by Mia Downing
I had no clue what to think as I rose, shame and remorse making my hands tremble as I gathered his discarded paper. I had wanted him to be happy in his absence of magic. Pissing him off wasn’t going to aid my cause.
But maybe…
The gift had made him remember. Human memories weren’t all Christmas, birthdays, and pony rides. I knew that all too well. I still had the nightmares to prove it.
Maybe remembering how it all had started was a good thing.
****
At five after eleven, I went to bed, figuring the magic had allowed Leo to leave after all. I’d stashed the art supplies in the drawer in his bedside table, hoping he’d rethink his decision when the shock of the memories wore off. I’d left the light in the hallway on, just in case he came back.
I rolled over, trying not to care as I adjusted the blanket over my shoulders. But he’d been gone for quite a while since he’d left around eight. Where would a demon with no magic go for three hours?
My mind conjured him dead in a gutter or worse, tucked between some woman’s legs. All he had to do was drink a beer in a bar, and he’d probably find his way home with some unsuspecting soul. Would he acquire her, too? Jealousy burned under my skin, and because jealousy at his acquiring another soul had to be wrong, guilt returned. One would think I was Catholic with all of this guilt.
At ten after eleven, a key turned in the lock, the doorknob rattling. The door squealed as it opened and closed, the click like a sonic boom in the quiet. The chain rattled as he slid it in place, and his footsteps squeaked in the hallway. I held my breath as I waited for him to come to bed, but instead the footsteps headed into his bedroom.
Huh.
I rolled again, my throat tight. How stupid of me. After all,, since I’d only known him since Sunday. He’d spent two nights in my bed. He owned my soul, and I should be angry about that, too.
But all I felt was sad and lonely, my chest aching.
I must have drifted off to sleep, because the next thing I knew, a warm, hard body nestled next to mine, an arm slinging across my torso to cup my breast.
“Leo,” I murmured. “Where did you go?”
“For a walk. And a beer at a bar. And another walk. The magic refused to take me at eleven, so I came back.” He cleared his throat. “And no, I didn’t acquire anyone. I can’t without magic anyway.”
“I wasn’t worried about that,” I lied, worried he’d read my mind.
“Oh. It seemed like something you would worry about.”
I relaxed a little that he wasn’t out gathering souls from my local bar. He’d come home ten minutes after eleven, so I doubted he’d gone home with anyone. And what did I care? As long as he didn’t give me a disease.
He cleared his throat again. “Next time, I’ll call.”
Wow. That was about as close to sorry as I’d ever get, and despite wanting the full apology, all my anger and other emotions melted. It was still a step in the right direction.
Unsure what to say, I patted his hand, and he snuggled harder against me. Before I could comment, soft snores drifted from his side of the bed.
As I drifted to sleep, I realized demons probably didn’t admit to regretting something often. If ever.
And I smiled.
Chapter Fifteen
Friday morning I woke to an empty bed, which surprised me. I sat up, disoriented. Leo sauntered in from the hallway, naked, carrying clothes for the day.
He did a double take with a wide-awake gaze as if probing my owned soul. “Oh. Good morning.”
“Good morning.” I held the sheet to my chest, which made no sense since I’d actually worn clothes to bed for a change. Our fight the night before meant no sex, and I guessed no sex this morning, too. “Where were you?”
“In the other room.” He waved a hand toward the door. “I didn’t want to wake you. I guess I don’t need as much sleep as you do.”
My brows flew up in surprise. Maybe he was nice after all. “Thanks for letting me sleep.”
He snorted as he hung his suit on the door of my closet. “I was coming to wake you up. I’m hungry. If I woke you too early, you’d probably revoke breakfast privileges.”
Damn it, I had created a monster. I ran a hand through my hair. “This is the last day for a big breakfast before work. I go back to work Monday.”
“You can get up earlier.”
“Or I teach you to cook.”
He snorted again and gathered his underthings in his hand. “I’m going to shower. You can join me and give me a blowjob for your insolence.”
