Grave Mistakes (Hellgate Guardians #1)(68)

I swallow, tasting the heated craving of my own desire mingling with the wheat aftertaste of the beer. I shouldn’t be doing this. It fits my pattern of picking sexy distractions to help avoid dealing with real shit, but the demon thing isn’t going anywhere. This may feel good now, but it isn’t going to solve anything. I just wish it didn’t feel so good.

Our eyes lock, and even though I pride myself on being an observant person, I’m only aware of two things right now—Echo’s dick beneath my ass, and my breasts against his chest. Based on how hard he feels, I think he’s aware of those things too.

This moment hooks between us like cat claws into fabric, sharp awareness sinking beneath my skin. Echo’s eyes flick down to my mouth, and my lips part of their own volition, like my mouth is giving out invitations.

Echo leans in an inch, so I lean in another. We share air, and I notice his shadows moving over his skin out of the corner of my eye. They trail up his neck and against his scruffy jaw, as if they want to get closer to me.

“Are your shadows only nice to...just you?” I ask, my voice low and huskier than usual.

Echo leans in more, his chin tucking into the curve of my neck right below my ear, but not quite touching. “No.”

I blink at his answer, my mouth opening because I want to pant at the implications of that. “Oh.”

He chuckles darkly and then moves his arm—the one I’m still holding hostage—and brings his hand closer. My eyes dart down in time to see more shadows trailing over his arm, and I gasp and release his wrist when I feel them beneath my fingertips. They move up the back of his hand like tendrils of smoke, and then they’re curling off his fingertips and sliding onto my collarbone.

“Holy hell…” I breathe, my gray eyes widening as I look down and see the shadows skimming across my skin, tattoo marks delving down my shirt and into my cleavage.

My hands fly up to grip Echo’s shoulders, my eyes locked onto his face as I feel them move against the tender skin of my breasts, tucking into the undersides before circling around, spiraling closer and closer toward my areolas.

My nipples spike, hardening instantly, and when I feel the shadows flick over the sensitive peaks, a breath hisses out between my teeth. “Echo…”

He gives me a lazy arrogant look, one that’s full of male pride that he’s affecting me without even physically touching me. “Yes, Delta?”

Flick, flick. The shadows pluck and spin around my nipples, and it shoots an overload of pleasure through me that’s both strange and uncharted. My clit pulses with want, and I find my hips shifting forward so that I can grind against him.

Echo makes another low noise in his throat, and it spurs me on. I boldly start grinding over him again, sliding myself forward and back, loving that he’s clearly just as affected as I am. His hands come up to grip my hips, his fingers digging in like he wants to hold me in place and not let me go.

I could come just from this alone. Who knew dry humping could be so fucking sexy? There’s just something about his hard length scraping over my clit while his shadows continue to tease my nipples with dark abandon. It’s fulfilling and...wrong. It’s the perfect dose of naughty and feel good that makes me melt.

And fuck, I could really use a little relief after all the stress I’ve had lately. Maybe I should give in, just a little. I want his mouth on mine, and I want his shadows to travel lower until they make it to the juncture of my thighs. I want—

“Whatcha guys doing?”

Crux’s heavy body is suddenly settling onto the couch cushion beside us, sending my body bouncing on top of Echo. My shadow demon groans, but I bolt up onto my feet in surprise. “Nothing!” I say, holding a hand over my racing heart. What I really want to do is hold it over my clit instead and finish getting myself off, because I’m pulsing all over.

“Nothing, huh?” Crux says with a smirk as he crosses his tanned arms in front of him and looks over at Echo. “Looked like a pretty fun nothing.”

I open my mouth to reply, embarrassment at being caught slinking up my cheeks. As soon as my mouth opens though, I realize that Echo’s shadows are still on my breasts, and he starts inching them downward.

My eyes grow as wide as saucers, and my breath trips in my throat.

“Something wrong, Del?” Echo asks, the corner of his mouth tilting up.

Oh, God. They’re getting lower. I don’t know whether to press my thighs closer together or open them wider. “Nope,” I lie before biting my lip as I feel the shadows spiral around my belly button.

“Hmm,” he says noncommittally before I feel tendrils start to sink past my pelvic bone and reach down to caress the hair just above my pussy.

I jerk forward when I feel the tiniest tap on the top of my clit, and my thighs clamp together. I don’t know whether to tell him to stop or beg him to keep going, but both demons are looking at me with heated abandon, and I know that Crux knows what Echo is doing to me.

“I see you like Echo’s tricks,” Crux says, his tone gravelly. “But I have some of my own too.” Without prompting, he opens his mouth and then slips out his tongue.

I stare wide-eyed, a flurry of possibilities flashing through my mind as my lips form a shocked O. “That’s your tongue?” I ask. Obviously, I can see that’s his tongue. It’s attached to his mouth, for fuck’s sake. There’s no missing it, but holy motherload.