Page 78 of Devour
When I moved to get out of bed again, he made it all the way to the door this time. He stopped when I stopped, but still looked prepared to bolt. Wait a hot minute, here.
Are… you afraid of me?
“No.” Very firm, especially for him. Mentally, I heard a resounding: Yes.
Well, that did not feel good. Not in the slightest. Of all the things I ever expected to hear from him, that wasn’t even on the list.
Why? Not elaborate, but it summed up my thoughts perfectly.
Do you still want to eat me?
I had to think about that for a few minutes and… I supposed I did. Given the chance, I very much wanted to sink my teeth right into him. So long as he let me, of course.
The smell faded and Rhory stalked across the room, then into the bed until he kneeled to be nose to nose with me. “Go ahead.”
Words eluded me, so I simply tilted my head in confusion.
“I know you want to.” His voice got thick and purry while he brought himself closer to me. “You’ve been thinking of it every second of every day since I saw you last.”
Maybe not every second.
“You’ve even dreamed about it.”
Yeah, maybe once or twice. Not as obsessively as he implied, though. Not so strange to dream about consuming one’s pseudo-boyfriend, was it?
Rhory cupped my face in his hands, holding me close enough I could rub my nose into his wrist. He smelled scrumptious and I could almost hear the blood pumping in him. And I so wanted to lean forward and bite him from wrist to shoulder… but I didn’t.
“I thought you knew me better than that,” I teased with a grin. “Master of discipline.”
“I know.” And I could tell he believed me. “I’m not.” Something else I knew all too well.
Rhory didn’t say the rest, but he thought it clearer than he ever had anything: I can’t if you do it first.
“Sorry to put a damper on your dinner,” I teased.
“I’m not hungry,” he whispered.
“Yes, you are.” And did I ever sound growly, even to me.
“You’re hungry.”
Yes. In fact, I felt ravenous.
“Oh, lovely.” Rhory sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “I kept telling you to trust me, and you never should have.”
“But do you trust me?” I yanked him closer by his forearm, breathing in the invisible trail all over him.
“I do.”
“Then trust my self-control.” Just a nibble on his arm to prove my point. “I know you won’t eat me.”
“How?”
“Because I’ve been making you behave this whole time, my dear.” After all, he promised to listen until he ate me. Too bad I never intended to let him break his promise.
“That’s not why I won’t.” Oh, he got all hot and breathy, so I let myself nip all the way up to his shoulder. Only then did he lock eyes with me and say, “I love you.”
And he wholeheartedly meant it—not even in the favorite dessert kind of way. Rhory flashed me his fangy grin as soon as he realized I stopped everything to smile at him.