“What, was that too direct for you? I tried playing along with your whole ‘broke chick at the bank’ roleplay, but your imagined financial struggles really weren’t doing it for me.”
She laughed before she could stop herself and then closed her eyes. Why did she have to be so indescribably attracted to him? Of all the men—demons—whatever, why did she have to wantthisone so bad?
But she did. The truth was undeniable and evidenced by the fact that with a few simple sentences, he’d cranked up the dial on her sex drive to hyper speed. She’d never wanted a dick more than she wanted his, and while that probably meant there was something clinically wrong with her... at this point, she was beyond help.
“Fine,” she said, relinquishing the last tether of self-control and good intentions. She was done fighting this. It was exhausting, and she was sick of it. “But you can come here. I’m not going to your dirty bachelor pad.”
“Still not keen to join the evil, demonic orgy?” he said, throwing her taunt from the second time they’d met back at her.
She winced. It was true she’d been a little irrational. She’d showed up at the brothers’ apartment looking for Lily, and he’d invited her in for a drink.And join your dirty demon orgy or whatever’s going on in there? Hell no.In her defense, he’d been teasing her—typical—and she’d been worried about her sister. He was a demon. What was she supposed to think?
“Do you want it or not?” she snapped to cover her embarrassment.
“Oh, I want it.”
“Then get your arse over here. And you’d better hurry up because if I have to wait too long, I’m starting without you.”
He had already hung up before she finished speaking.
Her phone buzzed with a text seconds later.I have no idea where you live.
Despite herself, Iris burst out laughing. She texted him her address and then ran to the bathroom to get ready.
7
UP AND COMING
MEPH PRACTICALLY KICKED THE DOOR DOWN TOIRIS’Sapartment. He made it there in record speed, navigating the raging blizzard like an explorer seeking shelter, with a hard-on the whole way. He was getting pretty good at traveling with a boner.
Iris opened the door, looking ready to tear him a new one for knocking so loud, but froze at the sight of him. “What the hell? Where’s your coat?”
He stepped inside and shut the door behind him and then proceeded to shake the snow off himself like a dog. Iris yelped and jumped back as droplets sprayed everywhere.
“I forgot it,” he said.
“But it’s twenty below! Aren’t you cold?”
“Not really.”
She shook her head as if he was nuts, but he didn’t get it. He had worn his baggiest hoodie and even put the hood up. What was wrong with that?
He tugged the cotton monstrosity over his head, his T-shirt getting stuck to the bottom and pulling halfway off before he separated it and yanked it back down. When he finally got the hoodie off, Iris was staring blankly at his torso, which was weird, but maybe she was still hung up on the no-coat thing.
Oh, he realized. She’d been staring at his abs.
Nice.He flashed her a smug grin, which she returned with a scowl.
Hanging his snow-covered hoodie on the hook by the door, he stepped past her into the hallway and looked around. “Cool place.”
To his left, the living room featured a funky claw-foot sofa, classic tattoo-style art on the walls, and crawling vines around the windows. He saw a bookshelf with some witchy books and cool sculptures on it, so he went straight there and started picking everything up and examining it.
He could practically hear Bel’s voice in his head.Don’t touch anything, idiot. He knew he shouldn’t. He wasn’t clumsy, but he wasn’t exactly careful either, and he’d been known to break things. But he loved touching stuff. He especially loved touching art.
He went straight for this cool glass skull, picking it up and weighing it in his hands, running his fingers over all the bumps and edges. Next thing he picked up was an old-fashioned candelabra with decorative curving branches like a tree for each of the holders.
He was just reaching for a carved beeswax candle when Iris cleared her throat. “Having fun?”
He spun around, and she cocked a brow at him.
