Chapter Eleven

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Teague bit back a smile as his harpy’s face went bright red. Emotions whirled in her dilated pupils—need, aggravation, impatience, and unease.

“No, I’m not playing this game with you,” she declared.

Oh, but she would. She just needed a little push first. “All right,” he easily agreed. But then he telepathed her another snapshot—this time of her on her knees and elbows, one side of her sex-drunk face pressed to the mattress. It was a memory that made his cock twitch.

She snarled. “You’re such an asshole.”

Chuckling, he leaned into her, looking her dead in the eye. “You can huff and bitch and growl at me all you want, pretty harpy—I happen to enjoy it.” So did his demon. “But you’re not fooling me. I know you like me.”

She exhaled heavily. “I actually do. And I can’t explain it. With logic, I mean.”

His beast let out a low nicker, pleased. “Brave girl. I wasn’t sure you’d admit you’re falling for me.”

“I didn’t say I was falling—”

“You don’t need to, it’s written all over your face.” He curved an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close so that her body was perfectly aligned with his. “Don’t worry. I’m here for you. We’ll get through this together. LarTea all the way.”

Exasperation rippled across her face, but a smile pulled at her mouth. “Do you never get tired of being a freaking weirdo?”

“It’s being normal that’s exhausting.”

“You wouldn’t know what normal was if it fucked you in the ass and called you Judy.”

“Why Judy?”

She spluttered. “Because.”

“Gotcha. Makes sense.”

Shaking her head fast, Larkin threw up a hand. “Stop talking.”

“Well, that was rude.”

“Do you care?”

“That you were rude? No. If you want to flirt with my beast that way, go for it,” Teague invited with a shrug. Lowering his head so that their mouths were mere inches apart—and barely resisting the urge to close that small distance—he warned, “Just remember that you’ll only make the demon more determined to bite you.”

She tensed in his arms. “Just remember that that won’t be happening. And before you complain about it, let me point out that I don’t see you lining up to be tortured by my demon. I’m no masochist either.”

He felt his brow crease. “Whoa, my entity doesn’t want to torture you or yours.” Where was she getting that from?

“Your venom would likely put me through a shitload of pain the likes of which could make me pass out.”

He pursed his lips. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

She poked his ribs hard.

Laughing, Teague breathed her in, letting her scent settle him. His demon was still tightly wound after the attack earlier. His clan hadn’t taken it well either, and there had been some talk of eradicating the entire shadowkin race at some point. But now that he had Larkin’s body all snug against his own, her scent in his lungs, her gorgeous eyes glaring up at him, he felt the rest of the day fall away.

Dropping his gaze to her lips, he said, “You haven’t kissed me tonight yet.”

“The only thing I want to do to your mouth is punch it.”

A chuckle rumbled out of him. “Oh, how you lie.” Before she could protest, he telepathed her another image. Not a memory this time, but a picture of her spread out beneath him on her bed while he feasted on her pussy.

Heat flared in her eyes, and she swallowed.

He hadn’t teased her too much through the evening up until this point, wanting to wait until she was good and agitated—that was when her defenses fell and she was more likely to play with him.

“Don’t, or I’ll retaliate,” she warned, fisting the sides of his shirt.

“I’m counting on it.” He sent her another image—one of him lying on top of her, pinning her down with his weight while he held her wrists above her head.

Her cheeks flushing, she psychically struck fast.

An image of her on her knees sucking him off popped into his head . . . and went straight to his cock, making it begin to thicken. He smiled slow and wide. “I do love it when you play dirty.”

At that moment, Harper and Knox appeared.

The sphinx gave them a winning smile. “Hey, kids, I—Jesus, Teague, what did you do to put that look on her face? Tell me you haven’t been purposely riling her. She looks ready to pounce on you—and not in a good way.”

