Ivan let himself blink once. Twice. His heart rate was elevated, but that wasn’t something another person would be able to tell. “What are you doing, exactly?” he asked, pleased with how measured and calm his voice came out.
Nix was kneeling at his bedside, arms folded over the side of the bed with his chin resting on top. Ivan turning over had placed their faces only a hair’s breadth apart.
Nix’s slow grin emphasized his plush lips, but Ivan kept his gaze determinedly on his eyes. “Watching you sleep, my liege.”
“Why?”
If the smile was dangerous, the pout was lethal. “Because I got bored.”
“Sascha should be here soon.” Ivan did sit up now. Careful. Controlled. “And I need to freshen up.”
What he needed was to get away from those lips. That face. That spiced scent.
He rose from the bed and strode to the bathroom, busying himself with becoming human again. He brushed his teeth, splashed water on his face, put his hair to rights.
He returned to the bedroom with his heart rate under control and his sense of self securely back in place. Incubi were designed to be tempting, weren’t they? But that didn’t mean Ivan needed to be tempted. He was stronger than that.
Nix was sitting on the bed now, long legs crossed, his tail flicking back and forth. It looked almost like a lion’s tail, long and lightly furred, with a tuft of soft-looking hair at the end. Except unlike a lion’s tail, it was red.
It was…distracting.
As were the legs.
Jesus fucking Christ, what was wrong with Ivan’s brain? He didn’t fuck men. Not once, not ever.
But he’d never met a man who looked like Nix.
It was…confusing him. The long hair. The pretty face. Thetail.The strange mix of it all was messing with Ivan’s brain; that was all it was. It had been too long since Ivan had taken someone.
He clearly needed to fuck something.
Isn’t fucking an incubus’s specialty?
Ivan dashed the thought from his mind. He had enough trouble holding on to his organization without adding men to his repertoire. There was already Alexei and Sascha, and Ivan knew how his men spoke about them when they thought he couldn’t hear.
More so about Sascha, since Alexei would have been able to beat them all into the ground, the massive fuck.
Still, straight was simpler. Straight was…well, straight was just what Ivanwas. He liked fucking women. He always had.
He ignored the incubus and his legs and tail, making his way to the freestanding clothing rack that held his suits. He flicked through his shirts, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his top two buttons as he did so.
Nix stayed right where he was.
Ivan finally shot him a glance. “Well?”
“Yes, Vanya?” Nix asked, all innocence. He did that a lot for someone who was supposed to be on Ivan’s side. Lied through false affect. Or omission. Or just directly to Ivan’s face.
“I’m changing,” Ivan told him.
“Mm.” Nix’s tail flicked out again. Once. Twice.
“Do youmind?”
“Not at all.” Nix rose from the bed and sauntered—had Ivan ever met anyone before who actually sauntered?—Ivan’s way, that fucking tail swishing behind him. Ivan expected him to continuepast and through the door, but Nix stopped right in front of him. Close.
Too close.
Before Ivan could tell him off, strong hands were delving into Ivan’s hair and scratching at his scalp with a gentle, soothing touch. The incubus had sharp talons at the ends of his fingers—it shouldn’t have felt good. It should have hurt.
