Roy followed me down the secret passage, and with every step, I was more and more aware of the heat of his body radiating against my back. I had to fight to keep myself from attacking him within the narrow walkway.

  When we reached the opening to the panic room, nothing but darkness met us. I noticed there were windows, but they were covered by thick, black velvet curtains that obscured even the moonlight from getting through. Imagining the vampires wouldn’t have planned for windows in their panic room, I figured this was actually a room that previously existed in the house and they’d engineered the closet to lead to this room. As I turned around and took stock of the space, I quickly learned the passageway was the only way in and out. There were no other doors to be seen.

  But my interest in the room was short lived as Roy’s scent hit me full-bore—it was the heady smell of something just a little wild and it filled my head like a drug, pulling me forward.

  Chapter Seven

  Shadows folded around us like velvet curtains as we moved down the narrow passage that led away from the closet.

  The walkway really wasn’t built for someone of Roy’s sheer size, so we had to turn sideways and shuffle a little awkwardly for a couple seconds until we finally reached the panic room and the walls opened up. I had a couple splinters by the time we made it through, and I was sure Roy had more, but in that moment, I didn’t think it would have been possible to care less.

  The second we were clear of the crawlspace, Roy’s hands closed on my waist, and he half carried, half backed me up against the far wall of the room, looming over me like a wall of pure animal. His big hands closed on the hem of my shirt, scrabbling to get it up and over my head and off me in record time.

  “I’ve missed you,” he breathed against my ear and in response, my heart started pounding.

  I plastered myself against Roy’s chest, wanting to rub against him like a cat, to get as much of his scent on me. I was hungry for him, for the feel of him inside me, on me, around me, encompassing me. My pulse pounded through my veins, blood pooling hot and heavy in my belly, skin tingling.

  But then Roy went still, his nostrils flared wide, and he started to turn away from me, as if his attention was suddenly elsewhere. But there was no way in hell I was going to let that happen—I didn’t even care if someone had just walked in on us—at this point, the succubus and I just couldn’t wait any longer. I was on fire with need, ready to burn to a crisp if I couldn’t touch him, taste him, take him.

  Now, my inner succubus purred. Nownownow.

  I reached up, turned Roy’s face back to me and surged forward to bring our mouths together, licking past his teeth, over his tongue, hungry for every part of him. Roy growled low in his throat, leaning further into the kiss until I was almost crushed between him and the wall, and loving every second of it. I didn’t even remember him taking it off, but my bra was gone and on the floor and now my breasts were firmly pushed against the wall of his abdomen, my skin tingling from the wiry hairs of his chest.

  Roy ducked down to set his teeth against my throat, and I couldn’t hold back the moan that spilled out of me if I’d tried. I felt gutted, unspooled with desire. My head fell back, giving him better access to my neck, reveling in the press of his lips and tongue. It felt like someone had drawn a line of fire from my neck directly to my groin. Shivering tension built in my belly as a stinging yearning filled the entirety of my core.

  Big hands cupped my ribs, and Roy’s thumbs traced gently along the underside of my breasts with his large fingers. Tingles erupted, pulling my skin tight, and I arched against him impatiently, dragging the stiffened peaks of my nipples against his chest. I wanted him. Now.

  My hands closed on Roy’s belt buckle, ready to shred the leather apart if doing so got me what I wanted that much sooner. I had to haul back on my more demonic impulses because we both had to walk out of here looking like we hadn’t just survived a hurricane.

  His teeth scraped over the tendon in my neck, replaced with his soft and full lips as he worked his way down to my shoulder, and a low growl caught in my throat.

  “God, I can’t remember ever wanting you this bad, Fifi, even though I know I have,” he groaned. “Fuck, I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you too,” I managed, not wanting him to think he was the only one feeling that way.

  I’d just gotten his belt open, ready to free his erection from his pants entirely, when a muffled shriek followed by a burst of laughter came from somewhere in the house, and the reality of the situation slapped me right across the face.

