Bewitch(67)

He bent, caught Luca under his arms and scooped him up, holding him in the air, causing the young boy to laugh. “Swing me.”
Elissa stepped back to give them room and Payne wasn’t sure this was a good idea. He didn’t know how strong the boy was or whether he would hurt him, but Elissa’s soft look of approval said he could do as Luca had asked.
Payne did two full spins with him, sending the boy’s legs flying outwards and turning him into a giggling mess. He slowed to a halt, a little dizzy himself, and Elissa came back to them.
Elissa’s smile stopped Payne’s heart and she stared into his eyes, hers shining with love and happiness. He was new to this parenting thing but he had a feeling that with Elissa tutoring him, he would get the hang of it before long, and Elissa would get her wish, and so would he. They would be family.
Elissa stepped up to him and his heart beat again, thumping hard against his chest with anticipation. She stroked both his and Luca’s cheeks, and then looked deep into Payne’s eyes, her smile holding and her blood telling him that she would always look at him this way, with unconditional love and devotion.
Payne snaked his free arm around her back and drew her against him, holding both her and Luca close to him.
He would prove to her that he could be a good man, the man she needed him to be, and that she would never have to fear him again if she gave him this chance with her.
He looked down into her eyes and teleported them to his room.            







 
    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 17
Elissa settled Luca in Payne’s four-poster bed, drawing the dark grey covers over him. The room was a little sombre for her tastes, decorated in shades of grey, but it suited Payne for some reason. Luca looked restless and she stroked his brow, sweeping the rogue strands of sandy hair from it and trying to soothe him. He had been through a lot tonight and needed to sleep. They had all been through a lot. She gently used her magic to help him fall asleep again and looked up at Payne as the spell took hold.
Payne stood in the middle of the room, bloodstained and beaten, his eyes locked on her. She blushed under the intensity of his gaze. It wasn’t hunger or desire filling them now. There was affection in them as he watched her with Luca, and it warmed her, soothing away her fears. The past few hours had been insane, from Arnaud’s attempt to violate her to Payne coming to her rescue, and from landing on the stage in the middle of an extremely naughty act, one she would be asking about later, to being attacked by incubi and threatened by her coven.
Not to mention how rocky things had been between her and Payne. The man fluctuated between cold and warm towards her so rapidly that she couldn’t keep track, but she could understand why his mood kept swinging violently from one end of the spectrum to the other. He was afraid.
So was she.
She didn’t fear Payne. She already knew in her heart that he would never hurt her or behave as he had the last time they had made love, because she had vowed to never push him over the edge again. She was afraid that she would do or say something to make him feel he would hurt her, or make him feel that they couldn’t be together, or she thought he was messed up and a monster. She feared he would leave her now that he had made her fall in love with him.
Now that he had made her want to be his mate with all of her heart.
“So... a dirty theatre... seriously?” She had to say something to break the heavy silence between them and lighten the mood.
He smirked. “I know what you’re thinking. I can’t accept my incubus nature but I work in a place that deals in erotic shows and sex. I’m only here temporarily to cover for a friend of my family.”
That sounded like the Payne she knew. His family had turned their backs on him but he had never been able to turn his on them. He still sought a way to gain their love again. He wanted his family back. A small part of her heart hoped that desire would be fulfilled by having her and Luca in his life. They could be family.
“Not everyone here are vampires... are they?” she said and he shook his head.
She had figured out that there was another fae here, and judging by her appearance and what she had done to the big vampire everyone had called Snow, she was a succubus. It was strange seeing a succubus acting friendly towards an incubus. Elissa had wanted to intervene when the woman had pulled Payne into a hug that had pressed the full length of her rather shapely body against his.