Ivan gave Nix’s hip a smack. “Don’t flirt with Coop. He can’t handle your teasing.”
Nix simpered at him. “Not like you, Vanya.”
Cooper’s eyes widened, his gaze flashing between them. Ivan only grunted, as if in annoyance, but his arm darted out, tugging Nix away from Cooper and into his side.
Nix leaned into the touch easily, sitting halfway on the arm of Ivan’s chair, happy to play along with any little show of dominance Ivan might desire.
Ivan tilted his head to the door. “That’ll be all, Coop.”
Nix waggled his fingers. “Bye, Coop. So lovely to make your acquaintance.”
Cooper ducked his head back into his hoodie and walked out the door without another word.
Nix clucked his tongue. “Poor baby. He’s terrified of you.”
“Coop’s scared of everyone. Social anxiety or some bullshit. He prefers his screens to people.”
“That’s a shame.” Nix brushed Ivan’s pale hair back from his face. “He’s a cutie.”
Ivan grabbed his hand and held it still. “Behave.”
“Why should I?” Nix asked, tugging his hand back and leaning in closer instead. If he slid over just a smidge, he’d be on Ivan’s lap.
Ivan still had an arm wrapped around Nix’s middle, his fingers toying with the hem of Nix’s shirt, even as he frowned up at him. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I missed you.”
“Likely story.”
“Your doorman and your driver are loyal,” Nix told him, deciding to be helpful even if Ivan was being difficult again. “Same with Coop there.”
Ivan’s eyes gleamed with interest. “You can tell?”
“I can tell. I read people. I’m useful, Ivan.” Nix smirked. “So use me.”
“Mm.” Ivan dropped hold of Nix’s shirt, and his thumb began stroking against Nix’s hip instead.
Nix cocked his head. Something had cracked again, at some point during their brief time apart this morning. Nix’s human was open in a way he hadn’t been earlier.
Really, a person could get whiplash from the back-and-forth.
Or he could take advantage, and wedge himself into every little opening offered.
That sounded like more fun.
Nix lowered his head until his mouth was a hair’s breadth from Ivan’s. “Did I do good, boss?” he murmured. “How about a reward for behaving so well?” He licked his lips, fighting back a giggle when Ivan’s thumb immediately paused its stroking, Ivan’s gaze fixed on his mouth. “Perhaps another kiss?”
7
Ivan
Ivan stared into the incubus’s strange violet eyes. He smelled of spice and oddly sweet smoke, as he always did. Even in his human form, Nix was otherworldly. Too alluring by half, and he knew it.
Ivan should have kicked him out the moment he’d arrived.
But something about Nix waltzing into his office, despite Ivan’s strict instructions to remain at the apartment, had thrown Ivan for a loop. He was used to being feared, even by those who claimed to love him. And yet Nix hadn’t so much as allowed Ivan to chastise him.
So Ivan had let Nix stay, and now the demon was asking for a fucking kiss.
