54 Death by Reverse Striptease

Lily

Bel’s era of cooperation lasted all of one day before the irrationality of boredom set in.

Lily ran up to the Hellp Desk to check in on the gate demons and the surprising number of fill-ins from Level Nine, and went to Paradise to visit Carlton. She grabbed coffee from Common Grounds as a treat, reveling in the lightening atmosphere in the Universal Hallway. It was tinged with grief, and perhaps always would be given the losses, but it felt…hopeful. Just like she did.

She pushed open the door to Bel’s bedroom—their bedroom, he insisted—coffee cups in hand, to find him lying flat on his back, limbs akimbo, tail twitching, staring intensely up at the ceiling. The bulge at his groin tented the sheets and made her mouth water.

Down, girl.

He lolled his head to the side and stared at her with a heated gaze she felt like a caress.

“Sit on my face.” The order, given in that dark tone, with his deep voice, had moisture gathering between her thighs. She could picture it. Hell, she could imagine how it would feel, and it had been so long…

Near-death experience. Healers. Not cleared for sex.

“I think not. I got you a matcha chai,” Lily said lightly, hyperaware of her body with every step she took towards the bed, fine muscles fluttering low in her belly. Gods, her breasts felt so heavy , she’d never been more aware of them in her life. Any of her lives. Falling in love with a hot-ass demon who fucked, well, like a demon, followed by more than two months of celibacy had her feeling like a woman in a shitty romance novel written by a man who thought breasts were their own characters.

“Thank you, I appreciate it. It’s not technically sex.”

Lily set the cup down on the side table, standing just past his reach. “‘C’mon baby, just the tip, it won’t even count,’” she mimicked.

“Ride my face,” Bel said again, eyes darkening.

“Nah.” Yet.

“It’s medicinal.”

“Is it really.”

“One way to find out.”

“Or,” Lily said, taking a step back and sipping from her cup with a casualness she didn’t feel in the slightest, “we not do that, and you get to get out of bed possibly tomorrow or the day after.”

“I’ll lie very still,” Bel promised, eyes running leisurely down her body.

Fucking liar.

He was never still when he went down on her. She’d seen him grinding himself into the mattress, making little thrusts like he couldn’t help it, like he couldn’t wait to thrust into her . And if he didn’t have anything to grind against, like that time in the shower, he had his fist pumping leisurely around his erection, enjoying himself, biding his time…

For fuck’s sake, Lily.

“What about beating Asmodeus?” Lily threw out almost desperately.

“Fuck Azzy. He can have it. Consider it a ‘congrats on having a baby’ present.”

She was saved by a knock on the door. Bel sat up with a curse, bringing his knees up to hide the evidence of his arousal and reaching for his latte.

Lily opened the door for Lucifer, Lilith, and two other important-looking demons. She smirked over her shoulder at Bel, who looked remarkably composed given their prior conversation, except for a slight stain of color along his cheekbones.

“I hope you don’t mind, but we’d like to have a quick meeting?” Luci asked him.

Bel gestured them towards the assortment of chairs that had made their way into his room with various visitors. Lily took the opportunity to bow out, citing her genuine desire to spend some time at the Hellp Desk.

Bel shifted his bent legs on the bed and sent her out the door with a look that was molten.

* * *

The next day, Bel scowled at her around the fogged-up glass panel of his shower. Lily envied the water droplets trailing over his skin. She wanted to catch each one of them with her tongue.

She perched on the counter next to the sink, sipping her coffee from a shop not far from Bel’s house and enjoying the torturous show of him in the shower.

“You didn’t even come cuddle,” he said accusingly. Then, softer, “All you had to do was say no, and I would have dropped it.”

She’d slept in one of the guest rooms the night before. Well, “slept” was a generous term for tossing and turning most of the night, trying not to make bad decisions.

“That’s the problem, big guy. I didn’t want to say no. I always want you.”

Bel grunted, loading up a washcloth with body wash.

Lily wetted her lips and watched the bubbles run down his solid abdomen. “Just like I really want to join you in that shower right now. But—” She sighed, the hormonal part of her brain vaguely disgusted with the rest of her. “I want you healthy more. Then I want you to fuck the common sense out of me so we never have this conversation again.”

“I like your common sense though. It’s part of what makes you you ,” Bel said, turning into the shower spray.

