Succubus Dreams Page 0,81

pops up in my life, and I always end up sitting around and feeling useless. I'm always dependent on others."

"No, you aren't," he said, lacing his fingers through mine. "You're wonderful and capable. But you can't do everything."

"I just wish I could do something else besides shape-shift and look good. I wish I could, I don't know, shoot laser beams out of my fingers or something."

"You think that'd stop Nyx?"

"No. But it'd be cool."

"Me, I always wanted frost power."

"Frost power?"

"Yeah." Seth gestured dramatically toward my coffee table. "If we're talking superhero abilities. If I had frost power, I could wave my hand, and suddenly that whole thing would be covered in ice."

"Not frost?"

"Same difference."

"How would frost and/or ice power help you fight crime?"

"Well, I don't know that it would. But it'd be cool."

I laughed and snuggled into Seth, feeling better. I could wait this out.

"Are you hungry?" I asked him. "Yasmine and Vincent have been waging their own version of Top Chef around here."

We went to the kitchen and found it stocked with more food than it had ever had since I moved in. I unwrapped a plate of what appeared to be slices of freshly baked shortcake. Seth pointed to the refrigerator.

"If there are strawberries in there, it's proof of God's existence."

I opened the door and peered around. "Get ready for a religious experience," I told him, pulling out a bowl of chopped-and-sugared strawberries. With the other hand, I pulled out a larger bowl covered in plastic wrap. "And homemade whipped cream."

"Hallelujah," he said.

We piled plates high with shortcake and strawberries, and suddenly, dream entities seemed downright comical. I unwrapped the whipped cream, and Seth promptly dabbed a finger in it.

"Savage," I scolded.

"Heavenly," he countered, licking off the cream.

He stuck another finger into the bowl and held it out to me. I leaned forward and ran my tongue over the tip. Rich sweetness flooded my mouth.

"Mmm," I said, closing my eyes.

"Mmm," said Seth.

I opened my eyes. "Are you talking about the whipped cream?"

"Not exactly."

"You talking about this?"

There was still whipped cream on his finger. I took it into my mouth and sucked gently on it, cleaning up the last of the cream and stroking Seth's skin with my tongue. When I finished, he exhaled a held breath.

"Thanks for the cleanup."

"Cleanliness is next to godliness, I hear."

"I think I have more on me, though," he said.

"Really?" I asked. "Where?"

He swiped his finger through more whipped cream. "Right here."

I licked that off too, sucking and kissing all of the fingers on his hand - not just the guilty one. Finished, I flipped the hand over and kissed the top of it.

"There. Sparkling clean."

Seth shook his head. "Oh no."

"What?"

"You've got some on you too."

"Do I? Where?"

He dipped into more whipped cream and dabbed it on my lips, my chin, and the side of my throat.

"Everywhere," he said.

Before I could formulate a response, his mouth was on my neck, licking and kissing with as much sensuality as I had just used on his fingers. The eroticism of it astounded me - and I was hardly one to be caught by surprise with such things. I instinctually moved my body toward his, arching my neck back as his lips continued moving up. I felt his tongue, warm and amazingly skilled, clean up every drop of the whipped cream on my throat before sliding to my chin and finally to my mouth.

We kissed harder, dessert (of the food nature) now forgotten. I felt his lips fit perfectly with my own. My back was against the counter, and Seth pressed his body against mine, trapping me. When I finally pulled back from the kiss, I could scarcely breathe.

"Wow," I said, eyes wide. "This is why I don't cook. It only leads to trouble."

Seth, still right against me, glanced left and then right. There was a heated, feral look in his eyes that made me shiver. "I don't see anything too bad happening."

"Not yet," I admitted. "But you know the drill."

He shrugged. "Yeah. But nothing bad is happening now."

"It will if we - mmphf!"

Seth was kissing me again, and this time his arms went around my waist, pulling us closer still. I wrapped my own arms around his neck, tilting my face upward to get more of the kiss. It was hot and dangerous and amazing, and I couldn't get enough. I knew, though, that I'd have to get enough of it pretty quickly here and was contemplating how to stop it when Seth broke away first.

"Ah,"