shut behind us, and strode on while I strained to make out my surroundings.
This wasn’t my suite.
And not just that, but I recognized the furniture from the day he’d brought me to Hell—we’d come through these rooms when we first entered the house.
Sure enough, the next room he carried me through was the one with the huge bed and seating area, the one with the balcony where he’d landed. He didn’t stop here, though. Without pause, he continued on to yet another room.
Torches flared up as he stepped inside, illuminating a cavernous room tiled in silver-veined black marble. A bathroom, its size and equipment on the upper end of luxury, glossy surfaces gleaming in the light of the flames.
He set me down and gestured at the enormous shower in one corner. It seemed big enough to accommodate fully extended wings, no glass enclosure, no curtain, just a step down into an area that was easily bigger than my shared dorm room in college.
I caught my breath and looked around. “Why didn’t you take me to my rooms?”
“Mine are closer.”
That yanked my gaze back to him. These were his quarters.
I tried to peer around him into what was his personal bedroom, but he snapped his fingers in front of my face.
“In there, now.” He pointed at the shower area. “And do not dawdle.”
I wanted to snap at him for being a presumptuous ass, but my words died a shameful death on my tongue when he stripped out of his shirt. I stared. And stared.
Godfuckingdammit, if there ever was perfection of the male form, it stood right there, limned by the glow of the fires as if the light itself wanted to lick him.
I understood that urge far better than I was comfortable with.
Built with just the right amount of bulk, his muscled form spoke to every intrinsically heterosexual part of my femininity, from the broad shoulders, massive pecs, ribbed abs to the tapered waist...and those arms. Good lord. Arm porn was a real thing, and his were a prime example. A dusting of dark hair covered his chest and trailed down over his abdomen, disappearing underneath the waistline like some sinful lure.
“You’ve got something there,” he said, tapping the corner of his mouth. “Looks like drool.”
That snapped me out of my embarrassing stare-a-thon like nothing else. “Puke is more like it,” I growled back. “And you better not plan on joining me in the shower.” Crossing my arms, I hoped the irritation in my voice hid my nerves. I certainly didn’t want him to see my sudden apprehension about the prospect of being naked in front of him. Or him in front of me. “We haven’t started our pretend play yet.”
“Why, my impulsive human, are you afraid you won’t be able to control your urges and ravish me?” His eyes gleamed, and he laid one hand over his heart. “How considerate of you to care about my honor.”
I glanced around in search of something sharp to stab him with.
“Never to worry,” he continued, “there will be plenty of time for you to act on your base desires later. You have five minutes to wash up.”
And with that, he left the bathroom, the door softly falling shut behind him.
I exhaled, releasing the tension that had locked my muscles. For a moment there, I’d thought—I shook my head, remembering Azmodea’s words. He’s not the sort to take what isn’t offered.
Okay, then. Okay. I blew out another breath and stripped out of my blood-soiled and torn clothes. If it was weird to stand butt-naked in Azazel’s personal bathroom, with him waiting just on the other side of the door, I totally didn’t feel it. Nope, not at alllllll.
I hurried into the shower area and fiddled with the controls until streams of water fell from the multiple heads in the ceiling. Thankfully, with Hell’s climate, it wasn’t a gush of ice-cold water that hit me, but a warm shower, like a summer rain.
I grabbed the bar of soap from the shelf and started lathering myself from head to toe, all the while replaying the events that led me here.
Had I actually managed to bargain with Azazel? Successfully? I still couldn’t believe it. Such a stroke of luck to discover his one weakness, and to use it to my advantage. Finally, the kind of leverage I needed to exert any amount of power, to level the scales between us just a little bit.