Текст книги "Next-Door Incubus"

Автор книги: Emilia Rose

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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

CHAPTER 13

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Dani

For the second time in the past twenty-four hours, my lips were inches from his. I could practically feel them against mine—moving so slowly at first until we both couldn’t handle it anymore and were devouring each other.

I curled my fingers into his chest and shut my eyes, wanting nothing more than to close the distance between us. He pulled me an inch closer, his cinnamon breath making my lips tingle. God, I had never wanted anyone more than him.

Someone knocked on the door. “Dani,” Trevon said. “It’s me.”

I dropped my head, resting my forehead against Eros’s. For a moment, I enjoyed being this close to him. His fingers tickling my skin. The light hum of his breathing.

Trevon knocked again. I sighed and walked to the door. Tell him what you need to tell him and send him on his way. Don’t take his bullshit, Dani. I grasped the handle and opened the door.

He stood there in his blue baseball cap, hands stuffed into his pockets. “I didn’t think you’d answer.”

“I shouldn’t have,” I said.

After he stepped into the apartment, Maria and Javier glanced over. Maria wrinkled her nose at him and turned back to the TV, muttering something under her breath to Javier. Javier chuckled.

Trevon looked at them, then at Eros who was now leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest. “Can we talk in private?” Trevon asked.

I nodded, gesturing for him to walk ahead of me to my room. When I passed Eros, he grabbed me by the wrist. “Remember what I told you the other night, Dani.”

Be happy.

“I know.” I was about to turn to follow Trevon, but I stopped myself. I didn’t know how long I was going to be with Trevon, and a part of me wanted—needed—to have my questions about what Eros said last night answered before I had the conversation with Trevon. So, I took a deep breath and asked, “What did you mean when you said you knew how I felt the other night?”

He was quiet for a moment. “Dani, that’s not something that we should get into now. Maybe another day.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but I’d take it. That meant that maybe—just maybe—he’d let me in on his life someday. He’d show me a different side of him.

Trevon was sitting on my bed, forearms resting on his knees, running his hands over his hair. When I opened the door, he stood up. “Are you feeling better?”

The candle was burning on the drawer, white smoke emitting from it. “You should’ve asked me that the other night, not now.”

“I know, and I’m sorry I didn’t.”

“You should be.”

He sighed. “I don’t want to fight with you.”

“Well, you should’ve thought about that before you accused me of faking it. I couldn’t help that I puked everywhere. I didn’t know that someone spiked my drink. And you thought I just—what? I just drank too much to get your attention?”

“I was just angry. I know how stupid it was to say that. Nothing was going right that night.” He closed his eyes. “Shit just kept happening. That’s why I couldn’t spend time with you.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “You sure had time to talk to Samantha.”

“Yes, I did. I’m her boss. I have to make sure she does her job,” he said. I heard his phone buzz in his pocket, but he didn’t pull it out to check for once. Instead, he reached for my fingers. “Are you jealous of her, Dani?”

The candle crackled. “Should I be?”

He raised his brows like he was surprised that I would even ask, but he’s the one who brought it up. “No. Why would you even think that? I… I don’t understand.” He paused. “In the past five years have I ever given you the—”

“You know what I don’t understand? Why did you even ask me to go to that damn party? You know I don’t enjoy going out, and you weren’t even there to see me.”

“I didn’t plan on ignoring you all night. I had work to do,” he said, voice laced with annoyance.

“Yeah, but—”

“Yeah, but, nothing.” He raised his voice. “I wanted you to have a good time with your friends for once. I wanted to show you off to everyone and—”

I pressed a hand onto his chest, pushing him away. “Stop treating me like an object. I’m not a car. I’m not your arm-candy.” My heart was racing. “And even if you wanted to show me off to everyone, you never ask me out anymore. We haven’t been out by ourselves in months.”

His brown eyes widened in anger. “That’s because you don’t want to go out!” He groaned and rubbed his hand across his face. “Look, I’m sorry about being a jerk, but I can’t be the only one willing to negotiate in our relationship.”

I could only imagine Dr. U smiling so freakishly wide at our argument, telling us both that disagreements were healthy, that negotiation was healthy, that trying new things was healthy.

“Can you try to be more willing to do things with me, Dani? And I’ll work on myself for you,” Trevon asked, sitting on the bed and grabbing both of my hands.

I took a deep breath. If Trevon worked on himself, he could make me happy. He really could. But I didn’t know if this was what I wanted anymore.

“I need some time to think,” I said.

Trevon furrowed his brows and squeezed my hands tighter. My heart was breaking for us. “Are-are you breaking up with me?” he asked quietly.