  I was about two seconds away from having sex with Roy in a secret room in my own client’s house, and I still didn’t have any clue about what was even going on in this relationship other than the fact that Roy was showing every sign of being yet another man who lost interest in anything but having sex with me. He was playing the same old hot and cold game every guy played with me and I was allowing it.

  I was allowing it!

  Mortification slammed through me in an icy wave, and every hint of desire withered to ashes in an instant, even as the succubus tried her best to fight against it. In this case, though, I was winning.

  “Wait,” I said as I shook my head and braced my hands against Roy’s chest, pushing him back, giving myself enough room to shakily pull my bra up from the ground and put it back on as I pulled the shirt back over my head. All the while, I had to fight the succubus and fight to catch my breath. But neither gave two craps about my pride.

  Roy looked a little baffled, of course, his pupils blown wide and dark. “Fifi? What’s the matter?”

  My nose started to sting, eyes suddenly feeling hot and heavy. I blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears from falling. I was embarrassed enough as it was, I didn’t need to add to it by having to explain that I wasn’t just the girl he called whenever he got horny—that I was a person with feelings and those feelings were getting deep where he was concerned.

  As he took in the first hint of my shining eyes, his expression fell.

  “Sweetheart,” he murmured, his big hands coming up to cup the sides of my face like he was cradling something precious. He pressed one sweet little kiss on my lips, brief, and almost chaste, before he pulled back again and studied me with those big eyes, all consumed with concern. “What’s wrong?”

  “Everything.” My voice cracked, breaking the word in half. In spite of my best efforts, the first tear rolled down my cheek in a burning line. “Everything is wrong.”

  “I don’t understand, Fifi.”

  I nodded, figuring he was completely lost because he certainly looked it. “I told myself I wasn’t going to do this—that I wasn’t going to have sex with you again until it felt right. Until it… well, until it was right.”

  “And this isn’t right?”

  I frowned at him as I looked around myself and fully took in the fact that we were standing in a panic room, in my clients’ house, in the middle of a haunted house that was filled with citizens of Haven Hollow. “No, it isn’t right!”

  “I mean, aside from the obvious—that being that we’re in this… house… why isn’t it right? Or is that the reason it isn’t right?”

  I was crying in earnest by then, angrily swiping at my face as I tried to get the words out. “It’s not right because… because you’ve completely stopped talking to me, and I don’t know what I did wrong.” I wiped at my tears angrily, wishing I was stronger—wishing I didn’t always go to pieces when it came to emotional stuff—wishing I wasn’t crying in front of him.

  “I’ve been,” he started but I interrupted him because I didn’t want to hear the same old excuse. It was getting beyond old.

  “I know you’ve been busy. I’ve been busy too. All of Haven Hollow has been busy.” I looked up at him then with a frown to let him know that excuse wasn’t one I was going to accept. “It’s more than that—it’s like you’ve been… avoiding me.”

  “Fifi, I,” Roy started as he took a deep breath and pulled away from me, looking as if the weight of the world was suddenly on his shoulders.

  “This isn’t what I want, Roy—this casual sex thing. And I didn’t think it was what you wanted either. You said you wanted a proper girlfriend and a relationship. And yet… you aren’t acting like that’s what you want.” I took a deep breath and tried to calm the tears but they weren’t listening. “I haven’t seen you in over three weeks and we’ve barely even talked on the phone.”

  “I know,” he started but I shook my head to let him know I wasn’t finished.

  “And I told myself I wasn’t going to be that girl—the booty call girl. And yet look at me!” I shook my head as the tears started in earnest. “I’m completely out of control. I tried to have sex with you inside my client’s property! How is that professional, not to mention what it’s doing to my self esteem.”

  Roy’s mouth opened, like he was going to say something, but I shook my head to let him know I still wasn’t done. There was so much that was still in my heart and mind, so much I’d bottled up this last month and I wasn’t going to stop talking until I got it all out. “I’m not Angelo. I’m not my brother, or my cousins. I can’t just… just act like this.” I flung my hand out to the side, indicating the little cubby we were in, Roy, and mostly myself. “I have some dignity, Roy. I have to and I have to stay true to myself and what I want—what my dreams are. And this… this isn’t it.”

