“Hey, can I get you a drink?”
The female voice snagged his attention, and he lifted his head to meet the gaze of a human woman standing on the other side of the counter. Her smile was innocent, but her eyes were full of invitation.
Belial lifted a brow. Sweet little thing like her? He’d chew her up, spit her out, and use her bones to pick his teeth after.
Tempting.
“I’m good,” he grunted.
He was already having enough trouble getting thoughts of Naiamah’s perfect, twerking ass out of his head, and the last thing he needed was to lessen his control with more alcohol. The drink he’d had earlier certainly hadn’t helped keep his temper at bay.
“Are you Ash’s brother?”
He frowned. “You know him?”
“He’s dating my best friend, Eva. She introduced us earlier.”
“Oh. Yeah, he’s my brother.”Say something flirty if you want to bed her, asshole.
A million sleazy pickup lines ran through his head, but he didn’t have the energy to verbalize them. Instead, he felt this empty feeling in his chest like there was nothing but a vacant pit between his ribs and spine.
“I’m Skye.” She reached a hand across the bar, and he shook it.
“Bel.”
“Belleas in French for beautiful?”
He snorted. “No. Bel as in Belial.”
She smiled. “That’s a nice name.”
His brow lifted.Go google that shit and see if you still think it’s nice, sweetheart.
“It wouldn’t be bad if it meant beautiful, you know.” Skye leaned toward him, bracing her forearms on the countertop, offering a fantastic view down the front of her shirt.
“I’m not sure I agree.”
She smiled. “It would suit you.”
He managed a smirk. The female was smooth. “Are you making a pass at me, Skye?”
“If I was, would you object?”
He tilted his head, considering. He wondered how far he could take things with an innocent little human like this before she ran screaming.
Except then she suddenly straightened and blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m totally leading you on right now and that’s not fair.”
He had to laugh. “Are you concerned for my virtue? Because I assure you, I have none.”
“No, it’s just...” She winced slightly and blurted, “I swore off guys for six months.”
“Really. Why?”
“Because I have no self-control. I love sex. I just... love men—and you are, like, the king of sexy men, by the way—but I’m looking for more. And I know that if I’m ever going to find something serious, I need to break this bad habit first, you know?”
He blinked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She laughed. “I’m not surprised. I’ll put it this way. Have you ever made a promise to yourself not to do something, and then you went and did it anyway, and you felt disgusted with yourself after? And then you promised it again, and broke it again, and kept doing it over and over until finally, you feel like you don’t respect yourself anymore?”