I squeezed his hands back. “Trevon… I just need some time.”

After a few moments of silence, he nodded his head. “Okay,” he said, grabbing his baseball cap off of the dresser and clutching it to his chest like it was the only part of me he had left. He walked to the door and turned around. “Dani, I love you. I really do.”

I leaned against my black leather headboard, clutching my sheets to my chest, eyes wide. My gaze was fixed on the figure at the end of my bed. A man—if I could even call him that—sat with his back facing me. Two deep scars laid parallel to each other, nearly running the length of his spine. Every little muscle in his back was flexed. His head was tilted toward the ground.

“Dani,” he said. I swallowed hard, recognizing Eros’s voice. But he didn’t turn around, and I didn’t know why.

I found myself crawling toward him. My fingers grazed against his shoulders, and I wrapped my arms around his torso, my barely covered breasts pressing against his back. His cinnamon scent was overwhelmingly stronger than it usually was. I placed a kiss on his spine, between the scars.

“Think through your decision with Trevon,” he said.

“I don’t want Trevon. I want you.”

He took a deep breath. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into with me.”

“I think I do.”

“No, I don’t think you do.” He turned to me. His eyes were black—completely black. I’d never seen them so dark.

My gaze traveled up his face, admiring every sharpened feature of it, and that’s when I saw it. The horns. The same ones I wore on Halloween night were sitting on his head.

At first, I had the urge to laugh. He really stole them from my closet and put them on his head, but then I realized how damn sexy they looked on him.

They protruded from his head a few good inches, curvy and rigid. I pressed my knees together. He looked so naturally demonic—and I was oddly attracted to him.

I reached out, unable to stop myself from touching their curves.

“Don’t tease me,” he said breathlessly.

I grabbed the horn firmly in my hand, fingers barely able to wrap all the way around it, and pressed my lips to his neck.

He pushed me back onto the bed, hovering over me. His hips were pressing onto mine. “You don’t know what you’ve done,” he whispered in my ear. He gently wrapped a hand around the front of my neck.

Pure darkness stared down at me, and I couldn’t get myself to look away. I was fascinated by him. He slipped his other hand into my panties. “You don’t even know what you do to me.” He wasted no time plunging his fingers inside.

They moved fast and hard, thrusting into me with all of their might over and over again. I clenched around him, heat rushing to my core.

“Oh, God.” I squeezed my eyes shut. This was what I wanted. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into.

His teeth were on my neck, nibbling softly. “Tell me what you want, Dani.”

“I’ve told you already…” I threw my head back. “… please don’t stop…”

“Say it again,” he murmured. “I love the way you say my name.”

I moaned, toes curling. “You, Eros. I want you.”

His fingers quickened, and soon my legs were trembling as wave after wave of ecstasy rolled through me.

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CHAPTER 14

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Dani

I woke up lying on my stomach, my cheek plastered in sweat against the pillow—mouth half-opened, drool dripping from my lip. The window was cracked half an inch, letting a crisp November morning breeze chill my room. I rolled onto my back and rubbed my hands over my eyes, groaning.

These dreams needed to stop. I couldn’t handle another sex dream about Eros. But, damn, did I love them. He looked so sexy with those sharp horns and piercing black eyes. I pressed my knees together. If only it were real.

“You’re moaning an awful lot in there,” Maria yelled from the hall. A few moments later, my door opened, and she peaked her head in—the wide grin on her face immediately disappearing. “Oh, you’re in here alone.”

I sat up and pulled the blankets over my bare chest. “Maria! You can’t just walk in. What if Trevon was over?”

She tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and twirled a mascara stick in her hand. “I knew he wasn’t here. He came over an hour ago to see you, but you were sleeping.”

“Then why’d you think someone was here?”

“I thought maybe Eros paid you a visit this morning.” She shrugged like Eros being in my room with me while I had a boyfriend was nothing, then she walked to my mirror and continued to apply her make-up.

Heat crawled up my cheeks. Oh, Eros was here last night—just not the way that she thought. But if she found out I was having hot dreams about Eros, she’d make a huge deal out of it and probably would even tell him.

Her blue eyes widened in the mirror. “Oh my gosh. He did, didn’t he?”

“No, no, no. Maria, he didn’t.”

She turned on her heel. “Then why are you blushing?”

“I’m not blushing!” I was definitely blushing.

“Yes, you are!”

“Maria!”

“Did you have a wet dream about him?”

“MARIA!”

