Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Instead, I reach out and touch one of his ceramic ears. “Pull me back.”
He doesn’t hesitate. His strong arms drag me toward him until we’re back on the roof together, our bodies tangled, his arms around me and I’m lying on top of him, hands on his chest.
His heart is surprisingly steady. We stay like that for a few seconds and my core’s burning with desire as his hands remain on my hips, way too close to my ass. Nobody’s touched me like this, not for a very, very long time, and I don’t know what to do. I like it, but it scares me, and I want more, but I’m terrified. If we weren’t wearing masks, I’d press my mouth to his and kiss him hard enough to make his lips bleed, but if we weren’t wearing masks I would’ve run away a long time ago.
“That was interesting, watching you like that, but I like this position better, little demon.” His voice is soft and there’s no mocking in it.
I let myself stay for another few heartbeats before I push him back and move to the side. He sits up as I get to my feet and pull my dress down, doing my best to make myself look remotely presentable.
“I get why you played that game.” I take a few steps away from him toward the fire door.
He rises to his feet. “It feels good, doesn’t it? When you’re hanging over the edge, upside-down, completely aware of the drop but too stunned by the view to care. You almost want to fall, don’t you?”
How the hell does he know that’s exactly what I’m thinking? I pause, one hand on the knob, and stare at him as my heart hammers in my chest. I want to ask who he is, and I want to run away and never see him again, but something just happened between us. He had my life in his hands, and he didn’t let me down. No, more than that, he had my body in his hands, and I didn’t want him to stop touching me.
I didn’t know I could be touched without losing my mind.
“Next time, let me go further.”
He tilts his head. “You think there will be a next time?”
“If you can figure out who I am, I’ll see you again.”
His big arms cross over his strong chest. “Give me your first name.”
“That’ll make it too easy.”
“Give me something then.”
I hesitate, racking my brain. This is dumb, but—“I’m the artist,” I tell him, which should be safe, since only a minuscule handful of people know that’s my art down there. “It was fun, Jackal.”
I swear, he’s grinning at me, and I hope that he’s frustrated. This was stupid—beyond stupid—and I’m starting to crash back to reality.
“It was very fun, little demon.”
I shove the door open and hurry back downstairs.
I’m trembling as I descend. I shouldn’t have done that. Letting some total stranger hold me while I dangled over a steep drop was absolutely crazy. But the way his fingers brushed my skin, his hands gripped my hips, and his eyes, and, god—
I have to pause to catch my breath.
Get it together, Laura.
The party’s still going hard. I find my sister, Elena, and let her know that I’m ready to go. She seems disappointed, but she drapes her arm across my shoulders and steers me toward the exit without making a fuss. “I’m proud of you,” she says. “Coming out like this. I know it expands your boundaries, but this is good.” She pushes her cat mask up and grins at me. “Maybe next time, we’ll skip the costumes.”
“Doubt it,” I tell her.
Chapter 2
Marco
The dull light of four computer monitors makes my dark home office glow a muted gray. My eyes hurt from staring at the screens all day, but this job is almost over. I rub my face and glance to the side where the jackal mask is resting on top of a vintage stereo speaker, and I think about the demon girl with the ram horns and that gorgeous black dress.
I don’t know why I told her about the game. I hadn’t thought of it in years, but when I was up on that roof, it all came rushing back. And when she said she wanted to play—I honestly thought she was fucking with me.
Then my hands were on her hips and her life was all mine, and it was the most exhilarating moment of my life to this point. Which is saying something.
It helped that the girl was smoking hot. Her tight dress gave me a full view of her gorgeous body. She was small, but muscular, clearly very athletic, with a ribbed stomach and long, lean, toned legs. Except there was still a softness to her, in her ass and her breasts and her hips, and when her hemline yanked up as she shimmied out over empty air, showing more thigh, giving me a glimpse of her black lacy panties—