Sins of the Flesh (Half-Breed Series Book 2) (12 page)

“He’s
not
yours. Last time I checked, it was a free country. Get lost yourself.”

I turned it up to eleven and tried to tune out my competition. My partner clearly wanted the foreplay further in the water then back onto the sand so we would wind up having sex next to the rocks and palms. Hopefully I’d be too sexed up and high on his energy to be distracted by gritty, sandpaper-like penetration and sharp volcanic stones digging into my skin.

The warmth left my back and fingers pinched painfully as Business Man was abruptly ripped from me.

“Hey!” I spun about to see the gorgeous woman from the tiki bar liplocked with my partner.
My
partner. Damn it all. I’d picked him out, taken the time to carefully work my mojo. How dare she track me down and snatch my prey away from right under my nose.

The woman ignored me, shoving her tongue down
my
victim’s throat and aggressively grabbing his crotch. His fantasy shifted and changed from blond-on-the-beach to brunette. Oh no, not on my watch.

Striding out of the water, I grabbed a fistful of her black hair and yanked. “Bitch. Take your skinny ass elsewhere, before I knock your teeth out.”

My elf half was appalled at my aggressive tone, but that part of me didn’t exactly approve of my need to have love-em-and-leave-em sex with random strangers, either. The other half of me was furious. Rude, prey-stealing demon aside, I didn’t want this woman anywhere near me. Something about her made my skin crawl in a way none of the other demons I’d met ever had. I didn’t want her on my beach; I didn’t want her on my island.

Wait,
my
island? I was just as bad as she was if I’d started claiming the whole island as my territory. This was too much for me to handle. I was only half succubus and not about to get into a catfight with a full demon over some dude here for a sales kick-off meeting, let alone brawl over the right to hunt on the island. Better to swallow my pride and back down than have this all escalate into something that might wind up with me dead or with injuries I couldn’t heal.

That thought was slapped right out of my head. Literally slapped. Cleopatra had pushed the man aside and slammed her open palm against my cheek. My eyes watered, skin stinging.

Fuck this. I yanked hard on her hair, driving my fist into her chin with my best uppercut. Bitch wanted a brawl; she’d get a brawl. It didn’t help that Business Man was shaking off the pheromones, staring at the two of us with a mixture of lust and anxiety. Two gorgeous, partially naked women fighting over him was probably every man’s fantasy, but our attention was more on the catfight than on turning him on with erotic sand wrestling.

“Umm, I really need to get back and meet the guys from the southeast region for golf. Tee time, you know. Maybe later.”

“Stay,” we both shouted in unison. The guy froze as if he were glued to the sand, lust edging out anxiety. His sexual energy sparked, and we both tried to claim it.

“This one is mine,” I snarled. “Go fuck the bartender, or the umbrella guy. This one is mine.”

We spun on the soft sand, each gripping the other’s long hair and trying to land a decent blow. I tried to get us closer to the tree line, where I could use some of my skills to wrap her in vines or drop a tree limb on her head, but she dug her feet into the sand and held firm.

“Like fuck he’s yours. Bitch. You’re weak, and that elf-girl thing you’ve got going on isn’t fooling anyone, especially me.”

She thought I was faking? Oh, how funny. My demon side might be weaker than hers, but let me get within touching distance of one of those plants and we’ll see who comes out on top. Actually, my demon side was the one who wanted to strangle her with a hylocereus undatas, but my elf side wanted to negotiate. For once, the elf side won.

“Pick one — either this guy or the bartender. I’ll take the other one, and we’ll decide who gets to hunt on which section of the island.”

“You can both have me.” And now the guy’s fantasy of naked sand wrestling included a threesome happy ending.

Cleopatra’s eyes narrowed. I expected the “this island ain’t big enough for the two of us speech”, and I wasn’t disappointed.

“Go home to your dildo, little girl. Leave the actual sex to those of us who are out of diapers.”

We were spinning closer to the water, with our prospective sexual partner on the beach awaiting us, his swim trunks tented outward with an eager display of arousal.

“Not happening. How about we both do him? He’s willing, and I’m not averse to sharing.” Blech. I was actually very averse to sharing, especially with this nasty woman, but I’d be willing to soldier through the experience if it would end this stupid fight.

