Heat rumbled through him. “Oh. We eat, my lady.”
Her cheeks instantly flushed pink and Cas laughed again, then gestured for her to follow him down the hall. “This is my bedroom. The only one. And beyond that is the bathroom. It was something I added to the existing structure. All glass, and the panels in the roof open to let in light and air.”
She gasped. “Really?”
Cas’s heart—or what he assumed that working muscle was called—squeezed. What was it about this female? She drew him like a moth to light. Her smile, her enthusiasm. It was as though everything was new, to be savored. Combined with her fiery, dauntless tongue, and the raw need she had for him, he was well and truly captivated.
Was this what the other Masters felt? Was this what drove them to mating? Not the forced kind of mating with no care or thought for the other being. But the kind that inspired a male to cancel an orgy just for the chance to not only taste the female at his side, but talk with her…laugh with her…
Show her the one thing about him that was truly private.
He turned to her and noticed she was glancing around, slightly agitated. “What’s wrong?”
“Are we alone?” she asked.
“Yes. Were you expecting a crowd?”
Her eyes lifted to meet his. “Kind of. You do have a reputation, my lord.”
“I am Incubus,” he said, his arm slipping around her waist. “But the idea of sharing you doesn’t appeal to me.”
She wrapped her own arm around his waist. It was very strange. This intimacy. Strange, yet…good.
“I thought it would be more likely that I’d be sharing you,” she joked.
His jaw tightened imperceptibly. “Do you wish for that?”
“Hmmm,” she said thoughtfully. “I think I’d like that about as much as I’d like to roll around with a hornets’ nest.”
Cas laughed and pulled her even closer. This madness he was feeling, that was running through him… Never had he wanted to be alone with a female. Never had he been furious at the thought of not only another male touching her—but a female’s hands on her as well.
“Are you hungry?” he asked her.
“No,” she said. “Maybe later?”
“Anything you want, I can make.”
She smiled softly, sweetly, dangerously. “Master Casworon…what I want, all that I want right now, is you.”
The words were like little explosions inside his chest. Each one made him want to do something—scale something, slay something, all in her name, then come back and kneel at her feet.
It was a feeling, a sensation, he didn’t like.
It made him feel vulnerable.
He eased his arm from her.
“There is something I must see to,” he said, his tone still lingering with warmth. “But I had a bath prepared for you. If you would like.”
Disappointment flickered in those stark green eyes. She was wondering what had just happened—what would keep him from taking what she’d been so gracious to offer to him.
And Cas wasn’t about to explain it to her. This reaction to a sudden loss of control. Vulnerability where it had never existed before. These feelings.
He needed a moment. To pull himself back together. Return to the power of the demon.
“That would be lovely,” she finally answered, her tone a little tight. She pointed to the door. “Just in there?”
He nodded, his body warring with his mind, the former wishing to go with her—show her the bathtub, undress her. “You’ll find a robe, soaps, salts, anything you could want.”
She gave him a half smile as if to say, I told you what I want, then turned and headed for the bathroom.
When the door closed, Cas stalked into the kitchen and poured himself a drink. Anger raged through him. She was in there, stripping down to that skin he could scent even now, and he was out here thinking and drinking, and trying to regain his control. Why?
Why?
Who cared for control when there was so much pleasure to be had? And yet, the pleasure came from such a female. Never had he thought about the females he bedded before. Truly, he shouldn’t start now. No matter what virginal feelings were arising from her presence.
Feelings…
Christ, those feelings.
That was the bloody problem, wasn’t it? Not control. He couldn’t process the— “Casworon?” Elia call out. “Could you help me?”
Her voice was like ice water to his brain and he forgot all about his drink and his feelings and headed straight for the bathroom door, sending it flying back as he entered.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, surprised at the level of his concern. “What is it?” His eyes shifted about the candlelit room.
Her ball gown was laid out on the brown leather chaise in one corner, while the female herself was standing near the tub in only her corset.
Cas nearly lost his mind in that moment, his hands forming fists as he struggled with reaching for her. Mine. Mine to take. To consume. The demon wanted skin, wanted to be fed.