Page 31 of You Give Me Fever

"Look at me!"

"Look at my handsome face!"

"Are not I prettier than this ssscoundrel?"

The fear was only growing. Clara couldn't help it, couldn’t keep her eyes from snaking away from Shiver over and again, trying to see the threats lurking close enough to touch her. Her heart thrummed in her throat as she heard the crackling of the barrier, wearing with her own weakness.

"Clara," Shiver's voice was in her ear, a chocolate-covered vibrato so low the arches of her feet tingled.

Then she felt his hands at the hem of her dress, and the tingles changed location.

"Stop that!" She swatted at his hands. "Are you mad? How can you think of getting funny at a time like this?"

"It's all I can think about," said Shiver, the white of his teeth flashing in the dim as he grinned. "It's all you ought to think about too."

Clara's mouth fell open at what he was suggesting, and heat flashed to her core, lightning on a still night. Shiver's fingers crept higher, slipping under the hem.

Clara whispered, "You can't possibly suggest we⁠—"

"I certainly can," said Shiver, reaching the apex of her legs and pressing his fingers between them, gently rubbing against her cotton underclothes.

"Shiver!" Clara gasped but didn't pull away. Her fear and embarrassment warred with her need, and the combination had her rooted to the spot.

The demons around them had all grown quiet, watching intensely to see what Shiver was up to. That gasp from Clara made it all too clear, and a collective groan rose from the gathered legion.

"He gives us a show and an offering!"

"I knew he sssstill loved ussss…"

"Quiet," said Frenzy, and the chorus fell silent. Clara could see him from the tail of her eye, glaring at the place where Shiver's hand disappeared up her dress.

“Shiver, you can't," Clara whispered, shaking so hard she was sure she would fall over the moment he took his hand away. "They're all watching us!"

"Let them watch, what should we care?" He said with his lips against her ear, just barely brushing. "The only thing I want you to think about is my hand. Get these panties soaked for me, and I might let you come."

Clara sucked in a breath, but she knew better than to shout. Every demon below might be watching her, but she would hide everything she possibly could. She gripped Shiver by his huge shoulders, hiding her face in his chest as his fingers began to move. What use was there in protesting when just the sound of his voice could make her melt like butter?

"It's all right, Clara," he said, pressing a kiss to her hair as he patiently worked his fingers against her, circling the very top of her seam where he knew she would respond. "I will not let anything happen to you, do you hear me? You belong to me now, and I will never let you come to harm."

She squirmed against his hand, half dreading the darts of pleasure he sent through her body and half craving far more, half escape and half surrender. It was too much—trapped in her own home and touched in this deeply personal way, surrounded by hungry eyes—and it was not nearly enough.

"Shiver, please," she whispered against his chest.

“Ahh, no, honey, remember I gave you a job," he said with a low laugh so filthy it should have made the surrounding demons blush. "Get my fingers nice and wet, and then I'll help you."

A frustrated little sob escaped her, buried in his chest where she clenched a fist. Shiver held back a groan. No wonder every demon watching them had clammed up in awe of her—she was pure sin wrapped in a white satin glow, delicious innocence and mouthwatering darkness.

His bourgeoning humanity made restraint far more difficult than it had been before—now he could feel the throb of his arousal, the ache that set his teeth on edge and made it ever more difficult not to tear her clothing and ravage her like a beast. If she continued being so vulnerable, so delicate, so intoxicating, and so seductive all at once, he could not protect her from his own carnivorous appetites.

Too soon, he felt that thin cotton under his fingertips growing damp. Shiver could easily have dragged this out until sunrise, but a promise was a promise. And that was fine—he had a few ideas about how best to distract her.

"There we are," he rumbled, taking his time, slowing his touches to an agonizing tease. "I knew you could do it. Now open up a little more for me, don't be shy."

Clara hissed a curse against him, but with her face pressed so tightly to his chest, no one could hear. The weight of embarrassment and the fear of being watched were crushing her to dust, and those clever fingers certainly weren't helping. Her knees trembled, and Shiver took pity on her, parting them himself with two of his shadowy tendrils that snaked beneath her dress.

"Oh! Oh, don't," she whispered, but her protest died when she felt one of the tendrils pulling her panties down to the top of her thighs, letting Shiver's fingers slip against her bare skin.

An arrow of shocking need zipped through her where his fingertip met her slick clit. She hit his chest lightly with her fist, barely tapping his huge frame.