“I’m struggling to make him understand that it would be bad if he or his demon bit me,” Larkin fudged. “Which wouldn’t be so annoying if it was the first time we’d had this conversation. But it’s not. And I could roll my eyes if he was being obtuse. But he’s not. He genuinely doesn’t see the issue.”

Harper scratched at the back of her head. “Yeah, I’m not surprised, given the amount of pain he and his beast willingly put themselves through during every race.”

His expression neutral, Knox studied Teague with a probing gaze. “There’s one thing your demon could do to limit your venom’s effect on Larkin. But I’m sure that both you and the entity already know that, so I have to wonder why it hasn’t done it; why you haven’t urged the beast to do it.”

Yes, there was something Teague’s demon could do to spare her any pain from the bite. Something the entity wanted to do. But as the relationship was fake, Larkin would hate it. Neither he nor his beast wanted to see the abhorrence on her face that she’d inevitably feel. However, this wasn’t something he could explain to Knox.

Instead, Teague shrugged and said, “Her demon wouldn’t take kindly to being branded yet. It isn’t ready. Both me and my demon sense that, and we respect it.”

Approval gleamed in Knox’s eyes. “Good.”

Larkin’s mind brushed Teague’s, and then her voice was in his mind . . . Wait, a brand would minimize my body’s reaction to your venom?

Yes. It would still sting a lot, but that’s all. Being marked is not something you or your demon would want, though.His entity was a law unto itself in many ways, but Teague didn’t worry that it would brand her regardless—it wouldn’t do anything to Larkin that would upset or repel her.

Wanting to switch to a lighter topic, he added, We’d also like to do this to you. He telepathed her an extremely filthy image that made her face flush.

No way. That’s an exit-only zone.

Even as the four of them fell into a conversation, Teague and Larkin continued their telepathic war, exchanging explicit image after explicit image until his cock was hard and his demon was ready to mount her right there.

At one point, Harper’s brow puckered as she observed them closely. “You two okay? You look . . . tense. And distracted.”

Teague explained, “Larkin and I are having a somewhat filthy telepathic conversation—”

“Teague,” the harpy hissed, flushing.

He widened his eyes. “What do you want me to do? Lie?”

“It’s what you do on plenty of other occasions,” she sniped.

“And you’re the one who wants me to be more honest, remember? That’s what I’m doing.”

Unsuccessfully stifling a smile, Harper said, “Well, I guess Knox and I will leave you to your dirty chat.”

The male Prime cleared his throat. “Yes, that might be best.”

After the mated pair walked away, Larkin cast Teague another hard glare. “Are you trying to give me an ulcer? Is that what this is?”

“No.” He snaked his hand up her back and palmed her nape. “I mean, I am pushing toward my goal of giving you a permanent eyelid-twitch—I think it’ll look good on you—but all I want here and now is to make you wet for me. And you are.” He could smell it. It was driving his demon nuts in the best way.

“A permanent eyelid-twitch?” she echoed, evidently choosing to ignore the rest of what he’d said.

“Yes.” He lowered his head to breeze his lips over hers. “But I’m more interested in discussing how wet you are and just how badly I want to lick you clean.”

The need glinting in her eyes bloomed, turning the gray-green pools a little glassy. The rising sexual tension was an incessant pulse in the air between them, impossible to ignore. It held his body captive, and he could see that she was no less affected. But his harpy stubbornly shook her head.

“Why bother talking about it when it’s never going to happen?” she questioned. “We agreed that the other night would be a one-off.”

He hiked up a brow. “Did we? As I recall it, you told me we needed to leave it as a one-time thing. I don’t share that opinion. I made no secret of that.”

“And I was clear that I’m not interested in being anyone’s booty call, nor do I want a cheap fling. If that doesn’t matter to you, think of Khloë. She might have excused you from breaking your oath, but that’s only because she bought your bullshit that it was a practice run. She wouldn’t excuse it again. So just drop the whole thing.”

“Not sure if I can,” he admitted, his voice pitched low and deep, “since I’ve thought of little else but fucking you again since moments after I first had you.”