I chucked a pillow at him.
“Watch it, Olivia.” He shot a glare my way, and I chuckled as the bathroom door banged shut a moment later.
I flopped on my bed, got comfy under the covers, and the doorbell rang. I struggled out of bed and pulled on a robe. Leo muttered in strange tongues from the bathroom, and I shook my head as I peered through the peep hole into the hallway.
And did a double take.
I made the mistake of opening the door, and my ex-fiancé brushed past me, uninvited.
“What the hell, David?” That bubble of anxiety and longing rose in my throat, and I swallowed it down as I shut the door. He meant nothing.
Right?
David went to the kitchen. I followed, tugging the robe tighter as I cast a worried glance down the hallway toward the bathroom. Only those damned woodchucks knew what Leo would have to say about this.
My usually debonair, suave, and pulled-together ex-fiancé heaved a huge sigh, running a hand through his unusually messy blond hair. His dress shirt had wrinkles, his pants stains. He palmed his face, a clear tell that he was highly conflicted and stressed. The exhausted eyes, the bags and dark circles pronounced and purple screamed stressed as well.
Good.
David cleared his throat. “I called the office the other day. I’m surprised you’re home.”
“I’m on vacation. I’m surprised they gave you that information.” I tightened the robe another notch. “I thought you were on your honeymoon.”
He narrowed his blue eyes more, and I refused to shrink under the accusing glare. “We didn’t get to go.”
I tamped down the vindictive streak that wanted to do an end zone dance. The money wasted, the angry bride who’d wanted nothing more than a Turks and Caicos Island honeymoon… I had to be glad I’d dodged that bullet. Granted, I’d run right into another bullet holding a gilded contract, but such was my life.
“So.” I gestured with a hand. “What do you want?”
“I came to ask you to not press charges. Please.” He gulped, his exhausted eyes dark with desperation. “Just…please. If you ever loved me…”
My mouth fell open, and all that vindictiveness turned to stone under my thudding heart. The balls of that man, with no I’m sorry, no preamble. Wow. Just…wow.
“Babe, I thought you were joining me in the shower.”
Oh, God. Leo.
My cheeks heated as Leo halted at the entrance to the kitchen in just a towel that did nothing to hide his raging hard-on. He looked damned hot, and from the way he cocked a hip like a male model, he knew it. His lip curled as he eyed David with heavy contempt that radiated in waves.
David…shrank. There was no other way to describe the roll of the shoulders, the twist of his mouth as he scoped out Leo from head to gorgeous toe.
David turned to me with a sneer. “Didn’t take you long to move on.”
I flinched. “David—”
“You just got married.” Leo stood tall and took a menacing step toward David. “You robbed her blind and fucked her best friend in her own bed. She deserves a man for a change.”
“Okay then.” I don’t know what I had expected, but a possessive, protective Leo was not it. Rattled, I cleared my throat. “David, this is Leo Weston. Leo—”
Leo waved his hand in dismissal. “Yeah, it’s your dickweed of an ex.”
I rolled my eyes and turned to David. “I have nothing to discuss
with you, seeing I’m not pressing charges.”
“You’re not?” Both men said it at the same time; Leo’s tone was filled with disgust while David’s sounded hopeful.
“No.” I shrugged. “I don’t have to. The bank said they’d handle matters. It’s up to them to decide if David needs to be charged criminally. They probably will, but it’s out of my control.”
Leo’s lips curled into a cruel smile, as if seeing the path of righteousness paved in solid gold before his eyes. It surprised me he’d see it my way, but I’d take it.
David’s eyes widened as the full range of repercussions must have settled in his brain. He sucked in a breath, his shoulders shuddering. “You have to stop them.”
“Why?”
“Please, Ollie.” He licked his lips, his eyes a little wild. “I’ll lose my job. I may have already lost Jess. I can’t lose everything.”
“But it was okay for me to lose everything?” My laugh came out short and bitter, one that nearly lodged in my throat. “You haven’t even apologized for what you’ve done thus far.”
