“Shake that crap off before you go back in the house,” Raina called after her, a scowl on her face. “It smells like a cheap whorehouse, talcum powder and gardenias. I swear, I’m going to snatch Ana bald. No, I’m going to let the cleaning staff do it. I—”

She let out a startled yelp as Mikhael gripped her waist and pulled her back onto his lap. Only this time he spread her thighs with his large hands, draping her legs over his to hold them open that way. When he pulled the robe open, the sun reflected off the pale beauty of her naked body beneath. It might be the garden of a bordello, but it was still a decadent pleasure, revealing her here where anyone could see what he was doing. Cupping her breasts, he captured the distended nipples, making her suck in a breath.

“When I mentioned it wasn’t even lunchtime,” he said with exaggerated patience, “I meant that your staff has sex professionally all evening.”

Raina’s head dropped onto his shoulder, a throaty purr coming from her throat. “We live on the sexual energy of others,” she managed. “It’s like eating. As long as the stomach is empty, food will interest you, no matter the time of day.”

He caught her hand when it came toward his shoulder. Gripping that delicate wrist, he guided it back down, his fingers overlapping hers as he took her touch where he wanted it. “Stroke yourself, Raina. Put your fingers inside, then give them back to me. I want to suck your taste off them.”

That sexy little shudder again, which was gratifying on so many levels. He didn’t think many males made her react without thought, without calculation of their needs, their pleasure. He wanted her focused totally on her pleasure, on his command of her body to serve that end for both of them.

She moaned softly as her fingers entered, his own still loosely cupped over her knuckles, so that he was able to push her deeper, slow, easy. “Work your fingers in there. I’m going to spread you out on that dining table later today. Eat your pussy until you come.”

“I think I can pencil…that in. Oh, Goddess,” she breathed.

“Give them to me,” he demanded. She brought the fingers back up to his mouth, and he clasped her wrist, holding her manacled as he licked off that slippery arousal, savored it. When he met her gaze, the gold color had overtaken the green in her eyes, an exotic, feral animal. The heat of her magic pressed on his skin like a warm, wet tropical wave.

“Are you hungry again, Raina?” When his hand clasped her throat, holding her there, the needy plea that vibrated beneath his palm nearly undid him.

Her other hand came up, laid over his on her wrist, and she gave a sinuous little wiggle. In her position, she couldn’t get an optimal angle to rub herself against him, so he obligingly brought his legs back together. And in a quick move, she twisted under his hold and slid free, a flutter of satin and dark hair that caressed his face.

Scampering a few steps away, she turned back toward him, giving him a brief, glorious glimpse of her body, the aroused nipples, the cleft of her sex, all the pale curves, the lengths of her thighs. Glitter dust was on her breast where Gina had stroked her. He was used to having a strong libido, but she consumed his brain like fire on a dry leaf.

“Yes, I’m hungry.” She tossed her hair, retied the garment, but it was still loose enough the curves of her breasts were full crescents. “But I have a party to attend. Maybe later. After all, you were sufficiently adequate last night. I suppose I could invite you for another go.”

“Oh, really?”

She laughed, as girlish as Gina, and then gave a shriek as he surged off the bench. She ran back up the path, but she wasn’t as fast as the slip of a girl. He caught that womanly body up against the door, turned her to him.

When Raina looked up into his face, expecting the kiss, he slowed it down. Sidled even closer, until by drawing in her breath, she was drawing in his. She wasn’t aware of anyone in the room behind the door, or even the birds calling in the garden. Everything disappeared when Mikhael Roman got this close to a woman, filled all her senses.

“You don’t want to invite me to do anything, Raina. You want me to do what I want, whether you say yes or no. And I will.”

“We’ll see.” Reaching up, she traced his cheekbone, scraped him with her nail when he turned his head, nipped her wrist. “Do you play cards? That’s why I wanted to know about your schedule. Low-stakes poker.”

“I usually only play high stakes.”

“I’m so shocked to hear that.” When she gave him her professional smile, she wasn’t surprised to see his jaw tighten. He really didn’t like it when she used her practiced charm. Maybe that was why she liked doing it, to yank his chain. But she wasn’t going to let him get that upper hand back until her pulse was steadier.

