Possessed By You (Overworld Underground Book 1) (35 page)

My nipple went hard at his electric touch.

"Are we going to experiment with an obscene number of orgasms?" I asked, giggling.

He took my other nipple in his mouth, and sucked on it. "I'm just enjoying you. Savoring you. Trying to convince myself that you're really back. That you're not going to leave me."

I caressed his jaw, feeling the roughness of his whiskers against my palm. "I was frightened. I'm not anymore."

He smiled, but it faltered. "There are others who won't want us together."

"The Exorcists? Maybe we can talk to them. Convince them you're different."

He shook his head. "They won't listen. My kind can be very persuasive—very conniving and tricky—not to mention untrustworthy. From what I've experienced, the Exorcists avoid unnecessary temptation by not talking to us."

I took his big hand in mine, and kissed it. "Do you have any special abilities?"

"Like super powers?" His mouth curled into his trademark, amused grin.

A smile broke on my lips. "It sounds so nerdy when you put it like that."

He laughed. "I might be a bit stronger than normal, put off a magnetic vibe to other people, but no, I'm not super-powered."

"What about the glowing thing you did? Was that the real you I saw?"

"That's how I discorporate from a body, except I had to put a lot more effort into making myself visible. It's extremely tiring." He pecked me on the nose. "And yes, that was my true form you saw."

"You're beautiful. I expected horns or something."

A laugh burst from his throat. "Horns? Do horns turn you on?"

"Oh no, no, no." I laughed at the absurdity. "I like you just fine. It's just surprising that a spirit form would look, well, human."

"There are many different forms in my world. Some of us look more like you. Others look much worse." His eyes assumed a distant gaze. "Especially if someone summons one of my kind."

"Have you ever been summoned?"

He shook his head. "My father was." Tyler shuddered. "He killed one of the summoners."

I gasped. "Why?"

"Because he's not a very nice demon."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Do you know how silly that sounds?"

Tyler shrugged. "He's one of the most powerful beings in our realm, and doesn't take kindly to being bothered."

"The more you talk about it, the more this Haedaemos sounds a lot like Earth."

"Believe me, I'm grasping at words to translate it into terms you can understand. Relationships in my realm are anything but normal or simple."

I kissed him on the cheek. "Human relationships aren't always that simple either."

He smiled. "I suppose not. Especially considering how complex our relationship just became, thanks to what you now know about me."

I wished I could tell him that our feelings were all that mattered, but his demonic nature threw a dreadful kink in matters. Even setting aside that niggling detail, in this particular world, he was also my boss and a powerful businessman. "Well, I suppose the universe is an awfully cruel bitch who doesn't allow us to have anything simple."

"Maybe that's what makes life so exciting."

"And miserable."

He laughed. "Don't give me those big sad puppy-dog eyes."

I felt an intense curiosity to know more about him. "Will you tell me about those things you did in the past?" I wasn't sure if knowing was the wisest thing, but couldn't help asking.

A shudder passed through him, and he looked away. "I'd rather not." His voice went flat. "You wouldn't want to be with me anymore."

"Were you really so terrible?"

His eyes met mine. "You have to understand something about my kind, Emily. We don't experience emotions the same way people do. We understand lust, anger, and many of the more carnal desires. I desire you like nothing I have ever wanted before. I want to make you my plaything, tie you up, and have my way with you."

"I think I was a bit hasty in not allowing the tying up before," I said, thinking back to it. "I'm not above experimenting—you know—in the name of science."

He laughed, rolling his eyes. "I'm being serious, Emily. When I was in control of other people, I committed sexual acts you would probably find perverse."

"How perverse?"

"I didn't even know the meaning of the word until I started to understand people."

A shocking idea occurred to me. "Have you ever possessed a woman?"

His jaw set in a grim line, but he offered me a curt nod.

Rather than revulsion, my burning sense of curiosity flamed higher. "What was it like?"

He sighed. "It was only for a short time. It felt unnatural to me. It also made me realize how much different the female mind is from the male."

"Like how?"