An aroused flush creeping up her neck and face, she cursed. “Do you have to be so difficult?”

“Yes.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

“Not one that wouldn’t irritate you.” He gently nipped at her bottom lip, his teeth barely grazing it. “You can hiss and spit, but I know you’re thinking about it. Thinking about how it felt to have my cock balls deep inside you. Thinking about how you want it to happen again.” He tightened his hold on her waist, tugging her lower body closer so she’d feel how hard he was. “You were so hot and tight. You took my dick like you were born for it.”

“I get that from guys a lot,” she said, her tone airy yet meant to provoke. As if he were that easily riled.

“You really want to go down that road? I mean, we could talk about our past sexual experiences, I guess. There was this one woman—” He stopped as her eyes bled to black and the temperature cooled in an instant.

Her demon glared at him. “Push her buttons all you please. I would, after all, prefer that you wear her down. But I will not listen to stories of your past exploits.” Its gaze dropped to his neck, as if something caught its eye. It poked its finger beneath his collar and tapped his gold chain. “Can I have this?”

He felt his lips twitch. So easily distracted by something shiny. “No.”

Its frown was almost childlike. “But I want it.”

His beast nickered, amused. “Tough shit. I’ll buy you one, though. How’s that?”

Humming, it skimmed its fingers through his hair. “Have you ever been waterboarded?”

His lips twitched again. “No.”

“I think I would like watching you fight for breath.”

God, he fucking loved this demon. “What else would you like to do?”

“To you? Many things.” It nuzzled his throat. “Some you would enjoy. Some you would not. I would very much like to see how much pain you can take; to see you covered in bruises and welts.”

He full-on smiled this time. “Cruel little shit, aren’t you?”

It only shrugged one shoulder, uncaring. “Do not forget the chain.” Then it retreated, and Larkin’s striking eyes were once more locked on him.

He skated a hand down her braid. “Your demon would totally waterboard me if it could, wouldn’t it?”

“Often,” she admitted with a sigh.

“It’s sadistic in an almost clinical way, right? It’s not that the entity is evilly bloodthirsty. It simply likes to put people through pain and terrify them to see how they handle it.”

“Pretty much, yeah. But it would have no fun playing with masochists. It wouldn’t get any satisfaction from giving pain to those who crave it. It wants to experiment on those who don’t; to push them to their limits and watch them break.”

“Makes sense.”

Her brow furrowed. “It does?”

“Yeah. Where’s the enjoyment in torturing someone who’ll welcome it?” He loosely fisted the end of her braid. “Can I watch next time your demon puts someone through the ringer like that? I’d like to see it at work.”

Her eyes all but delved into his. “You’re not even kidding, are you?”

“I don’t know why you’d feel that I should be.”

She sighed again. “Of course you don’t.”

“Larkin!” Piper called out, waving her over to where the nightmare and the rest of the women stood.

Larkin let her arms slip away from him. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

“I’ll go grab us both a drink while I wait.”

“All right. A mojito will do nicely. Try not to cause havoc while I’m gone.”

He grimaced. “Yeah, I promise nothing.”

She rolled her eyes and then disappeared.

Teague made his way toward the makeshift bar, whistling along to the upbeat tune that played over the speakers. Skirting the end of the table, he came to a stop as he almost bumped into a tall, dark, well-built male who was fairly cloaked in pure power.

The president of the Black Saints shot him a lopsided grin. “Teague,” he greeted. “Nice brand. I noticed you’re cozy with Knox Thorne’s sentinel. Bit risky, isn’t it? I mean, you wouldn’t want him to learn that . . . ” He trailed off, a glitter of mischief in his eyes.

Teague didn’t tense, confident that the male wouldn’t finish his sentence. “How you doing, Viper? Or should I call you . . . ?” He trailed off, reminding the guy that he wasn’t the only one privy to secrets that weren’t his.