“You did!” She squealed and hopped onto the bed with me, grabbing my wrist. “Tell me how good he was! I have wet dreams about Javier and Zane all the time and let me tell you, girl, they drive me crazy, especially Javier! He’s so good with his—”

I tugged on the t-shirt I had on last night before bed and rolled out of bed. “I don’t have time to talk about this right now. I have to get ready for work.” And I really didn’t want to know what Javier did to her, especially after the movie last night.

Dr. U stood in front of the wall-length windows in her office and sifted through some papers. The sunlight was reflecting off of her glasses. “Morning Dani.” She took a sip from her Ollie’s coffee mug and quickly glanced at me. “You look refreshed.”

I had rushed to put myself together this morning—wanting to get out of the house before Maria had the chance to ask me question after question about Eros.

She placed her coffee on her desk and leaned against it. “I suspect you figured out your dilemma with Trevon?”

“Oh, um, yeah.” Sure.

She raised a sharp brown brow and nodded to the couch. “What happened?”

My fingers brushed against the plush cushion, and I sat down. “Nothing.” It was bad to think this, but, after last night, I didn’t want her to talk any sort of sense into me.

She tilted her head and smiled softly, waiting for me. I sat there in the awkward silence, kicking my feet back and forth, and gazed out of the window. God, this woman would not let this go. “He wanted me to go to this stupid party he was throwing at his bar, and we got into a fight.”

“Have you talked to him since?”

“Yes.”

“What did he say?”

I didn’t want to tell her because she had always liked Trevon. We matched on so many levels. It was absolute love, she had said. Rare these days.

I gazed out the window. Bright beams of sunlight were shining through a pocket of plush white clouds. It reminded me of the time Mom took me to the park for my birthday. When we were lying on the ground, grass tickling my arms and legs, she pointed up at the sky and told me stories of angels rising up to Heaven. That morning, we watched the crepuscular rays for hours. That was the last morning I saw her alive.

I grasped her pendant and took a deep breath. Whenever I saw those rays, I knew she was with me.

“He said that he’d work on himself for me,” I said.

Dr. U gazed out the window and paused for a moment. “When you’ve had arguments, before has he followed through with his promises?”

“Yes.”

“And your relationship improved, didn’t it?”

My heart clenched. “Yes.”

“So, what’s bothering you?” she asked. When I didn’t answer, she leaned closer to me and placed a hand on my knee. “Dani, you know I won’t judge you for your answer. I’ll just provide you with as much help and guidance as I can.” Her voice was soft, yet I knew she’d push me toward Trevon, toward a heavenly good.

I parted my lips and took a shaky breath. “I… I…”

Moving around the desk, she sat next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “I want you to make the best decision for yourself, and I know that you have loved Trevon for years. From what you tell me, your relationship is strong. I don’t want you to lose something like that for a lustful fling.”

She paused for a moment, and I saw Mom in her eyes.

And I knew one thing: I couldn’t disappoint Mom.

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CHAPTER 15

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Dani

I stepped into the Elysium Taproom and immediately wanted to step right back out. The room was buzzing with people who had just gotten off of work, dressed in suits and sipping on beer. Couples sat across from each other in the maroon booths, smiling and laughing and I wished that I had never gotten myself into this mess with Trevon.

Kasey and Maria were telling me to break up with him. Dr. U and Mom were telling me not to. And Eros… I didn’t know what he was telling me to do or what he really wanted. Hell, I didn’t know what I wanted.

All I knew for sure was that I needed a drink. Something—anything—to give me the courage to talk to Trevon, but I just didn’t want it to be spiked again. Trevon would get angry, and this whole vicious cycle would repeat.

I walked to the bar, searching for a place to sit and hoping that Trevon was still in his office and not on the main floor. My mouth was far too dry to talk to him right now.

Eros leaned against the bar top with a drink in his hand, talking to Zane. His back was turned toward me, and his sleeves were pulled all the way up his forearms, giving me a clear view of all his dark tattoos. I sucked in a breath. Well, this was what I got. Try to avoid Trevon, run into Eros.

Zane nodded his head in my direction, and Eros looked my way. His dark hair was tousled, strands falling onto his forehead. Sultry green eyes looking so much softer than they did last night in my room. “What’s a sexy little thing like you doing here on a weeknight?” he asked, smirking.

“I’m here to see Trevon.”

His soft features faded.

“I haven’t seen him,” Zane said.

Eros sipped his drink, knuckles white. “He’s probably in the back.”

“Probably,” I said, drawing my fingers along the strap of my purse.

His gaze flickered from the offices to me to Zane. When I didn’t move, he raised a brow. “I thought you were here to see him?”