  I slipped out from between Roy and the wall, heading for the door out of this tiny room because I suddenly felt like I was suffocating, but Roy caught my arm and tugged me to a halt. It wasn’t a hard grip, firm, but I could pull away if I tried. I started to, but hesitated.

  “Fifi, please wait.” Roy’s voice was low, but serious with a note of something like desperation threaded through it. “If you want to walk out, I won’t try to stop you. I’m just asking for a minute more of your time so I can explain.” He breathed in deeply and just looked at me for another second or so as I nodded. Please, just hear me out.”

  Part of me still wanted to flee, to save myself, and find a private place to nurse my cracked heart in peace. But I let Roy turn me back around and didn’t pull away when he cupped my face again. His big thumbs swiped over my cheeks, brushing away the lingering tears, and my chest tightened until it hurt to breathe. No one had ever treated me like I was something to be treasured before and to see the way he was looking at me now—like he was beholding the most beautiful treasure—well, it felt… good.

  His face was serious, but he was still so close. Close enough that it would have been more natural to let our bodies press together. And that’s exactly what the succubus wanted—to feel him, touch him, lick him. That was exactly why I managed to maintain that couple inches of distance between us, no matter how much every part of me was crying out to get closer to him. To seek out comfort one of the only ways I knew how.

  Even then, I wanted to kiss him, more than anything. I wanted to throw myself at him, at this brilliant, handsome, kind man, to do everything I could to keep him with me. But I knew if I did that, I would only end up regretting it. No, I had to be strong now. I had to stand up for my own wants and needs. I had to honor my own pride.

  Roy stroked his thumbs over my face again, his dark eyes intent. “Fifi, I’ve always cared about you. Nothing we do together could ever change that. Ever. I just wanted to go slow, to take our time… not so much for my own sake, but for yours. You’ve had so many heartbreaks, been disappointed by men so many times.”

  “Yes, but,” I started but he shook his head. This time he had feelings he had to get out and I nodded, wanting to hear whatever he had to tell me. And no matter how much it might hurt, I needed to hear it, needed to know where we stood, what he wanted from me and what he didn’t want from me.

  He drew in a deep breath. “I am serious about you, Fifi.” When he said the words, I wasn’t sure how to take them but inside, my heart was already starting to do flips. I just hoped I wasn’t understanding his words in a way they weren’t meant to be understood. Was he serious about our friendship? About not hurting me? About making sure I wasn’t getting in over my head?

  “You have no idea just how serious I am and…” he continued, nodding as he sighed again. “And how bad I am with words. This isn’t… well, it sounds stupid, but it’s not easy for me. Words never have been. I’m more a doer than a sayer.”

  I smiled at him, wanting to encourage him at the same time that I wanted to be patient with him but that wasn’t easy. “Just take your time,” I offered.

  He nodded. “It would probably send you running screaming in the other direction if I told you just how I feel about you, Fifi. I know… I know you’re not ready to hear it.”

  And just like that, hurt and then hope turned to a whip crack burst of anger. Who was he to say I wasn’t ready to hear it? Didn’t he know a thing about me? All I’d ever wanted was something real, something lasting.

  I reached up and grabbed his wrists, not pulling his hands away, not yet, but hard enough that he could feel the strength in my own. I wasn’t some fragile human he needed to be delicate with. “I’m the one who gets to decide if that’s true or not, Roy, you don’t.”

  His gaze slipped to the side, and he almost looked nervous. That’s wasn’t a look I’d seen on Roy before. Usually, he was the one in control of whatever situation he found himself. And yet… why didn’t I feel like he was in control now?

  “I’m not walking away from you,” he said in a hard tone as he pulled his attention back to me. Then he ducked his head, making sure to look me in the eyes. “When you find out the truth, I’m scared you’re going to walk away from me and… shit, I don’t think… no, I know I couldn’t take it.”

