Page 79 of Devour
“And that’s exactly why I won’t be eating you,” I said.
“Because I feed your ego?”
Oh, how I loved when he got bratty with me. He wanted me to say it and I knew it. And I finally felt like I could tell him. “Because I love you.”
Rhory leaned forward with a smirk and chattered his teeth at me. Which, yes, sounded tempting right now, but…
“No.”
He pouted. “Don’t act like you don’t want to.”
He got me there but… “No,” I repeated, leaning closer while his hands slid past my shoulders.
Earlier, I promised myself if we managed not to rip each other apart somehow, I would go all in. I already knew I wanted to be with him, and if he wanted to be with me too, we were absolutely doing this. And since choosing him would mean giving up everything, really, there wasn’t much point in denying myself anything. Not anymore.
“You want to fuck me.” Couldn’t decide if Rhory sounded more excited or haughty when he came to that conclusion, but he wasn’t wrong.
“Only if you let me,” I teased.
Which, admittedly, Rhory had wanted for a very long time, maybe even from the moment he laid eyes on me. As for me, if it were possible to have wanted him long before I even met him, that might come close to the desire burning in my very much intact soul. Every bit of me longed for him, almost like a physical ache after some part of me had been ripped away, and I desperately craved to be put back together.
Never did I doubt Rhory’s claims of tearing me to shreds, but him tearing the clothes from my body had not been what I envisioned. My favorite demon who claimed to be not at all hungry went back to his mostly feral self, and I loved it. I loved him. After peeling his clothes from him like the flesh on a piece of fruit, I wanted nothing more than to sink my teeth into him.
“You can,” Rhory assured me.
“No.” Instead, I breathed in that delicious scent of him, following a trail from neck to navel and back again.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you got off on self-deprivation.”
“Maybe a little,” I agreed.
Setting boundaries was super healthy. Doing the same to yourself, also super healthy. And until I felt sure I would not give into the compulsion to eat him, I would not be pushing my limits when I knew those better than anyone. Maybe another time when not so starved.
Rhory gazed back at me with a very pleased expression. Clearly, mentally spying on me, but I didn’t kick him out. I wanted him to understand the nuances, and that just because I wanted something didn’t mean I had to have it. Especially when I would never want anything more than I wanted him with me.
“Good to know you won’t bite my face off,” he said, backing away from my mouth.
“You really think I would?” I chuckled.
“That’s what I would want.” He rolled his head to the side and exposed his neck again. “It’s why you naturally want to go for the throat. It’s where everyone is vulnerable.”
Rhory said this not only factually, but as if no other possible reason existed to risk getting this close. Then it occurred to me that not once in all these years had he ever tried to kiss me.
“You won’t bite my face off.” At that, I nipped his jaw before getting nose to nose with him again. “You enjoy praise too much to disappoint me.”
“You got me there,” Rhory murmured against my lips.
That being said, I never anticipated how thrilling it could be. The only thing more unnerving than kissing someone with fangs was knowing how capable that person was of sinking those fangs right into you—and made fighting the urge all the more satisfying. Something about actively having to choose each other over another latent desire made every brush of lips and tongues all the more intimate.
Even when that secondary want became too strong, I could always pull away to breathe him in. I’d feel the slightest bit fuller without having to do anything at all, then we could resume. I never quite understood how or even why Rhory enjoyed drinking me in as much as he did, but I could not get enough of him.
“But enough is enough,” Rhory whispered to me.
His reminder got an enthusiastic nod from me before I pulled him into my lap, his legs gliding over my thighs and resting on either side of me. Look at him, understanding self-control. So proud. Never thought he’d be the one having to remind me, but still. The sentiment remained the same.
While still aching to use my teeth, I licked down his throat to his chest while Rhory eagerly lifted to meet me. Feeling so famished had almost reduced me to someone gulping their meal without tasting any of it. At least forcing myself to savor some would remain pleasurable. Rhory, however, was not entirely on board.
“Remember: not human. Unless you’re biting pieces of me off, I promise you’re not hurting me,” he whispered while tilting my face to focus on him.