Devil's Bargain Read online

  “Are you ready to get started?” she asked, her voice already gone husky with anticipation. She held her hand out toward him and saw him hesitate for an instant before he took it and clasped it warmly in his own.

  “Ready,” he smiled.

  “Then come into my parlor.” She chuckled as she stepped into the mostly completed circle and tugged him in behind her. She gestured toward the blanket spread on the chilly floor. “Have a seat while I finish this up. It’ll only take a minute.”

  Once he had folded his long legs beneath him and settled himself on the floor, Lilli turned away and picked up a book of matches, a small bowl of salt, and the chalk she’d used to draw the outline of the incomplete circle. First, she moved around the circle and lit all of the white candles. When she got back to her starting point, she repeated the process with the black ones. The tiny flames didn’t look like much, but when they were all lit, their collective warmth began to raise the temperature in the circle by a couple of degrees. She knew they’d be glad for that in a little while.

  Lilli pushed back a tickle of nerves and knelt down to close the gap in the drawing, making sure the line was thick and solid with no blank spaces. Then she set aside the chalk, returned to her feet, and began to sprinkle salt along the edge, making her third trip all the way around the circle. She might not be a magician, but even she could feel the way a wall of energy seemed to form around the perimeter of the space, stretching into a dome above their heads. When she glanced back at Aaron, she could see him staring at it with a hint of a smile on his face.

  He must have sensed her eyes on him and glanced back at her. “Nice work,” he said. “That shade of blue is a good color for you.”

  Lilli looked back at her handiwork, but she could see nothing, just the light of the candles rendering the room beyond them shadowy and indistinct. Still, it was nice to get the vote of confidence.

  She completed her binding of the circle by spreading the salt back to her starting point. Setting aside the tools she’d used, she dusted the chalk off her hands and took a seat on the blanket facing Aaron.

  “Okay, so that was the easy part,” she said with a wry smile. “From here on out, things might start to get tricky.”

  “Devils and demons and apocalypse, oh my?” he grinned back. “Bring ’em on.”

  She laughed. “Down, big boy. You’ll get a chance, but first I want to go over just a couple of things.”

  He took her hands and held them between their bodies. “Shoot.”

  Lilli took a deep breath, blew it out long and slow. Then she looked directly into his eyes and said, “I want you to know that I’m sorry for getting you into this.”

  “What? Why? What are you talking about? You didn’t get me into anything.”

  “Yes, I did. If I hadn’t broken into your house and tried to steal the Praedicti, you might not be caught up in all of this.”

  “That’s a stupid thing to think,” Aaron said, squeezing her hands gently. “I got caught up in this, so to speak, the minute my uncle left me his house and the contents. He’s the one who got me involved with the Praedicti, not you.”

  “I know, but I’m the only reason Samael is paying any attention to you. If I’d done the job right or left as soon as I heard you come down those stairs tonight, he never would have known you were alive.”

  “Um, hello, but aren’t you the person who told me that he’s been trying to get back a book that basically warns him about me in four different ways?”

  “Actually, I’ve been thinking about it, and I think it’s just as likely that the prophecy was talking about your uncle as about you,” she said, which was at least half true. She did think there was an equal chance for Alistair and Aaron to be the knights; she just thought there might be another knight in there entirely whom they hadn’t talked about yet. “Especially since he’s dead. Fallen, as it were.”

  “Then what we’re about to do now is make the prince flee, huh?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  “And tell me again how you’re planning to manage that.”

  Lilli made a face. “I’m going to offer to give him exactly what he wants. If he’ll agree not to start the rebellion, we’ll give him back the book. I think the four small prince verses are the real reason he wanted it in the first place. If he had those, he’d be in a much stronger position to know where his enemies were likely to attack.”

  “He didn’t see us coming.”

  “No, because your uncle had the book. Samael had no way of referring to the prophecy ahead of time. I think that may be why your uncle was killed. Samael was responsible, and he did it to get the book back. But since your uncle wasn’t a stupid man, he made arrangements to keep Samael from finding it—namely concealing it on the wrong shelf and ensuring that you were put in place to take charge of his effects after his death.”

