Swallowing the lump in my throat, I clutched the Pyrex to my chest and followed him into the living room. “Sure, Dad.”
I couldn’t really pay attention, not with a hundred thoughts flying around in my head. With my dad distracted by number twenty smashing a home run, I set my half-eaten omelet on the TV dinner stand he basically lived off of and pulled my phone out of my pocket.
I had told myself the moment I saw Lucifer’s text that I was going to ignore it. But as soon as I read it, I knew that was a lie.
So Lucifer really was the devil, and that in itself was a little scary. But everything he offered was just too appealing to flat out deny. And it wasn’t just his offer to help my father, whatever that entailed exactly.
It was the swirly, warm feeling in my heart—and other parts—that I couldn’t shake. I’d never believed in the love at first sight bullshit. As someone who’d never really had more than one-night stands, I didn’t really believe in true love at all. Maybe what Mel and Gabe had was something close to it, even if it was the weirdest relationship I’d ever heard of. But the only way I could really describe this feeling inside me was something similar to what cheesy Hallmark movies always portrayed. That warm, fuzzy feeling, like you were floating and like you suddenly belonged. Although there were also emotions he invoked that were very not on-brand for Hallmark, a sweaty, wild lust that made me imagine the devil in scenarios that would have me stoned or burned if I’d been born a few centuries earlier. It was like my stupid vagina didn’t know that she’d fallen for the freaking King of Hell.
The traitorous cunt.
And that warm, bubbly feeling made no damn sense after the exchange we’d had. It was erotic and full of promises. Dangerous promises.
Like he knew he already had me.
Damn it. The smug bastard. Why did he wantmeof all people? I’d been wearing scrubs of all things and probably smelled like nitrile gloves and disinfectant.
I stared at the text for several minutes, typing something then erasing it multiple times before settling on something safe and innocent.
“Who dis?”
He responded so quickly, I was sure he’d broken some kind of typing record.
“Very cute, Jessica. How many deals are you striking with dastardly handsome kings to confuse me with another? I warn you, I am a very jealous creature.”
I snorted at the “dastardly handsome” and typed my response.
“How did you get my number? Did you read my mind?”
“No, that’s not quite how it works. I recently acquired a company that specializes in developing security and background check software.”
“Is that why you came to…Earth?”
“I’m not an alien, Jessica.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Not quite. I’m a celestial shifter, an angel, as your people call it. At least, I was until my father stole my wings.”
I swallowed hard at the prospect that he was talking about God. I cast a side-eye at my dad, wondering what he would think about all this. Not that I wouldevertell him.
“So you can’t fly anymore. What else does it mean that you don’t have your wings?”
“It means I can’t let lose my true self. My true nature. My animal. My angelic spirit. It has a lot of names. Most of us just call it our inner beast.”
A lump swelled in my throat. Beast. Why did that word excite me so much?
“You didn’t answer my other question. Why are you here? It can’t be for the Seattle real estate market alone. As cool as that must be, owning Hell has to be better.”
He texted me a “LOL,” which just seemed really weird knowing who it came from.
“I did not come here for that, no. You have a lot of questions, naturally. Let’s meet for dinner tonight. We can discuss our arrangement in depth.”
“Sorry, I try not to make a habit of dating the devil.”
“Oh, is this a date now? ;)”
“Oh, come on. What else do you want from me besides getting in my pants? I’m not stupid enough to think this is just over a job. You can’t be that hard up for a human employee.”