“It’s too late to be sorry.” David’s hand shook as he raked it through the spikes at his forehead. “I’d give anything to go back. I am sorry, but that doesn’t help me now.”
“Too little, too late.” I swallowed the bitter disappointment. All I had wanted was an apology. To understand. It figured he’d give me excuses and an apology negated with his needs. “Why? You could have asked me for the money. I don’t understand.”
David’s gaze darted away from mine in a shifty way as he shoved his hand in his pocket. Something rattled. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“No, she wouldn’t. But I do.” Leo he held out his hand, wiggling his fingers in a give-it-to-me way.
“No.” David recoiled from Leo.
“What?” I said at the same time, staring in disbelief. “He put his hand in his pocket.”
“Believe me, Liv, I know that sound.” Leo pointed at David with a menacing finger. “Show her so she can get some peace from this mess you’ve put her in.”
I’d never seen David scared before. He trembled slightly as he tore his gaze from Leo’s fierce one.
“Now,” Leo threatened.
Eyes focused on some distant spot, David pulled something from his jacket pocket and held it out to me.
I took it. The amber bottle held pills. Not understanding, I searched for the label and shook my head when I read it. I blurted out, “David, these aren’t yours.”
His lip curled as his gaze returned to mine. “No, they’re not, Ms. Priss.”
My jaw dropped, both at the title and the obvious. The title probably hurt because I’d never thought of myself as a priss before, and definitely not so much now that I was sleeping with sin incarnate. But the pills… How could I have missed this? “When? How?”
“Does it matter?” Leo asked. “He’s a dick.”
“The car accident. Before I met you,” David admitted quietly.
Shocked, I blinked and gave up trying to make sense of it. I inspected David’s bloodshot eyes, his red nose. I would have checked his arms for tracks if Leo weren’t there. “Did you…use anything else?”
“Yeah.” He snatched the pill bottle back and pocketed it. “Let’s just leave it at that and get back to the bank thing.”
“I have nothing else to say. The bank has the power.” Though a part of me begged to help him, most of my gut embraced my decision to let him go. I felt even freer, knowing David was in that deep, and it was all out of my hands. He wasn’t my worry anymore.
Braver with Leo in the room, I shoved David toward the door. “It’s time to go. Good luck.”
He planted his feet, hands up in surrender. “Liv. I’m begging you.”
Leo snickered as he leaned against the hall wall with casual grace. “I have a friend who can help you out—”
“Shut it.” I shook a finger at Leo. “No acquisitions.”
David slammed on the breaks harder in the now-open doorway. “I’m not leaving until you help me.” He flicked a glance to Leo. “He said he has a friend—”
“You don’t want his help. Trust me.”
David’s jaw clenched as his bloodshot eyes narrowed. “Look—”
“I made a mistake. You need to go.” Leo took a step forward and glowered at David. I didn’t realize how much taller Leo was, and how formidable he could be when he scowled. It impressed and excited the hell out of me.
“Make me.”
“In thirty seconds,” Leo growled, “I’m going to have Liv on her back and my tongue in her pussy. She deserves to come hard a few times after dealing with your bullshit. If you want to watch and feel like even less of a man…go ahead.” This grin shaped up to be dirty and cocky, all at the same time. “But I wouldn’t advise it.”
Ignoring the blush climbing my cheeks, I shoved my ex again, wanting him gone before he decided to become a voyeur. “Goodbye, David.”
I shut the door on David’s sputtering form and leaned my back against it, grateful for the solid wood at my back because without it or Leo, I would have run after him. My God, what had I dodged? Was I really that naive? That stupid? How had I missed so much?
“Addicts are good at hiding their issues from loved ones, Liv. It’s not your fault.”
“You reading my mind again?”
“I don’t need to read your mind. You’re a little transparent, Liv.”
I opened my eyes to confront Leo, and as I took in his delicious form, I changed the subject. “What the hell?” I pointed to the towel. “What was up with that?”
