Desire kindled low in her belly, turning her insides to melted heat. Her sex clenched with need, pulse throbbing with a sudden, heavy beat, as if all of her female senses recognized what they wanted even as she struggled to deny it.
Ashayla swallowed thickly. She lifted her eyes after a long moment and found him watching her intently. Heaven help her, she could barely breathe from the power the sight of him stirred in her.
Panicked, she tore her gaze away. Her voice was little more than a croak as she swiftly gave him her back. “Do you always parade around naked like that?”
“When I’m fresh out of the shower, yes. Do you always blush like a virgin when you see a naked man?”
There was humor in his voice. And, curse the Incubus, enough masculine pride for ten men—none of it misplaced.
“I’m not a virgin,” she replied, feeling oddly indignant that he would suggest she behaved like one. “It’s just that I’ve never seen…never been with…”
“Never been with an Incubus?” He grunted, sounding surprised. Sounding pleased. “Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to make it memorable for you. Especially now that I know the reputation of my entire species is at stake.”
Even though the thought of Sorin doing his carnal best with her sent anticipation spiraling through her, Ashayla barked out a caustic laugh. She swung back around to face him. “Are you this confident in everything you do?”
“Yes.” His topaz eyes gleamed under his arched brows. He dropped the towel and stalked toward her.
Oh, God.
Ashayla held her breath as he came up close, his nudity impossible to ignore when she could feel the heat of his bare skin radiating through the barrier of her clothing. Without warning, he reached around and freed her hair from its ponytail at her nape. Then he gently took her face in his hands and kissed her. His mouth brushed over hers, soft but firm, commanding.
She wanted to resist. She wanted to be strong, but his tenderness undid her. She gave in on a moan, telling herself she could have this moment of pleasure without forfeiting the bigger prize.
She would be strong later. Right now, she was melting…and utterly lost to the taste of his kiss.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and parted her lips for his questing tongue. His erection was massive against her abdomen, as hard and unyielding as granite, but hot and enticing. Calling to everything female inside her.
She could hear his heartbeat galloping, feel it throbbing against her breasts as her own heart banged against her ribs in a similar tempo. He swore something ancient and profane, his voice rough with desire, his warm breath skating across her chin and cheeks with every searing exhalation.
Fire licked through her veins as he continued his erotic assault on her senses, need pooling deep within her core. He was right; she wanted him. She desired him with a wild yearning she could scarcely reconcile.
Wager to lose or not, in that moment, if he’d taken things any further, she would have been powerless to refuse him.
The depth of her arousal swamped her, so much that she hardly noticed he’d paused until she heard his low, rumbling growl. His voice vibrated against her parted lips, sending a shiver of electricity into her veins. “It’s time, Asha.”
When she drew back, feeling a sudden spike of uncertainty—of dread for what she might surrender to him—Sorin’s blazing topaz eyes darkened with merciless intent.
“We made a deal,” he murmured thickly. “And I want you in my bed now.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
He was so racked with desire for her, it was all Sorin could do not to tear off Ashayla’s clothes right where she stood.
She might not have resisted. The way she kissed him just now left little doubt that all of her protests and denials were nothing more than words. Flimsy words she hadn’t so much as attempted to voice when she’d wrapped her arms around him on that erotic little mewl of rising need.
Sorin was Incubus, but even had he been born a mortal man, the sweet scent of her arousal would not have escaped his notice. She wanted him. She was wet for him, after just one fevered kiss. He knew it, and the awareness of that fact turned his stiff cock to granite. His blood was surging through his veins, drumming with the demands of his demon nature.
Take her. Give her the pleasure she craves.
Claim the price she agreed to pay.
But the terms they’d struck earlier tonight left no room for interpretation. Sorin said he would only have her if she willed it. No tricks, no games. No coercion of any kind.
He’d promised to have her begging for him to be inside her, and as much as he wanted to break that pledge right now, he wouldn’t. He wasn’t accustomed to refusing his demonic nature, but this female had pushed him to do many things outside his norm tonight.
On a low, rolling growl, he reined in his hunger for her.
Barely.