Twisted Luck

by Mia Downing

  After a quick phone call to Annie, I finally surrendered in my quest. The plotting and planning exhausted my brain and put me on an edge that even a good orgasm couldn’t solve. The fact that I lived under his contract because he’d saved me still boggled my mind. It didn’t surprise me that Samuel wanted me dead. That was sort of a given. But that Leo had risked Samuel’s wrath to own me… I didn’t get it.

  So on Thursday, we fixed a quiet, simple meal and ate in companionable silence while I mulled over kickass wedding vows for my mother to utter.

  “You’re tense,” Leo observed as he jumped to his feet to pour coffee from the handy carafe.

  “Long day.” The increase in pay brought more responsibility, and if I didn’t have the added tension brought on by the dynamic demon duo, I would have been thrilled by the challenge.

  “Well, you’re in luck. I have been thinking.”

  God help me. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Smart ass.” He frowned over his shoulder as he stirred milk into his cup. “I’ve decided what we’re going to do this weekend if the magic grounds me again.”

  “Oh, yes. I was so worried about that.” At his scowl, I sighed in defeat. “What is your grand scheme?”

  “If I’m trapped here by the magic, we’re going to have a themed weekend.” He returned to the table and held up a hand before I could voice my shock. “I spoke to the marketing director at work in an effort to learn more about social media at Samuel’s urging. Since I’m new, she offered to show me around the area, and that led to my brilliant idea.”

  I don’t know what worried me most—Leo learning social media or that some tramp offered to show him around. He was my demon, damn it. “Don’t you know about social media?”

  “Well, no. There was no need. Hell uses ‘mental texts’ as you so call it. But Samuel is concerned about one of us staying current, and as I’m younger, I was chosen.”

  With an elegant wave of his hand, he swiped something off the counter and produced a sheet of paper with an itinerary of sorts written in neat ink. “This is our game plan for the weekend. I got the ideas off Pinterest.”

  “Pinterest?” This had to be too good. Leo planning his humanity? A bubble of hope tried to surface, and I tamped it down as I took the paper from his hand.

  As I blinked rapidly at the detailed itinerary before me, the excitement that had been brewing dampened to dismay and then bottomed out in despair. “An art museum at nine, a hot dog from a vendor at noon with a bathroom break.”

  He shot me a cocky smile. “I figured you’d appreciate that.”

  I fought rolling my eyes and continued to scan the page. “Carnival at twelve fifteen where we will eat fair food, ride a Ferris wheel, and watch animals pull sleds of rocks.” If I weren’t fighting bile, I would have laughed at his description of the horse and oxen pulls.

  “She was insistent I would enjoy the animals, but if time is tight, I’d rather ride a Ferris wheel. I’ve always wanted to ride the one in London and never made time.”

  The simple things that Leo wanted fascinated me. Hot dogs and Ferris wheels. Who knew?

  I returned to perusing the itinerary. “Then you want to have a snack of fried dough at three and head to the shore to walk the beach and eat seafood. We’ll finish the night with dancing in a New York City night club.” Exhaustion set in at the thought of accomplishing all of that in one day.

  He practically beamed. “I thought that would give us a good slice of Americana, so to speak. Sunday we’ll enjoy Chinese culture. I have the itinerary for that in my jacket pocket.”

  Inside me, something gave up and died under the weight of failure. Saying it surrendered would be way too easy. This wasn’t him being human. This was greed and gluttony on a date from Hell. I couldn’t control him any more than I could harness a hurricane.

  I tossed up a hand in defeat. “Leo, this is impossible. You didn’t even leave time for travel from event to event.”

  His brow furrowed as he came to my side and studied the page. “You’re right. How much time do we need? Ten minutes? Twenty?”

  “New York is at least two hours travel if we drive in and hit no traffic, and I don’t want to drive in the city.” I didn’t do nightclubs. I sighed. “We can’t do all of these things in one day. Pick one main event.”

  “Just one? What about two.”

