The Road To Hell Part 34

"Why, about us," he said, a lazy smile on his face. "You begging me to f.u.c.k you so that you could go rescue him. You coming twice, thanks to my touch. You dying with my name on those sweet lips."

My heart froze.

"d.a.m.n," he said, shaking his head. "I do so love that look. No worries, babes. Mum's the word. If there's one thing that demons are good at, it's hording dark secrets. Just remember that you and I both know the truth."

"The truth," I said coldly, "is that I did what I had to do to rescue him."

"Right," he said, staring at me from across the room. "So my touch means nothing to you now."

Invisible fingers slid down my shirt, cradled my left breast. Tingles ran up the backs of my legs as those fingers danced over my curves.

Swallowing thickly, I whispered, "Stop that."

"Stop what?"

The hand moved down, touched me between my legs, pressed. I gasped, rocked my hips as those fingers stroked my nub. "That," I panted. "Stop that."

A finger slipped inside me, flicked my core. I bit my lip to keep from crying out as I came.

"Stopped," Daun said, licking his finger. "Sticky sweet."

f.u.c.k. My panties were completely soaked. "You are such a b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

Invisible fingers pinched my a.s.s. I squealed, jumping about a foot in the air.

"Smile when you say that, babes."

"Here we go," Paul said as he walked up the hall, holding a bottle of over-the-counter relief. "It's the evil green liquid, I forgot to buy the caplets..." He stopped, looked first at me, then at Daun, who was still sucking his finger. "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing important," I said, flaying Daun from head to hoof with my gaze.

"Not on the level of, say, the Announcement," Daun said between sucks.

Paul looked at me. "Announcement?"

Daun smiled.

I took a deep breath. "Sweetie, I can't tell you. It was from before, and it's officially filed under Off Limits. I'm sorry."

"You had to be there," Daun said. "It was the biggest thing h.e.l.l had ever seen."

"Daun, stop being such a d.i.c.k."

The smile morphed into something evil. "You want me to be a d.i.c.k, Jez? Just say the word."

Hooboy.

"It's okay, Jesse," Paul said, emphasizing the name. "You can't tell me. I got it. I'm okay with that."

I could have slurped him up like hot chocolate. "Really?"

He cast Daun an unreadable look. "How's it go? There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy."

"You're murdering Shakespeare," Daun said.

"And yet, somehow, I'm able to live with myself." Paul stared hard at the incubus. "Jesse can't tell me some things about her past. I'm okay with that. h.e.l.l, I'm okay with her wanting to keep on dancing."

"Really?" I said, stunned. "But I thought..."

He turned to face me. "I don't like other guys seeing you naked and fantasizing about sleeping with you. But if that's what you want to do, if that's what makes you happy, then I'll come to grips with it. I don't have to like it, but I'll deal." He shrugged. "Could be worse. I'm just glad you changed careers in the first place."

I ran up to him and squeezed him until I heard his bones creak. "I love you, you big goof."

He embraced me, held me tight. "I love you too, Jess."

"Excuse me while I vomit from all the love in the air," Daun said, then proceeded to make puking sounds.

I ignored the incubus. "Sweetie, I don't want to make you unhappy. If my dancing really bothers you that much, I'll stop."

"We'll talk about it later," he said.

"I know," Angel said, sitting cross-legged on the carpet in front of the stereo. "You can teach other angels how to be seductive!"

I stared at her. "Say what?"

"You know, for those of us stuck being Seducers. d.a.m.n me, what do angels know about seduction? It's a. It's a. You know."

I said, "A sin?"

She snapped her fingers. "Exactly. A sin. We're not supposed to do sin. But now we do. And we're terrible at it."

"She's right," Daun said. "They are."

"So you could teach us!" Angel's eyes lit with pa.s.sion.

"Brilliant idea. Here," Paul said, handing her a capful of evil green liquid. "Why don't you toast Jesse's new career move?"

"Ooh, green," she said. "Pretty. Like Jesse Harris's eyes." She quaffed the medicine, then gagged. "d.a.m.n me, what is that? It's horrible!"

"It'll help you sober up," Paul said. "Maybe."

"We hope," I said.

"Blech." She wiped her tongue on her arm. "Look, Jesse Harris. I'm like you kissing."

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"She sticks her tongue out when she kisses me," she confided to Paul. "It's sort of disgusting. But I didn't tell her that. You know. Didn't want to hurt her feelings."

Paul and Daun both stared at me. I said, "What? I was proving a point."

The two males exchanged a look.

"I don't want to know," Paul said.

"I do. You sucked face with the angel here, and you didn't tell me? Babes, I would have paid good money to see that. I would have forfeited a week's soul quota to see that. You and the angel? Really?"

"She said I tasted like gold," Angel said, then hiccoughed.

"So, what does gold taste like?" Paul asked me.

I shrugged. "Angels."

"She'd be such a good teacher," Angel said, yawning. "Except for the kissing part." Then she snuggled against Paul and fell asleep. Even her snores were gorgeous.

I sighed. For an utter b.i.t.c.h, she was sort of cute. Like a puppy. A baby h.e.l.lhound. A h.e.l.lpuppy?

