What a Demon Wants (11 page)

Pete sat up again, bracing his hands on his knees as he started to stand. “Oh, you know, I think I should probably go.”

“Oh, no,” Ellina insisted, automatically placing her hand on his. “Please stay—we haven’t had much time together lately.”

Pete glanced at Jude, then back to her. He nodded. “Maybe for a little while. I have missed our lazy Sunday mornings.”

Ellina smiled, squeezing his fingers before releasing them and standing.

“I’ll get us both some coffee,” she said.

Pete shot Jude another look, then nodded. He was no fool; he knew he was safer remaining right there.

Ellina had to admit she was reluctant to go with the glowering hulk of a man in front of her too. But she needed to talk with him. He was here to protect her, but he couldn’t attack her friends. That just wasn’t going to fly.

Before this moment, if anyone had asked Jude if he understood the phrase “seeing red,” he would have said he did. But he really hadn’t. Not until this moment.

With the frittata in the stove, he couldn’t keep himself away from the living room.

He’d intended to remain out of sight, maybe do a little research about this “friend” of Ellina’s.

That was until he heard Ellina’s sweetly said words.

…How could I be unhappy when I have you?

He’d wanted to gnash his teeth at her words…what those words seemed to imply.

And he hadn’t been able to stop himself from barging in on them. Thankfully, it worked.

He waited for Ellina to pass him, then turned to follow her, watching her movements, fluid even though she was clearly angered. He couldn’t focus on the obvious anger, though.

He was too lost in the slight sway of her hips. The curve of her ass. Her bare legs long, perfect. God, even her feet captivated him.

And she’d been sitting with that man, in that tiny shorty pajama. He’d been close to all those lissome curves and bare skin.

Had Pete been even closer? Had he ever seen Ellina without even that small barrier of silky material shielding her?

The idea made him want to growl. Howl.

She disappeared into the kitchen, and he followed her. In fact, when she turned, he was right behind her. Her pale eyes flashed as if she was going to confront him. She even opened her mouth, but he beat her to it.

“Who is this Pete?”

She snapped her mouth shut, taken off balance by this curt question.

“My friend,” she finally said, but nothing in her tone gave him any hint of just how friendly they were.

He stepped closer, just inches away. He knew he was using his size and the small space to intimidate her, but he wanted answers. Needed them.

“How well do you know him?”

“Jude, this is ridiculous—”

“How well, Ellina? Didn’t our talk last night help you understand anything?”

She put down the coffee decanter that she’d just pulled from the maker, the glass clacking loudly on the tile countertop.

She glared up at him, folding her hands across her chest. The action pulled the thin, silky material closer to her lithe form, her pert, rounded breasts, the curve of her hips.

“Don’t tell me you are looking at Pete as a potential threat too?” Her hushed volume didn’t mask her irritation.

Oh, Pete was a threat all right. Jude just didn’t know whether he was a threat to her safety or a threat to Jude as his rival.

As soon as the thought whipped through his mind, he froze.

What was he doing? What the hell was he thinking? Rival?

His eyes moved over her body again. God, she was beautiful.

He grimaced, disgusted with his lack of control. He was here to protect her.

A job. A job, damn it!

She made a noise of frustration, mistaking his appalled expression for a reaction to her and her question.

“Peter and I have known each other for years,” she said, stepping closer to him, her small chin jutting up in the air. “So if he’d ever wanted to hurt me, he’s had plenty of chances.” She seemed to realize her voice was rising, growing more heated.

She stepped closer still, lowering her voice. “He wouldn’t have had to break in. He has a key. He didn’t make those calls. I’d have recognized his voice. He couldn’t have attempted to run me down. He doesn’t have a car. And I don’t know if you could sense it when you were slamming him against the wall, but he’s human, so I suspect putting me into a cat would be rather difficult for him.”

Jude knew she had a point. He could concede all her points, but at the moment, they weren’t the ones bothering him.

At this moment, his biggest concern was the electricity sizzling between them, heating him with blind lust. Desperate, wild lust. And this uncontainable need to make sure the man in the other room didn’t have any claim to her.

She stared at him for a moment, and when he didn’t respond, she shifted back to the coffee, pouring two mugs, then adding a dash of milk to both.

He noticed her hands shook as she completed the task, but he couldn’t guess what emotion caused the tremors.

She picked up both cups and glared at him.