  “The truth?” I asked, trying not to feel suspicious but there it was.

  He smiled, but it was a brief, wan thing. “I’m not in this for the sex, Fifi. Though, let me be clear, that part is fantastic. Beyond fantastic, actually.”

  That startled a soggy little laugh out of me, and he smiled before dropping one of his hands to my chest. His palm rested over the rabbit quick beat of my heart.

  “This is what I want, Fifi. You. And everything that makes you you. I want your succubus, the allure that comes with it, the passion and the mind-blowing sex. Of course I want that—that’s what every man wants from you.” I swallowed hard as he continued. “But that’s not all I want. Not by a long shot. I want all of you. You at your best and you at your worst. Because being around you feels like… home. It feels like I’m in exactly the place I was meant to be.”

  My throat felt swollen tight, clogged with tears I hadn’t shed and words I couldn’t seem to squeeze out. Roy smiled, and the expression made my chest hurt.

  “I don’t… I don’t understand,” I started, shaking my head. “You’ve been avoiding me… I know you have. I’ve barely even heard from you the last month, Roy.” I took a breath. “And what is this ‘truth’ you said you’ve been keeping from me?”

  He breathed in deeply and then sighed just as deeply and I realized, then and there, that I hadn’t been imagining things—he had been avoiding me. The truth was right there, in his eyes. And I needed to know why.

  “I can’t explain it all right now, because, you’re right, we are in public,” he started as he looked around himself and then frowned as he lifted his nose into the air and sniffed another few times. “I swear I smell something,” he started.

  “Roy, the subject,” I demanded, not meaning to sound so clipped, but I couldn’t help it. This was a super important conversation we were having and I didn’t need him having an ADHD moment. He looked at me and smiled. “I want to stay in your life in any capacity you’ll have me, Fifi. If that means friend, lover, bodyguard, or just a sympathetic ear at the bar. But… I want to be more than all three. I want to be your… well, your man. Your guy. Your… everything.” He dropped his brow to mine, close enough that we were sharing breath. “Whatever you need. Anything. And always.”

  The tears burning in my eyes overflowed again, and I sucked in a shaking breath. My heart felt like it was going to burst, pressed up against the inside of my ribcage and straining to fit. All my careful plans about waiting, wanting things to be a certain way, they just went flying out the window so fast it should have made an audible whooshing sound.

  I grabbed the front of Roy’s shirt, pulling him in to me once more. I couldn’t get close enough. I wanted to mold myself to him, until there wasn’t even a sliver of space left between us. The fire, once dampened, roared back to life. For the first time since I could remember, my inner succubus and I were actually in full agreement. We wanted him, terribly, and we had to have him, right then, right there. I surged up onto my tip toes, going for the kiss that it felt like I couldn’t breathe without, the floorboards creaking with the movement.

  Across the room, something clattered to the floor, followed by a heavy thud.

  We both froze.

  Chapter Eight

  I couldn’t even hear around the drumming of my heart in my ears.

  Was someone in here with us? Had they witnessed everything that had just passed between Roy and me? Had they seen me with my shirt off, nearly having sex with Roy in my clients’ house? Was I going to have to move as far from Haven Hollow as possible in order to avoid an absolute mortification I’d never be able to live down?

  But there wasn’t another sound from the other side of the room. It was just as eerily quiet as it had been.

  Roy lifted his head away from me, inhaling deeply, and I realized he was trying to catch a scent. I tried too, but my sense of smell was nowhere near as good as a shifter’s, much less that of a Sasquatch. I mostly smelled Roy, his salty sweet scent mixed with pine trees and fresh air, and a hint of something so masculine, it made me want to curl up with him and purr.

  I pushed the thought away and leaned closer to Roy so I could whisper to him. “What do you smell?”

  He was quiet for a moment, pulling in a second breath before he answered. “Cleaning product, but it’s days old. But there’s something beyond it… something that hit me the second we first walked in here.”