A blow hit my cheek and I fell backwards into the water, a sharp rock cutting into my back. I scrambled to regain my footing, expecting another blow at any moment, but none came. Shoving the hair out of my eyes, I saw Cleo standing in the sand, eyeing the water cautiously. Jerk. I was a soaked, sand-covered, tangled mess, while she stood on the shore with her dry clothing and cute little sandals. Pissed off, I stood and flung a handful of water at her, amused to see her retreat.

“Get out of here, or I’ll drag you in here and drown you like a rat.” It was a hollow threat. She was a lot stronger than I was, but I was hoping her girly-girl reluctance to get wet would give me the advantage.

She raised her eyebrows then spun about on her cute sandals to make her way to Business Man. “Come on, sweetheart. You’re all mine now.”

I struggled with the urge to jump her and try to gain the upper hand. This was humiliating. She was leaving with the guy I’d worked so hard to score — leaving me soaking wet, topless, with my scalp and face aching from our fight. Swallowing my pride, I closed my eyes and counted slowly to ten. When I opened them, the pair were gone. Backing down from a fight stung worse than my bruised cheek, but there were plenty of other guys on the island.

I scooped my wet, sand-coated bikini top off the beach and shook it before putting it back on. Then I walked back to the tiki bar and ordered another drink, smiling at the bartender.

“So... you still getting off work in a couple of hours? Maybe you can find someone to cover for you and sneak out early.”

Chapter 10

I
heard the hotel room door open and shut from my spot on the lanai. Irix. I could sense him when he was still in the hallway, the attraction I felt for him soothing my frazzled nerves. Pivoting on my chair, I eyed the incubus as he poured himself a drink.

“Want one?”

“Yes please.” Rum and ginger would be nice. Hopefully the sirloin I had pressed against my eye wouldn’t drip blood into my glass.

“I had sex,” I announced with some pride. “A beach-umbrella rental guy.”

After the afternoon I’d just had, any success should be celebrated. Bartender guy had turned me down.
Me
. The combination of my bruised face, snarled hair and the fact that I’d just snubbed him for Business Man didn’t work in my favor. I could have overcome his resistance with an overdose of pheromones but knew the dangers in that approach. And I had my pride.

Well, not too much pride. Umbrella Rental Guy. Yep, it was back to greasy fast-food burgers for me.

And I now suspected that once the shiner around my left eye became colorful, I’d be less attractive to any future prey. Hopefully this steak thing wasn’t just some old wives’ tale.

Irix handed me my drink, looking puzzled at the piece of meat against my face. “Good job. I’m glad you’re getting out there.” He said this as if he were proud of me for taking my vitamins or eating my spinach. “Next time, find a better quality partner and tie them to you. Then I’ll have some confidence in your ability to take care of yourself.”

And
there
was the nagging Irix I’d grown to love. I stuck out my tongue, wincing as the motion worked the bruised muscles in my jaw. Cleopatra had fists of steel.

Irix sat across from me, looking at the steak. “Is that some new complexion treatment? Will you have radiant skin by nightfall?”

“Hardly.” I moved the steak to give him a good look at my swollen eye. I’m sure the shadows around it had deepened to a lovely shade of purple.

The incubus clucked in sympathy, leaning over to take my chin in his hand and examine my face further.

“Careful. My jaw has got a nasty bruise on it too.”

“Hmmm.” Irix sat back in his chair and took a sip of his drink. “You might want to keep away from humans with sadism fantasies until your ability to fix cuts and bruises manifests.”

I opened my mouth to correct him then snapped it shut. If I told him about Cleo, that another succubus had gotten into a fistfight with me over territory, he’d go nuts. It would be satisfying to watch him smear bits of Cleo across the beach, but I didn’t want Irix to fight my battles for me. It was bad enough that he constantly lectured me about my choice of partners, frequency of sex, and reluctance to lock in my energy sources by tying humans to me. I wasn’t a child, but if I let Irix handle this situation for me, I might as well be one. If I couldn’t hold my own against Cleo, then I might as well cash it in.

“Good idea.” I dropped the steak onto the table, doubting it was doing much to help speed the healing of my bruises. “Could you do me a favor and heal this for me? I’m going to have a hard time picking up men if I have a black eye.”

Irix laughed. “Not unless I was sure you could undo the damage I caused in fixing you. I wouldn’t want to risk the chance of giving you ocular cancer unless I was positive you could correct it before you died. So, no, you’ll just have to let it heal on its own.”