“I’m not going to let you bully people I care about.”

Jude breathed in. He heard her words, but all that seemed to matter was her scent, her heat.

As if tugged by an invisible pulley, he moved closer to her. Ellina didn’t back away, but some of her anger faded, morphing into something else. Awareness?

Did she feel it too? This powerful bond between them.

Before he could catch himself, he reached out and brushed a wayward strand of her hair away from her face. His fingers connected with nothing but her hair. Yet even that touch caused the air between them to crackle.

He dropped his hand, afraid of what he might do if he continued to reach out to her.

She stared at him for a moment longer, totally still as if she were holding her breath.

Then she looked away. She edged past him. Her back was to him, not allowing any part of herself to touch him.

“I’m serious, Jude,” she said, once she was in the doorway, but she still didn’t meet his eyes. “I won’t let you intimidate those I love and trust.”

Love.

The word echoed in his head.

She loved this Pete.

Chapter 11

Once Ellina was a few feet away from the kitchen, she paused, leaning against the hallway wall. She had to pull herself together.

He’d been so close to her, his big body caging her. She had been angry that he was trying to intimidate her, both physically and verbally. But she’d also been aroused. She could feel the evidence of that arousal throughout her, instant and violent like a sudden summer thunderstorm pounding through her.

She glanced toward the living room. She couldn’t go back there—not yet. She could feel the change, right there, waiting to appear, given freedom by her arousal.

She turned back and headed toward her room, not glancing toward the kitchen as she walked past. She couldn’t even look at Jude. Her body wanted him too much.

Once inside her room, she used her elbow to close her door, then set the two coffee mugs on her dresser. She stared into her mirror. She wasn’t surprised to see her eyes glowing—the color of red neon, but in the bright light of morning, they weren’t too dramatic.

Oh, Pete would notice something wasn’t right, but they weren’t too bad. The skin of her bare shoulders and arms was still pale, normal. That was good.

She rooted around in her dresser drawers, finding jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt.

Finally a bra and panties.

She stripped, relieved to find the rest of her was fine—human. Shocking. Because even now, desire filled her. It was as if Jude was right there with her. She could feel his heat on her skin. She could smell him, that clean masculine scent that she hadn’t even been aware she knew until this moment.

She closed her eyes, feeling like she was losing her mind. She’d felt attraction before, but it was nothing like this.

Still Ellina couldn’t hide out in her room all day. Not with poor Pete left out there.

And God only knew what Jude would say to him.

That prospect sobered her enough to focus on the clothes still clutched in her hands.

She dropped them on the bed, then picked up her bra, putting it on quickly, ignoring the way the lacy material abraded her puckered nipples.

Just dress. You cannot leave Pete alone with Jude.

He was probably grilling her poor friend right at this very moment.

She snatched up her panties and stepped into them, almost gasping when the cool cotton hit the hot dampness at the apex of her thighs.

She growled, frustrated with her body—a body that no longer felt like her own.

How could this be? How could she want this man—this preternatural? He would be the last man she’d imagine igniting so much lust in her. The last man she’d fancied herself attracted to was an independent bookstore owner with glasses, a nice smile that revealed his slightly crooked front teeth, and perpetually wrinkled khaki pants.

Nothing like Jude. Jude was too untamed. Too masculine. Too beautiful.

Her body started to react just imagining him.

She closed her eyes again, clutching her shirt to her chest, willing away her longing.

Think about poor Pete. He was a sitting duck with a man like Jude.

Ellina threw on the rest of her clothing and pulled her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head, using a clip to hold it in place. She picked up the coffee mugs and gave herself one more quick perusal.

She looked fine. And she could do this. She could repress her desire. And when Pete left, she’d talk to Jude about what was going on between them. Hell, maybe she’d tell him he had to go.

These feelings were too much for her. And her reactions to him…she just couldn’t deal with it. And she certainly couldn’t deal with his reaction when he realized what happened to her when she was aroused.

Imagining that reaction was as effective as being pushed into a icy mountain lake.

Her lust disappeared, replaced by dread and regret.

One more breath and then she headed to the door, transferring both cups to one hand as she opened it.

Practicing a calm little smile, she started back to the living room. She glanced into the kitchen as she passed, greeted by the smell of something delicious and an empty room.

Her stomach lurched as she realized that Pete and Jude were indeed together. She could hear them talking as she approached, Pete’s voice light, Jude’s chocolaty dark.

