In the Company of Witches by Joey W. Hill Read Free Book Online Page B

backed up, began to descend the stairs. When he’d gone several steps, he stopped. It put his head below the level of the landing railing, the straight balusters like the boundary of a cell door.
    “One kiss,” he said.
    “Excuse me?” Still torn between the ice of her reaction and the heat of his reply, she had to clear her throat.
    He locked gazes with her. “After one kiss, if you don’t want what I have to offer, then we leave it at that. But don’t tell me you’re not game enough to try the one kiss. You have the courage of a wounded badger.”
    It was a backhanded compliment, but the unexpected image did pull her back from that intense edge, put her back on her feet. Somewhat. She arched a brow. “Daring me to kiss you? Do I look that gullible?”
    “No. I think you want what I have to offer, Raina. But you’re a smart woman. You’re denying yourself, because you know it’s dangerous to want things too much. I’m telling you that I’m a safe port. No strings attached, just pleasure.”
    Safe was not an adjective she’d ever attach to Mikhael Roman, half-naked and slouching with sensual awareness against the wall of her staircase. “I suppose you’re offering this out of the goodness of your heart.”
    “Hell, no,” he said mildly. “I’ll definitely get something out of it.” His attention slid over her lips, making her moisten them in reaction. It resulted in another flare in those dark eyes. They were feeding each other’s flames, and in short order the two desires would become one conflagration. Unless she did something to stop her slide down this slippery slope, a headlong plunge into the fire.
    “If you’re overcome by my kiss, as I’ve been assured any woman with a pulse will”—he nodded at her phone—“I might get laid. As I said, I don’t do a lot of sleeping. Sex passes the time. Good sex passes a lot of time. That’s all it is, Raina. I’m not looking for more than that. I’m as curious as you are.”
    “Have you ever been with a succubus?” She tried to sound offhand, though her heart rate was increasing like a schoolgirl’s. Not a usual occurrence for her…not ever.
    “No, as a matter of fact.”
    She gave him an exasperated look. “Then how do you know I can’t hurt you?”
    “The same way I know certain things are too hot to touch. I just know.”
    But some things were worth the burn. Her slide down this slope was increasing to an out-of-control sledding on her ass.
    “Earlier tonight, I could have moved you out of my way,” he said. “I didn’t.”
    “You knew I’d fight you. You only hurt a woman if you have no other choice…or if it gives her pleasure.”
    She really shouldn’t have said that, because her voice had thickened over the syllables. His gaze narrowed, watching her manicured nails bite into her palms.
    She’d told him she knew what his tastes were, because that was her job. Her succubus nature could ferret out the deepest sexual fantasies and passions a man had. But with experience alone, she’d evaluated plenty of men in her parlor, figuring out from stammering voices or cocky bravado, the subtle shifts of body, the flicker in the eyes, what they sought, what they really wanted. Mikhael had no cocky bravado, no stammer, and he controlled his body language, revealing only what he wanted revealed.
    But she’d picked up on it, a strong, recognizable scent, one that called to her uniquely. He was 100 percent sexual Dominant. The number-one reason she needed to shove him down those stairs right now.
    What he sought was the complexity of a female who needed restraints, certain levels of pain and endorphin rushes to find pleasure or to heighten it. Even if a woman didn’t think she was into that, he could take her into new, thrilling territory, uncovering or nurturing that primal side of her.
    In Raina, that side had to be left untouched. No matter what. It was a graveyard, and resurrecting the dead was never advisable.
    While she was