She looked as though she was struggling for control.
“You were right. Your incubus side is dangerous,” she whispered and sat back, releasing his softening cock. She pressed her hand to her chest. Her heartbeat thundered in his ears. “Is it always like that?”
“You saw what I was thinking... my desires?” Payne held her gaze and she nodded. He shook his head and lied through his teeth. “I think it’s a witch thing.”
She seemed to accept that answer.
It was easier than telling her the truth.
He had thought he had found his mate once, because he hadn’t been able to control her fully and his incubus influence had been dampened somehow. Now he knew that he had been wrong.
He stared at Elissa. Beautiful. Enchanting. Bewitching.
Beyond his control and influence.
What she saw in her mind whenever he thought about making love to her was the result of a connection between them.
A bond.
She was his mate.
But would a beautiful witch like her ever want an abomination like him?
Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance by Jennifer Ashley, Alyssa Day, Felicity Heaton, Erin Kellison, Laurie London, Erin Quinn, Bonnie Vanak and Caris Roane
CHAPTER 8
Elissa stood in the middle of the cramped shower cubicle, hot water cascading down her bare body and soapy suds following the wake of the sponge gently circling along her right arm. Bliss. The fact that the water was hot and cleansing had nothing to do with that feeling running through her though. The source of it was the part-incubus vampire standing behind her, lavishing her with attention by washing her.
It had been his idea too.
Her mind turned over everything she had already learned about Payne. He was a man who tried to hide everything about himself from the world but he wasn’t doing a very good job of it around her. Elissa liked that. He had said that he hadn’t indulged in intercourse in a very long time and that had pleased her, but it had also filled her mind with more questions and they were eating away at her. She wanted to know why the man behind her, pressing his delicious firm body into her back, his penis nestled against her backside, hated part of himself.
There had to be a reason.
Elissa took the sponge from him, turned and applied it to his chest, working in circles to clean him. He sighed and she had the feeling he had never done this before either. She would have thought that an incubus would have experienced a shower with a woman before. It was probably high on their list of places to have sex with their conquests.
He was tense beneath the sponge.
Elissa gave him time, slowly easing away his tension and using the opportunity to learn more about his body. She couldn’t resist working her way behind him so she could see his fae markings again. They shimmered cool grey and blue with accents of purple. She didn’t know that one.
“Contentment?” she murmured as she stroked her fingers down the symbols on his spine and froze when she realised she had said it aloud.
“Something like that.” Payne’s deep voice was loud in the tiny cubicle. She couldn’t believe that he had answered and hadn’t tried to pull away from her or stop her from touching him.
Was he enjoying it?
She continued to clean his back, gaze following the suds as they coursed over his muscles. Would he answer more questions?
“Why do you deny your incubus nature?” she said, tense from head to toe and afraid he might turn on her now.
He didn’t.
“I used to enjoy and indulge that part of me but I grew weary of it.” He braced his hands against the tiles and hung his head forwards. The jet sprayed against his back, showering her in fine mist. She settled her hands on his back to reassure and comfort him. The markings had remained the same colour as before but she watched them, monitoring them for a change. “I no longer gain excitement from seducing women or using my powers. It feels as though women only desire me because of the out of control incubus part.”
Elissa felt sorry for him. “It must have been difficult for you to live in a world of vampires when you have fae blood in your veins.”
Payne tensed and his markings shifted to reveal patches of black and red. She knew that one. She slipped her arms around his chest and pulled him away from the wall, coaxing him into standing again. She grabbed the shampoo, squeezed a dollop onto her hand and tiptoed to work it into his messy dirty blond hair.
“You don’t have to talk about it.” She massaged his scalp with her fingers and he lowered himself so she could reach him more easily. She smiled at that. It seemed he enjoyed being fussed like this.