Free Free Fall by Carolyn Jewel

way. Besides, men are very visual. Once they get to see you naked…”
    He stilled and some of his smugness returned. “Does that mean I get to see you naked?”
    “Khunbish.”
    “Fensic.” His muscles flexed some more. “Listen. We can do it without you needing to block yourself off. I won’t lie, I’m counting on you getting me off, but you can believe I’ll make it happen for you, too. You’ll feel when I touch you, I promise.” The rasp of his voice set off a whole new level of arousal. From the change in his eyes, he knew it, too. She wanted that to be true, more than anything. “Anything you want. Any way you want it.”
    She brought her hands up and rested them on the curve of each bicep. Pure muscle. She got nothing from him, not even when she tried. Nothing happened. No bitter tang in her mouth, no images slamming into her head. The couch, which wasn’t small, now wasn’t nearly big enough. She whispered one of Michael’s pet phrases. “Demons deceive by their very nature.”
    He gave her a decidedly dirty grin. Her stomach tightened. While she watched, he took off his flannel shirt and dropped it on the floor. His arms were cut. “He’s right in a way. And totally, entirely wrong.”
    “What’s the lie, Khunbish?” This time she didn’t cut herself off from her reactions. She let them flow through her, and she found out the sizzle underneath her skin felt good. So did the heaviness in her breasts and between her legs. She wanted him to touch her again, all those soft, gentle caresses. She wanted to know what it would feel like to be touched without being removed from herself.
    “Complicated things are all kinds of gray. You know that. Demons and mages? That’s complicated. Demons and witches? Even more complicated.”
    Lys gazed into his face, distracted by sensations she’d not permitted herself to feel except in the most distant way. “Michael says demons have a non-human form. Is that true?”
    The way his body tensed and the flicker in his eyes made her wonder if he’d prefer to avoid the truth. “You humans. So tied to one form.” He tipped his chin at her and clapped a hand to his chest. “This is real. As real as my other forms.”
    “What else do you look like?”
    A smile of sly invitation curved his mouth, a dark and inviting look that made her sex throb. “A fucking monster.”
    “Be serious.” She curled her fingers harder around his arm. Solid. Real. Warm.
    “I am. You want to do a monster, we can do that. Whatever gets you off is good with me.”
    Her mind clicked back to a state of cold unfeeling, and that felt safe. She knew how to deal with him when she was like this. “What gets you off?”
    “Since you ask, human women get me off every time.” He moved from his straddle and sat next to her. She forced herself not to drag him back. But he moved close. Close enough that his side pressed against hers. He leaned in, and his smile was all about sex. His attention wandered in a long, slow perusal of her body that stripped away the barriers between her and the world. One elbow on the top of the couch, with his free hand, he popped a button of her shirt. “I love sex with human women.” His gaze flicked over her again. “I think I need sex with you. I really do.”
    “So you do deceive.” She put her palm where his heart ought to be. Must be there, because she felt it beating. Was that part of the illusion? Or was there really a heart there? She pushed against his chest, gently. “Do you tell your partners what else you are?”
    “Hell no,” he said in his whiskey and smoke voice. “If I did that, I might never get laid.”
    “That scary?”
    “How many people have you told about your thing?” He tapped a finger to her head. “Besides, where’s the lie? This is exactly what I look like in my human form.”
    She shifted her legs, and he looked over her body again. One of his hands settled on her upper thigh. Out of habit, she closed herself off from the