Opposition (Lux, #5)(24)

I tilted my head back. “So besides the obvious me dying equals you dying, the other Luxen think you want to keep me around because you just like . . . ?”

“Having wild, animalistic sex with you?” he suggested.

My lips pursed.

“Something like that.” His mouth brushed mine as he spoke, and his hands settled on my hips. “Though after everything in the office, I doubt they’d think you’d be down for that.”

“I’m not down for that right now, you douche.”

An eyebrow rose. “I bet I could change that.”

“Daemon.” I put my hands on his shoulders. “I think we really need to focus on other stuff.” And there was so much. “Do they know about Beth, about . . . ?”

“They don’t know about her or Luc. We need to keep it that way.” His hands slipped around to my back and slid up to the bra strap.

“But they know what Archer is.” I bit down on my lip as two of his fingers dipped under the strap. “Beth’s pregnant.”

His head dipped to my bare shoulder. “I know.”

My jaw dropped. “What?” He didn’t answer, because he was too busy licking my shoulder— Sweet Jesus. I grabbed a handful of hair and lifted his head. “You didn’t tell me?”

He captured my mouth in a deep, searing kiss that almost made me forget what we were talking about and where we were. His kisses had that kind of magical power. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you.” He hooked his pinkie under one of the straps, easing it down an inch or two. “Remember. Holy alien invasion everywhere.”

“Oh. Yeah. That.” My lashes lowered as his lips chased after the strap. Tension curled low in my stomach. “Beth’s been sick, though. I don’t know if it’s normal or not. That’s . . . that’s why we were at the grocery store. We were getting her stuff.”

“Archer should’ve never let you leave that house.” Daemon’s head jerked up suddenly, swiveling toward the closed bathroom door. His pupils gleamed like diamonds. “Someone’s coming.”

I stiffened in his arms, heart lurching into my throat.

He turned his attention back to me. Cupping my cheek, he lowered his mouth once more, kissing me deeply and spinning my senses so fast and so furiously that when he lifted his head, I whimpered. Actually whimpered. “Act like you’re mad at me. Fight me.”

Still lost from the last kiss, I stared at him. “What?”

Suddenly, I was on my back, dangerously close to the broken glass. Globs of spilled conditioner and shampoo splattered. Daemon hovered over me, his hands capturing my wrists and holding them to the floor as one of his legs shoved in between mine.

My chest lurched. “What in the—?”

He dipped his head to mine, voice low. “Pretend I’m Sadi.”

If I did that, I might cut him.

My eyes narrowed, but the bathroom door swung open, and a Luxen male—the quiet one from the office—stood in the doorway. Heat swept across my face, partly due to how I was undressed, and partly because of how we must’ve looked at that moment.

“Everything okay here?” he asked in that strange, lilting way.

“Just spending a little one-on-one time with her,” Daemon answered, and my breath caught at the change in his voice. It was back to that smug, mocking way of his that made me want to introduce my knee to an important part of his body.

Over Daemon’s head, I saw the Luxen tilt his head to the side. “Doesn’t look like it’s going too well.”

“Well . . .” He flashed a grin. “It would be easier if she wasn’t so upset. Isn’t that right?” he asked me. “But that’s okay. I like the way she tries to fight.”

“Tries?” I spat, my fingers curled inward. “I’m going to—”

“Shush it,” he murmured lazily. And then he moved lightning fast, and from an angle the Luxen could see, he nipped my ear again. I had to bite down on my lip to stop myself from crying out and punching him in the gonads.

I was so going to kick his butt later.

Daemon made a show of eyeing me like I was an all-you-can-eat buffet, then glanced at the other Luxen. “Do you mind? Or are you planning to watch?”

The flicker of interest on the Luxen’s face turned my stomach. “As alluring as that sounds, I’ll need to pass. This time.”

Oh, yuck. Wiggling a leg free, I slammed the heel of my foot into Daemon’s calf for starting that line of conversation.

“Ouch.” He shot me a look.

My lips twitched as satisfaction rolled over me.

“Rolland just wanted to make sure everything was fine,” the Luxen said, his cool, crystallized gaze straying to areas I was so not happy about.

Daemon shifted, casually blocking a good portion of my body. “Is that all?”

“No,” was the response. “Rolland would like you to attend the press conference tomorrow. And he wants you to bring the girl with you.”

Press conference? Bring me? Oh . . . a shiver danced over my skin. I so did not like the sound of all of this.

Daemon managed a smirk. “Sounds like fun.”

The Luxen hesitated, and then nodded. After one more way-too-long look in my direction, he backed out of the bathroom. “Have fun.”