Lily bit back a pathetic whimper of appreciation. She’d always appreciated guys with nice backs, but adding wings and all the muscles required to support him in flight? Delicious.

And then there was his ass…

“Are you objectifying me?” he teased as he turned to face her again.

“Mm.” Lily sipped her coffee, pointedly appreciating the way his thick thighs flexed with each motion, drawing her attention to that beautiful cock of his. It started to harden under her gaze.

“Now see what you’ve done,” Bel said with a half grin, ducking back under the water. “It thinks it’s playtime. I’ll be half hard all day.”

“I’ve been wet for you since yesterday,” Lily said mildly. Bel whipped around, looking almost pained. “We’re suffering together.”

Bel shook his head, smile playing over his lips. “As long as we’re together, princess.” He twisted his arm to scrub at his back, shadows creeping into his eyes again. “I’m glad…” He trailed off, silently rasping the washcloth over his body for a few moments before turning to put the suds under the spray.

“You’re glad what?” Lily asked softly.

He was quiet, the lines and details of his massive body obscured by the steamy glass, but she could tell he was motionless, the long, inky strands of his hair plastered over his shoulders, back, and chest.

“I’m glad the scars don’t bother you,” he said quietly.

Lily set her cup on the counter and slid down, the tile warm under her bare feet as she padded to stand in the opening of the shower. Bel looked up from where he’d been staring at the wall, looking young and old and vulnerable and fierce all at once. He stepped out of the spray and stood in front of her, their chests almost touching. She tilted her head back to look at him, loving how tall he was.

She took his hand, threading their fingers together. “You’ve always had scars, Bel. They’re just markings on your skin, mementos of a life lived, just like tattoos. They’re a part of you, but they’re not the sum of you.” She searched his eyes. “Do they bother you?”

His free hand ghosted over a newly healed patch on his side, lingering, before it dropped. “No.” His tone was soft. “Do you miss yours?”

Lily blinked, almost rocking back at the immediate answer that sprang to her mind. “I do,” she said, “very much. The stupid ones, the ones I gave myself, the ones I was lucky to walk away with. They were mine.” She pressed her lips to the center of his chest and gazed up at him. “Just like you are.”

He dipped to kiss her softly. “And you’re mine.”

She smiled.

He kissed her again, more firmly this time, then brushed his lips over hers, whispering, “Thank you.” He glanced down her body and winced. “Sorry, princess, I got you all wet.”

Lily stepped back, arching an eyebrow in the way she knew drove him crazy. “I told you, I’ve been that way since yesterday, big guy. It keeps being your fault.”

He huffed a laugh, returning to his shower.

Lily crept into the bedroom and dug into her bag, pulling out the outfit she’d planned for this kind of day, along with Carlton’s parting gift, and headed back into the bathroom. She pulled her sleep shirt over her head and let it drop. Bel turned. Then wiped a clear spot on the glass.

She shimmied out of her shorts, kicking them to the side with a flourish. Bel was motionless. She reached for Carlton’s gift and shook it out.

Bel groaned. “Lily…”

The deep purple bodysuit was completely sheer. Mesh in places, iridescent lace in others, vaguely obscuring certain places, while artfully placed seams emphasized other ones. It skimmed up her body, the fit immaculate. She carefully settled the straps on her shoulders, making sure her breasts rested in the cups to best effect.

Bel leaned around the glass to see more clearly and groaned. “Princess, my cause of death is going to be ‘reverse striptease.’ The healers are going to keep me in bed for another month because they’ll think I’m dying of something other than sexual frustration.”

Lily stepped into the floaty, short, black skirt and worked it up her legs. “Consider this your incentive to think healthy thoughts. What do you think, shirt or no shirt?”

Bel’s hungry expression dropped into a murderous look of are-you-kidding-me?

“Shirt,” he growled.

Lily licked her lips at the thrill that growl sent through her, reaching for the tight, black, V-necked T-shirt and pulling it over her head, tucking it in.

She gathered up her discarded clothes and turned for the door.

“What about hair and makeup?” Bel asked, hanging half out of the shower. She knew he adored watching her do her makeup, even though, when she wore eyeliner, she’d get frustrated with it half the time.

“You know, it’s pretty humid in here and not the best conditions for that. I’ll just do it in the break room. The final look can be a surprise.” She grinned.

