Hints of daylight glowed around the heavy-duty sunblock panel over the window, casting the bedroom in a dim twilight. Not that the gloom had done Alek any good. He’d tossed and turned for what felt like hours already, his mind and body too restless to drift off.

He flopped onto his back and stared at the ceiling, silently cursing his honesty.

Why did he tell Lily about the signs he’d read on her back? He should have just kept that info to himself, for several reasons, not least of which was that the less she learned about the details of her turning, the longer it would take to eventually change her back—if that was even possible. He had his doubts, but in any case, he shouldn’t share clues with her which could point her to the one thing that would destroy any future he could have with her.

Plus, him telling her that little tidbit was one hell of a mood killer. All that lust saturating the air while he read her tvaglakshana, all that pent-up sexual tension, the hunger in her eyes? Vanished like a burst bubble as soon as he told her about the witch magic.

He could still taste the shock in her aura, like a splash of cold water. Her eyes had widened, she’d turned, and asked him a million times if he was sure. When he said yes, she grabbed her top, muttered something about having to think, and disappeared into the spare bedroom, the door closing behind her with a click that resounded loudly in his heart.

Way to go there, Sasha. Lily was already skittish, and he’d gone and ruined what could have turned into a very pleasurable morning.

He scrubbed a hand over his face, stifling a groan of frustration.

The doorknob turned. He whipped his head up, eyes fixed on the door, which slowly swung open. In the shadows of the darkened room, a female shape slipped inside, closing the door behind her.

Lily.

Even though his demon senses were reduced since it was daytime, he picked up her unique scent, and it sent a hum of excitement through him. He didn’t move, didn’t make a sound, simply waited to see what she would do.

Her soft footsteps padded on the hardwood floor, her shadowed shape coming closer. The mattress dented as she perched on the edge.

“Are you asleep?” Her voice was but a whisper.

“Somehow nobody ever believes me when I say yes.”

Her grin was a flash of white in the dark, a fleeting thing, gone again the next second. “Does your offer still stand?”

“’Course. I’ll help you, no matter what.”

“Not that one. The other offer.”

He frowned, then it clicked. And his body responded immediately, his cock hardening in an instant, tenting the sheet. “It does.”

“Casual fun, right?”

He nodded and scooted to the side, making room for her on the bed. “Casual fun.”

She crawled onto the mattress, over to him, and straddled his waist. The oversized T-shirt she wore—one she’d apparently found in the closet in the spare bedroom—rode up to her hips, revealing her sleek, muscled thighs. His hands landed on those thighs before he could think better. Dammit, but he’d been dreaming of stroking her legs ever since he first saw her in shorts.

Lily inhaled softly, and the scent of her arousal caressed him like the finest aphrodisiac, potent enough to make him lose his mind. “I can’t make any promises,” she whispered.

“Don’t expect you to.” He’d take what she was willing to give right now, and he’d work hard until she wanted to give more.

He stroked his thumbs over the insides of her thighs, smiling at her small sound of pleasure. Placing her hands on his chest, she leaned forward and kissed him. A chaste meeting of lips at first, until she licked over his lower lip and then nipped at it. He felt the pull of that move all the way down to his groin, and his dick twitched in response.

“Hmm, that feels promising,” she murmured, and pushed her pelvis against his erection, the heat of her core burning him through the sheet.

He slid his hands from her thighs up, clasped her hips, and pressed her even closer, bucking up to meet her at the same time. She gasped at the increased friction. Her nails dug into his chest.

“Take off your shirt.” His voice scraped somewhere on the dark side of rough.

Without missing a beat, she did as he asked, grasped the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it off. He had his mouth on her breasts before she’d thrown the shirt to the side. Crying out at his speed, she clung to his shoulders while he licked a circle around her left areola, coming closer and closer to her nipple. Once he reached the puckered nub, he took it between his teeth and pulled gently.

She threw her head back and moaned.

He used his tongue to toy with her nipple while he kneaded her other breast, rubbing his thumb over the hardened bud of that one as well. Lily rocked against him rhythmically, sliding her hips and core along his cock. Even through her panties and the sheet, he felt her arousal dampening the fabric. It drove a tremor of need through him.

He released her nipple to murmur against her flushed skin. “How wet are you, tsvetochek?”

Leaning closer, her midnight hair cascading around them like a black waterfall of silk, she gave him a smile that made his heart stutter and desire tighten his balls at the same time. “Why don’t you check?”