Viper’s mouth curved a little more. “I haven’t seen you or your boys at my club in a while.”

“We’ve been sort of preoccupied lately.”

The president’s gaze sharpened. “Anything you need help with?” The MC club had a loose alliance with Teague’s clan—one they’d formed shortly after the fallen angels made an appearance on Earth. It was an unlikely alliance, in truth, but it made sense in a way that no one outside the club or clan would understand due to the secrets they kept.

“Nah, we’re handling it.”

“If that changes, be sure to let me know.”

“Will do.” Teague gave him a curt nod and then crossed to the makeshift bar, where he ordered a beer for himself and a mojito for Larkin. As he grabbed both drinks and turned to seek her out, Levi materialized at his side, an odd look on his face. Teague frowned at the reaper. “What?”

Levi cocked his head. “You smiled,” he replied, sounding both impressed and baffled.

Teague’s frown deepened. “What?”

“You smiled at Larkin’s demon.”

“Why wouldn’t I? That creature is a hoot.”

After a long moment of staring at him, Levi let out a heavy exhale. “All right. Fine. I’ll back off.”

“Huh?”

“You might not know this, but Larkin’s demon has scared off many guys she’s dated. I think it simply meant to test them, but it’s equally possible that the entity was bored and decided to fuck with them just for something to do.”

Teague gave a slow nod. “It’s hard to fight that kind of temptation, to be fair.”

Levi snickered. “Yeah, I guess you can relate to the fulfillment it gets from messing with people,” he mused. “It no doubt tried to scare you off, but it didn’t succeed. You’re still here. And you smiled at it, talked to it, touched it, and even let it nuzzle you. I personally wouldn’t want that callous entity anywhere near my throat.” He paused. “If you can accept Larkin’s demon so fully, I’ll just as fully accept you.”

Twisting his mouth, Teague shrugged. “All right.”

The reaper eyed him for long seconds. “You don’t care either way, do you?”

“No, not really.”

Smiling, Levi clapped him on the back. “You’ll do, Teague. You’ll do.”

Later on, Ciaran teleported most of their group back to Larkin’s apartment. It was only the Primes, Khloë, and Keenan who he took elsewhere, teleporting them to their prospective homes.

With a nice buzz going on, Teague slumped onto the sofa and watched as Larkin hugged Levi, Tanner, and their drunken mates before ushering them out of her apartment.

Shortly after Levi had given Teague his acceptance earlier at the party, the drinking had really gotten started. He’d knocked back beer and whiskey and even the last of Larkin’s final cocktail—she’d had a fair few of those, so she was pretty tipsy.

She was also still intent on ignoring the tension that had throbbed between them all night. A tension he’d fed each time he’d teased her with wicked promises, none-too-casual touches, and telepathic images of the many things he wanted to do with and to her.

At no point had he given her a reprieve, determined to make her face that it was too late to try reversing back over platonic lines. They’d never manage it. They’d end up in bed together again sooner or later. It might as well be sooner, in his opinion.

Right then, she closed the front door but didn’t move away, her eyes on the wall-mounted clock. She was giving the others time to get back to their apartments before she tossed him out, Teague knew. Well, it would have looked strange to them if she’d refused to allow her boyfriend to stay over, wouldn’t it?

Finally, she turned to face him. “Now you.” She pointed at the door.

He pouted. “But I like it here. And you don’t really want me drinking and driving, do you?”

“I’ll call you a cab.”

He patted the sofa cushion. “I can sleep on this couch—you won’t even know I’m here.”

“No.”

“Just admit you don’t trust that you won’t seduce me while I’m asleep,” Teague dared, delighting in the long, suffering sigh she let out.

“Get moving, Sullivan,” she pushed, once more pointing at the door.

With a heavy exhale, Teague pushed to his feet. “Fine.” He prowled toward her, slow and purposeful, his demon so close to the surface as it eyed her like she were prey. “If you want me to go, I’ll go.” Reaching her, he towered over her, liking how nervous she looked. “Although I’m not so sure you truly do.”