She paused just out of sight to listen.

“This is wonderful,” Pete said, and Ellina could hear the click of utensils on plates.

“Thank you,” Jude replied, his tone perfectly polite.

That was encouraging, right?

“Where did you learn to cook?”

“I’m self-taught.”

“Ellina is a terrible cook,” Pete said.

“Yes, she’s informed me of that.”

Pete laughed. “She made me shrimp étouffée a couple weeks ago, and it was like greasy wallpaper paste with some shrimp and a few chunks of onion bobbing around in it.”

Jude didn’t say anything.

“She’s got a pretty good deal here,” Pete said.

There was more silence.

“What is a good deal?” Jude’s voice was still polite, but there was an edge to it. A forced politeness.

Ellina decided this was the point to make her entrance.

“Sorry, guys,” she said brightly as she strolled into the room, coffee mugs lifted in the air. “I just wanted to get dressed. I didn’t think the food would beat the coffee here.”

She handed Pete his mug, noticing that he’d changed places and was now sitting in one of the wing-backed chairs. Jude sat on the sofa with his plate on the coffee table in front of him. Another plate of food sat beside that. And while she knew he had a big appetite, she didn’t think that plate was for him.

When he saw her, he patted the sofa. “Here’s yours, dear.”

Dear? Oh crap. What was he up to?

“Pete was just telling me something about you having a good deal,” Jude said, offering her a smile. She was quickly learning that most of his smiles were reserved for moments of deception.

Even knowing that, she still found it breathtaking.

He tapped the sofa again and gestured to the plate he’d prepared for her. Reluctantly she took a seat on the sofa, making sure there was plenty of space between them.

“Yes,” Pete said, his curious gaze going back and forth between the two of them. “I was just about to tell Jude that you have quite a good deal here. A houseguest who cooks like an actual chef.”

He raised his fork. “Jude, this really is some good stuff.”

Jude thanked him again, then mercifully returned his attention to his food.

Ellina picked up the plate of food and took a bite even though she didn’t feel a bit hungry. But despite herself, she moaned with appreciation. The eggs were fluffy and flavored with cheese and tomato and spicy bits of jalapeño.

“Wow, this is wonderful,” she said scooping up more.

“It really is,” Pete agreed. Then he set down his fork. “So come on, tell me how long you are going to let this perfect guy stay with you?”

Still chewing, she shot her friend a withering look. Wouldn’t he just let this go?

Pete had always fancied himself a bit of a matchmaker, at least to his other friends, but thankfully he’d been hands-off with her. Apparently he’d decided to rectify that fact now.

Before she could answer, Jude answered for her. “Oh, I’m staying indefinitely.”

“You are?” Pete gave Ellina a curious look. “Because Ellina’s being sort of noncommittal about the whole thing.”

She hurried to swallow the eggs that suddenly felt like a large wad of dough in her mouth. “Well—I—we—”

Suddenly Jude’s strong arm was around her, pulling her without any difficulty against his side. “Ellina, you’ve got to stop being so shy about this.”

Ellina gaped at the man beside her. What? What was he doing?

“Go ahead and tell him, darling.” He grinned down at her and squeezed her.

Thankfully he’d put on a shirt while she was gone, otherwise she’d be pressed tight to his bare chest. As it was his black T-shirt didn’t do much to shield her from the hardness of his muscles and the heat of his body.

“Oh—I don’t know if we—we should talk about that now,” she managed.

“Of course we should, sweetheart.” Jude’s smile widened, so his dimple was deep and adorable. For a moment, she was mesmerized. Then she snapped out of it.

That smile might be truly beautiful, but it would never lead to anything good. Thus far, Jude’s smile had been the predecessor to, at best, odd things to come.

She shook her head, unable to speak as she was caught between finding him terribly attractive and living in fear of what he was going to say next.

“You’re being silly,” Jude told to her, his voice low and teasing.

She half expected him to tweak the end of her nose like an amusing little child. But when she met his eyes, she saw the warning there. A silent rebuke.

Don’t give me any trouble.

Then he turned to Pete.

“Ellina is afraid to tell you, because she doesn’t want to upset you. Given the past you’ve shared.”

Pete raised an eyebrow, still chewing away, still thinking his breakfast tasted delish, and only a little puzzled by the cryptic comment from the lunatic next to her.

