Demon Forged

as if the lace had been plucked from between them. Alejandro looked down and struggled not to forget his promise, not to ram inside her heated depths and pound against her. Her leather stockings and leggings had vanished. He wouldn’t have to push her legs apart. She’d already spread them to make room for his hips, and braced her heels on the edge of the stone ring. At the juncture of her sleekly muscled thighs, a small triangle of auburn curls guarded her glistening pink cleft.
    He’d have begged. Oh, yes, he’d have begged. And then worshipped. Her beauty destroyed him.
    He stepped back so that he could bend and press his lips to her bare hip. “I make a new vow, Irena.”
    “First fulfill this one— if you can from that position. My hip is too far north.”
    A soft laugh escaped him. Gliding his mouth over her flat stomach to her navel, he flicked his tongue into the indentation.
    “I vow that your ankles will soon be on my shoulders,” he said.
    Her hands tightened in the coals. Pale gray ash dusted her fingers. “That is . . . a good vow.”
    With the barest pressure, he stroked his fingertips up the inside of her thigh. “I vow that I will soon sheathe myself in you, inch by inch, until I can push no deeper.”
    Her eyes closed and her hips rolled, as if she imagined taking him inside her. An ember popped, sending a glowing chip to land on her stomach. Alejandro brushed it away. His tongue traced the crease of her torso and thigh.
    “ Lower , Olek.” She unfurled her fist, scattering crushed charcoal and ash. Her fingers threaded into his hair, directing him to her center.
    She stopped, holding him there. He looked up and met her eyes. She had hesitated, but it didn’t have the flavor of anger or shame.
    “I haven’t allowed this. Not since—” She moistened her lips. “It is too . . . open.”
    Alejandro nodded his understanding. Fucking didn’t require intimacy. It didn’t make her vulnerable. The same couldn’t be said when tongue and teeth were against the softest, most unprotected part of her.
    She released his hair and let her hand fall back into the fire. “It is easy to open myself to you, Olek. But know that I expect the same in return.”
    She already had it. With his Gift protecting her from the fire, she felt his every emotion. His awe, his overwhelming need. She might have even felt his vulnerability, that she held his heart in her hand.
    He swallowed past the tightness in his throat and dipped his head lower. He spoke to prepare her; anticipation made his voice rough.
    “My mouth will be hot.”
    A sound like a purr vibrated from her chest. “I know.”
    Not just his mouth. He parted her soft cleft with a lick and the clenching need tore through him, stiffening everything but his lips, his tongue. One lick, and he was on the burning edge of release. One lick, and Irena became still, so still—but the serpents on her arms writhed in a primal dance. She felt as he did, then. She would contain this, or shatter.
    He drew his tongue through her center before circling her clitoris, sucking lightly. Irena’s body shook. His hands clamped on her hips and he increased the suction. Irena broke into motion, her upper body twisting violently. She cried out. Alejandro held her, stunned by the frantic throb of her flesh beneath his tongue.
    That quickly? He glanced up. Irena lay still again, her heart racing. Flames heightened the flush on her cheeks; heated air currents moved gently through her hair.
    She looked down at his expression and laughed. “It has been a very long wait, Olek. And then I looked at you. Your lips were . . .” Her body made a single, rolling undulation. “I could not hold after that.”
    “You should close your eyes.” Amused, Alejandro slipped his fingers down, sliding them through her silken wetness. “For although you are already spent, I am not near to finished.”
    “I am not spent.” Her eyes glittered with challenge. She didn’t close them.
    He would wear her out, then. So be it. Alejandro lowered his mouth and began to play. Slow, she told him, and so he moved faster, until she gasped and tried to break away. He slowed, and she moaned for him to quicken his tongue. He eased his fingers between her slick folds, and had to withdraw his mouth and tease until the need to taste her again overwhelmed the desire to work his shaft into the tight heat his fingers invaded. She snarled in frustration and he devoured her. She shook and he didn’t stop