The Bargainer watches my mouth as I talk. Finally, he leans in and nips my lower lip. He rolls it between his teeth before releasing it.

He smiles in a distinctly masculine way, his wings appearing behind him. “You called out my name when you were with another?”

I feel myself flush. Why had I shared that?

“Cherub, I think we’re going to have to make Truth or Dare a regular part of our days.”

God no. There are so many things—things like what I just divulged—that are better left unsaid.

He walks us down the hall towards the back of the house.

“What’s my dare?” I ask.

“I think you’ll figure it out soon enough.”

We enter my bedroom, the lights flicking on.

“For seven years I yearned to enter this house of yours,” Des admits. “It ate me up, needing to know what sort of life you made for yourself here.”

My skin pebbles at his confession.

“That first night I returned to you,” he says, “you cannot know what it felt like, lounging on your bed, knowing you slept in it. My mind was a mess.”

His mind was a mess?

It was my mind that was a mess. The wicked, untouchable Bargainer was back from realms unknown, come to collect his debts and break my heart all over again. I was the bumbling school girl and he the aloof, mysterious one.

“I’ve wanted to sleep with you here,” he continues, “your body tucked against mine … Gods, how badly I wanted to insert myself into this life of yours.”

The Bargainer’s magic tugs at my clothes. One moment they’re there, and in the next, they’re a puddle on the floor.

Now I understand. This is the dare—sex wrapped up as a game.

He lays me over my sheets but doesn’t join me. Instead he stands at the foot of the bed, feasting on my naked form.

After several seconds, the Bargainer flashes me one of his scary-as-shit grins. It’s trouble in a look.

He grabs my ankles and spreads my legs wide, indecently displaying me. “I’ve had my own fantasies of you. Taking you right here, in your bed.”

Sliding his hands under my thighs, he drags me to the edge of the mattress. I feel the cool bite of his bronze war bands against my leg.

“Tonight, I’m staking claim to this bed and everything else here.” He presses a kiss to my inner thigh, his lips then dragging across my skin. “Starting with you.”

Chapter 21

Des trails kisses along my inner thigh, moving inward until—until—

I fist my sheets and bite back a cry, my skin immediately flaring to life as he nips one of my outer lips, then the other. I feel him smile against me, and that’s almost worse. I have no defense against devilish Des.

He runs his tongue up my slit, and Jesus Christ and all the saints, this is dirty.

The Bargainer nips my clit, and now I do cry out.

So very, very dirty.

“Gods, I could eat this pussy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” he says, right before he sucks on my clit.

I gasp out something unintelligible. If I wasn’t so turned on, I’d be embarrassed.

Behind me, my wings begin to form, which is really unfortunate, considering they’re going to be squashed beneath me.

Before I have a chance to force them back, Des’s hand slides up my spine, his palm warm pressure against my skin.

With a burst of his magic, my wings are gone, neatly taking care of that problem.

He keeps sucking on my clit, and I’m beginning to buck against him, fighting to get away.

Too much sensation. Too, too much.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he says, his breath fanning against me. “You’re going to need to stay in place, cherub.”

Desmond’s magic rolls against me, and—

“You—are a terrible—person,” I gasp out, the words broken. I’m quickly losing the last of my composure.

“I am,” he agrees.

He licks and sucks and rolls my clit between his teeth, the bastard only moving away when I’m close to coming. I’m pinned in place by his hands and his magic, and no amount of arching or twisting can get me out of his line of fire. So I’m left to ride his cruel ministrations.

And they’re really, really cruel. I’m caught in an endless cycle of build-up and let down, my body winding tighter and tighter.

“Damn you, let me come,” I say, glamour filling my voice.

But the order I give isn’t phrased correctly, and rather than forcing the Bargainer’s hand, I’ve allowed him to slip through mine.

Des pulls away, releasing my legs as he sits back on his haunches. He runs his tongue over his lower lip, looking like the Seven Deadly Sins wrapped into one, and oh my God, why isn’t he finishing this?

“That’s not how this works, love,” he says, looking at me like a man bewitched.

After a moment, Des leans back in, but just when I think he’s going to take up where he left off, he lifts me from the bed. Instinctively, I wrap my arms and legs around him, feeling his cock straining against his pants.

“Sweet thing, the night’s just beginning.” With that, he takes my lips in a carnal kiss.

I taste myself on his tongue, and that makes my core ache all over again.

I lock my ankles together behind him, my fingers mussing his hair. My body is lit on fire, my flesh raw from the way Des worked me.

Des carries me across the room, until my back thuds against the wall. He breaks off the kiss, leaning his forehead against mine as he breathes heavily.

“I don’t intend for this to be some easy claiming.”

Claiming. He keeps using that word, and not for the first time, I sense his fae side trying to consume all that it can.

As he holds me, his clothes slide from his skin, pooling beneath us. His hips pull away from mine and, keeping me flush against the wall, he thrusts into me. I gasp at the sensation, my core clutching his cock like a vise.

Yes. I bask in the exquisite pressure and fullness, and his overwhelming body straining against mine.

I slide my palms over his wide shoulders, feeling the steel bands of muscle beneath. Des’s presence is intimidating enough when he enters a room, but now, when he’s driving into me, it’s all-encompassing.

His hands slide to the backs of my thighs, angling my pelvis so that each stroke of his cock slides deeper than before.

He leans his forehead against mine as he hammers me against the wall. “This is every wish, cherub, every dream of mine, actualized. I would give up all my secrets—I’d give up my very throne itself—if it meant being with you.”

I want to say something eloquent, but all that comes out of my mouth is a breathy moan.

So smooth.

“And I like it when my mate moans in my arms,” Des says. “Hmmm, maybe I should make you moan again …”

The first tendrils of the Bargainer’s magic lick against my skin “Don’t,” I say, glamour filling my voice.

Des grins at me, looking thrilled at my response.

Our bodies make slick sounds as he pounds in and out of me, and all too soon sensation is building up until I’m coiled tight. Release is right there—all I have to do is let go …

Des slides out of me, and I nearly cry out.

A woman could be driven mad by this!

The Bargainer drops to his knees, hooking my legs over his shoulders. His mouth is inches from my core, but his head is tilted up to take me in. I thought that maybe this was part of his game—to withhold my orgasm as long as possible—but one look in his eyes banishes that thought completely.