Ash hesitated, trying to come up with some excuse to talk her out of this. She didn’t give him a chance, walking up and throwing her arms around his waist. He returned the embrace, holding her close though he was so much taller than her in this form.
“I just want you to be safe,” he muttered.
“I know you do,” she replied, face pressed against his bare skin. “And I love you for it.”
“Love?”
“Yes,love. I love you, you silly demon.”
Awe filled him. Elation, gratitude, sheer fucking joy.She loved him.
Since they were going for the full shock effect, he decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it. Head first, no holds barred.
“I love you too,” he said, and damn if he didn’t mean it.
Eva’s head came back, and she stared up at him with round eyes. Raum and Belial were looking at him with similar expressions. Dan looked like a UFO full of green aliens had just landed right in front of him and made a crop circle. Jacqui, however, was smiling.
Ash didn’t care what anyone else was doing. He felt free. He knew he’d spoken the truth and that he really was capable of love.
Asmodeus, Prince of Hell, was in love.
“I love you,” he said again just to hear the words. To taste them on his tongue. To feel them in his fucking heart like a total sap.
“I love you too,” Eva said, a tear from her gray eyes trailing down her cheek as she smiled at him.
That intense, indescribable feeling crashed over him like a tidal wave, making his head spin like he’d just taken a hit of the world’s most powerful dopamine-enhancing drug. His head began to pound. His vision began to swim.
“Ash?” Now she looked concerned.
He swayed, awash in that powerful sensation, his sight darkening at the edges. “Love... you...”
“Ash!” Eva sounded panicked.
He hadn’t meant to scare her, but it was a little late to backtrack. He briefly wondered if he was going to burst into flame or something since he wasn’t technically supposed to be able to fall in love.
And then he passed out.
27
Fare Thee Well, Love
Dan found Jacqui standing by the window in their bedroom, staring out at the darkening skies reflecting in the calm ocean. After Asmodeus had lost consciousness, there had been several seconds of undiluted panic.
Eva had screamed in a way that told Dan she hadn’t been kidding when she told the damn demon she loved him, and Belial and Raum had rushed over, hovering about like they were equally concerned. Dan had found himself begrudgingly reassuring them Asmodeus was fine. He’d obviously just been overwhelmed by powerful positive emotions he wasn’t used to experiencing.
Dan couldn’t deny it anymore. If he’d hoped to believe that Asmodeus was lying about loving Eva, the fact that he’d passed out proved otherwise. There was no faking that kind of reaction, as much as Dan wished it weren’t so. As much as he still wanted to stab the bastard.
And speaking of stabbing bastards, Mephistopheles had woken up not long after that and been all wounded puppy, staring at Dan with those big red eyes like he’d been betrayed by his best friend. It hadn’t helped him feel any better about himself for launching the dagger in the first place, especially because Jacqui had proceeded to fuss over the guy like he was her own son.
Belial had carried Asmodeus inside and, after dropping him unceremoniously in the shower to wash off the blood, deposited him in Eva’s bed to sleep off his love hangover. Then the goddamned King of Hell had cooked the rest of them a five-course haute-cuisine meal, and they’d eaten in awkward silence amidst inappropriate comments from Mephistopheles and responding insults from his brothers.
It was one of the most bizarre meals Dan had ever endured, and that said a lot, considering how old he was and some of the situations he’d found himself in over the ages.
Afterward, it was time for him to leave. He knew it was coming, knew his wife needed time and space and a break. Maybe a permanent one, though he couldn’t bear to think about that yet. Or ever. But he knew he owed it to her to give her what she needed.
He also owed it to her to be honest, which meant that before he left, they needed to talk.
Which was how he found himself in their bedroom, watching her as she stood staring at that ocean view they both loved. He came up behind her, longing to touch her, to pull her into his arms, but he knew better. Instead, he sat on the edge of bed and waited.
