Midnight's Master (Midnight 3)

Her hips slammed forward and that thick wonderful flesh filled her, so deep and full and so-

Niol growled. Those black eyes shot with fire and he withdrew. Drove deep.

Not easy anymore.

She smiled and wondered if her own eyes reflected the same dark flames.

"Fucking beautiful…"

Then she just held on for the ride.

And what a ride it was.

The scent of passion filled the air. The stool chafed her thighs but she didn't care. His fingers dug into her hips. Big deal.

His cock-oh, but he was so far inside her-

She rose toward him, balancing with her hands on his shoulders and the new position sent the length of his arousal sliding right over her straining clit with every fast thrust.

Holly realized she was calling his name and that she was all but tearing the flesh from his shoulders as her nails dug through the soft fabric of his shirt.

He was nearly fully dressed.

She was naked from the waist down.

Being bad could feel so good.

"Come for me." A whisper of temptation right before his mouth took hers and his tongue thrust past her lips. Thrust just as his c**k thrust into her sex.

Holly clamped her inner muscles around him. Come for me. The silent order was hers, to him.

Niol's erection swelled within her and she kissed him with a frantic hunger. Loving his taste.

The slam and drive of his body.

Loving-

She came with a firestorm of release, a passion that rocketed up her body and shot through every cell-and he was with her. The jet of his se**n filled her and he trembled against her as he pumped into her body.

Pleasure. So much pleasure. Hers, his. Didn't matter. It was so good.

Sex with a demon. The. Best. Ever.

She didn't want the pleasure to end. No. Not now. Not ever.

His lips rose. His breath heaved out. Just like hers.

No barriers between them. As she stared up at him, Holly could see him. Not the mask. Not the dark image he portrayed. Him.

Niol.

I see you now.

She was in so much trouble.

Because he was already pulling back. The mask sliding into place. The fire in his eyes faded as he withdrew his flesh from her body.

Holly bit back her cry of protest and tensed at the slow glide of his c**k retreating from her sex.

Then he stepped back and she pushed her legs closed. She had to push them with her hands because her thighs felt like jelly.

Her sex throbbed with remembered pleasure.

He jerked up his jeans. Zipped and fastened them with a blur of movement. Too quick. Don't end it so fast. She wanted more.

Niol stared down at her and she waited, waited for something, something. She just wasn't sure what – "I thought I loved a woman once."

What? Okay, that was sure as all fire damn not what she'd been waiting for.

The man had the most piss-poor timing in the world. Holly shot off the stool and her legs nearly gave way. Niol caught her, steadying her with a fierce grip. "Look at me."

If she did, she might slug him. The guy needed some serious post-sex manners knocked into him.

I loved a woman once.

Way to shatter her ego. "I-I don't think now is the time for this-this conversation-" Oh, that sounded dignified. Nothing like the scream building inside her.

"She died." His hand fell away from her.

The fire of their sensual encounter faded in an instant and goose bumps rose on her flesh.

"Didn't just die," he muttered. "She was murdered."

Her breath caught. There was pain there, a lot of pain, enough to wrench her heart. Was this woman the succubus she'd heard others whisper about?

I loved a woman once.

"I did things when she became lost to me." His lips thinned and Niol shook his head. "Until then, there was a line that I tried not to cross because I knew, I knew just how strong I was. And I knew my mother was right about the monster she saw in me."

"Niol…" If you knew the things I'd done, you wouldn't let me touch you. But she could still feel his imprint on every inch of her flesh.

"But when Nina passed, I lost control and I killed." Flat. Cold. "It was so easy for me." His hand fell away from her.

Yes, she could imagine that it had been. Holly swallowed. "You wanted revenge against her killer?"

"I got my revenge." Same flat voice.

That voice scared her. So she lifted her chin and put her hand on his chest. Right over the heart that thundered in a mad rhythm that belied his sinister cool.

Niol jerked at her touch. "Don't, Holly."

"Don't what? Don't touch you? I want to touch you. I'm not going to back off." Because there was more to him than darkness and death.

Once upon a time, she'd brought home every stray in the neighborhood and set up "Holly's Home" for animals. Peter had shaken his head at her and told her she couldn't save the world.

Her mom had only let her keep one cat. She'd cried for days when she'd lost the others.

And learned that she couldn't save the world.

No, no, she hadn't learned that. Because she went on the news every night, a secret part of her hoping to make a difference.

Just as she hoped to make a difference with Niol.

Not saving the world but maybe saving him.

"You don't know what you're doing." Now his hands grasped her upper arms and he lifted her onto her toes, star ing down at her with an almost desperate rage. "Don't make me-" He stopped, and a muscle flexed along the rock-hard length of his jaw. "Don't make me care about you, Holly.

Because if I did and if anything ever happened to you-"

She could see the promise of hell in his eyes.

"Whatever you do, don't make me love you." His eyes bored into hers. "I don't love well, but I kill perfectly."

Not the heartfelt confession every girl dreamed of hearing.

A threat she'd never hoped to get.

Her mouth had gone so dry her throat ached. She swallowed over the lump of dust and said, "Niol-"

His head jerked to the right. Toward the long line of windows on the far side of the building.

Windows always covered by thick black curtains. "What the-"

Glass shattered as circles of fire-no, bottles with burning rags in them-shot through the curtains.

The bottles crashed into the floor, into the tables, into the bar, and flames exploded in a burst of white-hot heat all around them.

Holly opened her mouth to scream.

Niol roared and lifted his hands, and the flames died in an instant, with only the faint wisps of smoke drifting in the bar.

Her scream choked out in a gasp.

Niol ran for the door.

She grabbed her shoes. When had I lost them? She spared a brief glance for the scorched tables and bar, then she thundered after him.