be strict or the children would have caused utter mayhem. “Is it still standing?”
“No. Knox bought it, demolished it, and then built a hotel over it. It was Larkin who named it ‘Crimson Grove Hotel and Spa.’”
She wanted to ask more about the home; wanted to ask how it was he’d ended up there, but the questions seemed far too intrusive. Plus, she could clearly see he didn’t want to speak more of it.
Slipping off the stool, she added her empty glass to the dishwasher. “Tell me about the newly vacated apartment you want me to stay in. Is it like this?”
“The layout’s pretty much the same. I don’t think it has a spare bedroom, though.” He leaned back against the counter. “Just so you know, you won’t be using my spare tonight. You’ll be in my bed.”
Her stomach did a little flip. “We talked about this already; we’re leaving it at a one-night stand.”
“And if I told you that when I left your place last night I went to a club, picked up a random woman, and then went home with her and fucked her brains out?”
Devon flinched, feeling like he’d slapped her.
“I didn’t do it. But that thing you’re feeling right now, that’s what you would have felt if I had. And you’re really going to tell me that we’re done?”
She sighed. “You can get sex anywhere, Tanner. Hell, go down to the Underground, there are pussies galore.”
“But there’s only one of you. It’s you I want.”
That hit her right in her core. Her body should have been too tired to react, but damn if her libido didn’t snap awake. “My demon won’t give you a month of its life, Tanner.”
His eyes hardened. “You won’t exactly be taking the time to look for a mate while you’re preoccupied with finding Asa’s friend. Where’s the harm in us having our fun in the meantime?”
“You don’t have to say ‘mate’ like it’s a dirty word, you know.” Her pulse skittered as he pushed away from the counter and slowly prowled toward her. And then all six-feet-plus of untamed power was towering over her, and her mouth went bone dry.
Devon probably should have backed away, but she felt trapped by that compelling gaze. His eyes shimmered with a need so basic and primitive that her nipples tightened. That need called to hers. Tempted her. Invited her in. Drew her closer.
He skimmed the tips of his fingers down the column of her throat. “Be honest, kitten. It’s not your demon that’s so opposed to this; it’s you. You have it in your head that all I want is to use you and then toss you aside.”
“Don’t you?” she challenged.
He lowered his mouth until it was only an inch above hers. “You want to know what I want to do to you?” he whispered softly. “I want to explore you. Savor you. Possess you. Over and over and over. Until I know every inch of you.”
Her stomach fluttered. Clenched. Twisted.
He kissed the corner of her mouth, traced the curve slightly with his tongue. “It would be using you if all I cared about was what I got out of it, but it’s not like that. You know it’s not. Outside my lair, you’re the only thing I give a shit about.”
Those words swathed her like a warm blanket. She wouldn’t melt. She wouldn’t.
“Love your scent.” Tanner brushed his nose along her elegant neck and breathed deep, letting himself drown in her sweet scent. The siren-call of it wrapped around him, heated his blood, thickened his cock. She was an enticement he couldn’t ignore. An obsession that just wouldn’t fade. A drug he’d always crave, no matter how many times he had her. And didn’t that just beat all.
There would be no fucking her out of his system—he knew that. Accepted it. And despite how very smart and perceptive his little hellcat was, she just didn’t see it. That baffled him.
He sank his fingers into her hair and gently stretched out the curls, loving the silky feel of them. “I’ve always been good at abruptly disconnecting from all feeling. I do it whenever I’m in an intense or dangerous situation. But when I realized you’d been taken, there was no distancing myself from the rage. Even my hound went ballistic.”
Taking her hand, he circled the mark on her palm with his thumb. “There are few people who matter to me, and even fewer who matter to my demon. It sees most people as replaceable.