“Fine,” she bit out, watching through narrowed eyes as Tanner crossed to the coffee pot. If he tipped that precious liquid down the sink, she was so going to slit his throat.
“I actually intended to come check on you before I headed for work. You can imagine my surprise when I saw the hellhound’s Audi parked outside your building.”
Devon snarled at the note of amusement in Adam’s tone.
“I guess I don’t need to ask if you got much sleep last night.”
“Eat shit, asshole.” She ended the call on his laugh.
Tanner slowly approached her and poured coffee into her mug. “There.”
She grunted again.
“You’re welcome.”
Why was he still talking? Right then, she’d kill people for less. Ugh.
Devon lazily crossed to the table and sank into the chair. Cradling the hot mug in her hands, she drank her coffee quietly, enjoying the blessed silence, acting for all the world like she was completely alone.
It wasn’t until she’d drained the cup that she finally met the gaze of the male opposite her. And then memories of last night crawled all over her. Memories of his hot mouth eating hers, of his skilled fingers playing with her nipples, of his long cock driving so deep inside her it almost hurt. That quickly, the air snapped taut with that good ole sexual chemistry. “Stop staring.”
“But you’re such a pretty view.”
Whatever.
“Jolene called me a few minutes ago. She said Finn told her that Asa was … uncooperative. The prick swore to Finn that he’d already given him the names of everyone from his group.”
Devon ground her teeth. “Finn should hand the fucker over to Jolene—she’ll get him to talk.”
“Jolene made that same suggestion, but Finn turned her down; said he’d get the information. He also said he’d never heard of Sheridan. He intends to ask Asa about him.”
“Finn probably doesn’t trust that Jolene won’t kill Asa.” Which was a good hunch, because Devon was pretty sure her Prime would subject Asa to a truly agonizing death—and probably hum a merry tune the entire time.
Devon rose from the table, grabbed a Danish pastry from the cupboard, and refilled her mug. She didn’t need to ask if the pooch had eaten—there was an empty bowl near his cup. Taking a bite out of the Danish, she turned … and found herself face-to-face with him. Uncomfortable with the glitter of hunger in those eyes, she chose a neutral topic. “We’re going to see Sheridan today, right?”
“Later today, yes. Jolene said Ciaran will teleport us to Sheridan’s veterinary clinic just as the place is closing.”
Yeah, Jolene wasn’t one to question people at their homes where they felt most comfortable. She liked to take them off-guard; mess with their usual safe routines.
Tanner tilted his head. “You planning to pretend last night didn’t happen?”
Well, the thought had crossed her mind. She just had no idea what to say or do; didn’t like postmortems. She found herself blurting out, “We forgot to use a condom.”
“I didn’t forget.”
She tightened her grip on her mug. “You, what?”
“Kitten, I don’t forget stuff like that. I didn’t want to come inside a condom, I wanted to come inside you.”
It was a good thing for him that she couldn’t reach the knife block, or he’d have one of those blades buried in his chest right now. Now yeah, sure, there was a high chance that she was infertile, but he hadn’t known that. “It didn’t bother you that I might not be on the pill?”
He braced his hands on the counter on either side of her. “You’re not in heat—I’d have smelled it if you were, so there was no chance of you getting pregnant.”
“Well, did it occur to you that I might not like guys coming in—”
“Stop trying to pick a fight.”
“I’m not!”
“You are,” Tanner said softly, without judgement. “You’re feeling awkward and unsure, so you’re going on the attack. You don’t need to.” He dipped his head and skimmed his nose along her neck, breathing deep, taking her into his lungs. “Your scent makes my dick hard every time.”
Surprisingly chilled, his hound lay quiet, watching through hooded eyes. The demon was intense, by nature. Always alert and restless. Wired, even. The only time it was ever so relaxed was after sex, and the effect never lasted long. Right then, though, the demon was as close to content as it had ever been. Or maybe Tanner’s own satisfaction at having finally had