Corson

I tried to ignore my throbbing erection as Wren slept soundly in my arms, but the woman had draped herself across me and burrowed her head beneath my chin. Her breasts were pressed firmly against my chest. One of her hands rested an inch above the head of my cock, while the other was beneath my neck.

The infuriating woman knew how to drive me mad even in her sleep.

When she murmured and shifted, her mouth ended up in the hollow of my throat. My dick became impossibly harder as her breath whispered over my skin on each of her exhalations. She may be a form of torture, but I didn’t dare move and chance waking her.

It was a first for me to put someone else’s needs ahead of my own. The only one I’d ever put ahead of myself was my king and later River when she became my queen, but not a bedmate. When morning came, I parted ways from my partner and rarely returned to the same woman again. I didn’t hold them after sex, but I found my arms drawing Wren closer.

I would return to her. I didn’t know where the knowledge came from, but it blazed across my mind and lodged inside me.

My heart beat faster than it ever had with a woman, and I couldn’t begin to count the number of women I’d been with over the years. I didn’t recall most of them, but I did know none had affected me as much as this prickly bird in my arms did. I frowned as I pondered why she affected me as much as she did.

Before I could delve too deeply into it, she murmured something before going rigid against me. I didn’t have to feel the flutter of her lashes against my skin to know she’d woken. I expected her to bolt away from me, but she remained unmoving in my arms.

Afraid she might jerk away from me, I leisurely rubbed my hands up and down the cloth covering her arms. She didn’t move an inch when I caressed her sleeves before sliding a hand up to clasp her nape. I lifted my head and placed a kiss on her forehead.

When she still didn’t pull away from me, I slid my lips lower over her cheek. Her heartbeat thundered in my ears, and she stopped breathing when my mouth found hers. I ran my tongue over her lips, tasting them as she remained still against me and the warmth of her soft mouth branded mine.

Then her lips parted enough to allow my tongue to slide into her mouth. I flicked my tongue over hers as her body stretched out on top of me and her tongue hesitatingly entwined with mine before becoming more assured with her thrusts.

My hand rose from her nape to cup the back of her head and draw her closer. Her fingers dug into my shoulders. Her other hand dropped down and brushed over my dick. She stiffened when she discovered how hard I was, but when I nipped at her lower lip before sucking lightly on it, she relaxed against me once more.

She moved her hand to grip my waist, and then her hips shifted and her legs opened to let my shaft slip between the junction of her thighs. For a moment, she froze, and I became convinced she would stop this, but then she rose before sliding down the length of my erection.

Running my hand along the side of her slender body, I traced the lithe muscles of her abdomen before clasping one of her breasts through her shirt. The hardened bud of her nipple burned my palm through her shirt and bra. When I ran my thumb around her nipple, she moaned and pressed closer to me.

My excitement rising, I released her head and grabbed her hips to guide her faster against the length of my erection. The sensation of her body riding mine caused me to growl as she rotated her hips in such a way that she was fucking me without ever pulling my cock from my pants.

Her fingers dug deeper into my flesh; her breath came in small pants as she eagerly met my movements. For the first time in my life, I knew I was going to come before entering a woman, and I welcomed the release.

* * *

Wren

Not real. Not real. The dark makes all of this not real.

But it felt too good not to be real. Everything about Corson felt so amazingly good. From the heat of his lips on mine to the smoky taste of him. He wove a spell over me as every time I considered returning to reality, his hands pulled me back under his magic once more.

And he wasn’t even touching my skin!

What would it feel like if he placed his hands on my flesh? I desperately wanted to know even as I tried to pull myself from the drugged stupor he wove over me.

This is wrong; I shouldn’t, we shouldn’t…. Every time a new protest rose in my mind, it died away.

Am I dreaming?

The question was answered when he pushed the evidence of his erection against me. I became wetter with need as I instinctively met the rhythm he set.

It had been a couple of years since I’d been with a man, but horniness was no excuse for making out with a demon. While my brain shot out this reminder, my body decided my brain could deal with it later. My body was in charge now, and it demanded more of Corson.

My nipples ached, and my breasts became heavier as he kneaded one before turning his attention to the other. His tongue moved in ways I’d never known one could move. He drew me deeper and deeper into his kiss until the mineral scent of the tunnel and the wintry air ceased to exist.

There was only Corson and the tension building between my legs and coiling higher into my belly. I thrust against him and rotated my hips until he was rubbing my clit just right. He nipped at my lip again before lifting his hips off the ground.

He likes that.

The realization brought a rush of power with it. He was as lost in this moment as I was. This was already more intense than anything I’d ever experienced with someone before, yet I found myself wondering what he would feel like inside me.

