announced. “Ensure there are no additional dangers lurking that we should be aware of.”
He strode off without waiting for a response. Snap had already bounded off into the kitchen, the cabinet doors squeaking as he opened each to ogle the contents. I should probably have felt guilty about the food that wasn’t ours he was going to be chowing down on, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to care in that moment. I’d just lost the majority of my worldly possessions. Mr. and Mrs. ‘60s fanatics could spare a little grub.
I crossed the hall to the other bedroom and set down my purse. Pickle sprang out, shook himself with a huff, and trotted down the hall to join Snap, maybe pursuing a late dinner of his own.
Ruse had lingered at my side. When I turned to face him, his warm hazel eyes searched mine. “I expect you could use some rest. If you need anything, you know where to find us.”
“Yeah,” I said, and my throat tightened for a different reason. The incubus had worked awfully hard to lighten my spirits tonight—and then had his efforts ruined by that unexpected assault on the apartment. He hadn’t needed to try to cheer me up.
All at once, I was sure that I didn’t want to be alone right now. I wanted to be with someone who cared about my happiness.
He bobbed his head to press a light kiss to my forehead, his fingers grazing the side of my face with a trace of heat, and then he was swiveling on his heel to go. I caught his hand before he’d taken more than one step. He shot me a questioning look.
“There are a few things I wouldn’t mind doing in that bed before I get to the resting part,” I said.
Ruse offered me a crooked smile. “A generous offer, but there’s no need. After our last interlude, I should be in tip-top shape for at least a few weeks.”
Oh. Had the other night’s encounter really been about nothing more than feeding for him? Embarrassment constricted my chest.
It’d been ridiculous for me to think anything else, hadn’t it? He was an incubus—that was what sex meant to him. Just because he’d had fun setting up the impromptu dance party didn’t mean he was interested in more intimate activities for nothing but the pleasure of it.
I dropped his hand, pulling back into the doorway. “Of course. If you don’t want to—”
Something flickered in Ruse’s eyes as he took in my expression, and then he was reaching for me, his hand teasing along my arm to grasp my elbow. His head bowed close to mine again. My pulse stuttered with desire I couldn’t suppress, but maybe I didn’t have to.
“I can’t think of any way I’d rather spend my time more than sparking a different sort of fire with you, Miss Blaze,” he said, his voice dropping low. “The only thing I don’t want is for you to feel obligated.”
All right then. I found myself grinning at him, maybe a little goofily, but really, can you blame me? It was about time I got a little good news.
I rested my hand on his firm chest. “You promised me the best sex I’ve ever had, and you delivered, and we haven’t even really had sex yet. I promise you my proposition has exactly zilch to do with any sense of obligation.”
“In that case…” He nudged me backward into the room, kicking the door shut behind us.
In the cramped space next to the bed, he cupped my face and dipped his to claim a proper kiss. The press of his mouth, hot and determined yet tender, woke up every inch of my body.
It’d been a long, hazardous night, but I definitely wasn’t too tired to welcome this escape.
And I didn’t want this time to be all about me. I intended to get the full incubus experience—well, emotional meddling aside.
As I kissed him back, my fingers sped down the front of his shirt to unbutton it. When the muscular planes were bared, I couldn’t resist dropping my head to kiss him just below his shoulder, drinking in his bittersweet cocoa scent. Yum.
Ruse trailed his fingers over my hair. As soon as I eased back, he tilted my chin up to recapture my mouth. As his tongue twined with mine, he found the zipper at the back of my dress and slid it downward torturously slowly.
With each inch, his thumb stroked over the naked skin he’d uncovered. By the