4
I open my eyes to darkness, and it takes me a while to orient myself. Instead of scratchy dried grass, I’m lying on a warm pillow made of solid muscle, two glowing eyes blinking down at me.
Shivering, I burrow further into his chest. “Mm, what time is it?”
“An hour has passed.”
Shit. I must have been wiped out from my orgasm. The throbbing in my ass and sticky pubes is evidence of what we did, and I squirm pleasantly, relishing the dull ache.
I glance up at the man and, not for the first time since we met, find myself captivated. He really is gorgeous. A kind of brash, rugged beauty, like he’s been chiseled from a wild tree trunk or carved out of rock. Without thinking, my hand comes up to pet one of his horns.
“Wicked costume,” I murmur. The horn feels sturdy under my fingers, like it really could be wrapped-up bone. “Very realistic. This must have cost a fortune.”
The man grunts and shifts so that we’re both lying on our sides, cocooning me in his arms. He doesn’t seem to mind me groping him, so I press a quick kiss to his cheek and continue my exploration.
I was too… occupied to notice before, but his skin is a deep gray. Flat and devoid of color, like he’s covered himself in body paint. My fingers trail down his strong jaw and over two full lips, pulling the bottom one down slightly to expose razor-sharp teeth.
Huh. They could be tooth covers, but that’s a crazy level of commitment. Something about them looks so real.
Tracing over his back, my hand bumps into those hard nubs from before. At my touch, a shudder goes through him, like he can feel it. I suck in a faint breath, mesmerized by the details of his costume.
“What are these?”
“My spine.” He bats my hand away, frowning. “Enough, human. Who was that sniveling excuse of a man?”
It takes me a while to get that he’s talking about Jake. “Oh, my ex-boyfriend. Please forget about him, he’s a horrible guy that I don’t have to deal with anymore, thanks to you.”
“You have lain with him before.”
“As in, we’ve had sex?” I clear my throat. “Not... not fully. We only ever did hand and mouth stuff, if you count that. Jake never wanted to go any further.”
The arms tighten around my waist. A loud growl rumbles through his chest, more animalistic and sub-vocal than anything I’ve heard from him yet. Flashing him a bright smile, I cup the back of his neck.
“You don’t have to be jealous. He never made me come three times in one night.”
“I am not jealous, brat.”
“Okay,” I agree happily, ignoring his annoyed grumbling and snuggling closer. It should embarrass me how touchy-feely I am with this guy I barely know, but something about him feels so right. “Not that I don’t like ‘brat’, but my name’s Charlie. What’s yours? I can’t keep calling you ‘hot horned man’ in my head.”
“Charlie.”
“No, silly, that’s my name, you can’t have that—”
Thick fingers slide into my mouth, cutting off my incoming ramble to caress the back of my tongue. He holds me like that for a moment, dipping down to sniff deeply at my neck. Instantly, I melt under his touch.
“Charlie. My name is Sebastian.”
I blink, trying to think past the sudden haze in my head. When he withdraws his fingers, I swallow the saliva pooled in my mouth and blink dazedly at him.
“Awesome. Can I call you Bas instead? Like a fun little thing between us.”
“No.”
“Okay, Bas, it is!”
He does that sexy growl thing again. I don’t know if it’s meant to be intimidating because all it does is make me ready for another round. But there’s something niggling at me. Something that I’ve tried to ignore until right now.
It dawns on me like a puzzle clicking into place. “This isn’t a costume, is it?”