She swallowed, averting her gaze. But that gaze flew back to him as it turned pure black, and a slight chill wafted over him.

Her demon trailed its finger along his jawline. “Let’s chip away at her stubbornness, shall we?” It palmed his nape, pulled his head down, and kissed him hard.

With a low growl, he wrapped its braid around his fist as he kissed the demon back. Their tongues tangled. Their teeth gnashed. Their hearts pounded almost in sync.

His cock hardening, Teague backed the entity into the wall and caged it there with his lower body. Its fingers dug almost painfully into his sides as it arched into him, all but eating at his mouth. But then it stopped.

Teague opened his eyes and found Larkin staring back at him. Their mouths barely touching, he winged up a brow. “Well, am I going or am I staying?” he asked, his voice thick.

She muttered a curse, gripped his hair, and then latched her lips fully on to his.

Taking that for the answer it was, he closed his hand around her breast as they kissed like goddamn savages. There was no restraint, no hesitancy, no attempt at finesse. Just an explosion of need and hunger and desperation.

Pulling back, he peeled off her dress in one fluid movement. As she tackled her bra, he dropped to his knees, caught the waistband of her underwear, and then roughly dragged them down. Inhaling deeply, he nuzzled her pussy. “I swear the scent of your need could make me high.” He lifted her leg, planted her foot on his shoulder, and then dived right in.

Her taste bounded into his system, sweet and warm and spicy. He couldn’t get enough of it. As if it latched on to him with claws.

He sank his tongue inside her over and over, pausing occasionally to swipe it between her slick folds. His scalp stung from the death grip she had on his hair, but he didn’t care. Didn’t care about anything but gorging on her taste and making her come. So he kept licking and stabbing, loving how she bore down on his tongue as if desperate to have it deeper inside her.

When he sensed she was close to coming, he wrapped his lips around her clit and suckled gently. She gasped, arching into his mouth, her thigh muscles trembling. He shoved two fingers inside her.

And she fractured.

Feeling her tight inner walls ripple around his fingers made Teague groan. He wanted to feel them around his dick. Needed it. Now.

Withdrawing his fingers from her pussy, he lowered her foot back to the floor and then shot to his feet. He tore open his fly with a snarl. “I’m gonna fuck you so hard.” His cock jutted out, aching and throbbing. Her glazed eyes dropped to it, and she licked her lips.

Too intent on getting inside that pussy, he didn’t give her a few seconds to recover from her orgasm. He gripped her ass, lifted her, and pressed her body against the wall. She’d barely had the chance to wrap her legs around his hips before he slammed her down on his cock.

Her head shot back, her eyes snapping wide open, her brow creased with pleasure and pain. “Jesus, Teague.”

He groaned. “Fuck, you feel good.”

She righted her head and tugged at the back of his tee. “Take this off.”

“No.”

Larkin swore as he began railing her hard, his fat cock mercilessly overstretching her. There was a burn to each deliciously deep thrust, but it didn’t dim the pleasure. Not in the slightest.

Curling her legs tighter around him, she locked an arm around his shoulders and thrust the fingers of her free hand into his hair. She’d done a lot of pulling on those strands tonight, so his scalp was gonna be tender tomorrow. She kind of liked that thought.

Without losing momentum, he shifted his angle. She gasped because, oh God, each slam of his cock now brushed over her clit. A clit he’d earlier flicked and rubbed with his wicked, fabulous tongue that could give a masterclass on how to please a woman.

One thing she loved about sex with Teague was that there was no teasing, no dragging out foreplay, no orgasm denial. There was only taking and giving and demanding. “Stop scraping your teeth on my face.”

“No.”

There was that, too. A habit of ignoring her orders and doing as he pleased. But she loved that as well, so she couldn’t really complain. “If you dare bite me, I’ll rip your dick off.”

