it with untamed urgency.
Dialle’s body tightened along with mine. He lowered his lips to my throat and sucked hard, sending spirals of new delight thrumming through me.
I gasped under the sensation, wondering if some memory of his mark still remained beneath my skin, and cried out as I went over again, pulling him along for the ride.
He sent his release deep inside my body, his cock jumping eagerly as his lips sucked the taut column of my neck.
When he lifted his head he said, “You are my queen, Astra.” His lips slipped gently along my jawline. “There will be no other. We are bonded.”
“But the mark…”
His heavy, softening cock slipped from my body, leaving me with a sense of inexorable loss.
A strong, square finger settled against my lips. “Shhh. We are bonded. One day we will replace the mark. I do not need it to know you are mine.”
I shook my head, a single tear sliding from my eye. “You need a real queen, Dialle.”
He swept the tear from my cheek with a finger and followed with a gentle swipe of his tongue, licking the trail away. “Our fate is engaged, my love. We have no voice in the matter. You are mine and I am yours. The evidence is all around us. Look at my court. It is healing along with you. You are my queen and I am your king.” He placed a tender kiss on my lips.
I took a deep, shuddering breath, afraid to hope.
“If you attempt to leave me I will find you and bring you back.”
I sniffled, determined to give it one more try. “You could mate with Darma. She has lots of power.”
Despite my depression at the thought of losing him, the look on his face made me burst into laughter.
“Surely you jest!”
I dissolved into laughter, feeling the joy of laughing after so long bathed in pain. “I know she’s kind of cranky…”
“
Kind
of cranky?” His voice boomed around the room and I clutched my stomach, helpless under my hilarity.
He clasped my chin and looked me right in the eye, his lips twitching with the smile he wouldn’t let himself release. “Let us be perfectly clear on this, Astra. I would rather mate with a gargoyle than your sister.”
“But she’s pretty.” Now I was just torturing him. Deep down I knew that I would never be able to let him mate with anyone else. Especially my sister.
His pretty black gaze swirled with reds and oranges and the moist, heavy weight resting against my leg started to stir. “You are my queen, Astra. Only you. Not only because we are fated…or for the health of my court…but because I’m a man. And a man needs to be with the woman he loves.”
My breath stopped in my lungs. “You…you love—”
“Yes, Astra.” His lips touched mine in a tender kiss. “Devil take me. You are the most difficult woman. But it is your devilish side I love best.”
I licked my lips, savoring his taste. “Oh. Okay then. I’ll tell Darma she’s out of luck.”
Dialle’s fingers skittered across my belly and my skin quivered hopefully. “Later. Right now I have further plans for your recovery.”
I sucked in a breath as his fingers slipped past auburn curls and dipped between moist folds. “Plans?”
“Yes. Physical therapy.” His mouth encompassed a rigid nipple and sucked, sending delight spearing through me.
“Ah. I like this physical therapy.”
“You will like it even more in a moment.”
Dialle’s heated lips slipped down my belly, leaving a fiery trail in their wake, and I sighed, deciding to embrace my physical therapy.
It wasn’t the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make.
About the Author
Award-winning author Sam Cheever mixes in a little fun, a little magic and a little real-life spice to create her sexy fantasy characters. Sam’s fun-loving creations fight their way through a dizzying array of dangerous challenges without letting little things like the end of the world, angry, manipulative gods, evil dark-world denizens, or killing Furies dampen their zest for life and hot love!
Sam loves to chat with readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her
author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
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Also by
Sam Cheever
Dancin’ With the Devil 1: ‘Tween Heaven and Hell
Dancin’ With the Devil 2: ‘Tween a Devil and His Hard Place
Dancin’ With the Devil 3: ‘Tween Heart’s Fire and Devil’s Delight
Dancin’ With the Devil 4: The Devil You Know
Gods of Love 2: Nocked Asunder
Gods of Love 3: Nocked Senseless
Gods of Love: Nocked for a Loop
Print Books by Sam Cheever
Dancin’ With the Devil 1: ‘Tween Heaven and Hell
Dancin’ With the Devil 2: ‘Tween a Devil and His Hard Place
Dancin’ With the Devil 3: ‘Tween Heart’s Fire and Devil’s Delight
Dancin’ With the Devil 4: The Devil You Know
Gods of Love 2: Nocked Asunder
Hot ’n’ Bothered
anthology
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.