"It's a whirlwind. For me, I want to do something, I do it. I want to take something, I take it. For the brief time I was in that woman, I could hardly figure out which way was up."

I giggled. "We are a bit psychotic, aren't we?"

He rolled over, bracing an elbow on either side of my torso. "Perhaps. But
you
are completely irresistible."

I rewarded him with a kiss. "So, you desire me more than anything else you've ever wanted?"

"Oh yes."

"I guess that means you love me." I smiled, meaning it as a joke. It was far too soon for us to start professing love to one another.

He frowned and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling.

"I was just kidding," I said. "I don't expect—"

"It's not that," Tyler said. "It's just—I don't understand love. I don't know
how
to love."

My eyebrows pinched tight. "You what?"

"Emily, I can desire you, and lust for you, and care for you, but for my kind there is no such thing as love." He looked at me, his eyes full of pain. "I could never love you, even if I wanted to."

Chapter 32

A cold feeling swept over me, and I pushed myself off the bed, turned and stared at him. "What does that mean? It's impossible not to love."

"Impossible?" He sat up. "Not really. There are plenty of people who don't understand love."

I threw up my hands. "Like psychopaths? Is that what you are?"

The look on his face was so miserable, I suddenly felt terrible for yelling at him. "It's not that I don't want to. I just don't understand it."

"So, all you feel for me is lust."

"I want you. I want to feel your body against mine, skin-to-skin, feel your heartbeat against my chest. You're like the most divine dessert, Emily, something I can never seem to get enough of." He shook his head slowly. "But what if this—us—turns out like everything else? What if
we
fade?"

I really didn't know what to think. He could lust after me but not love me? Didn't the mere fact that he was in pain without me meant he loved me? I couldn't even wrap my head around it. I tried to take a step back, to think about my feelings toward him. Did I love him? Or was this lust on my part as well?

You can't even tell the difference, can you?

This man was telling me he could never be in love with me. I just couldn't accept that. Besides, it was far too early to admit I was falling for this heavenly man. But truth be told, I was. I knew in my heart this wasn't just a lustful adventure.

It wasn't too late to back out. The past week was just a preview of the torture I'd experience if I walked out again. I could make it through the agony again if I had to. I could be strong.

But do I want to be strong, or do I want to be happy?

My eyes settled into focus on Tyler, where he sat leaning against the headboard, his eyes filled with pain.

"I know you're thinking about leaving me," he said, his voice soft. "I wouldn't blame you if you did."

"I promised you I wouldn't."

He shook his head. "Losing you would devastate me, Emily. But why would you want to stay with a monster like me?"

Pain tore into my heart, and I flung myself onto the bed and against him, my lips kissing his forehead, his cheeks, his lips. "You're not a monster, Tyler. Don't you ever call yourself that again!"

"But I
am
."

"You're not!" I pressed his face to my bare chest, feeling his heat melt into my skin. Feeling the roughness of his whiskers against me. "You're mine, Tyler, and don't you ever forget it."

I felt his lips spread into a smile against my breasts. "And you're mine, Emily."

He lay flat on the bed, slipping an arm around me as I lay my face against his chest. The gentle rhythm of his heartbeat must have lulled me to sleep, because I awoke next to his slumbering form as the sun peeked through the windows. We lay on our sides, facing each other, just inches apart. I admired the peaceful calm on his face as he slept, and wondered if he might be dreaming of me. I couldn't resist tracing my thumb along the lines of his jaw, his magnificent lips.

His eyes opened. He smiled. "Good morning, beautiful."

"I was just going to say the same thing."

He chuckled and slid closer, his hand pressing the small of my back until the lengths of our bodies touched. He took my bottom lip in his mouth and kissed it. "Did you sleep well?"

I shivered. "Yes."

His hands ran down my backside, and I felt something rise and press against my hip where it lay against his groin.

"You're insatiable," I said, feeling the flames of desire lick against my insides.

"You bring out the beast in me." He rolled off the bed, muscles tensing, and somehow kept me in his arms, holding me like a child without a sign of strain.