Amazing, he would feel amazing within me.

My pulse beat faster in my ears as I contemplated pulling his dick out and sliding myself onto it. I could feel the thick length of him through both our pants, and I knew he would stretch and fill me completely when he slipped inside me. He would demand nothing less than a complete loss of control from me, and for the first time in my life, I craved that.

I was too far gone in this moment to take the time to stop though and when I circled my hips against him once more, something within me fractured. I cried out as the orgasm rushing through my body caused my back to bow. Corson drove my hips harder against him before groaning. The sound he emitted was almost as erotic as his hands, and it had me on the verge of riding him again.

In the end, exhaustion won out, and I slumped on top of him. My head fell to his chest as his hand ran leisurely over my hair. I inhaled his scent and relished the lingering thrills of pleasure coursing through my body.

Closing my eyes, I took a minute to pretend we weren’t in this place. That he wasn’t a demon and I wasn’t a Wilder. That so many hadn’t been lost, and Hell and Heaven were still abstract concepts everyone only speculated about.

But I could only keep reality at bay for a few minutes. Then, ice slid over my skin, and the dank scent of the tunnel filled my nose once more. When I shivered, his arms enveloped me. He drew me closer to nuzzle my forehead with his lips. How many other women had he held like this? And what did it matter? He was a demon. I shouldn’t be allowing him to cradle me at all.

But God help me, no matter how wrong it was, I wanted more of this demon.

What would the other Wilders think if they learned what I’d done in this tunnel? They accepted working with the demons, and some Wilders had done more than just work with them, but I was supposed to remain distant, and I definitely was not supposed to be crawling into the arms of one.

Worse than what my fellow Wilders would think of me was what would Randy think?

Dread coiled through me at the possibility of seeing revulsion in Randy’s eyes, or of him turning against me. There had always been the possibility he wouldn’t agree with my decision to work with the demons, but he wouldn’t have hated me for making the choice. However, he might loathe me if he learned of this. He’d lost a lot to demons too.

Reality was like a bucket of cold water dumped over my head. I was enfolded securely in the arms of a demon, but not just any demon. Corson. The one demon I’d vowed never to give in to. Well, I’d vowed never to give in to any of them, but especially not this one! Not the one who proudly displayed the jewelry of all his conquests and would happily add me to that list, if he could remember my name for long enough to add it.

What was wrong with me? A day or two trapped in his presence had made me like the other numerous women who had fallen into his bed. Maybe we hadn’t had sex, but it had been close, and I’d gotten off on it. If I wore earrings, he’d be smugly parading them around for everyone to see. Now, he’d give me that knowing look and I’d hate myself and him for it.

But worst of all was the knowledge that I didn’t want to be one of the many, not to him. With horror, I realized that I might actually be coming to care for him. If I wasn’t careful, he’d break my heart and have no idea what he’d done.

Distance. I need distance from him and all of this. Unfortunately, there was little distance to be found in this maze, but I didn’t have to stay in his arms.

I pulled out of his embrace and rolled away from him. He grunted when I accidentally sank my elbow into his stomach before launching to my feet. I miscalculated his position on the ground and tripped over his foot. I almost sprawled onto my ass in an incredibly inelegant move, but he moved with the speed of… well, a demon as he shot to his feet beside me and grabbed my elbow to steady me.

“Wren—”

“This never happened.” He stiffened against me before I ripped my arm free of his grasp. “This never happened!” I didn’t know if I was trying to convince him of that or myself. It had to be him as I couldn’t deny the wetness between my legs. “It was a mistake.”

“Is that so?” he inquired in a tone of voice I’d never heard from him before. Something about it reminded me of a snake coiled to strike.

Except I knew Corson would never strike me, never hurt me, at least not physically. I didn’t kid myself into believing he was humane, but he was fair, and he didn’t harm those who didn’t deserve it.

Is that so? My mind spun with his question as I tried to figure it all out. But how could I figure this out when I was freezing, yet my palms were sweating, and my body still had little bolts of pleasure running through it from him? This demon made me melt, but there could never be anything more between us than a stolen moment in this awful place.

“Yes. It won’t happen again,” I said crisply. I was glad I couldn’t see him and that he couldn’t see me. I was afraid he would see the longing on my face as I uttered those words. “It’s time to get out of here.”

Without waiting to hear what he would say, I turned on my heel and started down the tunnel. “You’re going the wrong way,” he said from behind me.

I stopped and craned my head up and down the tunnel, but I had no way of knowing if he was right or not. Still, I reluctantly headed back toward his voice.