41 Paradise

Lily

Bel’s expression was hungry as she turned around and approached the dais. Excitement hummed through her body, sparkling through her veins and making her skin hypersensitive to the brush of her clothing as it shifted with her steps.

Bel, disobeying her order to stay put, stalked around his desk, tail swaying slowly from side to side, the tip flicking just a bit, molten eyes fixed on hers. She smothered most of her smile, pausing at the bottom of the dais.

He growled.

She arched an eyebrow.

“Princess.” His deep rumble melted the rest of her will to tease him.

She climbed the first step. Then the second. She’d barely rested her foot on the dais when Bel seized her around the waist, lifting her with ease, tugging her thigh around his waist and pressing her against him. His kiss was searing, stealing away every thought in her head except for the endless pulsing chant of more, more, more .

She barely noticed that they were moving until Bel bent slightly, setting her down on something solid—the desk—his hand skating up her thighs to run just under the hem of her shirt. The brush of his fingers on her stomach had liquid heat pooling embarrassingly fast between her thighs. She ground herself against the heavy bulge of his cock, and his hand tightened around her thigh.

Off. Her clothes needed to be off now —

“Want me to take this off, princess?” Bel rasped, kissing down her neck and toying with her shirt.

“Yes,” Lily gasped, burying her fingers in his half-loose hair and arching her spine. The seam of her leggings had lined up perfectly with her clit, but even that bit of extra friction still wasn’t enough. “Take it all off.”

They’d barely started, had gone so much farther than this before, but the anticipation, combined with the powerful release of emotions, heightened everything. She untangled her hands from his hair and reached to pull her shirt off.

Bel stopped her with a hum and a nip to her collarbone. “Let me,” he murmured, guiding her hands to his chest. His heartbeat thundered under her palm.

His hands ghosted down her body, finally gripping the hem of her shirt and peeling the fabric away slowly, reverently. His knuckles brushed over her newly revealed skin, leaving goose bumps in their wake. Lily lifted her arms, and Bel finished pulling the fabric up with one hand, the other spreading wide and hot over her ribs, just below breasts that ached for his touch. The shirt fell to the floor, his silver eyes practically glowing as he took her in. He traced the line of the strap over her shoulder with a fingertip, grazing along the delicate edge of her black lace bra. Her nipples were so hard they almost hurt, but Lily wet her lips with a quick flick of her tongue and savored his slow exploration of her body.

Bel hooked his finger under the center gore of her bra and roughly pulled her forward, catching her surprised laugh with his lips, tongue flicking against hers. She opened for him, losing herself in the simple play of lips and tongues, his free hand smoothing up her back to palm the nape of her neck. Her hands had landed on his stomach, and she seized the opportunity to tug at his shirt before she remembered the tricky little bit around his wings.

She could feel Bel’s laughter bubbling up in his chest, his lips smiling against hers before he pressed a quick kiss to her nose. “I’ll get it.”

“Don’t you dare,” Lily said, focusing on the decorative stitching under her fingertips as she searched for the way to open the slits at the bottom of his shirt. “This is my version of the ‘unhooking a bra’ test.”

Bel chuckled, his smile soft as he watched her work.

She found the catch and started worming her fingers around to figure it out. Why the fuck hadn’t she studied his shirts before?

“If you can unhook a bra, you can figure out my shirt.” Bel grinned.

She bit her lip and frowned, staring sightlessly at his chest while her fingers worked at the catch.

“Are you sure?” she asked, seriously contemplating just ripping at the fabric until she got her way.

Bel flicked her bra hook open and it sagged forward. “I’m sure,” he said smugly.

Lily pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the juncture of his shoulder and neck just as she figured out how to release the catch. She popped it open and bit him at the same time. Bel’s hands flexed, pulling her closer while he ground his hips against hers. They made short work of his shirt, then her bra, and suddenly they were both bare from the waist up.

Bel ran the back of one finger down the side of her breast before cupping it and flicking his thumb over her nipple, sending electricity jolting through her body. Lily moaned softly and leaned back to give him room to play, bracing her hands on the desk.

He kissed her again, pressing her down with his body, the cool wood of the desk against her back a stark contrast against the heat of his body on her front. Her nipples grazed over his chest, and she gasped into his mouth. His kissed down to her chest, nuzzling her breast before flicking his tongue over the stiff nipple.

