While You Were Creeping - Poppy Rhys Page 0,18

honor.”

“And...” my eyes darted over our surroundings. “We have to put up decorations—”

“Wait, what?” Confusion crinkled her face.

“If I’m going to spend Christmas here, I want it to at least look like Christmas.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” She held up her hands. “Let’s talk about this first. Be reasonable—”

“I am.”

“But I decorated!”

I hmphed. “Your sad snowflake doesn’t count.”

“It’s not sad. It has glitter.”

I speared her with a glare.

“Alright, alright. Chill. Maybe a few decorations...”

“The whole apartment.”

Holly crossed her arms over her chest and my eyes were drawn to her flimsy pajama top and how her nipples strained against the silky fabric.

Suddenly my throat went dry.

“Since you’re making demands, I think it’s fair I have a few of my own.”

I rolled my eyes upward. “Here we go.”

Her smug smirk was simultaneously worrying and alluring. Her lips were slightly swollen, like she’d been nipping them, and I had the urge to nip at them too.

Started to think this was a bad idea.

“I don’t just want you to be my date at the wedding...”

This doesn’t sound good.

“I’d like you to be my date the rest of the month.”

“What?”

“Listen, there’re like a million events in Tinsel this time of year. Think about it... You want all the Christmas cheer and I don’t want to show up alone. Besides, if you pretended to be my boyfriend, it would explain what you’re doing in my apartment.”

“Wow, it’s worse than I thought.” This human was ten degrees past crazy.

“Desperate times,” she jabbed.

“And what happens when I’m free and leave this place?” Or, worse, if we fail and I get sucked right back into my prison.

“I’ll tell everybody you had a work assignment.” She shrugged. “In a few weeks, I’ll say I couldn’t handle the long-distance relationship and tada! Easy breakup. Don’t worry, I’ll mope around for two weeks to make it look real.”

My eyes narrowed, but I couldn’t keep my mouth from tugging up at the corners. “Only two?”

“Fine, four. I’ll say you were a wild guy in the sack and I’ll never find another who can do that thing with his tongue.”

Oh, this was getting better. “What thing might that be?”

Holly’s smirk faded just about the same time her skin blushed and the silence stretched, caressing its awkward fingers between us.

This human was much too easy to read. Messing with her brought me more wicked delight than I cared to admit.

“Anyway, do we got a deal, big guy?” Her voice was thinned, strained, and she cleared her throat.

I’d wager we were both thinking about the same thing: my tongue doing dirty deeds to her body.

Would she squirm? Grab at my horns and tug? What sounds would come out of that mouth?

My voice was gruff when I finally said, “We’ll have to make it look real.”

What the fuck am I doing?

At her questioning expression, I put my hoof further into my mouth. “If you want them to believe we’re really a couple.”

“Oh. Right. You have a point...”

“First thing you should work on? Stop backing away when I get close.”

“I don’t.”

I canted my head. “You’re doing it now.”

She stopped in her tracks and glanced down at her feet as if she didn’t even realize. But now a jittery, panicked look entered her eyes as I drew closer until barely any space remained between us.

Her eyes stared up at me, her shallow breaths gently disturbed the fur on my chest, and I could smell faint traces of her shampoo though it’d been stronger yesterday.

“Your family won’t be shocked to see you with a non-human?” I reached out, giving into my urge to twist a frizzy lock of hair around my fingers.

It was as soft as I anticipated. Softer, even.

“N-no. I-I mean, they’re not prejudiced if that’s what you’re getting at.”

She nibbled at her bottom lip, watching my fingers as they played with the ends of her hair. They grazed just above her left breast and, trust me, that didn’t escape my notice.

I should stop. Touching her hair only made me want to touch her skin. And who knew where the hell that would lead.

Holly wouldn’t be the only one who had to work on this. Yeah, it’d been... hundreds of years since I’d fucked anyone, but that didn’t change anything.

This was an arrangement.

I dropped my hand.

A means to an end. A deal struck between two people who wanted something.

Don’t fuck it up, Kye.

TEN

HOLLY

“What are you doing?” Kye asked, standing with his arms spread, just like I instructed after we’d both showered.

Separately.

I held my comm up and circled him.

“Taking your measurements.”

“Why?”

“Because no