Devil's Bargain by Christine Warren Read Free Book Online Page A

dusky taste of her. His tongue played over the hardened nipple, teeth lightly scraping the sides until he felt her quiver under his hands.
    â€œAaron,” she breathed.
    He released her nipple with a soft pop and dragged his lips across her chest to the other peak. He felt her fingers tighten in his hair and hoped he’d still have some by the time they were finished. Of course, shaved heads were in, he reflected, and baldness seemed like a small price to pay for something so astoundingly perfect.
    Rearing back, Aaron reached for the fastening on her jeans, watching as her eyes fluttered open and blinked hazily up at him.
    â€œWha—?”
    He leaned forward, pressed a hard, hungry kiss to her mouth and drew down her zipper. “Sh.”
    Something hot passed between them, but it wasn’t until Lilli muttered something against his lips and began to press her hands into his shoulders that he realized it wasn’t their mutual attraction.
    Tearing himself from the kiss, Aaron reared back and frowned down at his own chest where a black singe mark now stood out against the top of the white O in the name of the band on his shirt. “What the hell?”
    Lilli wasn’t paying attention, but Aaron could hardly blame her, not when he saw the patch of livid red skin above her breastbone and the brightly glowing pendant that seemed to be causing it.
    â€œDamn him,” she hissed, reaching for the chain with both hands and yanking it off rather than fumbling with the clasp. “He didn’t just want me keeping track of the time, the bastard; he wanted to keep track of me.”
    â€œAh, Lillith,” a voice purred from the shadows in the hall door, “you always were such a clever girl. You get that from your father. It’s just such a shame you won’t be able to pass it on to a child of your own one day.”
    Aaron turned and instinctively placed himself between Lilli and the intruder. That earned him a smack on the shoulder blade hard enough to make him wince, but he didn’t step aside.
    â€œWho are you?” he demanded, even though he had a sneaking suspicion he already knew the answer. Behind him, he heard the shifting of cloth as Lilli tugged her shirt back on. Good. Now at least neither of them would be naked when they were slaughtered by a devil prince.
    â€œDidn’t you tell your new friend?” the figure asked, finally stepping forward into the light from the chandelier above the table. “Lillith, darling, I’m hurt that you wouldn’t think to mention me.”
    With every step the devil took, Aaron felt more intensely the sensation of things crawling on his skin. He knew better than to look. Devils and demons often gave humans who glimpsed them the feeling of being somehow contaminated, either by insects or vermin or even acidic liquids. It was purely psychological.
    At least, that’s what Aaron hoped.
    â€œSam,” she bit out, her voice sounding as grim as the face he glimpsed when she stepped out from behind him and squared off against the intruder. “Checking up on me already? I thought I had until dawn to run your little errand.”
    The devil shrugged and propped one shoulder against the refrigerator in a negligent pose that did nothing to disguise the malevolent power he embodied. “Technically, I suppose you do, but you appear to be a little distracted. I was afraid you might have forgotten why I sent you here.”
    â€œNot likely.”
    â€œReally?” His black, blank gaze shifted from Lilli and Aaron to the bra she had discarded on the floor beside the table and not bothered to put back on in her haste to redress herself. “Funny. I thought you looked quite absorbed.” His gaze shifted to Aaron, focused, glittered dangerously. “Maybe if I gave your beau a few lessons in seduction you’d have better luck next time.”
    Aaron’s skin gave up crawling and felt as if it were trying to leave