An unintelligible noise burst free as the sensation flooded her brain.

“Hold still while I make some new friends, princess.” He moved over to the other breast as she laughed breathlessly. He plumped them up with his hands and set to work kissing and sucking her into a mindless, writhing mess.

She arched into his mouth, one hand tangled in his hair and the other skating over the heavy muscles of his back. Her hand brushed against something that felt like warm, ultra-fine suede, and Bel growled against her skin, his whole body going taut.

His wing.

A pang of guilt for taking an intimacy that she hadn’t asked for had her moving her hand away.

“No,” Bel grunted, blowing gently on her wet nipple, the sudden coolness making sparks dance in her vision before he laved it with his hot tongue again. “More.”

She mapped his back with both hands, sometimes with long, sweeping strokes, other times tracing delicate lines over the base of his wings and the decadent softness of the membrane until they were both slicked with sweat and Bel was desperate and gasping, his hands reaching, pulling her leggings and underwear down at the same time, his finesse forgotten.

She sat up, ripping at the laces of his pants, shoving them over his hips. He moved back out of her reach, pulling her legs up and shredding the laces of her boots with his claws before working them off her feet and throwing them over his shoulder. They hit something with a crash that neither of them cared about. Bel shoved his pants down and kicked his own boots off, and as he straightened in all his proud glory, eyes gleaming, Lily fell in love with him all over again. They’d had only stolen kisses and moments and touches for too long, and she had missed seeing all of him.

He was every inch a warrior; no one could ever mistake him for anything else. Every inch of him was built for power, broad shoulders and chest, solid, faintly ridged abdomen. The swirling black lines of his tattoo reached from his right hip down to mid-thigh, accentuating the lines of muscle. A slight dip over his hipbones worked in conjunction with the trail of crisp black hair leading down from his navel to draw her eye to his heavy, jutting cock and dark balls framed with a neatly trimmed thatch of black hair. Her core clenched around nothing, desperately wanting to be filled. She wet her lips, eyes roving over his thick, heavily muscled thighs, strong calves, even down to his bare feet and naturally black toenails. She leisurely dragged her eyes up his body only to find that he’d been staring at her with equal intensity.

He was beautiful and mighty standing before her, and she, completely naked and half splayed on his desk with her hair tumbling loose over her shoulders, had never felt more beautiful or mighty herself.

Lily held out her hand. Bel’s mouth quirked into a smile, though his eyes lost none of their intensity. He took her hand and let her pull him close. She spread her legs to accommodate him, a thrill zinging through every fiber of her body as the cool air caressed her slick sex only for a moment before the heat of Bel’s body replaced it and made her breath stutter. His cock slipped over her lower stomach, leaving a wet line of pre-cum behind. He lightly gripped her neck with his hand, and she couldn’t stop her smile, tilting her head to meet his languid kiss.

“I love you,” she murmured, nipping at his thumb as it traced over her lower lip.

“Love you,” he breathed, giving her a quick kiss before he pushed her to lay down with a bit of pressure on her neck.

Then his hand smoothed down over her chest and stomach, and he dropped to his knees. He hooked one leg over his shoulder, kissing up her thigh to where she craved him. With anyone else, she would have been mortified to be so sloppily wet.

But he was hers.

The first stroke of his tongue had her arching nearly off the desk, gasping his name. His arm clamped over her hips and lower stomach, holding her in place as he worked her with sweeping strokes, pausing to flick her clit with the stiffened tip of his tongue. His other hand came up to toy with her entrance, his claws fully retracted, the combination of light, teasing touches and his sure tongue short-circuiting her brain. When he slid a finger deep and pumped, she sobbed for air, one hand gripping the arm he’d thrown over her hips and the other clawing at his head until she found something to grip. He added another finger, twisting and spreading them as he sucked on her clit and hummed.

Her pleasure built hard and fast—and somehow kept building. She might have been babbling, might have just been chanting his name, it didn’t matter, she’d never been brought this high before, even when he’d shattered her understanding of what pleasure could be in the bathroom at trivia night. His fingers had been wicked, but his mouth was downright sinful.

Appropriate for a demon prince.

The thought had her half laughing, but that laughter quickly died when Bel flicked his tongue over her clit, wedging a third finger inside her at the same time his thumb circled and pressed against the pucker of her ass.

