Dahlia's Kiss

6

NOT ALONE

Bean didn’t uncurlhimself from the back of the couch when I walked through the door. His tail flicked twice, indicating he was aware of my presence, and that I’d interrupted his nap.

“Hello to you too, sleepyhead.” I didn’t get so much as a yawn as a response.

After the day I’d had, all I wanted was a hot shower. Dropping my clothes at the bedroom door, I made a dash through to the bathroom, avoiding the open blinds of the windows. Usually, I wouldn’t have cared if I gave someone a show, but in light of current events, I valued my privacy. If I’d thought about it beforehand, I would have shut them on the way in, but my mind was otherwise occupied. Without a second thought, I locked the door behind me, as if there was anyone else in the apartment liable to walk in on me. One couldn’t be too careful when there was a maniac on the loose killing your sexual partners.

I adjusted the spray of the water to the hottest temperature I could stand, just south of hellfire, and stepped under the cascading rivulets. Nothing else mattered as the heat washed away the stress of the day. I took my time as I washed my hair, carefully rinsing the suds away after. My legs were shaved, along with every other place on my body that didn’t require hair. In my business, you always needed to be ready to fuck, and it was kind of a turn off to be prickly on the important bits. I’d tried waxing, but I couldn’t get past the pain.

Reluctantly, I turned off the taps and stepped out onto the rug, taking the terry cloth robe off the hook and wrapping my body in its warmth. I didn’t bother blow drying my hair; it would just dry in gentle waves anyway. When I emerged back in the hall, the television was on in the living room.

I hadn’t turned it on when I came in.

Quietly, I stepped into my bedroom and dressed myself in whatever I could find conveniently on the floor. I listened closely for the sounds of another person’s presence but couldn’t detect any. Perhaps the damn cat rolled onto the remote again. It wouldn’t have been the first time. Just in case, I found my phone and opened the lock screen in case I needed to call the police.

“Hello?” I said to the room before me. The hallway partially obscured my body, and I was reluctant to go any further. “Bean? Did you turn on the television?”

The cat didn’t respond. Not that he would have, anyway. But was it too fucking much to ask for a meow now and then when a question was asked?

“Is someone out there?” I heard the quiver in my voice and hated that I sounded weak. I was a goddamn Succubus, not a human. Closing my eyes, I imagined a force field wrapped around me, a bubble protecting me from harm. It was nothing more than an aura of lust, but anyone who walked into it would instantly forget any nefarious plans they might have and instantly be aroused. Of course, if it was a man in my apartment who’d come to rape me, my little trick wouldn’t help much.

“Oh my God!” A man’s voice yelled from the other side of the couch. “Stop doing that. It’s bad enough already. Please, turn it off!”

My nerve endings lit on fire. I picked up the closest thing to my hands and chucked it at the figure who leapt off my furniture with his shirt over his mouth and nose. The coffee cup soared past the man’s head and shattered on the wall behind him. Bean clawed his way across the carpet between my feet, the crash effectively ending his napping. Apparently, the arrival of a strange person in our home didn’t bother him in the least. Attack cat, he was not.

“Who are you? What are you doing in my apartment?” I screamed at the top of my lungs, forgetting I had a phone poised and ready to call the cops. “I have a gun!” I lied.

“Just stop!” the man cried out. “My name’s Damian. I wrote you the note. I had a feeling you would blow me off, so I came here. You didn’t answer when I knocked. I would have just left, but the door wasn’t closed all the way and I was afraid someone else snuck in on you. I checked the apartment and heard the water running, so I laid on the couch to wait for you to be done. Apartment is clear, by the way. No weirdos got in.”

“Save for you?” I asked, my voice hard and full of accusation.

“You are even more beautiful when you’re angry,” he said.

I threw my phone at him, instantly regretting my decision now that I had no way to call for backup. He caught it and laid it on the coffee table gently. “What gave you the right to come inside my home without my permission? I don’t know you and you are lucky I didn’t shoot you.”

“With your phone gun?” he asked, snickering.

I blushed at being called out on my lie.

“Can’t you smell me?” he asked. “Stop being mad for a minute and inhale. Go on. Do it.”

I didn’t want to do anything he said, but my body reacted to his words without hesitation. When his scent hit my nostrils, my knees went weak. I grasped onto the wall to keep from hitting the floor. Moisture pooled between my thighs for the second time that day. My body identified this man as a soul bonded mate. No Succubus had ever been bonded to more than one Incubus. Go figure the one who didn’t want any mates would have two. “You have got to be fucking kidding me!” I screamed. “This can’t happen twice in one day!”

“Twice?” he asked. “I haven't come near you today. The last time I saw you was when you left the hotel the other night and those two rich fuckers were making out on the street with the paparazzi taking pictures of them. Nice job, by the way. I know you had something to do with that.”

“Oh, God!” I squealed. “You’re not going to kill them, are you?” I remembered what Sterling told me and realized I was potentially speaking to a murderer. “Did you steal my underwear? Those are expensive, you know?”

