But just as I felt myself getting close, he pulled out of me, grabbing my hips, flipping me over onto my stomach, and yanking my hips back upward toward him as he surged inside me.
My hand shot out, pushing against the headboard he would have slammed me up against as he got harder, faster, even more unrestrained.
His palm slapped down on my ass, the pain somehow intensifying the pleasure as his other hand moved between my thighs, started working my clit as he thrust harder still, making growling noises that made my walls tighten around him, holding on tighter.
"Come, Josephine," he demanded in a voice that was more growl than speech.
His hips thrust.
His finger swiped.
And I just... shattered.
Ace's hand slammed into the back of my head, stuffing my face deeper into the bedsheets, muffling the cries as I came.
The waves were just started to ebb when he slammed deep, letting out a growl that sounded downright primal as he came.
I collapsed forward, sucking in a shaky breath, planting a hand to turn over and share an exhausted, but satisfied smile with Ace.
But when I turned, that smile froze and fell off my face.
Everything within me tensed.
I swear my heartbeat stuttered to a stop, then surged into overdrive.
It hadn't been a hypothermia hallucination.
His eyes had been red.
They had been glowing.
His tongue had been forked.
There had been horns forcing their way out of his forehead.
But, no.
No, that wasn't possible.
They didn't exist.
It was all allegory, right? That was what I had been raised to believe. Demons weren't actual, physical entities, but represented the inherent evil in all of us that we needed to fight.
They weren't living, breathing, flesh-wearing men.
Men who you could unwittingly have sex with.
And make them reveal their true form.
Oh, God.
Oh my God.
"Josephine..." Ace started, reaching a hand out toward me, making me suddenly aware of his elongated fingers, their pointed nails.
Talons.
Not nails.
Because he wasn't freaking human.
I didn't even realize the scream came from me until Ace shocked backward at the sound of it.
"Stop," Ace demanded, trying to reach for me again.
"No!" I shrieked, yanking away from him, throwing myself off the bed.
I didn't even think.
I didn't pause to consider my best move.
I just ran, stark freaking naked, down the hall, back into Red's room, slamming, and locking the door.
I did pause to grab my clothes off the floor before running into the bathroom, locking that door as well, not knowing much, but knowing I want as many closed and locked doors between us as possible.
That was assuming that doors could stop a demon.
Hell, for all I knew, they could materialize out of thin air.
I suddenly wished I had paid a hell of a lot more attention in Sunday School as a kid. At least I would know what I was up against here then.
My heart was hammering against my ribcage, making me genuinely concerned about a heart attack as I yanked my clothes back on, gaze on the door the whole time.
A demon.
He was a demon.
And I'd slept with him.
"Josephine," Ace called through the door, voice soft, almost coaxing.
I wasn't going to answer.
What could I say?
What could he say?
Would he try to deny it? Make me disbelieve my own two eyes?
God, I wanted to disbelieve my eyes.
Because demons weren't supposed to exist.
Because even if they did, I shouldn't have been able to cross paths with one.
"Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God," I whimpered, dropping down on the side of the tub, pressing my head in my hands.
"You're going to have to come out of there eventually," Ace called.
I was pretty sure I would rather starve to death than go out there with him again.
The sex that had felt damn near other-worldly, apparently, was.
But not the good world.
The freaking underworld.
My stomach churned and heaved, driving bile upward.
I barely made it to the toilet in time, retching until there was nothing left inside.
I dragged myself off the floor, blowing my nose, and reaching for the mouth wash, not wanting to look myself in the mirror, but forcing myself too.
There I was.
Familiar, yet not.
There was a hollowness in my eyes I had never seen there before.
On top of that, there was the evidence of what had just transpired between Ace and me. My lips were swollen. There was a beard burn down the side of my neck, over my chest. I couldn't bear to look any further down, or turn around and see the spanking marks on my butt.
I grabbed a washcloth, covering it in soap and water, and scrubbing at my marks, making them all the redder, but feeling like I had to wipe away the traces of him on my flesh.
It was only after I turned the water off that I heard Ace again.
I guess I thought he might have left.
But there was a small thud, something like a hand or a forehead hitting the door, a deep sigh, and then his footsteps as he made his way out of Red's room.