  “You really don’t believe in coincidence, do you?”

  “Not when Samael is involved, I don’t.”

  “Then I’m glad I get the chance to face him again,” Aaron said, and his hazel eyes hardened behind his scholarly glasses. “Are you sure we can’t make this a more traditional sort of battle?”

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  The thought of it made Lilli’s stomach clench. Even she had no intention of trying to best Samael in a physical contest. She’d been telling the truth that he would be less powerful here in his physical form than if they had confronted him on his own plane, but he could still squash either one of them like a bug with the same effort it would take to blow his nose.

  “Let’s just stick to the original plan. We’ll summon him, we’ll offer him a deal, we’ll send him back where he belongs. Agreed?”

  “Agreed.”

  “Good.” Lilli let herself relax and rose to her knees to inch forward until she could slide into his lap and wrap her legs around him. “That means it’s time for the fun part.”

  His hands rose instinctively to steady her and secure her close to him. “You didn’t tell me there was going to be a fun part,” he said, his voice low and a little hoarse when she dipped her head and dragged her lips along the side of his neck.

  “Oh, absolutely. Don’t you think we deserve a fun part?” She rocked slowly against him and felt his instant, gratifying response.

  “Sure I do.” Her teeth closed lightly on his ear and made him shudder. “I just, ah, thought we might save it until after we finished here. You know, give ourselves a sort of reward.”

  “Why wait?” Lilli felt his fingers tighten on her hips and pressed closer, dragging her breasts across the warm plane of his chest. “Did you know that aside from a blood sacrifice, the most effective way to raise energy for a magical purpose is through sex?”

  She slid her hands under the open edges of his flannel shirt and pushed it off, dragging it down his arms and dropping it to the floor. When those curious fingers brushed against his belly as they sought the hem of his t-shirt, he groaned softly.

  “I’d . . . heard about that.” Aaron lifted his arms to allow her to pull off his tee and leave him bare-chested on the claret-colored blanket. She could hear his voice deepening, see the gooseflesh on his skin, which she knew had nothing to do with the ambient temperature.

  “But like I said,” he continued, “I’m not a summoner. Magi tend to, ah, work alone.”

  Lilli let her mouth curve into a grin. Crossing her arms over her chest, she drew her own shirt up and over her head, revealing nothing but bare skin underneath. When Samael had interrupted them earlier, she’d been in too much of a hurry to cover herself up to wrestle with her bra. Now she relished the convenience of one less layer.

  Almost as much as she relished the way her breasts seemed to draw his gaze like magnets. His gaze and his elegant, long-fingered hands.

  Lilli leaned into his touch and lowered her head until her breath brushed across his mouth like a caress. “Oh, but it’s so much more fun with a partner,” she whispered. “Don’t you thi
nk?”

  NINE

  Think? At the moment, Aaron considered himself lucky that he could still breathe, and if Lilli shifted a little further to the right, all bets were off on that, too.

  Groaning, he angled his head and took her mouth in a kiss he could feel all the way down to his toes. Or maybe she took his mouth. It didn’t really matter. What mattered was that they sank into each other as easily as the ocean, riding a wave of mutual desire that threatened to swamp him at any moment. He didn’t think he could ever get enough of her taste, of the sweet, smoky tang that was Lillith Corbin. He drank it in like water and never seemed to quench his thirst.

  She returned the kiss just as avidly, whimpering as she struggled to get closer. Her arms twined about his neck, tangling him in an embrace he could cheerfully have called home for the rest of eternity. She had no need to hold him to her, since the last thing he wanted was to get away, but maybe, like him, her head was swimming and she had to hold on to him to keep from losing her balance.

  Come to think of it, he realized, they would both be a lot safer if they were a little closer to the floor.