Lily shattered completely with a wordless cry, her hips writhing, grinding herself against his face, back bowing from the force of her orgasm. Bel kept working her with his hand, his tongue gentling against her clit as it grew almost painfully sensitive, and her orgasm kept rolling on and on, until she was sobbing and pushing him away. She dropped her head back onto the desk, trying to remember how to breathe.

Bel pressed a wet kiss just above her mons, his own breathing ragged. Lily opened her eyes to look down at him and realized that the thing she’d been gripping for dear life had been a horn. He grinned breathlessly at her. She pulled him up her body by his horn so that she could kiss him for all she was worth, her hands moving over his cheeks and his neck because she couldn’t get enough. He settled over her, bracing his forearms on either side of her, wings flared slightly, ensconcing them both in a world of their own making.

Lily brought her legs up to cradle his sides, carefully sliding her calf across his lower back to hold him even closer. She could taste herself on his lips. She loved it, the tang of her orgasm a heady addition to the ecstasy of kissing Bel.

Her Bel.

“I want you inside me,” she breathed, pulling back just enough to meet his eyes. His pupils were blown so wide his eyes were almost entirely black, only a thin halo of silver remained.

He smiled faintly and kissed her again, shifting his weight to one arm so that he could take her hand with his and guide it between them. His erection lay heavy on her stomach, trapped between their bodies. She slicked her hand with some of her own wetness before wrapping her fingers around his shaft, toying with the faint ridges under his skin. He groaned, dropping his head down beside hers as she stroked up him a few times. He throbbed in her hand, longer and thicker than anyone she’d ever taken before, but not a truly ridiculous size, even with those faint ridges she could feel under his skin. It wouldn’t be impossible, but it would be delicious work to get him in.

She liked work.

Lily kept stroking him while she tugged on his hair with her other hand to get him to move back. He lifted his head, shifting until the head of his cock slipped over her clit and rested against her sex, making them moan in unison.

Lily rested her temple against his, and they both watched as she guided him to her drenched entrance; she was so wet that the broad head slipped right in, stretching her just enough to feel it. Her fingers tightened on the back of his neck. They panted in tandem for a moment, then Bel gave a slight roll of his hips and eased in just a bit more, enough that she could feel one of those ridges pressing sweetly against a sensitive spot. They both gasped. Lily let go of his cock and clutched his ass, pressing her nose against his cheek, reveling in the moment.

“Big,” she breathed, her body adjusting to his size.

He smiled against her temple and pushed a bit deeper. “You can take it.”

Lily gasped out a laugh, his cocky tone sending more heat crashing through her body. She loved him rough and cocky.

She wanted more.

So, she nipped at his earlobe. “Make me.”

A brief grumble of a growl was all the warning she got before Bel surged forward smoothly, burying himself to the hilt and pushing all the air out of her lungs. He paused, breathing hard, giving them both time to adjust, moving to meet her wide-eyed stare with one of his own. Lily had never felt so full in her life. Any of her lives. Her entire existence.

It was exquisite.

It was right .

Bel brushed a strand of hair off her neck, a drop of sweat rolling down his brow. “Are you okay?”

She ran her thumb up the side of his neck and his lashes dipped. “Perfect,” she said, sounding awed even to herself. “You?”

His eyebrows twitched up in surprise before one of his brilliant smiles took over his face. “Perfect.” He bent to kiss her; their height difference had him sliding half out of her, and she felt every one of those little ridges like an erotic massage. Her exhale mingled with his. “Perfect, princess.”

They were slow at first, learning each other, learning their rhythms, savoring each caress and kiss, the sweat-slicked glide of their skin and the mutual sound of their pleasure. Lily met every roll of his hips with her own, her hands moving proprietarily over his body, while Bel whispered lovely, filthy things in her ear.

“Look how well you take me, princess,” he said, giving an especially hard thrust that had her leaving nail marks on his side. “Like you were made for it.”

He’d pushed himself up so that he could watch her as she moved under him, with him, and she’d panted, watching his body work, muscles intended for combat being used to bring them both to new heights.

She managed to smirk at him, and he paused, a spark of something gleeful dancing across those solar eclipse eyes. She reached for the hand he had on her hip and pulled it up to her neck. “Fuck me, Beleth. We both know I can take you, so let’s see what you can give me.”