“You have glitter dust on you, too.” She used her thumb to rub it off his chin, showed it to him. “I usually play solitaire in the afternoon. It helps me relax, get ready for the evening company, gives me the chance to go over the last- minute to-dos in my head. On Monday nights, though, we’re usually in pretty good shape. I can handle a more distracting game.”

He passed his fingers over his chin, ensuring all the dust was gone. She suppressed a smile as he put a few sparkles back on himself. They’d transferred to his hands when he touched her breast. That thought took her smile, gave her something more important to suppress.

“Unless our demon arrives and requires annihilation, I’ll make myself available for a few hands,” he said at last. “If you make it interesting for me.”

“I’m not known for boring male company.” She sniffed. “And when you annihilate that demon, stay out of my rose garden. I assume Lucifer doesn’t expense damages?”

“He usually has strings attached to any payment.”

“Don’t they all?” It made her abruptly sad, and she wasn’t sure where the feeling had come from. She was feeling too much around him. When she rotated toward the door, he touched her arm.

“Raina.”

She let him turn her back around. Those long, strong fingers stroked her throat as he put his mouth on hers, moist heat he turned into a lingering press of lips before he lifted his head, stared down at her. “Last warning. Stop retreating behind the courtesan routine.”

“I was a courtesan,” she said evenly. “Before that I was a straight-out whore. For a short time, I was a ten-buck-a-blow teenaged hooker who hung out in alleys, so messed up and hungry for sustenance I left a couple bodies behind. Now I’m a madam. I enjoy men; I enjoy sex. You have a problem with that, you can go fuck yourself. Literally.”

7

DAMN IT ALL, WHY HAD SHE GONE THERE? PIVOTING, she closed her hand on the door latch once more, not at all surprised when he clamped down on it, his body pressed up behind hers, solid and resilient. His mouth brushed the side of her throat, but not in a mean way. It was a devastating caress at the pulse point, his hands settling on her hips to hold her there as his cock, hard and ready, pushed against her ass, making her quiver.

“You were being an arrogant bully,” she muttered.

“I am a bully. But I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She sighed, closed her eyes. “I opened that door, but I really want to close it, okay?”

Waiting on his decision was hard, her fingers closing around one of his at her hip. A moment later, his forefinger slid free, curved over hers. A reprieve. “All right. For now.”

“I need to get in there,” she said, relieved. “You can come if you like. You might enjoy it.”

“Your staff at a passion party? I expect it’s like setting a hive of bees loose in a honey shop.” He paused, though, still holding her. “Watching Gina…She was acting like a child, even when she was touching you. All of them act like that, to some degree.”

“You’ve never noticed that?” She tilted her head back on his shoulder to look at him. When he shook his head, something loosened in her chest. “You’ve never hunted an immature sex demon.”

His puzzled expression confirmed it, and she let out a breath. “All of my demons are like that. They reason and react like twenty-something human adults, but emotionally, they often respond like children. It’s an odd mixture, hard to classify, but anyone familiar with sex demons can tell the difference between one who’s transitioned to maturity and one who hasn’t.”

She turned to face him fully. “The box of toys we just received? They’ll play with them all morning, and not just in sexual ways. They’ll put the vibrators in a glass of water to watch the ripples; they’ll dangle the floggers in front of the house cats like balls of string. They’re sexual creatures, but their sexuality is very innocent.”

“Like a young tiger’s ability to kill a toddler during play.”

She nodded. “Exactly.”

“So how do they become what I’ve hunted?”

“They’ve fed and killed enough that they move into a higher, more adult level of thinking, but at a certain maturity level, a sex demon becomes more dangerous, savage. It’s harder to keep the energy lust from taking over, eclipsing all morality.”

Mikhael’s gaze turned to the window, through which she could see the succubi and incubi milling impatiently, waiting for her to arrive. Aiden and Ellen had been making comical faces at them through the window, but seeing his attention, they vanished behind Saul’s wide back. He and Li were arm wrestling while Ana tied ribbons around their wrists.

“Is Isaac in limbo?”

Her chin tightened, but she gave him an honest answer. “Teetering on the edge.” Not there yet, but close.

“Can it be stopped, for any of them? Doesn’t everything grow and mature?”

“It’s inevitable, but discipline and experience…They can impact it in a positive direction, with the right influences.”

“What I felt last night”—he tugged her closer with the robe tie—“was a fully mature succubus.”