Devilish Deal by Jenna Wolfhart

21

His lips were full of hunger. I pressed up onto my toes and wound my arms around his neck, pushing my body against the hard planes of his chest. All logical thought fled from my mind. A strange, unexpected need ripped through my gut.

Az’s fingers tangled in my hair as his other hand dragged a soft caress across my chin. His touch made all the anger, the uncertainty, and the fear come undone within me. His mouth claimed mine, and the eagerness of his hands reflected a growing sense of need I couldn’t ignore.

I kind of…liked this.

Soon, his hands found mine. He trapped them against the wall and pulled back. His dark gaze searched my eyes, those flashes of ice asking a question I didn’t know how to answer. I realized then that my chest heaved. Hell, my entire body practically trembled.

With a slight smile, he dropped his lips to my neck. I gasped as a new wave of chills swept through me. Every time he trailed another kiss along my skin, my core built up an excruciating heat. Blood rushed through my ears. Everything around us dropped away until there was nothing left but me and him.

This is just for pretend, my mind screamed at me.

I blocked out the words. Might as well make it look as real as we could.

He released his grip on my left hand, and then palmed my hips. I sucked in a sharp gasp as his fingers teased the top of my thigh. My mind shouted something at me again, but I didn’t hear it. I was too distracted by what Az was doing with his hand.

The hand slid further south until it hit the bottom hem of my dress. And then slowly, it crept a little higher, beneath the material. My entire body shook, and I swallowed down a moan. His mouth was still hot against my neck, driving me crazy, and his hand…oh my god, it was only an inch away from the apex of my thighs now.

“What are you doing?” I finally gasped, although a part of me wanted to slap myself for interrupting.

I could feel him smile against my neck. “I’m doing what we said we were going to do. Make everyone believe in our entanglement.”

“Right,” I breathed back. “With your hand up my dress?”

He pulled back and shot me a wicked smile. “Would you like for me to stop?”

Swallowing hard, I shook my head. “No, you should keep going. You know, for the fake relationship.”

“For the fake relationship,” he repeated with a dark flicker in his eyes. He inched closer, his hand still on my thigh, and he gave me a gentle kiss that made my toes curl in my boots. I reached up and placed my palm against his cheek. His stubble tickled my skin, and the scent of him reminded me of tense nights spent in his bed.

His presence consumed me. The scent, the taste, the feel of him. What we were doing might be fake, but I had to admit something to myself or I might lose my mind. I really didn’t hate him anymore.

That didn’t mean he was a good guy who could be trusted, or any of that. But I definitely didn’t hate him. Dammit.

His hand slid a little further up, and his thumb pressed against my panties.

Oh my god.

“Well, that’s interesting,” he said with a smirk. “You’re wet.”

“I…”

His thumb released its pressure, and I sagged against the wall. But then his finger slid beneath the thin, lacy material. My entire body shook as my heart leapt right up into my throat and stuck there. His eyes stayed locked on mine the entire time, and slowly, he slid the tip of his finger inside of me.

“I’ve been wondering what you would feel like,” he murmured. “And you’re just as I thought. Sweet, hot, tight. Most men would lose their minds to have someone like you.”

My heart thumped painfully against my ribs. I literally had no idea how to respond to that, nor to the fact that his finger was inside of me. At a party. With a bunch of people nearby. Were they watching us?

Az slid his finger in further, and I moaned, shuddering against the wall. Without the slightest bit of control over my body, I felt myself tighten around him. A low growl rumbled from his throat, and then he pulled his hand out from beneath my dress, leaving me a mess beneath him.

“Not like this,” he said as the darkness in his eyes began to clear. “Not here. I’m sorry. I got carried away.”

My chest expanded as I caught the conflicted expression on his face. Had that...had that been real? Surely not. We’d been playing around and nothing more, only to catch people’s attention. But that didn’t explain why he’d crossed the line he had. He hadn’t really needed to touch me like that to make people think we were an item.

I wet my lips, trying my damnedest not to get carried away, but…

“What do you mean?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Nothing.” His eyes shuttered over his emotions. “You’re forgetting something, aren’t you?”

“I think I am forgetting about a lot of things right now.”

He leaned forward and pressed his mouth against my ear. “We’ve made one type of scene, and now we need to make the other. The argument, Mia.”

“Oh,” I said numbly. “Right.”

We’ve made one type of scene…

Now I was just getting whiplash. He’d said one type of scene. So, it had been fake. Or had it? Either he was a really good actor or he didn’t want me to know he’d felt the same thing I had.

“Stop playing with my mind,” I said in a booming voice as my hands found his chest. With narrowed eyes, I shoved him back.

He stumbled away from me with alarm plastered on his handsome face. “Mia, what are you doing?”

“You’re hot and cold.” My eyes narrowed. “One minute, you act like you want to rip my clothes off. The next, you look at me like I’m nothing more than a bug on the bottom of your boot. Make up your mind, Asmodeus. Do you want me or not?”

His eyebrows shot up. “I think I’ve made it clear what I want.”

I fisted my hands and propped them on my hips. “Really? You sure about that? Because from where I’m standing, you don’t even know what the hell is going on yourself. And I’m done with it.”

With a frustrated growl, I whirled away from him and stormed down the hallway, jumping into the elevator as soon as it opened. Out of the corner of my eyes, I caught the shocked faces of the other party attendees. Thankfully, none of them were Serena or Noah. I really didn’t want to have to explain what they’d just seen.

As the doors slid shut, I sagged against the wall and closed my eyes. Truth be told, I didn’t even understand it myself. And I was starting to realize that I was in way over my head.

Like, way over my head.

The elevator shuddered to a stop, and the doors whirred open. I made my way outside and pulled the cool night air into my lungs. My head began to clear, but only a little. The hardest part of the plan came next. If the killer took the bait, I had to trust that the demons would swoop in from above before he could sink his blade into my neck.

Throwing back my shoulders, I turned left, just like we’d planned. I would follow a prescribed route we’d gone over about five hundred times earlier in the day. Caim, Phenex, and Stolas were hiding on the rooftops above while Bael and Valac lurked in nearby alleys.

I was as safe as I could be. You know, in the “catch a serial killer with a bunch of demons” scheme of things.

As I wound through the late night streets of Hell’s Kitchen, every now and then I caught the sound of distant footsteps. But nothing ever came of it. Before long, I reached the club, shut for the night. I used my key to get into the building and drifted down the dark hallway to the meeting room.

When I stepped inside, a sudden flash of wrong went through me. I hovered in the shadowy doorway with my fingers half an inch from the light-switch. Heart thumping, I took a step back. The Legion couldn’t be more than a few steps behind me, but they weren’t here yet. If the killer had somehow figured out our plan and had gotten ahead of us…he could be waiting in here for me.

Gritting my teeth, I fished the signet ring out of my purse and gripped it in my hand. Then, with all the bravado I didn’t have, I flipped the switch. Light poured through the room, blinding me momentarily.

When my vision cleared, a gasp popped from my parted lips. The map, once an elaborate display of the killer’s every move, had been ripped to shreds. All the pins were scattered across the floor like fallen soldiers. The yarn now hung from the overhead light. At the end of it was a folded note.

I swallowed hard and snatched the note from the string, heart thumping out a hectic beat. My eyes rushed across the words. A heavy stone crashed into my gut.

I know what you’ve been trying to do. Give up the hunt, Legion. This will be your last warning before I tell Lucifer everything about you. Need extra motivation? I have the werewolf friend. Her name is Serena. And I will kill her if you don’t give me Mia. You have until tomorrow at midnight.