Shadows (Dark in You 5)

“Finn probably doesn’t trust that Jolene won’t kill Asa.” Which was a good hunch, because Devon was pretty sure her Prime would subject Asa to a truly agonizing death—and probably hum a merry tune the entire time.

Devon rose from the table, grabbed a Danish pastry from the cupboard, and refilled her mug. She didn’t need to ask if the pooch had eaten—there was an empty bowl near his cup. Taking a bite out of the Danish, she turned … and found herself face-to-face with him. Uncomfortable with the glitter of hunger in those eyes, she chose a neutral topic. “We’re going to see Sheridan today, right?”

“Later today, yes. Jolene said Ciaran will teleport us to Sheridan’s veterinary clinic just as the place is closing.”

Yeah, Jolene wasn’t one to question people at their homes where they felt most comfortable. She liked to take them off-guard; mess with their usual safe routines.

Tanner tilted his head. “You planning to pretend last night didn’t happen?”

Well, the thought had crossed her mind. She just had no idea what to say or do; didn’t like postmortems. She found herself blurting out, “We forgot to use a condom.”

“I didn’t forget.”

She tightened her grip on her mug. “You, what?”

“Kitten, I don’t forget stuff like that. I didn’t want to come inside a condom, I wanted to come inside you.”

It was a good thing for him that she couldn’t reach the knife block, or he’d have one of those blades buried in his chest right now. Now yeah, sure, there was a high chance that she was infertile, but he hadn’t known that. “It didn’t bother you that I might not be on the pill?”

He braced his hands on the counter on either side of her. “You’re not in heat—I’d have smelled it if you were, so there was no chance of you getting pregnant.”

“Well, did it occur to you that I might not like guys coming in—”

“Stop trying to pick a fight.”

“I’m not!”

“You are,” Tanner said softly, without judgement. “You’re feeling awkward and unsure, so you’re going on the attack. You don’t need to.” He dipped his head and skimmed his nose along her neck, breathing deep, taking her into his lungs. “Your scent makes my dick hard every time.”

Surprisingly chilled, his hound lay quiet, watching through hooded eyes. The demon was intense, by nature. Always alert and restless. Wired, even. The only time it was ever so relaxed was after sex, and the effect never lasted long. Right then, though, the demon was as close to content as it had ever been. Or maybe Tanner’s own satisfaction at having finally had the thing he most wanted had bled over onto the demon.

She probably had no idea that last night was the first time he’d slept at a woman’s house. He’d stayed, because he’d wanted to make the most of what time he had with her—unable to know for sure if his hound’s attitude toward her would change overnight. It hadn’t.

Tanner wouldn’t have thought he’d like sharing a bed. Wouldn’t have thought he’d be able to relax enough to sleep deeply. But she wasn’t a snuggler, so he’d had his space. She didn’t snore or hog the covers. And waking up to the sight of her right there while her scent cocooned him … yeah, he’d liked that a fuck of a lot.

“We need to talk about last night,” he said.

“Our demons didn’t interfere. I don’t get it.”

“It was probably a combination of things. One, they’ve grown to tolerate each other. Two, your demon has come to view me as an ally and trusts that I won’t harm you. Three, my hound considers you under its protection—I should have figured that meant it therefore wouldn’t hurt you. Your feline had obviously already worked that out or it would have surfaced to chase me off. You know what all that means.”

Pausing, he brushed his mouth over hers. “It means it doesn’t have to be a one-off.” He heard her pulse quicken, sensed she was going to object. “How long have we both been struggling with this thing between us, kitten? Too long. Far too long. It’s not going to go away, or it would have done so by now.”

“I don’t—”

“A month.”

“Excuse me?”

“Years’ worth of pent-up sexual frustration isn’t going to burn out fast. One month of you in my bed, night after night … yeah, I think that should do it.”

Devon’s stomach hardened. She felt as if he’d slapped her because … “Oh, you want to fuck me out of your system.” Hiding how much that stung, she gave him a sardonic smile. “Well, isn’t that nice. You sure know how to make a girl feel special, pooch.”

“You got a better idea, baby?”

“Yeah, go find yourself a fuck-buddy.”

He raked his teeth over her lower lip. “Is that really what you want, kitten? You want another man’s hands on you? You want another woman’s hands on me?”