The Demon King of Lust

Chapter 15

Kieran pulls his truck into the Pike's parking lot and turns off the engine. We sit in silence for a minute before he unbuckles his seatbelt and turns to me.

"I have to get back to work, but you're welcome to come inside and hang if you'd like. Drinks are on the house."

My heart thrums in my chest. This is suddenly feeling like a real date, and I can't let myself get confused. Kieran and I are friends. Friends with benefits? Maybe. But friends.

"I should probably head home. Pumpkin gets grumpy when I'm out too long."

"Fair enough." He opens his door and steps outside as I do the same. He appears on my side almost instantaneously and offers me a hand to help me out of the truck.

"How gentlemanly of you," I say, taking his hand and hopping down to the pavement.

"I've been called many things, but gentleman? That may be a first." He smiles and closes the door. I realize that he hasn't released my hand from his grasp, and instead has laced his fingers between mine. I do my best to push down the butterflies rising in my stomach at the gesture.

Friends. Just Friends.

He tugs me toward a nook near the front corner of the building. It's shaded from the glowing Pike's sign and the lights that illuminate the sidewalk—not impossibly dark, but enough that it feels a bit more private and secluded.

"I like you, Sam," he says. He stalks toward me like a predator until I'm cornered against the wall. Any sane person would probably find it intimidating, but I find it... weirdly hot.

I open my mouth to speak but find myself just mumbling in reply.

"I uh... uh..."

"I'll take that as an 'I like you too, Kieran,'" he says with a proud smirk.

"In your dreams," I tease with an eye roll.

"How bout in yours?" He licks his lips and I swallow hard.

I definitely set myself up for that one.

"Do you ever dream? I mean... can you even?"

"Not in the way you do. Demons don't really dream themselves, but I can enter that dream realm on my own and create whatever I want. I've never really needed to do that much in the past."

"So you dream about whatever you want? That must be interesting. What do you dream about, then? I mean, when you do dream."

He smirks but his eyes dart to the ground, making me think he might be a little shy about it.

"You sure you wanna know?"

He moves his hands to my waist.

"Tell me."

I assume he's going to say something sexual, probably something kinky, but I'm no prude—I can handle it.

"I've been dreaming about you, Red. I can't help it. Sometimes after I see you... I want more."

I swallow but my throat suddenly feels dry.

"You dream about... me?"

"But I like this better."

"What?"

"Seeing you in the real world." He brushes the backs of his cold fingertips along my collarbone. "Touching you in the real world."

His eyes flick down to my chest, then to my lips, then back to my eyes.

"Haven't you had enough of me?"