He went still, and then the air cooled as his demon surfaced. It narrowed its black eyes at her and rumbled an animalistic sound.

Larkin licked her lips, admittedly a little nervous. All demonic entities were cruel and dangerous, but hellbeasts? They were on another level. Because they weren’t civilized or reasonable, too primitive in their way of thinking. They were more beast than man. More monster than animal.

Teague’s demon rubbed its nose along her cheekbone, letting out a low and rumbly nicker. That nose ghosted down her cheek, over her jaw, and down her neck. The entity set its teeth around the thick vein in her throat—a blatant assertion of dominance.

It didn’t bite down, and she didn’t get the sense that it meant to. No, this was more of a message that it could so easily hurt her and so she should watch her step.

Snorting, Larkin tugged hard on its hair. “What the fuck ever, Applejack.”

Without withdrawing its teeth, it let out an annoyed chuff, sending a waft of warm air at her neck.

Then it began to fuck the holy hell out of her.

A startled gasp burst out of Larkin as the demon powered into her like the wild beast it was, chasing its own pleasure, uncaring of her own. Weird though it might be, there was something about the moment, about flirting with the danger of being bitten, about being taken by an entity that gave no fucks what she wanted, that somehow incited both her and her demon.

She would have arched into the brutal thrusts if the hands on her ass weren’t clenching so tight. The entity held her perfectly still, forcing her to take only what she was given.

All things considered, it was really no wonder that Orgasmville was already so close, making her inner muscles spasm.

Snarling, the demon roughly upped its pace, ramming into her so hard it hurt. It clamped its teeth a little tighter around the vein in her throat—not nicking the skin, but taunting her with how she was at its mercy right then. God help her, the reminder of danger only shoved her closer to Orgasmville.

Mere moments later, she was there.

Pleasure burst through her in an electric wave so damn blinding she lost her breath. The demon snapped its hips upward faster, harder, and deeper. Then, with one last slam, it exploded.

Panting and trembling, she felt its teeth slide away from her throat. The demon dragged its tongue along the vein with a soft nicker, and then she sensed the entity withdraw.

Teague lifted his head, his striking eyes all lazy and warm. “Applejack? Really?”

She felt her lips quirk. “Your demon didn’t like being referred to as one of the My Little Pony characters, huh?”

“No, it didn’t.” He carried her to the bathroom, where he propped her on the counter. He swiped a small flannel from a shelf and used it to clean her up. Once he’d dumped it in the hamper, he set a hand on the counter either side of her. “It’ll happen again.”

She sighed, unable to deny that it was highly likely—particularly since her demon would continue to help him wear down Larkin’s defenses. Those defenses were already ragged at the edges where he was concerned. But . . . “I told you, I’m not into shallow flings.”

He hummed. “You complicate things by tossing out labels. Booty calls. Hook-ups. Flings. Bed-buddies.” He scraped his teeth over her chin. “The core of the situation is much simpler. I want you, and you want me. That’s it. Where’s the negative in that? There’s no reason we can’t just let ourselves enjoy it. No reason we have to put it in a neatly marked box that gives it rules and boundaries and limitations.”

Spoken like a true hellbeast. They were much more elemental in their sexual way of thinking. Which, honestly, she envied. There had to be freedom in that.

He seemed to be forgetting something, though. “I’m pretty sure that although Khloë didn’t get mad about our ‘practice run’, as you termed it, she didn’t give you the green light to fuck me whenever you pleased.”

He waved that away. “She knows that practice makes perfect.”

A silent laugh shook Larkin’s shoulders. He came out with the weirdest stuff.

“You know, we’re similar in some ways.”

She felt her brow pucker. “We are?”

“Yeah. We both make a point of not getting close to people, particularly when it comes to relationships.”

