Sculpting a Demon (8 page)

“There goes lunch,” she said once she could speak again, looking down at the mess on the floor.

“We’ll eat later,” he said.

“Later?” she asked, her mind still somewhat clouded.

“Much later,” he said, scooping her into his arms. “I’m nowhere near through with you.” He kissed her so thoroughly her toes literally curled and then he carried her off to bed.

Chapter Seven

“You weren’t kidding when you said you could go for days,” Lila said, snuggling against Arien’s broad chest. She ran her foot over his calf and kissed his shoulder. The fading daylight seeped in through the curtains, casting an almost amber glow over his skin.

The bedsprings creaked softly as his arms tightened around her. “No,” he said, his fingers running lightly up and down her spine. “I wasn’t kidding.”

She smiled and rubbed her cheek against him. “You are so arrogant.”

He chuckled as he caressed her ass. “Is it arrogant to simply state the truth?”

Her fingers traced the outline of his abs, trailed down the fine line of hair on his stomach. “I can’t believe you’re hard again,” she said, and laughed with pure delight. “I don’t think I can take any more.”

“Hmmm,” he said, his hand slipping between her thighs. “Let’s find out.”

The familiar cords of
Für Elise
rang out through the loft and Lila groaned. She dragged herself out of the bed, snatched the phone off the coffee table and flipped it open. “Hello?”

“Lila!” Angie answered. “What are you doing?”

“Ahhhh,” Lila said, glancing at Arien. “Why?”

“Because you need to get ready.”

“I do?” Lila asked, watching Arien climb out of the bed and cross the room to her side.

“Yes, you do. There is an after-show party at this club called The Loading Dock. Do you know it?”

“Yeah, I know it,” she said, trying not to gasp as Arien pressed against her from behind, his arms around her waist. He ran the tip of his tongue from the base of her throat up to her ear, and Lila’s eyes closed as her neck arched.

“Good,” Angie said. “You’re on the list. Be here by ten.”

“Wait, Angie, wait,” Lila said in rush before Angie could hang up. She wriggled out of Arien’s arms. “I’m kinda busy right now. I don’t think I can make it.”

“Oh dear Lord,” Angie said, and Lila could practically feel her friend’s eyes rolling. “Just humor me, okay?”

“Ah, I, um,” Lila said, struggling for a viable excuse.

“No,” Angie said, cutting her off. “I don’t want to hear it. I’m sick of you sitting home all the time. Put down the chisel, wash the dust out of your hair and get down to the club. I’ll be in the VIP Lounge.”

Lila rubbed her hand over her forehead. She knew that tone in Angie’s voice all too well. If she didn’t agree, it was very likely Angie would show up at her door and physically drag her out of the loft. “I have a guest,” she said.

“A guest?” Angie asked. “Really?” She paused. “Oh shit, Lila,” she squealed. “Is he there now?”

“Yeah,” Lila said.

“Oooooo!” Angie said. “Is he hot?”

“Yeah,” Lila said, smiling as she blushed.

“Who is he?” Angie asked, and Lila was once again unsure of how to respond. “It doesn’t matter,” Angie continued, saving Lila from having to think up an answer. “I’ll meet him when he gets here. See you at ten,” she said cheerfully, and then hung up.

Lila looked at the now dead phone in her hand. “Sure,” she muttered. “See you then.” She dropped the phone and scrubbed her fingers through her hair. “We have to go out,” she said, giving Arien a tight smile.

“When?” he asked.

“Ten.”

He glanced at the clock. “Plenty of time.”

Lila laughed, recognizing that now-familiar gleam in his eyes, but her stomach growled loudly and she pressed her hand to her belly. “I can’t,” she said with much regret. “I really can’t. I have to eat.”

“Of course,” he said, flicking his wrist, and the food she requested earlier covered the coffee table.

“That’s some talent you have,” she said, sitting on the floor in front of the feast.

“I have many talents,” he said.

“Oh yeah?” she asked. “Like what?”

He flashed her that grin and she was struck once again with how gorgeous he was. Just looking him was a treat, like eating rich chocolate cake topped with berries and sauce and whipped cream. Better than that even. He sat down behind her and drew her into his arms. She willingly submitted, her body relaxing against his. “I thought you were hungry,” he said, selecting a piece of chicken and feeding it to her. “But if you require further demonstration…” He brushed his lips over the nape of her neck, sending tingles all through her.

Lila laughed and fed herself some more chicken. “Maybe later.” She gasped as he nuzzled the spot right behind her ear, the spot that drove her wild. “Okay,
definitely
later.”

He shifted her slightly in his arms, his erection fitting snuggly against her backside. He stroked her ribs as he ran his lips back and forth over her shoulder. “So,” he asked between light nips, “where are we off to this time?”

“We have to go meet my friend Angie at a club in the Southside.”

“A club?” he asked. “What kind of club?”

“You know, the usual kind,” she said. “A place where they play loud, often obnoxious music and people gather to be social and drink to excess and then go home with other people who they generally regret fucking the next day.”

Arien chuckled behind her. “You make it sound so enticing.”

“Maybe it won’t be so bad,” she said. “But I usually prefer to stay home. I don’t like the club scene.”

“I would have never guessed.”

“Yeah, I’m known for my subtlety.”

She picked up some chicken and offered it to him over her shoulder.

“Thank you,” he said, licking her fingertips clean. He took her hand in his, caressing her palm, the length of each of her fingers. “Your hands have seen much work.”

“It’s from sculpting,” she said, looking down at her hand cradled in his. She’d never realized how small her hands were, how delicate. Then again, maybe it was only because his were so large. So large and strong, and yet they touched her so gently, with so much care. “Handling a chisel for hours on end tends to raise some calluses.”