"I'll take her," Daun said to Paul, grabbing the cherub and cradling her to his chest. "She can sleep it off in Pandemonium."

"No taking advantage of the unconscious celestial," I said.

"Right, as if. She's just a frigid b.i.t.c.h."

Thinking of Michael's arctic kiss, I shivered.

"You two lovebirds have fun." Daun smiled at me. "And no worries, Jezzie. I won't come calling. You and I, we're quits."

"Really," I said, not believing him.

"You're too human for me, babes. I have different standards."

Before he bamfed away in a puff of sulfur with the snoring angel, I caught a glimpse of his aura: red and green, like Christmas for the d.a.m.ned. And I knew that he was lying. I wasn't too human for him-far from it. But hey, demons were made for lying.

I'd be seeing Daunuan again. I'd bet my soul on it.

On second thought, I wouldn't. This soul cost me a h.e.l.l of a lot. I think I'll keep it.

"Love," I said to Paul, "this is the part where we kiss."

He walked up to me, took my hand. "And have wild animal s.e.x?"

I smiled just thinking about it. "Only if you ask nicely."

Please turn the page for an exciting sneak peek at Jackie Kessler's HOTTER THAN h.e.l.l.

coming August 2008!

Chapter 1.

Coitus Interruptus Anyone in my position would've thought the buzzing in my head was antic.i.p.ation. Five minutes to go, then the client would be eating from my hand. Literally. I had the grapes ready and waiting in the ice bucket, chilling. She liked it when I let the cl.u.s.ter dangle over her lips-she'd poke her tongue out, sinewy and slick against the ripe fruit, darting pink flesh over purple. Sweetness on sweetness, both begging to be sucked. Plucked. My blood pounded through me, boom boom, boom boom, sending happy signals to my brain and my b.a.l.l.s, getting my body primed. T minus five minutes, and counting. Small talk until then-light touches here, knowing smiles there, lying about her job and mine. Thinking about s.e.x. Killing time.

So it sort of wasn't my fault that I didn't sense the demon approaching.

The client had moved some things around in the bedroom since my last visit. Now her wedding photo was missing ("Getting it reframed") and the threadbare pink comforter had been replaced with one that was red and advertised sin. We sprawled on the bed, clothing still on, intentions thick in the air. She was decked out in a white silk sheath and pearls and lacy thigh-highs. I was a study of blacks. A bit cliche, but Tall, Dark, and Handsome was all the rage. She liked it, and I aimed to please.

"I got a new perfume," my client said. "Envy Me."

"I'd prefer to ravish you."

Her smile pulled into a grin-white teeth flashing in a lipstick sea of red. "The perfume, I mean. It's Gucci." She leaned forward, offering me her neck as she pressed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s against my chest and rubbed. Looking for a quick feel through the silk. My kind of woman. She purred, "Like it, baby?"

Inhaling deeply, I took in the peony and jasmine and other scents blending together with her eager sweat, her underlying smell of female in heat. "Nice," I lied. Me, I preferred the musk of her s.e.x alone, without the cloying flowery scent over it. "You smell good enough to eat." No lie there.

"Yeah?" She was playful, almost kittenish, "You going to... eat me?"

Heh. s.e.x kittenish. "Oh yeah, doll. Eat you alive." Among other things.

"My big bad wolf."

That made me chuckle. Brushing her hair away from her face, I said, "You're my little red riding hood?"

"Depends, baby. You want me to ride you?"

I smiled, wistful. "Like you would not believe."

My head buzzed, hummed as she oozed s.e.x, her body practically begging me to climb on top of her. Soon, doll. Soon. She jiggled against me once more, reached her hand out toward my thigh-stroked once, lushly, then pulled back. She knew the dance by now: only teasing at first, quick-fingered taunts. Nothing overt. Not yet.

Seduction, after all, had its rules. Date Number One had been all about getting her to kiss me. Number Two had been pleasing her like no other man or woman ever had before. Three had been making her want me more than anything else. (One thing about us Seducers: we always put our clients' desires ahead of our own. If not for the rules, I would've f.u.c.ked her silly after I introduced myself.) Here we were at Date Number Four: D-Day, the Big One. My Turn. Otherwise known as The Payoff. It set my blood to boil just thinking about it.

But first things first: I had to get her revving, a ready, steady go on the first real touch. Thus a five-minute warmup of s.e.xual tension. Seduction 101. Child's play. And never mind how that single stroke of hers on my leg had rippled up my back, settled into my stomach. I shifted; the front of my pants was too d.a.m.n tight.

Sometimes the rules really sucked.

"Don," she said, her voice a low purr that went straight to my crotch. That's all she said: my name, or her version of my name. That's all she needed to say. Her hand again, now on my stomach. I wagged a no-no-no with my finger as I grinned, thinking about how she'd taste like candy. Thinking about how she'd call my name.

Mmm. Shivers.

"I've been waiting for this all week," she whispered.

"Me too."

"I couldn't stop thinking about you." She dropped her gaze to my fly, where she saw just how much I was thinking about her. Her desire filled the air, thick and pungent, as she begged me to come on, baby, let's get started already.