Read devil 04 - the devil you know for Free Online

sensitized skin of my throat. My nipples hardened into desperate peaks beneath my leather coat.
    His hands slid under my coat…hot skin and cool air slipped across my body…
    His eyes shot toward my face. “You’re naked!”
    I opened my mouth to explain but no words formed in my mind.
    Groaning, Emo yanked me up against his body, grinding himself into me. His lips ravaged mine. His hot, sweet tongue plundered my mouth, tangling hungrily with mine until I could barely breathe, hardly think. Everything was sensation. Heat. Musk. The brush of hungry skin against starving flesh.
    Somewhere in the center of my lust-drenched brain reason called to me. I squelched it ruthlessly, allowing my Settling to pull me, limp and compliant, into disgrace and debauchery. My body wrapped around his, my leg twined around the backs of his hard, muscular thighs and my mouth consumed his.
    I was lost.
    Gone.
    Plowed under by lust.
    There was no way I was going to pull back from it. Emo was no help at all. He wasn’t even trying to fight the pull of my Settling.
    Wait a minute.
    This was my Settling, not his. He couldn’t be under its influence.
    I gasped and jerked away from him, swiping a shaking hand over my mouth as I backpedaled, putting much-needed space between us.
    Emo growled and tried to grab me back. His eyes were no longer even slightly human. They swirled with frantic color and throbbed in a rhythm that matched the surge of blood between my thighs. He panted desperately, beyond reason, and his jeans bulged with clear evidence of his need.
    “You and I are about the same age!”
    Emo turned away, reason finally sliding in to dull the edge of his raging hunger. “Yes.” His voice sounded strangled, husky from an internal struggle I recognized all too well.
    “Oh my god! You’re under your Settling!”
    Emo nodded.
    Suddenly everything made sense. Except for one thing. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    He glanced at me, his pupils looking slightly less frantic but still swirling with color. “I’ve tried to. But you’ve been so wrapped up in your Settling…and Dialle.”
    I frowned. He was right. I’d been totally self-involved for the last couple of months. A slave to my body’s constant demands. I couldn’t even imagine what he’d been going through. “I’m so sorry, partner.”
    He frowned. “Don’t be sorry for me, Astra. I’ve been dealing very well until today.” He looked away, his perfect features clearly showing his shame. But then he frowned. “What the hell are you doing here with no clothes on, Astra? Are you trying to kill me?”
    I pulled my long, leather coat around my body and grimaced. “Sorry. It was unintentional.”
    “What? You just forgot to get dressed before you came to the office today?” He glared at me.
    My eyes slid guiltily around the room. I knew all too well how Emo felt about Dialle. I really didn’t want to tell him what Dialle and I had just done in my office. Turned out I didn’t need to. My guilty face told Emo everything he needed to know.
    “Don’t bother lying to me, Astra.” His dark eyes swirled with disgust. “I have to go.”
    My hand shot out to stop him but he disappeared. I was left clutching empty air. And feeling as if something irreparable had just been done to my friendship with Emo.
    * * * * *
     
    I didn’t see Emo for several days. I knew he’d been in and out of the office because he left me safe little notes on my desk along with his reports. Business went on as usual at the Angel Network but my partner and I just didn’t interact.
    Emo’s daily notes told me which demons I needed to chase and which ones he was going after so we didn’t accidently bump into each other.
    It was very efficient.
    And very damn depressing.
    After checking my assignment list for the day, I grabbed my coat and headed for the vehicle docking area where I’d left the Red Knight, my gorgeous and talented air vehicle.
    The flash elevator carried me to the parking level of