His hand was firm as he grasped her throat and leaned down with a smile that thrummed with danger, but the happy little crinkles around his eyes warmed her soul. His kiss was disarmingly sweet. The way his hand tightened was less so. She pressed against his grip with a grin.

He thrust hard, riding over a new spot inside her that had her seeing stars. “Hold on, princess,”

Then Bel set about fucking every thought out of her head. Everything except for his name and every profane word she’d ever learned. She did her best to match him, to give as good as she got, but fucking hell, Bel had a lot to give.

Her first orgasm had come on fast and hard. The second was a slow, intense, inevitable build, shoved higher with every sensation and grunt and gasp and pant and slap of their bodies and a few screeches of the desk moving across the floor.

Lily’s legs went shaky, and she ended up gripping Bel’s wrist as he held her hip with his hand, her other hand clutching her breast because she needed it. Bel’s rhythm grew uneven, his breathing gone ragged. His hand shifted on her hip, his thumb stretching over to roll over her clit, making her spine bow—

“Come for me, princess. Be a good girl and come all over my cock,” he growled.

And that was it. Through the haze of ecstasy, Lily clenched around him, the fine muscles of her body milking him, pulling him deeper. Bel hunched over her with a moan, hips working in stuttered motions, face buried in her neck as he followed her over the edge, pumping inside her, prolonging her orgasm.

They lay like that for a while, still joined, coming down from their respective highs. Bel curled over her on the desk, cheek pressed against her hair while his thumb caressed the damp skin of her neck. His heartbeat raced against her chest, fast but steady, so strong it felt like it was beating for both of them. Maybe it was.

Lily had never known that sex could be transformative, but she knew with every scrap of her being that the Universe had shifted, the paradigm of her world had taken on a new definition. But that also hadn’t been just sex. That had been them . Lily and Bel. Together. And it felt right. She felt right.

Her hands had been planted on his back, clinging to him as if he would disappear, and she let her grip relax enough to stroke up the groove of his spine, the ridges of muscle relaxing at her touch. When she reached the base of his wings, she ran her fingers along where they joined smoothly with his back. He chuckled into her hair, then lifted his head, brushing her sweaty strands off her face and smiling softly, searching her gaze. She smiled back, capturing his hand and pressing a kiss to his palm, tangling their fingers while losing herself in his silver eyes.

“Hi,” she said softly.

He kissed her lightly. “Hi.”

They watched each other for a quiet moment. Lily had no idea what he saw in her eyes, but she hoped he saw how much she loved him, saw that she was happy . His eyes were so expressive, and as she’d gotten to know him, been his friend, fallen in love with him, she’d understood more and more of that expressiveness. She’d seen Bel happy, seen him vulnerable, seen him exhausted and sad and goofy and grumpy.

But seeing him look lovingly at her?

“What?” he asked when she chuckled.

She shifted a little, feeling him growing soft inside her. “I was just thinking that you keep redefining Paradise for me.” She smiled even wider when his eyebrows furrowed slightly. “I thought that the building I live in was my Paradise. But then I met you, then I met Sharkie, and I’ve had so many moments since then that I’ve thought put the physical location of Paradise to shame. You have no idea how many of those moments have been with you. Almost every time we’re together, you redefine what is actually Paradise to me. And right now?” She ran her fingers down the side of his rugged face, and he leaned into the touch. “Paradise,” she said quietly.

Bel

Lily had remade him.

He’d never be able to work at his desk again without seeing her sprawled naked across its surface, so beautiful his heart hurt and, most incredibly of all, loving him .

He’d never seen her look so settled, so languid and happy.

“You are my Paradise,” he said, his voice rough but meaning every word. Demons weren’t supposed to feel the pull and peace of Paradise like mortal souls, but with her, he did.

Her lovely hazel eyes softened, the understanding and love in her gaze nearly sending him to his knees.

Again.

He swallowed hard and glanced down their bodies before looking at her again. “I don’t want to move, but I also don’t want to keep you on the desk.”