“I am, but I have time.” To talk to you.

Eros leaned closer, gaze wandering down my body and lingering on my hips, brow arched. “I bet you do.”

Zane placed his beer down on the counter. “I’m gonna head out. It was nice seeing you again, Dani.”

Eros placed his glass on the bar. “Do a favor for me and take Javier on your way out. I don’t want to deal with him tonight.” Eros gazed back over at me, taking me in.

“Javier came with you?” I asked. I expected him to be doing Maria somewhere in the apartment.

“Yeah, he’s probably drunk off his ass in the bathroom,” Zane said, rolling his eyes and heading toward the back.

Eros brushed his finger against my blazer, dangerously close to my abdomen, and pulled me closer to him. “Sit down, Dani. Have a drink with me.” He lifted two fingers to the bartender, asking for two shots, then turned back to me.

I sat on the stool, knees touching his. “You remember what happened the last time I had a drink at this place, don’t you?”

“Your drink won’t be spiked again.”

The bartender placed down glasses and carefully poured two shots of Vodka. He was new. I wondered why they hired him. Usually Samantha worked the bar Monday nights.

When he was finished, he slid them across the counter. I gazed down at the drink, feeling paranoid. “How do you know it’s not spiked?”

“Dani, you just watched him pour it in front of you,” Eros said.

So many bad memories have come from this place, I was afraid to try anything.

Eros took the glass from me. “If you really want me to make sure…” He brought the drink to his lips like he was going to drink it and sniffed. “All good.”

“What was that?”

His foot brushed against mine. “I was making sure your drink wasn’t spiked.”

“You can do that by smelling it?”

He clacked his glass against mine and threw the shot back. “I can do a lot of things you don’t know about.” There was a dark glint in his eyes.

I stared at him for a few moments and smiled. He was something else. I sat back in the stool and relaxed, my fingers curling around the glass. I placed it on my lips and threw it back. The alcohol burned the back of my throat, but it was just what I needed.

Eros ordered two more, and I wasted no time drinking it down again.

My head started to feel light. I felt better, good even. So damn good. For the first time—in a long time—I could just relax.

I was working on my third drink. My cheeks were warm. He brushed his foot against mine again, eyes dark in this light. Every time I looked at him, all I could picture were horns on his head and alluring black eyes. So sexy.

My gaze lingered on top of his head, and I pressed my knees together. Fuck, Dani. Get yourself together.

But I couldn’t stop staring. My heart was racing.

“Is there something on my head?” Eros asked, eyes studying mine.

I licked my lips, trying to moisten them.

After wedging one of his knees between mine, he smiled. I watched his soft lips move so effortlessly. “What are you thinking about, Dani?” He rested his forearm against the bar and leaned closer, fingers trailing down my shoulder.

“Nothing.” I shook my head. “Nothing—It’s stupid.”

He chuckled. “I think we’re past the point of looking stupid in front of each other, don’t you think?”

My cheeks flushed even more. I looked down at my glass, then back at him. “It’s—uh…” I shook my head. Fuck it. “You were in my dream last night.”

His lips curled into a smirk. “And?”

“And…” I smiled, looking back down. “You were wearing those horns I wore at the Halloween party.” I gazed back at the top of his head, gnawing on the inside of my lip. The dream was torturing me. Visions, sensations, feelings of last night replayed over and over in my mind. Not letting me think straight once today. It wasn’t even real and here I was frustrated just by the thought of it. “I just thought you looked really, really good in them.”

He raised a sharp brow. “You liked them?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve been thinking about me with horns?”

“Yes. And…” My head swayed slightly.

“And?”

“Your eyes.” I brushed my fingers against his cheek bone, heart pounding in my chest. “They were so black.”

He smirked. “What’d you think of that?”

I thought a lot about it, but all of those thoughts would get me sent straight to Hell. So, instead of telling him what I really thought of them, I giggled softly to myself. “They were… nice.”

“Nice?”

“Yes. Very, very nice,” I said. I closed my eyes, listening to him chuckle, and smiled. “Crazy dream, huh?”

He sipped the rest of his drink and gazed at the table, looking like he was contemplating something. After a few moments, he gazed back at me. “No, not really.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, my head feeling light.

His fingertips paled around the glass. “It’s not something that we should discuss right now.”

“When?”

“I don’t know...” He sighed. “Why don’t you go find Trevon?”

“But—”

“Dani, please.” His voice was quiet. “When I tell you—really tell you—there isn’t any going back. I’d prefer us to stay like this for now.”

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