I squealed in fright and delight. "I thought you didn't have super powers."

He gave me a wolfish grin, pushed me against the wall, his mouth on mine, our tongues pressing together, and heat roared to life across my skin. We came together some time later, both of us panting and sweating, as my naked body writhed against his, my legs squeezing his waist as if by doing so I could fit more of him inside.

"You're so much better than a Dove bar," I whispered into his ear.

A laugh rumbled in his chest. "High praise from a woman."

We took a shower in his marvelous washroom again and afterward cooked breakfast together. I made him my infamous shit on a shingle—an egg cooked over-easy on toast—while he made blueberry pancakes.

I regarded the huge stack. "I'm going to balloon out of control if I eat all of those."

"We'll work out."

"In the bedroom?" I gave him a coy look.

His lips curled up. "And in the gym. It's important we keep in shape."

"Is it now?" I bit my lip. "I enjoy keeping in shape with your
calisthenics
."

He gave my posterior a playful slap. "I told you exercise is fun."

It was a lovely day outside by British standards, rainy, wet, and according to the weather on my phone, quite cold. "How sad." I bit into the bacon Tyler had made, savoring the saltiness. "Whatever will we do today?"

"I have something in mind," he said, a mischievous twinkle in his green eyes.

"Sex all day?" I brightened at the concept.

"I'm sure that will come into play at some point."

Curiosity overwhelmed me. "Well, what are we doing?"

"Something I'd planned before—well—before last Friday happened." His smile faltered.

I reached across and touched his hand. "I'm sure it'll be lovely." It took all my willpower not to pepper him with the millions of questions dancing in my mind.

I finished my pancake—limiting my intake to just one, thank you very much—and Tyler devoured nearly everything else. I felt certain an abnormally high metabolism should be classified as a super power. It was disgusting how much he could eat and still look so hot.

After he put the dishes in the dishwasher, we walked back to his bedroom. My stomach tingled in anticipation. Tyler walked to a mirror, touched it, and it sprang open to reveal a huge walk-in closet filled with feminine clothes. "I had a clothes service send a few things over last week."

"You what?" I felt my eyes go wide and walked into the wonderland of clothes. There were sexy dresses, skirts, and even jeans.

"I was going to make a date of it." He shrugged. "Let you try everything on so I could give it a thumbs up or down."

To have a man buy me all these clothes was overwhelming. But to make a date of it? It was ridiculously romantic. My eyes filled with sudden moisture. "I—I don't know what to say, Tyler."

"You look sad," he said, rising off the bed, concern etched in his brow.

I laughed as a tear escaped and rolled down my cheek. "Are you kidding me? This is amazing."

"I wasn't sure." He took my hand and kissed it. "You like your independence."

"Is it too early to drink?" I asked.

"Never."

"Why don't we uncork some more of that delicious white wine and have our fashion show date?"

He lifted me off the ground in a hug and twirled me once before setting me back down. "Anything else, princess?"

I giggled. "Do you have music?"

"Do
I
have music?" He feigned a maniacal laugh. "I'll be back."

He returned a moment later with a tablet, and plugged it into a port on the wall. Soothing music flooded from speakers I hadn't noticed in the walls and ceiling. I admired the way his lounge pants hung low on his delicious hips, giving my eyes unfettered access to the sharp angles of his torso.

"Well?" he said, snapping me from my Tyler-induced trance.

"Oh!" I laughed, embarrassed.

"Were you distracted by something?" His green eyes danced with playfulness.

"Just thinking about the music," I lied, sticking out my tongue at him.

"Is it to your liking, Miss Glass?"

"It's a bit mellow. Do you have something more upbeat?"

He touched the tablet and scrolled down several playlists before settling on one. Alternative rock filled the room. "Better?"

I smiled. "Much."

He poured white wine for me, popped open a bottle of dark beer for himself, and sat on the bed, an amused expression on his face. "I'm ready, Emily."

I felt a flush burn my ears at the thought of this irresistible man watching me dress and undress. This was going to be fun.