Seduce the Darkness (Alien Huntress #4)(40)
Author: Gena Showalter

"I can’t deny it." His honesty pleased her. "That doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy yourself."

Goose bumps spread, a silent plea for what he promised. Touch after glorious touch, sensation after glorious sensation. Heat. The forbidden. He’d give it to her, too. All of it.

"All you have to do is ask," he said, "and it’s done." You’re stronger than that. "Excuse me, but I have a shower to attend to. I’m just so very dirty." Trembling, she glided from him and entered the enzyme stall. She didn’t bother shutting the door. He would have opened it, she was sure.

Silent, Devyn followed. He didn’t enter, though. He pressed a shoulder against the frame and peered inside as she programmed the spray to hit her at every angle. Then she turned back to Devyn, letting him watch as the mist formed around her, creating a dreamlike haze. That dry vapor dusted over her, sinking inside, cleaning her inside out, and wiping away any memento of the brutal murder the man in front of her had committed only a few hours ago. Even her hair was cleaned, her scalp tingling deliriously.

"So you’re telling me that my watching you like this doesn’t … shame you?" he asked. Again with the hesitance. What did that mean?

"That’s right," she said. "Why would it?"

"Before, you told me that I was making you reveal a body you’d rather hide.”

“All part of the game, tiger."

He cleared his throat, but couldn’t hide the relief in his eyes. "Ever bathed in water?"

"Oh, yes. A long time ago, before the war." Now the wonderful liquid was too expensive to waste on something like bathing.

"Did you like it?"

"What do you think?"

His gaze fell again to her ni**les, his lids unbelievably sexy at half-mast. "I think you did. And I can imagine you standing under the stream, hair dripping, skin glistening." He licked his lips, as if he could already taste the droplets on her. "Invite me in." His voice sounded as though it had been pushed through a grinder, savage with the force of his arousal.

Like every other woman of his acquaintance, she was sure, Bride found her resolve to resist weakened against his appeal. Foolish, but there it was. But unlike all the others, she would not give in to her desires. Old as she was, as long as she’d been around, she’d learned how to suppress her own needs. Wasn’t that difficult, really, since the thorns and the fire plagued her even during sex. Pain always blended with her pleasure, her climax both a blessing and a curse.

"Beg," she told him. He wouldn’t do it; she knew he wouldn’t. She also knew it would horrify him to think that that’s what she wanted. He would back down.

He rolled his eyes. "Invite me in, Bride."

"I told you. I will when you beg."

That air of nonchalance melted away, just as she’d predicted, and the muscle in his jaw started ticking again. "I don’t have to beg for a woman."

She grinned sweetly. "Then you’ll never have this one." There was a beat of silence. "We’ll see." Angry, determined. Oh, yes, they would.

He grabbed the bar above him, back arching just a bit. The movement caused his T-shirt to ride up, revealing a patch of glittery skin and hard muscle. His jeans were tight against his erection, the tip straining above the waist and glistening with a bead of moisture.

"Is denying us both your way of punishing me for besting you?" he asked. He was mouthwatering, but she forced herself to shrug indifferently. "Maybe just a little."

"I can make you forget that you lost. Swear to God."

"I’m sure that you could. Just as I’m sure I could make you forget your own name." That caused his nostrils to flare. "You’re that good, are you?"

"Someone once told me it’s rude to brag." Though she was already clean, the spray continued to fall around her. She didn’t switch it off. Her head tilted to the side as she studied him more intently. "Question. Do you ever worry about the hearts you’re breaking? Or children being conceived with some random stranger?"

He shrugged, as indifferent as she had pretended to be. "If I break a woman’s heart, I showed her a good time while doing so. And children? No. I never worry about them. One, it’s rare for two different species to procreate, and two, I take precautions so that I don’t have to."

She laughed, but there was no humor to the sound. "Precautions aren’t foolproof, you know. They’re —"

"Indeed foolproof," he interjected. "The drug I take comes from my planet. It’s a remedy that has worked for thousands of years, killing the little swimmers before they can leave my body. Why the question? Do you want me to give you a baby?"

"Hardly." Look how raising Aleaha had turned out.

The shower finally ended, but Bride still didn’t exit. The drops of mist faded, removing all pretense of a dream. Reality was stark, but so much better. She could see Devyn clearly, the disarray of his hair, the tension tightening his mouth. In intensified desire?

"Enough talk about love and kids," she said. Because sometimes she did ache for those things, but never would she reveal such a thing to this man. "What are your plans for me, Devyn?"

His lips twitched into that half-smile she was coming to love. "First, I’m going to f**k you."

So crudely put. Such a sexy smile. Both clouded her mind with thoughts she couldn’t afford and weakened her knees. "I will not sleep with you." Another reminder. For both of them. And hell, was that really her voice? Low and raspy? "I believe we discussed that you need to be punished for betraying me, setting me up, and following me."

He tsked under his tongue. "I never said I wanted to sleep with you. And please, feel free to spank me.”

“Go get a paddle, and I will."

"Certainly. Then it will be my turn to punish you. It’s only fair to mention that you stole a prisoner from me."

"You’re keeping my best friend, my only friend, from me.

Now his eyes narrowed, top and bottom lashes fusing. Wow. His humor had faded so quickly, lightning fast, it was shocking. It shouldn’t have been, she supposed. He did it often, switching from one extreme to another in seconds. "You’ll get to see her, don’t worry."

"When?"

"Soon."

"When?" she insisted. He bared his teeth in a scowl. "Today." Today? The single word echoed through her mind, and joy burst through her. So much joy she barely noticed the sting in her chest. Aleaha Love, in her arms, warm, sweet, real. Breathing her in, hearing her lilting voice. If not for the slight twinge of disbelief threading through her, Bride would have started dancing. "Really? This isn’t another trick?"