“Ah,” he said. “You mean those instruments of torture you keep lined up over there.” He nodded his chin toward her workstation.

“Torture?” she asked. “Those aren’t for torture. They’re sculpting tools.”

“Of course they are.”

“You’re such a freak,” she said, shaking her head.

“Why do you do it?” he asked.

“Do what? Torture people?”

He laughed. “Sculpt.”

“I love it,” she said, a small smile on her lips. “It makes me…whole.” Her smile turned sad, distant. “My mother used to tell me I’d never be pretty so I should work hard at being smart.” She laughed ruefully and then swallowed hard. “I wasn’t that either, but at least I found art. Without it, I’d be nothing.”

He turned her roughly in his arms until she was facing him. “Never say that again.”

“What?” she asked, shocked by his vehemence.

“That you are less than anything. You are beautiful. You are intelligent. I will not hear you say otherwise.”

She started to say that it was just the truth, but the sheer anger on his face, the way he gripped her, made her hesitate. “Okay,” she said slowly, in an effort to appease him. “Fine.”

He regarded her for an extended moment. “No,” he said. “Not good enough. You agree, but you do not believe.” He paused, gathering his thoughts. “You find me attractive, yes?”

“Attractive” didn’t even come close, but she nodded anyway.

“You think that I am intelligent?”

Again, she nodded.

“Then why would you think that I would not recognize those same qualities in another?”

She wanted to say it was because he had no choice, that the magic or whatever it was that had brought him to her probably had some hand in his opinion, but in her heart of hearts she knew it wasn’t true. He believed what he said because
he
believed what he said. To say otherwise would be an insult. “Okay,” she said with more conviction this time. “I get it.”

“No, you don’t. Not really. But you will,” he said.

He met her eyes and she was struck again by the burning intensity within their depths. Sure, on the surface he was all smiles and mischief and raging libido, but underneath, where it mattered, he was pure power, an unfathomable well of determination and strength. She reached out and touched his face with her fingertips. He made her feel…so much. So much good, so much right, so much wonderful. Ways she’d never felt before. She touched her forehead to his and closed her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered.

He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her lips. “It is my pleasure,” he said. “
You
are my pleasure.” He deepened the kiss, his tongue caressing hers.

When her cell phone rang again, Lila broke the kiss and ground her teeth. “Son of a bitch,” she said, reaching across the coffee table. She flipped the phone open. “Hello?” she answered sharply.

“Lila,” her agent’s voice said over the phone. “Do you have a minute?”

“Hi, Edwin,” she said, scrubbing her hand through her hair to try to clear her head. “What’s up?”

“I looked over the contract and there a few things I’d like to point out before you sign.”

Damn, it would be something important. “Sure, okay, hold on a minute.” She placed her hand over the phone and turned to Arien. “I’m sorry, I have to take this.” She rose to her feet and crossed the loft to her desk. “All right,” she said. “Give me a second while I dig it out…”

Arien watched her hips sway as she walked away, the way her hands flitted over the papers as she spoke into the phone. He acutely felt the loss of her in his arms and he wanted her back immediately. It was stunning, and slightly unsettling, how much in fact he wanted her. How much he needed her. Making her come brought him joy on a level he had never experienced before. Better than any scheme he had ever participated in, better than any strife he had ever instigated. He reveled in her every moan, took extreme personal satisfaction from every little whimper he wrung out of her. Her pleasure brought him pleasure, her every sigh of contentment thrilled him, made him harder, needier, and in turn made him want to hear her more. Lust was never this all-encompassing. Or fulfilling, for that matter.

“Sorry,” she said, returning to him. Such beauty! He didn’t think he’d ever get over the shockwaves that raced through him every time he looked at her. He only wished that she could see herself the way he saw her. But she would, he vowed. He would make certain she did. She stood over him and ran her fingers through his hair. He couldn’t hold back the low moan that welled within him at her touch, and he pressed his face against her hip, nuzzling her soft skin.
Mine!
The thought was fierce. Primal. He wrapped his arms around her waist.
She is mine!

“Did you miss me that much?” she asked, laughing.

He wondered if she could sense his almost-desperate need to hold her. But then he realized he didn’t care if she knew or not, so long as she continued to allow him the indulgence. “Come, my Master,” he said, taking her hand. “There is little time and I
will
have you again before we depart.”

“Master,” she said, the laughter gone from her voice. Her hand fell away from his and she took a small step away. “Back to that, huh?”

Arien blinked at the sudden change in her. “Back to what?”

“Master,” she said. “I thought we were done with that.”

He could only shake his head, totally confused.

“You said my name before.”

“I did?” he asked. What could he have been possibly thinking to do a thing like that? And then he remembered. The vivid image of saying her name while he was deep within her, feeling her wetness, her heat surrounding him, clutching him, struck him like a physical blow. No wonder. He hadn’t been thinking at all. “Forgive me,” he said. “I meant no offense.”

“Forgive you,” she said. Was that disappointment in her voice? Sadness? It made no sense.

“Please,” he said with a smile in an effort to get her to smile.

“Sure,” she said after a long moment, and then turned away from him.

He instantly sprang to his feet. “Lila,” he said, taking her by the shoulders and spinning her around, trying not to think about how good it felt to form the word in his mouth. The sensuous, sublime taste of it on his tongue. He had no right to use that name. Even if she didn’t fully realize it, and even though he often used it to tease her, she was his Master. “I will call you whatever you wish,” he said, and kissed her forehead. Anything to make her happy. Anything to see her smile. “I will do whatever you desire.”

“I don’t—” She shook her head. “I don’t want you to do it ’cause you think it’s a command. I want you to do it because you want to do it.”

Arien laughed softly. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I am not very good at taking commands.”