He tightened his fingers around her waist, and had it been nighttime, his claws would have sliced out to nick her skin. Just a little. Just enough to mark her, to let her know she was playing with a male who’d push her.

With a move that made her squeal in surprise, he flipped her onto her back, with him snug between her legs. Her long black curls spilled onto the mattress, her eyes wide, the indigo luminous in the dimness of the room. The sheet was still wedged between their bodies. He removed the nuisance with a growl and went for her panties next. They hit the floor somewhere. He didn’t care.

All he could focus on, in that instant, was the alluring perfection of the sight in front of him. Between those supple legs, which he planned to lick inch by inch, was the one spot he was aching to get his mouth on. A small triangle of dark curls topped her intimate flesh, pink and glistening with moisture. The scent of her excitement—heavy, sensual, quintessentially feminine—filled his nose, so strong, so heady, he groaned in anticipation.

“I’ve been wanting to taste you for so long,” he said, settling in between her legs, running his hands from her knees up to the sensitive inner curve of her hips, “it may take a while until I’m done here.”

Lily gasped, rolling her pelvis underneath his touch. “By all means, taste away.”

That was an invitation she didn’t have to issue twice. He dove in, taking care to work his way around her clit, driving up her excitement with licks and kisses and clever use of his fingers until she writhed against him. Her fingers tangled in his hair, tugged and pulled in response to his moves, a small, delicious hurt that zinged down his spine and gathered more heat to center in his groin.

And, holy hell, the taste of her. A sweetness he hadn’t guessed from her scent mingled with the musky flavor he expected, and it drove him wild. He wanted—needed—to see her shatter again, to feel her inner muscles spasm around him in ecstasy.

He pushed two fingers inside her, let his tongue dance around her swollen clit. “So tight,” he muttered, pumping in and out. “Can you take more?”

She moaned and tugged on his hair, pulling him closer to her. “Yes, please.”

Her open enjoyment—unabashed, rapturous, confident in her own body—was a drug to his mind, heightened his own pleasure. He could play with her like this for hours, lost in the sensual tangle with a female who knew exactly what she wanted, and was comfortable asking for it.

But this wasn’t just any female, and that was what made his heart soar, his soul hum with bliss. This was Lily, his Lily, whom he’d pined for all summer. He finally had her in his bed, and the reality of her blew every fantasy he’d had over the past months to smithereens.

“You’re abso-fucking-lutely gorgeous,” he spoke against her heated flesh—and she came with a husky moan.

He pushed a third finger inside her while her orgasm was still ebbing, closed his lips around her clit and sucked. Her hips bucked off the mattress and she climaxed again, her hands clenching in his hair so hard she might have pulled some of it out.

Not that he’d mind if she did.

He pushed her, relentlessly, working his tongue along her plump lips, teasing and coaxing, while he kept fucking her with his fingers. Every once in a while he checked her expression, made sure she was along for the ride and enjoying what he did to her. Just going by her moans and garbled encouragements alone, she was having the time of her life. At some point he had to hold her hips down with his other hand because she was wiggling and thrashing so much, even though she kept pulling him closer with her hands tangled in his hair.

He grinned against her intimate flesh.

When he finally decided he’d had his fill of his own personal Lily feast—at least for tonight—she was all but liquid. He wiped his mouth on her inner thigh, nipping it in the process, and his tiny bite didn’t even make her wince. Under heavy lids, indigo eyes aglow with languorous contentment met his gaze, and a lazy smile flirted along her lips.

“I think you broke me.” Her voice was sex wrapped in velvet.

“Good thing we heal fast.”

He crawled up her body, leaving kisses in his wake, though not with the intent to excite her any more. He was petting her down, his touch soothing, relaxing. From the looks of it, she really was done for the day.

Her sleepy look traveled down from his face to his chest, to his rock-hard cock pushing against his boxer briefs. She half-heartedly reached out, but he grabbed her hand, kissed it, and tucked it next to her head as he lay down beside her.

Lily looked at him and raised an eyebrow, even that small movement filled with exhaustion. “What about you?”

“Not this time.” She was half asleep already.

“You’re a strange male,” she murmured.

He pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, feeling a small smile start in his heart and take over his face. “Because I’d rather enjoy sex with fully conscious females?”

“Hm.” She closed her eyes and settled deeper into the pillow, her voice drowsy. “But I didn’t even get to play with your dick.”

He chuckled. “You’ll get your chance.”

“I better,” she whispered, and then she was out like a light.