  Easing himself back, Aaron carefully lowered himself to the soft fleece blanket beneath them, reluctantly removing one hand from her breast so that he could help her stretch across him like the sky. He felt her purr of pleasure against his lips and sent both hands back to wandering, briefly cupping and cuddling her breasts before sliding along her smooth, curving sides to knead the mounds of her amazing ass.

  The feel of fabric beneath his hands irritated him and he suddenly, violently, wanted them both to be naked. He supposed he could have done things the old-fashioned way and fumbled with buttons and zippers, tugging and rearranging cloth to reveal the hidden prize beneath. There were times when he loved that process, relished its slowness, but this was not one of them.

  With a wave and a thought, their clothes melted away and his mouth caught her gasp of shock when she felt the hot press of his erection between her legs. Aaron echoed the sentiment and froze for a moment, battling against the primitive urge to grip her hips, position her opening, and plunge deep inside her tight little channel. A minute ago being cradled between her legs had felt so sweet and almost innocent, like they were a couple of teenagers necking in the back of a car. But now he could feel the slick heat of her wetness coating his shaft, and innocence was the last thing on his mind.

  He felt Lilli stiffen and pull back from him, bracing her hands on the floor and levering her upper body off of his so that she could look down at his flushed and desire-hardened face. He couldn’t stop his fingers from clamping down on her like vises to keep her from escaping him, but he tried to school his features into something that would at least not scare her away.

  She watched him for a long moment, her flame-colored eyes so filled with heat that he swore he could feel it against his skin. Then her reddened, swollen lips curved into a smile as old as Eve and she freed one hand to reach for his glasses.

  “Let’s just set these out of the way, shall we? We wouldn’t want anything to happen to them,” she said, tugging the frames from his face, carefully folding the arms over each other, and stretching to put them beside the salt dish at the far edge of the circle. Then she leaned back into him and dragged her teeth along the edge of his jaw in a way that made his eyes roll back into his head. “If you have any trouble seeing something, I want you to feel free to lean in real close.”

  With a desperate laugh, Aaron gripped her tightly and flipped to reverse their positions. When he had her pinned beneath him, he reached back to grip her knees and lift them high along his rib cage.

  “Close, hm?” he growled, reaching between them to grasp his erection and position the head against her weeping entrance. “Let me get a little bit closer and you can let me know if it’s too much.”

  She laughed up at him, her face gorgeous and mysterious and expectant in the wavering light of the candles. Perspiration glistened on her skin as she spread her arms wide in welcome and tightened her legs against his sides. He could feel her body thrumming with expectation, wondered if she could possibly want this as much as he did.

  “Come on then,” she urged, beckoning him forward. “I promise to let you know if it becomes too much.”

  Taking her at her word, Aaron fixed her gaze on his, drew a breath and thrust hard inside her.

  Lilli bent beneath him like a bow, a look of exultation dawning on her features, her eyes going dark and hazy with pleasure.

  “Too much?” he panted, bracing his hands on the blanket on either side of her and struggling not to pound into her over and over like a barbarian intent on plunder. But he wanted to plunder. God, he wanted it more than he wanted his next breath.

  She shook her head, her dark hair spilling in tangled waves around her. It framed her face like an ebony halo, and Aaron wanted to tangle his fingers in it and use it to hold her still while he sated himself within her.

  “More,” she gasped, her voice so low and choked that he had to lean close to hear her. “Please. More.”

  He was happy to oblige.

  With a grunt, he shifted and seated himself more deeply inside her. Her breath rushed out in a sound of urgent pleasure that acted like spurs to his flanks. Bracing his knees against the floor, he grasped her hips and lifted them off the ground. He pulled her with him as he leaned back until he held her lower body almost in his lap, making his penetration almost terrifyingly deep within her.

  Lilli offered not a sound of protest. The only sounds tumbling from her lips were moans and cries and whimpers of pleasure. When he began a deep, steady thrusting rhythm, she moved with him, letting her legs fall to the side, her feet bracing against the floor to give her even greater leverage to meet his thrusts. Her upper body arched off the blanket, her head thrown back. To Aaron, she looked like a pale, perfect altar, soft and sacred. He could have worshipped her forever.