No, there was none of the churning dread in Pete’s stomach, at least not like the kind that twisted hers into suffocating knots.

She swallowed again, bracing herself for what she suspected was to come.

“Ellina and I are actually seeing each other.”

Ellina wanted to groan. Why, why had she started this stupid lie? She couldn’t do this.

Jude kept his smile unwavering. Even as he felt Ellina, who’d been rigid in his arms, sag back against the sofa as if she wanted to disappear. She was not pleased.

He supposed he couldn’t blame her. He was potentially messing up an existing relationship. She’d said she loved this man. She might be truly devastated.

He waited for regret to follow that realization, but none came. All he cared about was making sure this man knew that any relationship he and Ellina may have had was over. At least until Jude was out of the picture.

What the hell are you doing, buddy?

Keeping her safe, he told himself.

But he watched the other man’s reaction carefully. Acting as her boyfriend was the perfect cover. He’d told her that before. He was planning to go with that plan, and he expected her to go along with it too.

“Really?” Pete said and Jude saw a flash of something akin to annoyance simmering in his gaze. As he was trying to look unaffected, he nonchalantly took another bite of the frittata.

Maybe they did have feelings for each other. Jude felt that irrational anger rise up in him again.

“And, Ell, you led me to believe he was just a friend of Maksim’s crashing here for a little while,” Pete said, a hint of scolding in his tone.

Ellina straightened. “Well, he is, but—”

“But we’ve realized we have a lot in common,” Jude finished for her, giving her his best semblance of a fond smile. He pulled her tighter to him. She made a little noise and he relaxed his grip.

Pete set his plate on the coffee table, then frowned at Ellina. “But you just told me that you don’t even know him that well.”

Jude’s anger flared. Why had she said that? Was that her way of appeasing this guy?

Making sure he knew that she wasn’t interested in Jude?

Or could she have been just speaking the truth?

He ignored his logical mind.

“Did you say that?” Jude said, smiling down at her, infusing his look with as much fond amusement as he could muster.

Ellina stared back at him, her eyes wide and utterly befuddled. Her expression would have been humorous, but despite his feigned appearance, he wasn’t feeling very amused at the moment.

Jude hugged her again, this time with much less force. “That’s Ellina for you. She’s so shy about these things.”

Jude looked back to the other man, who regarded the two of them, skepticism narrowing his eyes—skepticism and something Jude couldn’t quite read. But he was fairly certain it was, indeed, annoyance.

“Well,” he said, “that’s—great.”

Jude’s smile broadened; this time the action was genuine. He suspected ole Petey-boy thought it was anything but great.

“It is, isn’t it,” Jude agreed, feeling very smug. Then before he thought better of his actions, he leaned toward Ellina and kissed her.

Ellina didn’t comprehend Jude’s intent until his lips brushed against hers. Even then she didn’t react; it was as if her mind had literally ground to a halt. All the gears slowly winding down to a standstill.

Then he deepened the kiss, his lips moving masterfully over hers, controlling her.

And she went along willingly, opening her mouth for him, letting his tongue brush against hers.

Her hand came up to his cheeks, feeling the stubble along his jawline.

Her mind kicked back on, but all she could seem to process was…this was wonderful. Just…wonderful.

Then he pulled away.

She swayed slightly, staring up at him. Dazed. Shaken. Wanting more.

“Well,” Pete said loudly, drawing her attention to him, although through her scrambled thoughts she was only vaguely aware of him. Pete then stood and clapped his hands, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Then she was painfully aware of him and what he’d just seen.

“It looks like you two are ready for some alone time.”

Ellina immediately stood too. “No…no, you don’t have to leave.” She couldn’t actually say she wanted him to stay, because she was far too mixed up to act even remotely normal.

At the same time, she hated to see her friend leave in a huff, which he seemed to be doing as he strode to the door.

“No, I think it’s time I made my exit,” he said, his expression harsh, and for a moment he didn’t even seem to look like her usually easygoing friend. Then he buffered his tone with a slight smile. “Breakfast was great. And I’ll see you later.”

Ellina nodded, completely confounded by everything that had taken place this morning. It was probably best he leave. She needed to talk to Jude. That much she could comprehend.

“I’ll call you later,” she told him.

He smiled. “Not if I call you first.”

Pete’s teasing tone put her at ease. At least about him.