The perplexed look on his face surprised me. “Underwear? You actually wear them? I thought all Succubus’ went commando. I do. Not that I’m a Succubus. I’m male, obviously. So, I suppose all Incubus’ go commando too? Or at least I do? And now I’m rambling. Jesus, how do you do this to me? I’m not usually like this, I swear. Normally, I can form coherent sentences. Wait.” His brain finally latched onto the first part of what I said. “Kill who? Why?”

“I know you’ve been sneaking around killing the people I feed from. Don’t bother denying it. The police spoke to me today. I know all about you shoving my panties into the mouths of the men you kill.”

Damian’s face turned green. “I can’t even handle the sight of blood. How the hell would I have killed someone?”

My heart sank. Not that I was upset that the man presently in my apartment wasn’t a killer, but by the prospect that there was yet another one out there who was obsessed with me. “Are you lying to me?”

“We are bonded. Why would I lie to you? All I want to do is protect you, love you...”

I waited for him to finish his sentence. When he didn’t, I offered the words he neglected to say. “And fuck me?”

“I wasn’t going to say it. I didn’t think you’d react to it well.” He looked up at me with blond eyelashes low on his navy-blue eyes. “But, hey! We’re already finishing each other’s sentences, so there's that!”

He stretched, extending his arms over his head, arching his spine, and extending his chest. I watched in a daze, praying that his tight-fitting black t-shirt would ride up and show me what he worked with beneath it. Shamelessly, I tilted my head to get a better view.

“Like what you see?” His voice brought me back to myself. “I could take it off, you know. I’ll show you whatever you want. You just have to say the word.” He took a step toward me, and I stepped back. Sensing my apprehension, he paused. “I won’t hurt you. I swear to God, I didn’t come here to hurt you.”

“Why did you come here?” I asked.

“I told you.” He crossed his arms and his pectoral muscles bulged. “I asked you to meet me downtown. After I left the note, I realized how crazy that must have made me look since you didn’t know who the hell I was, and I came here to introduce myself. I thought I might have a better shot of getting you to talk to me if I was straightforward. Oh! I brought wine!”

He dove for the couch and produced a bottle of warm white zinfandel. I cringed.

“You’re lucky you didn’t go to the bar, like the note said. The police went there watching for you. I wasn’t joking when I asked you if you killed people. The detective I spoke to thought you might be the guy since you managed to show up right as the investigation started. I’m still not sure they’re wrong.” I eyed him suspiciously. He didn’t look like a killer. He was tall and well-muscled, but his face was soft. His bottom lip was pouty and kissable, his hands long and graceful. I could only imagine what he could do with hands like that, and I hope pulling the trigger of a gun to kill another person wasn’t one of them.

“What can I do to convince you I’m innocent?” he asked.

“For starters, you can never come into my place again without my permission.”

He nodded. “That’s fair.”

“Second, don’t steal my clothes or kill anyone.”

He chuckled. “I can manage that. Now, about this bond we share—”

I put a hand up in front of me. “Nope. Don’t even try. I’m sorry. I know what this kind of thing means to our kind, but I don’t want to be bonded to anyone. I’m my own person, and I’m choosing to stay that way. And I have to be honest with you, you’re not the first Incubus to have a bond to me. So that means there could potentially be another Succubus out there who does want to be your mate. I would urge you to find her and not get your hopes up on me.”

He laughed again. “You know it’s unlikely that I’ll ever even meet another Succubus, let alone one I’m bonded to. How about you let me spend time with you? You don’t want to bond, fine. I can live with that. But don’t shun me completely. Let me do things to you that a human man could never do. Let me make you feel things you’ve never experienced.”

He inched closer, his hand extending closer to my waist. I froze, watching his fingers graze the edge of my shirt. I thought about Sterling and the electricity that shot through me when we kissed and wondered if it would be the same with Damian. His mouth was so kissable, a molded, real-life version of a Grecian marble bust crafted by a master. His tongue wet his lips, and I was frozen in place.

“Have you ever fucked an Incubus?” he asked.

I shook my head. His scent intoxicated me. He had me backed against the wall and I didn’t move to escape him. Strong arms slid up the wall on either side of me, boxing me in. His knee slid between my thighs, resting against my pussy. I could feel the heat rolling off my body like an inferno. If he didn’t kiss me now, I would explode. Tilting his head down, he brought his mouth close to mine. Warm breath tickled my skin as I attempted to close the distance. He wouldn’t allow it.

Pulling back slightly, his lips curved into a sensual smile. “Can’t resist me, can you? I won’t settle for a kiss. If you want a taste, you get the whole three course meal, darling. Choose wisely, because if you change your mind mid-way through, it won't make a lick of a difference to me.” To make himself clear, he extended his tongue and touched it to my lower lip, trailing it from one side to the other until I panted. I reached for his jeans, desperately wanting to free the erection I sensed was there, only to be stopped by his hands.

“I have to—”

Damian grinned. “Well, while you figure out what you’re going to do, I’d settle for your name. We’ve been doing this whole song and dance, and you haven’t even introduced yourself.”

“Dahlia,” I whispered, trying to push past his hand to get to his fly.

“That’s adorable,” he crooned close to my ear. “Dahlia and Damian. What a pair we would make. If you choose me as a mate, that is.”