  Leave it to greedy Leo to pack a schedule and stress me out. As an introvert extraordinaire, the mere thought of even half of that itinerary had my skin itching with a fresh batch of hives. With David, though, I would have bit my tongue and suffered through a busy day at his side, hoping it would change me, hoping it would make him love me more. My sacrifice had changed nothing, and I had still ended up alone in the long run.

  Compromising who I was wouldn’t save my mother, either.

  “Fine,” I said slowly as an idea formed. “If you want to do more than one activity, go ask Ms. Trampy Marketing Girl to go instead.”

  “Lisa,” he corrected.

  “Fine. Invite Lisa.”

  His cocky smile faded as his lips pursed in disappointment. “But I want to do these things with you.”

  Hope rose from the dead and swelled with excitement, my heart picking up the pace in a pitter-patter that smacked too closely of attraction. No, it had to be excitement at finally getting somewhere. “Really?”

  He hesitated, and something vulnerable crossed his expression in the moment it took him to gulp. His expression cleared as he nodded. “Well, yeah. Lisa is human, and I told her you were my girlfriend. So it would be awkward to take her. And there’s the whole unable to drive thing.”

  I licked my lips to hide the disappointment. “True.”

  The pitter-pattering ceased despite my desire to hang on to it. I wanted to cling to the idea he liked me enough to spend a weekend with me. A part of me clamored to say yes and do the entire exhausting itinerary and more.

  Instead, I held strong to my gut feeling. “Then you’ll have to tell Lisa we broke up or something, I guess.”

  I wished I had front row seats to his brain at times, because the way his mouth twisted this way and that spoke of deep, winding thoughts. “How about a compromise?”

  “Such as?”

  “Well,” he said slowly as he worked out his plan on the fly. “We do some of the things, as you suggested.”

  Finally, the glimmer of Annie’s master plan seemed to be working. “Compromise isn’t your forte.”

  He shrugged. “Your mother will see our relationship growing, which will serve our cause.”

  I’d expected that answer, but I wanted more. I pursed my lips, pretending to mull it over. “Give me a reason that isn’t goal-oriented.”

  Dismay brightened his eyes until he cleared his throat. He should have been an actor as quickly as he could think on his feet and change his emotions. “I like trying new foods. This will give me an opportunity to do so.”

  “I’ll take you grocery shopping. You can cook a whole feast without leaving the apartment.”

  His lips twisted as his eyes darkened. “I don’t want to shop and cook, Olivia. I want to go to the fair. With you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I want to.” The change in his pocket jingled in an uneven rhythm.

  I took a step closer until the heat of his body beckoned to me, my pebbled nipples brushing against his shirt. A tremor shook him in the smallest of earthquakes, one I’d felt so many times and never processed until now. If I grabbed his crotch, his dick would be rock hard.

  I whispered in his ear, “Why?”

  He shuddered on a groan. “I want to forget my real life and be as close to human as I’ll ever be.” He moistened his lips, the sound ripe and heady in my ear. “With you.”

  An odd sense of euphoria made my skin tingle as I feathered a kiss across his neck. Lust swirled, heating my blood to boiling in a mere seconds. I reached down and cupped his hard shaft through his dress pants. “Was that so hard?”
>
  “Olivia.” He groaned louder and then startled as if the sound surprised him. The gulp that filled my ears urged me to stroke him from base to tip.

  “Let’s go take care of this, big boy.”

  ****

  I’d always hated the Ferris wheel—the rocking back and forth, the heights, being suspended on top for eons while some kid puked and screamed at the bottom. Good times.

  Today, as Leo and I sat at the very pinnacle of the ride from Hell in the sunshine, eating cotton candy, admiring the view of the historic village’s charming rooftops, I didn’t mind any of it.

  Well. Except the height. Sixty-three feet was more than I could take, and I shuddered and braced for imminent death when the car swayed or lurched. Of course, Leo found my fear highly amusing and did all he could to capitalize on my discomfort.

  “How much more do you think that kid can vomit?” Leo asked as he craned his head over the side for a better view.

  “Don’t say that word.” The car swayed, and I slapped his shoulder. “Sit still.”