“That’s not true. I avoid—”

“Sweet and short flings,” he finished. “And bed-buddy arrangements. And one-night stands. And long-distance relationships. And just about anything that doesn’t involve total commitment. See what I’m getting at? You demand everything from your partners—it’s all or nothing. Generally, guys don’t agree to ‘all’ straight off the bat. It’s a way for you to hold people back.”

Her demon gave a hard nod of agreement. Larkin only stared at him, mentally floundering. She’d never looked at the situation like that before. But yeah, he was spot on.

Feeling a little vulnerable and defensive, she folded her arms and fired a scowl his way. “Are you going somewhere with this?”

“You’re using my tendency to avoid ‘complicated’ to keep me at arm’s length. Why bother, Lark? Like I said before, the situation is simple—I want you, and you want me. Can’t we explore that and take it day by day? Do we have to define, label, and put a time restriction on it?”

A sigh slipped out of Larkin. She had been overcomplicating it, hadn’t she? Of course, she knew why. She’d done it because she feared letting him too close.

The problem was that, in truth . . . it was too late for that. Teague was already under her skin. She’d refused to admit it to herself, scared of the power it gave him, but it smacked her in the face right then like a two-by-four.

He might annoy her like no one else, but she felt more alive around him than she ever had around anyone. More, she felt accepted. It didn’t matter to him that her demon was a loon. He wasn’t put off by it, or by how snarky she was, or by her having four meddling brothers that would fry him on the spot if he upset her.

He also made her feel safe. Larkin could take care of herself just fine, of course, but that was physical safety. Feeling at ease and comfortable with someone, being confident they’d never purposely hurt you, was something else altogether. Few people had made her feel that she’d be emotionally safe with them.

Teague, she realized, was one of them.

He’d never abandon someone who mattered to him. Never be anything but loyal and protective of them. Never consider his own wants more important than their wellbeing.

And, well, she kind of wanted to keep him. Something she hadn’t consciously acknowledged until this moment.

Her demon grinned, satisfied that Larkin had finally faced the reality of the situation. It felt that he made a good partner and intended to keep him around.

Staring into his hazel eyes—so languid and piercing and utterly focused on her like nothing else mattered—Larkin decided that, yes, that wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.

Of course, there were two issues at play . . . One, he didn’t do permanence. Two, Khloë would never condone it anyway.

Larkin would somehow convince her otherwise. She would talk the imp into releasing him from his promise, just as she would coerce Teague into shedding his ‘flings only’ attitude. Because whether he saw it or not, their fake relationship wasn’t entirely fake anymore. They had something. It was fragile and made up of very strange components, but it was there.

She couldn’t point any of that out to him, though. If he knew she intended to keep him, if he saw that they’d inadvertently crossed the ‘fake’ line, he’d undoubtedly react by backing away. And that basically meant she’d have to be sneaky about coaxing him further over that line.

Luckily, Larkin wasn’t a woman who needed a guy to do all the chasing and seducing. In fact, there’d be some fun in subtly chipping away at the defenses of this bastard who’d already found his way around hers. There’d be humor in trying to force him out of his comfort zone like he’d pushed her out of her own.

He’d probably crap himself when he finally realized they were in a real relationship.

Yeah, this would be fun for sure.

She was crafty enough to pull off shattering his defenses, though she wouldn’t be able to give it her all until she’d dealt with the Holt situation and kicked him out of the picture. Then she could pour her full concentration into the much more interesting project of luring Teague into accepting his fate. Her demon was all for it.

Unfolding her arms, Larkin rubbed at her thighs. “Okay, we just take it day by day and enjoy the simplicity of it.” She’d let him think her intention was for them to simply test the endurance of the bedsprings some more.

His mouth curved. “That’s my girl.”

Yes, yes, she was. He just didn’t know it yet. Ha.

He dropped a quick kiss on her lips and then straightened. “I’m staying here tonight.”

“Are you? Thanks for letting me know.”

“You’re welcome.”

She huffed, rolling her eyes. “You’re an idiot.”

“Like I said earlier, you’ll get used to it.”