Her smile was coy as she reached her arms over her head in a languorous stretch that tipped her pretty breasts up like an offering that he eyed greedily. He loved every piece of her, but her breasts were now one of his favorite pieces. Just large enough to fill his palms and tipped with pert, rosy nipples that were so sensitive. He bent to pepper kisses over the satiny skin there—it would be rude to not accept an offering, after all—but the movement had his soft shaft slipping free of her. He didn’t miss the stutter in her breath, smirking as he dropped one last kiss to the upper slope of her breast and straightened.

“Stay there, I’ll get it,” he said, hurrying over to the little kitchenette for a soft washcloth and wetting it with warm water.

Lily propped herself up on her elbows by the time he returned, and he carefully made sure she was clean of their combined mess. A dribble of his seed dripped free, and before he stopped to think about it, he caught it with a finger and pushed it back inside her.

“Fuck,” she moaned, dropping her head back, eyes squeezing shut for a moment before her heated gaze captured his.

Bel arched an eyebrow and casually sucked his finger clean, rolling their taste over his tongue like a fine wine.

Thrillingly, Lily looked ready to eat him alive, sitting up slowly, her messy hair draped over her shoulders like a red-gold shawl. He waited to see what she would do, his body wanting to react to his arousal but not quite ready yet. She ran her eyes over his body, smiling a bit at what she saw, then reached for the cloth in his hand and set about cleaning him.

Something no one had ever done for him before.

He stood frozen while she worked, only twitching a bit as she ran the damp cloth over the head and hypersensitive ridges of his shaft. When she was finished, she set the rag on the desk and pressed a soft kiss in the center of his chest, looking up at him with a vulnerable expression.

“My turn?”

It took him a moment to remember the brief conversation they’d had before he’d lost his mind to pleasure and pleasing her. He couldn’t keep himself from touching her, his hand settling perfectly in the dip of her waist, the skin of her cheek soft under his fingers as he traced the elegant arch of her cheekbone.

“If you’re ready,” he said softly.

Her nod was solid, that self-possessed surety of hers rising to the surface. Pride flooded his heart for this woman. She reminded him of so many of the warriors he’d known and knew. She had the same understanding of what needed done in a difficult situation and the grim determination to do it.

She turned to pick up her file, handing it to him with significantly more confidence than before. Her name was stamped cleanly across the front in metallic, colorful letters.

He took it reverently, the warmth of the pages spreading not just through his fingers, but his whole body.

“Alright. Couch?” he asked, tugging her hand.

“I can’t,” she protested. He blinked at her, not understanding. She clenched her bare thighs together, blushing. “I’ll leak on it.”

Aha.

Smug pride had him beaming and pulling her towards the couch anyway, explaining as they went. “Princess, if you knew the plans I had for you and that couch later, you’d realize how little I care for the upholstery. Now, the wings are going to make this a bit of a tricky entry, but I have a plan. Lay close to the back, on your side.”

Still blushing a bit, she obeyed, pressing her back against the back of the couch and waiting to see where he was going with this, her cheek propped on her hand.

Bel settled himself half on his side, facing her, sliding his left arm under her head and down her back, pulling her half on top of him as he wiggled to get comfortable, then carefully coiled his tail around the leg she had thrown over him.

She hummed, shifting her head on his chest to look up at him. “I’ve been meaning to ask about the tail thing.”

“Do you not like it?” Bel asked, a spark of worry flaring through the haze of pleasure.

“I love it,” she rushed to assure him. “I was just wondering what tail etiquette is. I’ve seen demons winding tails before, but I wasn’t sure what the cultural significance or protocol was. I guessed it’s some kind of sign of affection?”

“Mm, to put it very simply, there’s a friendly tail wind, very minor, very light, for close friends or family. Then there’s a deeply affectionate tail wind, mostly done with lovers or partners.” He tightened his tail’s hold on her leg a bit for emphasis. “Prolonged, intensive, often done at rest, because it’s a true twining and isn’t easy to disengage quickly. I figured that you didn’t have a tail, so I could just hold your leg a little.”

“Bummer I can’t tail wind you back. You can wrap your tail around me any time, big guy.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Bel murmured, nuzzling into her hair. She made a contented little noise, relaxing into him. They cuddled for an indeterminate time, savoring each other.

Eventually, Lily sighed and reached for the file in his hand, easing it open. The seemingly blank pages were affixed to the back panel, their pristine surfaces seeming out of place in his moody, dark office.

Bel stared at them for a moment, then turned to kiss Lily’s forehead and rested a finger on the first page.