I shrug helplessly. “Both?”

His strained chuckle tugs at something in my chest. I don’t want to understand him. I don’t want to recognize that he’s just as out of his depth right now as I am. I certainly don’t want to admit that maybe he’s making the best of a shitty situation. “Is it me you want to hurt . . . or yourself?”

“Both,” I whisper.

“It’s a bad idea.” He’s closer. I swear I can feel the heat coming off his body now. “Every time I touch you, you resent me more.”

If only that were true. If only I hadn’t spent every night since that scene in the dining room fingering myself to the memory of him. Not his human version, for all that the sex was outstanding. No, when I slip my hand between my thighs, it’s horns, obsidian eyes, and a too-long wicked tongue I’m remembering.

I open my eyes to find him a few measly inches from me. It would be so easy to push this, to take control like I did last time. But . . . I’m tired. Scared. Shaky in a way I don’t know how to combat. “Touch me.” I suck in a harsh breath. “Please.”

As he reaches out to cup my face in his giant hands, I make my peace with the truth—in the morning, it won’t be him that I resent. It will be myself. For being weak in my desire. For wanting the person who’s responsible for upending my life.

That’s a problem for tomorrow.

Right now, Azazel lowers his mouth to mine, kissing me so sweetly, I might weep from the longing that springs to life in my chest. To be a different woman, with different fault lines. To be able to accept this and stop fighting. To do . . . a lot of things.

I break the kiss. “I can’t do soft. I⁠—”

He bands an arm under my ass and lifts me until our faces are even. “If at any point you want to stop, say ‘stop’ and it ends. Do you understand?”

“Yes?”

This time, when he kisses me, it’s just short of violent. I moan into his mouth and enter the battle of teeth and tongues. Yes, this—this is what I need. He walks us across the room, and it seems to take forever, but I’m not curious enough to stop kissing him. Especially when he finally lays me down on his absurdly soft bed and moves back to kneel between my spread thighs, then undo his loincloth and toss it to the side.

The size difference really is absurd. The tallest person I’ve ever been with is six-five, and Azazel has a good seven inches on them at least, even without counting the horns. But he’s not gangly like a basketball player; he’s built thick and muscular, and holy fuck, his cock is huge. No, huge isn’t the right word. Did I say his thighs were ruinous? What a joke. His cock is the very definition of the word.

Even with the flicker of fear that curls through me, I can’t stop myself from reaching out and dragging a single finger up, up, up his absurd length. “You’re going to kill me with this.”

He huffs out a strained laugh. “Baby girl, I’ve seen your toys. You can handle it.”

I jolt, but I can’t begin to say if it’s from the pet name or the reminder that he has, in fact, seen me take a toy nearly this size. I’d completely forgotten about that, a little long-distance session we had a few years back. He’d purchased the toy for me, and I sent him a video of me using it.

I stroke his cock again, tracing one particularly prominent vein. Aside from sheer size, he’s a familiar enough shape—give or take some delightful ridges—and he’s got a wicked curve that makes my pussy pulse. “Any surprises here?”

“Not in the way you mean.” He drinks me in with his gaze and then shakes his head sharply. “But I’m forgetting something.” Azazel shoves off the bed and stalks naked to a cabinet against the wall. It’s impossible to take my attention from him, the long lines of muscles in his back, his round ass, the flex of his thighs and calves as he walks. Gods, he’s powerful to the point of beauty.

He returns, ridged cock a promise I am eager to fulfill, and dangles a pendant necklace before me. “This will ensure you don’t get pregnant.”

I blink. “I have an IUD.”

“I’m aware.” He doesn’t move. “But I don’t have evidence that science will hold up in our realm with magic in play, so we will be doubly sure that you’re protected.”

Warmth threatens to bloom in my chest. “You could just wear a condom.” He always has before with me—one of my nonnegotiable rules for clients.

“I could,” he agrees easily. His attention drops to my pussy. “But I want to fill you up, baby girl.” He leans down and plants a hand next to my hip, his rugged face intense. “Don’t you want Daddy to make a mess of you?”

I can’t breathe. My mouth works, but it takes several tries before I can dredge up an actual response. “You know I only call you Daddy to piss you off.”

“I know.” He grins suddenly. “But I’ve decided I like it.”

I like it too. A lot. I’m stuck here for who knows how long, so it’s not as if my situation can get more complicated. The logic is as flimsy as a butterfly’s wings, but I don’t care. “How does the pendant work?”

He presses it into my palm. “A single drop of blood will key it to you. As long as you’re wearing it, it will prevent pregnancy with no side effects.”

No side effects sounds kind of nice. I nibble my bottom lip. I came to him for frenzy, but it’s hard to hold this kind of thing against him. Captor or not, he’s taking care of me in his own way.

I am dangerously close to softening for him.

To avoid thinking about that, I drape the pendant around my neck and take his hand. I press a single finger to one of his claws. The bright bloom of blood against my skin makes us both draw in a harsh breath.

“The center,” he murmurs, holding the pendant so I can smear my blood there. “A few drops of blood now and on the first day of your cycle.”

I shiver and lift my gaze to his. “I’m ready, Daddy. Make a mess of me.”

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER 10

Iknow better than to accept what Eve offers me. She was almost taken from me today. She’s only here because she’s traumatized from the events of the day even though her life hasn’t been exempt from violence. If Brosh’s people had escaped with her, she wouldn’t have survived the night.

The thought has me pressing her back onto my bed and running my hand down the center of her body. The bruise on her ribs is already fading; it will be gone by morning. It’s the only evidence of what happened earlier, and yet I can’t stop myself from touching her wide hips, her thick thighs, sure that there’s some other injury I haven’t catalogued yet. “They tried to take you from me.”

Her eyes flash. “I’m not yours for someone to take.”

If only that were true. If only I’d had enough self-control to stay away from this woman who intrigued me from the moment her sorrow drew me to her. Bargainers have a nose for people who may be receptive to a deal. Years ago, roughly six months before she met Pope and everything changed for her, Eve was one of those people.

If I’d properly approached her then, if I’d offered her a contract . . .

“You’re mine now, Eve.” I palm her pussy, soft and sweet and already wet for me. “You have been since long before you signed my contract.”

She hisses out a breath that makes her breasts bounce. “It’s in your best interest to stop talking and fuck me.” She grabs my wrist and holds my hand to her heat. Some of the venom slips out of her tone. “Please, Azazel. I can’t fight with you about this right now.”

Is this harm? I’m not entirely sure, and that should be answer enough. I know what I would tell another bargainer in this situation, but I can’t seem to take my own advice. I’ve compromised my ethics again and again when it comes to Eve. Why not now as well?