Free A Demon's Desire by Lizzy Ford Page A

how?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’ll trade you one of my secrets for one of
yours.”
    She hesitated and shook her head. He drove
for fifteen minutes before pulling into the apartment complex.
Immediately, he noted the shady characters at the main gate. He
glanced at Emma. Her eyes were closed.
    Tristan whispered a command, and darkness
swallowed the figures as he drove by.
    “Did you say something?” She roused herself
at his voice.
    “We’re here.” He parked in a lighted area,
and they exited.
    “Tristan, I’ll trade you something else for
an answer,” she said as she slammed the door.
    He waited, watching her. Apprehension slid
over her features as she watched the darkness and shadows welcome
him, play around him. He wished he wasn’t this way, but he’d long
since resigned himself to the knowledge he was. No one else had
ever accepted this about him, even his mother, who preferred to
ignore his dark half. He hoped Emma would be the first willing to
conquer her fear and accept even the dark side of him.
    “I’ll trade you a kiss,” she said.
    Warmth and surprise flared in response, the
shadows and man within him responding to her words. He joined her,
moving until their toes touched, and she was forced to arch her
neck back to meet his gaze.
    “Dangerous,” he murmured, breathing in her
scent. “You’re not afraid of me?”
    “I am, Tristan, but there’s something about
you …” She drifted off, gazing deeply into his eyes. She shook her
head to focus. “One kiss for an explanation about reading
minds.”
    “I agree,” he said. “Kiss first.”
    Emma nodded bravely. Tristan lowered his
head.
    The gentle meeting of their warm lips sent an
unexpected spark of warm energy through him. He coaxed her slowly,
satisfied that it took little encouragement for her to respond, for
her to shake off the sense of restraint that bound her normally. It
was an unhurried kiss, a long, deep kiss, of two lovers exploring
each other for the first time. Emma’s full lips parted unbidden,
and he tasted her, the taste of dark honey and spices, a taste that
rivaled her intoxicating smell. She did not hesitate to taste him
but leaned forward until her body rested against his. Warmth flared
as their bodies met, and Tristan placed his hands on the full rise
of her hips as she rested her fingertips on his cheeks.
    He could get lost in such a kiss with her
taste and scent weaving magic around him. Sleeping with this woman
would be like none other. He drew away, aware he was becoming too
aroused to retain control much longer. The shadows within him were
restless, clamoring for a deeper taste with a need stronger than
any he’d ever felt. His shadows normally ignored his sexual needs.
Not with her, as if they, too, wanted her to accept all of
him.
    Emma gazed at him, green eyes sparkling and
unguarded in the lamp light. Her face was flushed, her lips red and
plumped, her breathing shallow. The woman was incredibly appealing,
enough so that Tristan pushed her away until their bodies no longer
touched.
    “Don’t tempt a demon,” he said huskily. He
clasped his hands behind his back, twitching with his need to touch
her. She blinked, awareness crossing her face, and regained her
balance.
    “Explanation,” she commanded.
    “There’s a sense, rather like ESP, that I
have honed,” he said. “It’s like picking up the phone; if you’re
not listening, then you don’t hear anything. If you’re listening,
you hear what you want to. With you, your thoughts are strong
enough to intrude on my privacy, but only when you’re thinking of
me, which you do often and not always in glowing terms.”
    “You can choose not to listen, right?”
she asked pointedly.
    “Yes, which I normally do.”
    “We lesser mortals appreciate it,” she said,
clearly uneasy with his admittance.
    There’s nothing lesser about you,
Emma. He said nothing and offered his hand, walking with her to
the apartment.
     
    * * *
    Olivia lingered in the shadows of