Bel hung his head dramatically. “Lily, the healers won’t be here until at least noon .”

She spun on her heel and walked over, careful to avoid the water dripping off of him, giving him a quick peck and smiling brightly. “I know. Think of the anticipation.”

He pouted. “You’re mean.”

She laughed as she headed for the door. “You love it.”

“I really do,” she heard him say warmly before she closed the door.

Bel

It took every ounce of willpower not to squirm as the elder female healer settled her hands on his shoulder, sending the radiating warmth of her power coursing through his body, testing and prodding as it went.

Lucifer, far more well rested than he’d been when Bel had last seen him, sat in a nearby chair and watched the proceedings while giving updates on the situation.

The funeral pyres would be lit in three days, allowing time for the families to conclude their private services and rites, and for the most injured of the survivors to heal enough to attend. The rift had been sealed so completely that there was no evidence of it, save for the scarred pocket realm where the battles had taken place, and the thousands upon thousands of enemy dead that lay there. Their bodies wouldn’t rot; they would simply dry out and eventually fade from existence. As for the pocket realm itself, the heads of each realm were in agreement to petition the Universe to close it off and seal the entrance, leaving the filled-in archway as a memorial to those who had lost their lives there.

“When?” Bel asked, eye twitching as the healer’s power prodded the tender area at his side.

“Not for some time. A month, at least, in order to respect the rite of mourning.”

The rite was nothing official, nothing required of anyone, but it was common practice among not only the warriors and warrior families of Hell, but the whole Afterlife. To go in peace to a place that had been one of war and remember. Why they’d fought. The fallen. The living. What they’d lost and what they’d gained.

“Are you going to ask Lily to go with you?” Lucifer asked, propping a foot on his opposite knee.

Bel glanced at the healer, seeking some kind of sign that her perusal of his health would be over soon, or at least that it was going well. Nothing. Her expression was serene, the healing energy prickling through his body.

“I…don’t know. There are things on that battlefield that I don’t want in her head. It’s bad enough that they’re in mine.”

Lucifer seemed to choose his words carefully. “Given her work at the Hellp Desk, I doubt the blood will bother her. She’s not exactly…unaccustomed to violence. And the bodies will be mostly, if not completely, dry by then.”

“Well sat, sir,” the healer told Bel warmly, lifting her hands. “As I’m sure you’ve felt, you’re not quite back to full health, but I feel comfortable releasing you from bed rest and allowing you to use your discretion as to your own physical limits.”

Bel threw the covers back—he’d pulled on a pair of boxer briefs in anticipation and out of the desire to not flash some poor healer—and swung his legs over the side of the bed, planting his feet on the rug.

“However,” the healer’s voice grew firm, and the look she fixed on him was so similar to his mother’s pay-fucking-attention expression that he froze, “freshly healed is not fully healed, as you are well aware. You do have greater limitations than you otherwise would. I understand that this will be annoying to you, but I ask that you respect that. If you don’t, you’ll end up right back in this bed.”

Like fuck he would. They’d have to catch him first.

He nodded respectfully and thanked the healer for her time as she headed for the door. The second the door clicked shut behind her he strode into his closet.

“So will you ask her?” Lucifer called, resuming the conversation.

Bel yanked his pants up to his thighs, pausing to thread his tail through the hole at the back. “She’d probably handle the gore just fine,” Bel admitted, pulling his pants up the rest of the way. “It’s the creatures I’m worried about her seeing.”

“She handled the gegony and chittahi just fine,” Lucifer said.

Bel huffed a laugh, reaching for one of his casual athletic shirts. “Of course she did—” He stopped, the meaning and implication of what Lucifer said filtering through his brain.

He lurched out of the closet, gripping the door frame in one hand while the other crumpled the shirt. “When the fuck did she see a gegony or a chittahi?”

Lucifer’s eyebrows arched, realization dawning across his angular face before his eyes gleamed. “During one of the final attacks, a single gegony and chittahi broke through the lines and made it all the way into the Universal Hallway. My understanding is that Lily was getting coffee at the time and was one of the first to realize something was wrong. She ended up taking refuge inside Heaven’s arch. The gegony passed by and was killed by some of ours, but the chittahi… Well, it was taken care of by our lovely Lily. With the very sword you gave her, actually.”

“She WHAT?”