“I jacked it a little.” Leo gestured to the towel, his hard-on now gone. “Couldn’t let the ex think he’s got more under the hood, so to speak. Size matters.”
I wanted to sputter and rage and tell him that wasn’t appropriate, but given that David didn’t have a lot under the hood when hard compared to Leo’s flaccid…well… “Thank you.”
Leo sighed. “He’s trouble, Liv. You should have let me give him a business card.”
“You don’t want his soul.” And I didn’t want that guilt on mine. Nor did I want David to know what Leo really was to me. I wanted to keep that fake boyfriend thing going as long as possible.
“No, but I have associates who like a fast sale. He is primed and ready to offer whatever to get out of this mess.”
I stepped forward and poked my finger into the center of Leo’s hard chest. “No acquisitions. No business cards. No water cooler chatter to lead your associates David’s direction. Got it?”
“Fine.” Leo sighed and rolled his eyes. After a dramatic moment of silence, he asked, “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I wanted to sag to the floor and instead leaned against the hallway wall. “How could I have missed the whole pill thing? Am I really that naive?”
Leo cupped my cheek with his large palm. “I think you’re sweet and probably very forgiving.”
“He blamed his mood swings on his job and his demanding parents.” I chewed my bottom lip, contemplating things.
“You couldn’t have fixed him, Olivia, so stop thinking about it.”
“How—”
“I know people. He’s a dick, and your sweet soul wants to fix all the douches in the world so they’re pure. Just like you.” He kissed my lips quickly. “That’s who you are. A little demon in your life isn’t going to change that.”
I didn’t want to focus on the fact that he was right, not when a part of me wanted to curl up on the floor and weep. I’d cried enough.
Instead, I focused on the one mode of stress relief I could count on. My hand slid between us and cupped him. “This demon isn’t so little.”
He laughed and kissed me again. “It gets bigger.”
“Does it?” I squeezed him at the base as he grew. “My, my, so it does. Zero to sixty in a few seconds flat.”
Lust dilated his pupils, darkening his eyes. “That’s what you do to me.”
I shimmied down to my knees before him
and loosened his towel, letting it drop to the ground. His erection bobbed inches from my lips, and I wanted to taste him in the worst way. “And you deserve a reward for coming to my rescue.”
I ran my tongue across the glistening bead at his slit and frowned. He tasted…really good. Salty and sweet, like salted caramel. I looked up at him in shock.
I wanted to smack the smirk off his face. “Told you demon cum tasted great.”
“I doubt it all tastes that good.” But I went in for another lick and this time took him into my mouth.
“Believe me. It does.” He sank his hands into my hair, not to guide me, but to massage my scalp. “Sweet Lucifer, your mouth is pure sin.”
I reveled at the way he groaned, as if I’d done the most spectacular thing ever when all I did was suck the tip. Dickweed David never reacted like that the few times I had blown him.
In fact, I thought a demon would be more…greedy. Leo spent a heck of a lot of time satisfying me, making sure I had orgasms, making sure the experience was phenomenal. Wouldn’t they be a “Wham, bam, thank you, Ma’am” sort of creature?
Leo gently tugged my hair upward until I let his shaft pop from my mouth and stood. Hands in my hair still, his mouth claimed mine in a steamy kiss that made my knees weak.
Breaking the kiss, he panted, “Let’s go to the bedroom.”
“I can blow you here.”
“Yeah, but I promised Dickweed I’d have my tongue in your pussy. If we go to the bed, we can do both.” His eyes took on a sheen of pure lust as he untied my robe and cupped my breasts. “At the same time.”
For the first time since David had broken my bed and my heart, I wanted to thank him for something. “Well then. I’d hate to have you break a promise.”
Maybe this was a part of the good luck, too.
Chapter Sixteen
For the third time that week, I woke to vigorous shaking that had nothing to do with an earthquake and everything to do with Leo.
“Olivia. Where’s my breakfast?”
I rolled and peered at Leo out of one eye. He had on his suit—black with a red tie—and the change jingled furiously in his pocket.