Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(3)

Still. Had to stay perfectly still. One wrong move and…

With her lips lingering at my ear, her hot breath melting what little resolve I had, she whispered, “You could put your hands all over me.”

Fuck…

“You need to stop.” I forced her away. “We can’t do this.”

We’d been playing a dangerous game the last few weeks. Toeing the line. A stolen look here. A brush of skin there. Things had to change or I was going to do something that would land us both in trouble.

Sam folded her arms. Even in the shitty basement light, her swirling colors were easily visible. The orange of lust and red of anger were burning beacons against the darkness, tantalizing in a way that almost made me forget the rules and take what I wanted. Her. “Then why are you still standing there?”

Because there was no such thing as self-control when it came to her.

And that had to change.

“You want me,” she said when I didn’t answer. The orange smoke thickened, becoming more alluring.

“Not the point,” I responded, but my body ignored the words. I licked my lips and, giving into the pull, stepped closer. Martin, the club owner, had instated a new dress code for the bartenders. He insisted they wear short black skirts instead of the previously approved jeans. Sam hated showing too much skin. She’d gotten around it by wearing tall boots, leaving only a small section of creamy thigh exposed. If even possible, it was sexier, giving just a seductive tease of the treasure that lay beneath.

Being so close, I found it impossible not to touch. My hands drifted down, playing with the edge of the silky material for a moment before tugging it up. First a fraction of an inch. Then a little bit more. The skin was soft. Inviting. I imagined what it would be like to run my tongue across and upward, until I came to her center. Then I—

Sam tilted her head back and let out a small sigh, and Azi went wild. It took in the swirl of lust and greedily inhaled. I wasn’t unaffected. The demon needed the emotion to survive. It was sustenance. To me it was like a drug, and even though I despised myself, the sickest parts of me loved it.

Craved it.

Sam’s hands covered mine, urging them—and the skirt—higher. Along with the demon I breathed in deeply, letting the orange mist envelope me. It was a heady sensation, one I knew to be dangerous. Losing myself in her, in her emotions, was one of my triggers, one turn of the key that blocked my control over the demon.

I groaned. There was nothing more I wanted than to give in and do all the dirty, twisted things clanking around my brain since the last time—the only time—we’d been together, but it couldn’t happen. Not now. When I’d come back to town a few months ago, it had stirred up a whirlwind of shit. In order to save ourselves—and the world—Sam and I had called on powerful help, which hadn’t come for free. We were still paying the price.

I yanked my hands away. “You’re making this ten times harder on both of us,” I snapped. Azi, realizing that I wasn’t going to give in to temptation, grew angry as well, fueling my own fury and frustration. “How f*cking hard do you think it is for me to stay in this damn town knowing that you’re off-limits? To have you right in front of me and not be able to—”

She opened her mouth, but I covered her lips with my hand. The last thing I needed right then was the sound of her voice. It would push me over the edge.

“You’re everywhere. In my house, at my work—”

She pried my hand away and fixed those beautiful brown eyes on me. “Your work? Technically I was here—”

I covered her mouth again. “Everywhere except where I want you. In my bed. In my f*cking life.”

She pulled my hand away again, and this time I let her. My resolve was crumbling. “I’m in your life, Jax. No deal is ever going to change that. We need to readjust. Find a new normal. Something that will work for this…situation. Maybe it’s time for me to move out of the house. I’ve saved a little bit of money. Chase has been gone for—”

“No.” Sam moved into my Uncle Rick’s house in case more trouble came beating down her door. It was a multipurpose choice. She’d been kicked out of her old place and needed somewhere to stay, and having her close so I could keep an eye out made me feel better. We’d only intended it to be temporary. Living under the same roof was like spreading a feast in front of a starving man. But the thought of not having her there was more agonizing.

I was a masochist. Clearly.

“No,” I spat again. “That’s not what—”

“Well then, where’s the line?” she asked, pushing forward until she was pressed against me. I held my breath. “You gave me up. That’s what you told me, right?”

Sam had sacrificed her life to break a demonic link between her and Chase, allowing me to beat the shit out of him. But it hadn’t been enough. My brother—who’d been hiding his own demon—had been in synch with it from the time he was a kid, and they didn’t have a fair fight in mind. I’d needed more of an edge. That’s where the deal came in. I’d leveled the playing field but had to sacrifice the only thing I loved. Sam. Now, as further payment, we were both bound by our word to serve as “agents of balance”—though the broker of the deal hadn’t bothered to tell us yet what the f*ck that meant.

“Right,” I replied, letting out my breath. I held it that way, not daring to breathe in.