  “Why?” He rocked it more, just to be a shit.

  “Stop, or you don’t get sex tonight,” I ground out as my stomach churned.

  “Fine.” But his dark eyes sparkled with mischief.

  We’d spent Saturday doing mundane human things—cleaning, grocery shopping, discovering if Leo was strong enough to fuck me against a wall without magic. The answer was barely, so we’d taken it to the sofa instead.

  Then we’d feasted on Thai food and watched a documentary on Thai culture, which seemed to appease Leo’s need for a “theme” weekend. If a little voice hadn’t kept reminding me Leo was a demon and that I was on a quest, I could have easily fallen into the trap of believing he was my boyfriend.

  The day was that good.

  Today was Sunday, and Leo had chosen the fair as his activity. We had hit the fairgrounds mid-morning. Since my humanizing lessons revolved around food, I’d led him on a tour of the vendors so he could view his choices and pace himself throughout the day.

  That hadn’t worked as planned. So far, he’d had a loaded baked potato, fried dough, two candy apples, and fresh-squeezed lemonade. I’d been happy with New England clam chowder in a bread bowl. I would have been happier if Leo hadn’t eaten half of that, too, but he’d soothed my inner kid with cotton candy.

  We’d eaten our feast ring-side of a tractor pull, which satisfied Leo’s need to see an American something pull rocks on a sled. We’d danced to a country band, tried to win a stuffed purple bear and failed, and made fun of the fancy, puffy chickens in the livestock barn. We’d laughed ourselves silly, holding hands and acting…human.

  But as the Ferris wheel car shuddered and shook, I wanted to kill him like I would any childish, pain-in-the-ass, human male. “I said stop that!”

  He did what he was told for once. The silence between us filled with the far-below strains of calliope music and screaming children.

  He cleared his throat. “While we’re here, I suppose I should share something with you.”

  “Oh?” It couldn’t be good if he had waited to tell me while I was held hostage.

  “Samuel wants us to get engaged.”

  Despite my world grinding to a halt, the Ferris wheel lurched forward. I braced myself as the car rocked in time with the contents of my stomach. “Why?”

  “Well, I’m sure you know why, but he feels it will up the ante, so to speak.”

  “No.”

  “He knew you’d be obstinate, and I was told to remind you the only answer would be yes.”

  “Never mind how I feel.” I turned to him with horror. “How do you feel about Samuel dictating our relationship?”

  He shrugged. “It’s work. He controls everything.” But I could tell he didn’t like it by the way he avoided my gaze.

  “It’s one thing for me to pretend you’re my boyfriend. You live in my house. We have sex. I can deal. But engagement?” My brain swirled with transparent mush that held no answers. “I can’t lie to my mother. She’ll never believe it, anyway. It’s too soon.”

  “The magic is valid on her side. You could sell her a herd of unicorns we’ve bred ourselves in the garage, and she’d be thrilled with the purchase.” He dug his hand into his pocket.

  Hysteria climbed my throat, choking me. “Please tell me you’re not doing this now.”

  That was all I needed, to be embarrassed in front of a line of fairgoers and their bratty children, clapping and demanding me to accept.

  “Relax, Olivia.” Leo handed me tissues and gave me a sideways glance. “I don’t have to ask you right now. Just sometime before next Saturday.”

  The Ferris wheel jerked back to a stand-still, and I found myself grateful for the lack of motion and Leo’s words. “Oh thank God.”

  Leo winced. “Language.”

  I took a deep, cleansing breath that did nothing to calm the turmoil inside me. I gripped the side rail of the car, my knuckles painfully white. “Why even bother asking? It’s not like I have a choice in the matter. Just hand me the ring.”

  “Because Pinterest says an engagement is special for women, and that would include your mother. I have to find the right ring and the right moment to ask.”

  The ride started up again, and I hoped to hell we were getting off next as my brow beading with sweat. “If we were a real couple—yes. An engagement would be the biggest question you ever asked. But as you said, this is work and mandatory.”

