Page 20 of Snake Eyes & Bad Luck

“I can’t fucking win with you,” she muttered under her breath before she flopped back in her chair. Watching him move about, the tingle in her belly returned with a vengeance. Desire, hot and cruel, pumped through her veins. Why? Why him! Why do I want him! She loathed to admit it, but she’d never wanted anything more than for Callum to reach over the table, snatch her by the back of the head and kiss her again.

Then, of course, with that thought, her mind raced with a thousand more terrible, awful fantasies of him with his mouth in places they didn’t belong. Great. Now I’ve done it. Again.

Chapter Eleven:

Cottonmouth

“Did you mean it?”

It was the first thing Avelina said to him in hours. They spent the rest of the day stuffed in that cabin with the windows open while there was actually a breeze in Gloomsdale. Most of his crew came and left, telling him updates as people made it back home from Parandor. The Stronghold was up in arms, apparently the rumor was Cottonmouth and an unknown warlock almost broke in. While it wasn’t exactly the buzz he’d hoped to stir, he didn’t hate the image it painted. That made the real deal seem more genuine. If they ‘tried’ once, the Paladins would be certain he’d make a second attempt.

And he’d ride off into the sunset with a new name, all the gold he could carry, and end up somewhere like the Chroma Coast or something.

But, the entire day, while he worked out schematics in his mind and moved pawns on his imaginative chess board, Avelina was quiet. She took her lumps and played nice with all the rest of the crew. Even when they tried to rag on her for fucking up their escape, or tease her into striking back, she stared through them with that hollowed gaze. It was getting kind of sad…then, as they laid in the dark, the crickets chirping out in the swamp under a full moon, she spoke.

“Mean what?” He blinked the light sleep out of his eyes.

“That you don’t need nor want kisses as payment from me?”

He scoffed, “Is that what’s got yer goat this whole time?”

“Just answer the question,” she huffed into the pillow she was curled around.

“Yes, I meant it.” He rolled his eyes. Sheeeesh, a man makes a joke one time and the little warlock gets bent out of shape. Rolling over to loom over her, he watched her eyes snap open. Like catching a cat in the briar at night, her orbs flashed. He arched a brow in response. “Do I look like the kinda man who can’t get ass if he’s craving it?”

“You don’t want me to answer that,” she grumbled into her pillow.

“Ooooo, watch out now, little viper’s finally getting her venom,” he teased. When she neither flushed nor shirked away, he frowned. Now, hang on a second. Spreading out his tail, he finally laid his body beside her, propping his head up onto her pillow. Avelina scowled back at him in the hazy moonlight. It filtered through the thick canopy of trees, leaving the whole bed covered in shadowy tattoos. She had that faraway look, like she was lost deep in thought again and he hated being left out of it. He prodded the center of her forehead with his forefinger. “Spit it out.”

“What if I did want it?” she blurted out, shocked and surprised with herself. Poor things eyebrows were up in her hairline.

“What now?” He blinked hard, once.

She stared into his eyes, cheeks finally turning a bright red. Oh, now she’s gone and done it. Avelina had the look on her face like she’d opened a can of worms, and she disliked the contents spilling out into her lap. A wicked, slow smirk crawled up his face. What if I did want it? He was about to prod her again when she confessed, in a low rasp. “You said if I wanted my bodice ripped, we could talk about it. And now, I wanna talk about it.”

“And, uh, why the change of heart?” His tail slithered up the bed to cradle her backside, keeping her an inch from him.

“We’ve both been pretty frustrated,” she started, clearly mustering up all the courage in her body. She clutched the pillow like it was a life raft. Fingers curled around the cushion, knuckles bone white, her fingernails would have left tracks if it was his flesh and not a stiff cotton.

“We have?” He spoke softer, fingers teasing her skin as he trailed them up her arm toward her elbow.

“Look, this doesn’t need to be—” she choked on her own words as his claws scratched up the back of her bicep. Heat radiated off her. “I was just thinking.”

“You do that a lot, darlin,” he murmured, closing the space between their faces. She sucked in a breath. “Was that all that little attitude was about today? You’ve been hot and bothered.”

“You know what,” she swallowed, twisting from him, “forget I said anything.”

But his fingers found her jaw in the dark and brought her face back toward him. Her lips crashed into his and he didn’t even consider how bad of an idea it was. She was his toy, his plaything, his pawn. Avelina was his means to an end, and getting tangled up was a mistake. While Callum could disconnect from most things, sex and feelings went hand in hand for him. It’s why he hadn’t craved anyone or anything in some time, why he berated Grahm for his priorities…because he couldn’t separate the emotions from the euphoria.

All sense or reason fled his body as he kissed her like a starved beast set loose in a field of unsuspecting sheep. He ripped from kiss to kiss, each nastier and more brutal than the last. A hint of metal tang touched his tongue. Callum pulled away, finding one of his fangs nicked her bottom lip. It didn’t phase Avelina at all, as she scrambled to get ahold of him and drag him back in. Her puffy lips met him in equal parts ferocity and demand.

He hummed against her mouth, drowning in her kiss. An eternity is a long time not to come up for air. Their lips brushed, damp and warm. He growled hungrily, “Tell me what you had cookin’ up in that noggin of yers all day, little viper.”

“I want to come,” she breathed, pushing away from his mouth to suck in gulps of air. “I want you to make me come, I want it to make all my muscles relax. I want to forget what happened in Parandor. Even if for a few hours.”

“I think I can make that happen,” he snickered. That’s not even a hard ask. Curling her wild mane around his fingers, he tugged her head back. With her chin to the ceiling, his mouth descended on her throat. He groaned at how pliable she was, hungry thing. She pressed her back hard against his tail. One of her legs looped over his hip as he melted against her warmth.

Just like a serpent to spread out to sun himself on a rock.