Синтия Иден - Midnight Sins

The song finished on a long, deep note. She drank in the energy, inhaling deeply as she bowed briefly to the crowd.

Not enough. Tonight she needed so much more.

And she’d have it.

She replaced the microphone. Nodded to the band. Moved easily across the stage, her skirt swirling around the top of her thighs as she walked. When she lifted her hand to the stair railing, she saw the faint glow on her skin. She wondered if Todd would notice it. Hoped that he didn’t, because she didn’t want to give explanations this night.

She just wanted to give pleasure—and take her own.

She felt other stares on her as she sauntered across the room. One man even reached out and touched her shoulder, but Cara froze him with a look.

There was only one guy in the bar who interested her, and he was the one she was going to claim.

Todd’s gaze never left her as she drew closer. He lifted the whiskey. Drained it in one fast gulp right before she reached him. The glass clattered against the bar.

“Hello, Detective.” She thought about asking him how the case was going. She’d heard talk in the bar about a body being found at the Dayton Hotel. She wondered if the murder was connected to the others.

“Cara.”

It was the way he said her name that got to her. Hunger. Lust. Tenderness.

She decided not to ask about the case. She didn’t want to hear about another poor soul who had been killed, not then. She wanted the few hours of the remaining night to belong only to the two of them.

These precious hours just after midnight. Playtime for the Other .

“You were good tonight.”

She motioned for Cameron to bring her usual drink. The sweet, ice-cold brew that she sipped after each performance. “Thanks.” Tonight, she’d been singing just for him. Had he noticed?

Cameron put the drink on the bar. Narrowed his eyes on her. Screw him. She neither wanted nor needed his approval. Hell, she never gave him a hard time when he hooked up with human women.

Cameron’s lips tightened when he caught her cold stare, but then he backed away. “Your choice.” The words were whisper soft.

“Thanks, Cameron.” And, yeah, it was her choice.

Or rather, Todd was her choice.

Cara leaned over the good detective, deliberately rubbing her body against his as she reached for her drink. She liked the way he smelled . The fresh scent of soap. A hint of aftershave. Man.

“We need to talk,” he told her, and his voice was harder than before. His hands lifted, caught her just above her elbows.

She took one slow sip from her drink. The icy liquid eased down her throat. Cara licked her lips and noticed the slight widening of his nostrils. He was catching her pheromones again. He knew the scent was richer, knew something was happening. She could see it in his eyes.

See the same hard lust she felt.

“We are talking,” she told him, wondering what his next move would be. She was putting on a bold front with him now, but the truth was, she was nervous as hell inside. If she had sex with him, if she gave in to her instincts, it wouldn’t just be about fun and games and a rush of sweet, sensual power.

You have a man you can’t control. Dr. Drake’s words echoed in her mind.

“You’re different tonight.” His hold tightened.

Yes. “Why did you come back, Detective?”

“Todd.” A pause. “I like it when you say my name.”

A costly admission. It gave her more power. He should know that. “Todd.” She obliged him softly. “Why are you here?”

“Maybe I like the band.” His lips hitched into the briefest of smiles and that sexy dimple winked at her. “Or maybe it’s the singer.”

Oh, but the guy was smooth. Humans were often so gifted with their words. Especially the men.

She’d known human men who could lie their way into almost anyone’s bed. But—

But Cara didn’t get the feeling that Todd was lying to her. She took another sip of her drink, conscious of the warm weight of his hands on her arms. She wanted those hands on other parts of her body. She wanted them out of the bar and back at her place.

She wanted Todd any way she could get him.

Cara lifted a brow. “So what is it that you want to talk to me about?” She could hear him easily in the bar, even though voices and music surrounded them.

He brought his face close to hers. Stared into her eyes and said, “My dreams, Cara. I want to tell you all about my dreams.”

The glass nearly slipped from her fingers. “Dreams?” He remembered them?

Men weren’t supposed to remember dreams of a succubus. Pleasure, passion—those were the only impressions meant to stay in a man’s mind. The succubus herself, well, she should be forgotten.

“You’ve been in my head,” he said. “Awake, asleep, I just can’t escape you.”

And she couldn’t escape him. “Do you want to escape?”

He brought his lips down onto hers. Kissed her once. A slow, leisurely taste of her lips, then a deep thrust of his tongue into her mouth. The human sure knew how to work his tongue.

When his mouth lifted, she wanted to moan at the loss.

“No.”

At first, she didn’t understand. Was he rejecting her? Then he said, “I don’t want to get away from you.” His eyes narrowed. “I just want you.”

“Do you usually get what you want?” She bet that he did.

“Sometimes I do.” For a moment, his lips tightened. “Sometimes I don’t. Guess that’s the way it is for us all, right?”

The way for humans.

“We can play the game, Cara,” he told her, rubbing his hands up and down her arms in a rough caress. “I can be the gentleman. Take you out on a dates. Movies. Theater. Whatever you want.”

He was what she wanted. The lust between them burned too bright for a slow courtship. She needed release. Pleasure.

Him.

Was it because he was a sensitive? Was he somehow magnifying the feelings of desire? It could be possible. Human psychics were rare. She’d only encountered a handful of others. Dr. Drake was by far the strongest she’d ever met.

Todd was strong, too, but his power was different.

Maybe because he didn’t even realize he had it. If he channeled his magic—

Well, she wasn’t exactly certain what would happen.

Her gaze dropped to the hands that still held her. She lifted a brow.

With a muttered curse, he released her.

Able to move more easily now, she pushed her glass back across the bar. Gave an almost imperceptible nod to Cameron. Despite his pissy mood, she’d managed to grill him about the detective earlier in the evening. Grudgingly, Cameron had admitted that the cop was known for being on the level. Not one to take a bribe or to “misplace” evidence. And, apparently, if the gossip around town was anything to go by, Todd had quite a reputation with the ladies. Not that she’d been particularly surprised by that news.

Cameron had also said the guy was a straight-up asshole, but Cam usually said that about human males.

Judging by Cam’s continued glare, she figured he was clinging tightly to his asshole theory.

“I’ve never really had much use for gentlemen,” Cara murmured, and the words were true. Of course, she hadn’t really met that many gentlemen.

“So what do you want?”

She leaned toward him. Put her hand on his chest so that she could feel the fast thump of his heart. “I want to get out of here. Go someplace dark and quiet. And I want you with me.” Under her. In her.

Now that she’d lowered the walls around herself just a bit, the lust was bursting though her body like water that had been contained behind a weak dam.

His jaw clenched. “You sure?”

“Very.” She smiled at him, stepped back. “But the choice is yours, Detective.” He was the one taking the bigger risk. He just didn’t know it yet.