Damn. “So I let you bottle-feed me energy until I’m pretty again?” So much for not being a child.

A devilish grin curled Irix’s lips. “You’re more than pretty, sweetheart, even with a black eye. Don’t worry; plenty of men will come crawling.”

I snorted. Yeah. Right. Maybe I’d just put a patch over it and pretend to be a pirate. Or only hunt late at night in places with very poor lighting.

“I’ll prove it to you.” Irix’s voice grew dark and suggestive. “How about I come crawling?”

Oh, yes please. It didn’t pay to look too eager, so I pouted, looking up at my demon with sad eyes. He prowled toward me, tilting my chair backwards, and nibbling on my earlobe.

“So, are we staying in this afternoon?” Worked for me. That late lunch could just as easily become an early dinner.

“No.” Irix’s breath tickled the edge of my jaw, and I tilted my head, inviting him to continue his nibbling activities a little lower. “We’re going out.” His teeth scraped against my neck, giving me the impression that our going out was in the distant future.

My chair slammed down, all four legs again on the ground. I blinked, the seductive spell broken.

“Drink up. It’s a bit of a drive, and we need to get going.”

“Going where?” Yes, I sounded peeved. I was horny, damn it.

“To have lunch beside, and make sweet love under, a waterfall.”

I slugged down my drink and stood. “Well then, let’s get a move on.”

A big hat was out of the question with the Jeep Irix had stolen, but sunglasses and some well-placed concealer worked wonders on my bruises. I propped my feet on the dash and tilted my head back, glorying in the warm sun on my skin and wind ruffling the loose strands of hair as Irix drove. Catfight aside, it wasn’t shaping up to be a bad day. I’d gotten my succubus needs out of the way and was looking forward to the afternoon and evening with my demon. And even given my miserable watersports abilities, this morning had been fun. More than fun. I remembered Kai’s grace on the water, her easy laugh, her request concerning my attire for tomorrow’s lesson. The sun suddenly felt blazingly hot on my face, and I shifted, unable to sit still.

“Can I ask your opinion on something? As a sex demon?”

Irix nodded. “We might be lovers, but I still am responsible for your education. Of course. Ask me anything.”

I bit my lip, wondering how to word this. “I want Kai,” I blurted out, feeling very hot once more. “I mean, she’s my friend, but I’m attracted to her, and I’m not usually attracted to women.”

I wasn’t sure what else to say. Irix knew my issues with tying people, and we’d discussed how Kai didn’t want a one-night stand. I didn’t see any way anything beyond friendship could possibly work out for us, but he was the expert. And I trusted him to be honest with me.

“Tell me about her.”

I glanced over in surprise. “There was this spark the first time we met. She’s beautiful and so easy to be with. She’s funny, warm, and generous. She’s been hurt — I don’t know if her ex boyfriend was abusive or just an ass, but she’s afraid to love. Not just love, she’s afraid to risk any part of herself. She doesn’t give out any receptive signals, ignores advances, locks herself down into work and solitude with only a tiny circle of friends she feels safe with.”

I watched the scenery roll by, stuck my hand over the roll bar to feel the wind in my palm. “But she flirts with
me
. I think... I think if I kissed her, she wouldn’t say ‘no’.”

I expected Irix to tell me to go for it. I expected him to offer to join in. He surprised me.

“Wait for her to kiss you.”

“Huh?” I stared.

“She’s been hurt, and from what you’ve said, you’re the first person she feels safe enough to even think about being close to right now. Be receptive, and let her come to you.”

“I don’t want to hurt her.” I said the words so softly that it was a wonder he even heard them.

“Then don’t. Remember I told you what we do can be a gift? You have the ability to tie a human to you as tightly or as loosely as you want. You can make it conditional, or not tie at all. You can just give physical pleasure, or you can give so much more.”

I frowned. How could I give so much more? I loved Irix. It was hard enough wrapping my head around the thought we had sex with others; was he seriously saying we could
love
others too?

“In my two-thousand years, I’ve learned there are many ways to care about another being. Love doesn’t have to be forever and ever; it can be a flower that blooms at nightfall, filling the dark with sweet fragrance only to fade away at dawn. If Kai opens her heart to you, fill it. She’ll know what you give will fade at dawn and that life can become richer after an experience of fleeting beauty.”