  He stared out over the fairgrounds and finally met my gaze, his jaw set in that determined and serious way of his. “This is my first—and probably only—engagement. I want it to be special.”

  I stared with a mix of horror and something I couldn’t name that bridged too close to hope. “Did you share that with Samuel?”

  “I didn’t.” Was I mistaken, or did his cheeks pink up a little? “But I did tell him your mother wouldn’t accept mediocre after the last failed relationship. So he said for me to do what I needed to do.”

  “Which is?”

  “Make it realistic.”

  As if.

  Emotion overwhelmed me as the car lowered to the platform. The gum-popping carnie opened the gate to let us out. I staggered down the ramp, leaving Leo behind as I practically dove into the crowd. The idea of blending and disappearing morphed and commanded my legs as I bolted.

  “Olivia! Wait!”

  I wove through the fairgoers, dodging strollers and hand-holding couples. The whole “fight or flight” thing kicked in. I wanted to run far, far away and forget this whole mess.

  But I couldn’t. Not if I wanted my mother to live.

  Once I cleared a throng of giggling teens, I paused next to a milkshake vendor and waited for Leo to catch up. I should be happy, damn it. An engagement could work in my favor, especially if he wanted it to be special. But somehow, I didn’t think our definitions of special matched.

  A moment later, Leo rounded the corner, skirting an over-laden trash can. Concern wrinkled his brow, his shoulders drooping as his stride lengthened in haste. Then his gaze caught sight of me, and he paused mid-step. Relief and confusion danced with the concern.

  Sadly, I wanted to freeze time and keep that expression forever. No man had ever looked at me like that before, like I mattered more than anything.

  Leo finally reached my side, the change in his pocket clanging with a fierce jingle. “You okay?”

  “Of course.” I didn’t apologize for my rudeness, though the nice part of me whispered meekly that I should.

  “You don’t seem okay.”

  I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest. “Any idea when the great event will happen?”

  “No, but it will be something you’ll never forget.”

  Oh sure, he’d probably make it some big public thing that put me on the spot so I had to say yes. “That’s what I’m worried about.”

  Leo grabbed my arm as I turned away. “I promise I won’t hurt you like David did.”

  I turned back, ag
hast. “You don’t think you’ve hurt me enough?”

  “Olivia.”

  I yanked my arm out of his hand. “How can you presume to know what David did to me?”

  He took a step forward, backing me into a quiet corner between the trailer and a fence. He whispered fiercely, “Because you almost drank yourself into an early grave while waiting for some stranger to take your virginity.”

  My cheeks blazed hot. “You said magic had a hand in that.”

  “Yes,” he said slowly. “But it doesn’t take a genius to see the extent of the damage that dick did to you. All the dicks in your life for that matter, and that includes your former best friend.”

  A flash of hatred covered the fear his observations skirted so closely around. I snorted and shrugged a shoulder. “You steal souls for a living. What makes you an expert in human behavior?”

  “I’ve had over a century of evaluating people, searching for their weaknesses. Learning what makes them tick. You are strong. You are stubborn, determined, and invincible.

  “But you’re also scared. This situation has made you stronger, but I see the battle between fear and revolt in your eyes every time you fight me. If this weren’t life or death for your mother, you’d cave and give in to the fear.”

  I hated his insight. My own breath became cloying in my throat, and I swallowed around it. I glanced past him at the midway filled with fairgoers. How many of them had sold their souls, too?

  Breathing regulated, I finally focused on Leo again. “I don’t like gaudy rings.”

  He blinked as if my change of topic threw him off. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Maybe we could look at a few to make it more realistic.”

  Realistic. The word summoned tears to my eyes. Reality meant we’d get engaged and when Samuel married my mother, it would be all over. Her soul would be owned and I’d be dead. “It won’t be a real engagement and it’s stupid to pretend otherwise unless it’s in front of my mother. You’re better off just…handing it to me. I’ll wear it in front of my mother and think of something to cover the lie.”

  His brow furrowed at my words. “But Samuel wants this to be a real engagement.”