  She clearly had other ideas.

  He had settled into a rhythm designed to give them each the maximum amount of pleasure without the risk of ending things too soon. He wanted to savor the tight warmth of her wrapped around him, the feel of her body beneath his hands, the sight of her blind and quivering with pleasure. He wanted to take hours, days, weeks, to enjoy her, and he might have come close if she hadn’t slowly and deliberately tightened her muscles around him like a fist so that every thrust felt like a direct assault on his most sensitive nerve endings.

  God, she was going to kill him.

  He could have cared less.

  Determined to torture her as thoroughly as she tortured him, Aaron leaned forward again, changing the angle of his penetration until the length of his shaft rubbed against her swollen clitoris on every hard stroke. Within seconds, he had her writhing. A minute after that he heard her breath strangle in her chest and felt her orgasm swallow her like a giant black hole, leaving nothing behind but waves of pulsing pleasure.

  Her face in that moment became the most breathtaking thing Aaron had ever seen. Her eyes stared up at him, unfocused and unseeing, the pupils almost swallowing the rings of copper fire that surrounded them. Her mouth fell open on a silent cry of awe. She looked as if she beheld the face of eternity and the beauty of it reflected itself in her expression.

  Aaron felt his heart clench and knew himself to be lost. Love at first sight? He wondered, but only for a moment, because in the next instant the pleasure dragged him under, leaving him limp and dazed and thoroughly in love in the center of a magical circle.

  TEN

  Dear God, Lilli thought as she lay still and breathless beneath Aaron’s equally limp form. How could this have happened? How could she have fallen in love with a man she’d known for less than a single day? Less than a single night! This wasn’t supposed to be possible. It had been bad enough when she’d known that if things didn’t go well with Samael, she would never get a chance to find out what might be between them.

  Now she knew, and it was so much worse.

  “Lilli?”r />
  She lifted a hand as far as the back of his head, which took about all the strength she could muster, and sifted her fingers through his damp, shaggy hair. “Mmm?”

  “I don’t suppose you’d like to grab a cup of coffee with me sometime. Maybe have dinner?”

  In spite of the gloom that threatened to overwhelm her, Lilli felt herself smiling at his goofy charm. “Are you asking me on a date?”

  She felt him nod against her chest and press a kiss to the breast that cushioned his head. “I hope you don’t think it’s too pushy of me, but I think you’re really attractive and easy to talk to and I’d love to have the chance to get to know you better. What do you think?”

  Lilli tilted her head down and kissed his cheek, then rubbed her own against the sandpaper stubble she found there. “I think that you should ask me that question again in the morning.”

  Planting his elbows on the floor, Aaron levered his shoulders off of her torso and grinned down at her. “It’s a deal.”

  When he leaned down to kiss her, Lilli answered him eagerly, savoring one last taste of him before he rolled to the side and let out a long, low whistle.

  “Was that for me?” she joked, pushing herself into a sitting position and looking around for her discarded clothes.

  “The sentiment is the same, but no.” He pointed toward the ceiling. “It was for that.”

  Lilli followed his gesture up, but all she could see was a collection of shadows above them. The light from the candles blinded her to the rest of the room. “For what? I don’t see anything.”

  Aaron laughed. “Wow, you really are energy blind. That is the biggest, thickest cloud of hot pink energy I have ever seen in my entire life. It’s got to be the size of a Volkswagen. You must at least be able to feel it.”

  Grateful to discover that Aaron’s disappearing act with their clothes had been more like a teleportation act, Lilli shrugged and dragged on her dusty BDUs. “Sort of, I guess. I couldn’t tell you where it was or name the color or size or anything, but I can tell that the air in here feels . . . thicker somehow.” She pulled her shirt back over her head, covering up the gooseflesh that had risen on both of her arms. “I know there’s more energy in here than there was before, which was at least part of the point. Let’s hope it’s enough.”