Chapter Two
“You gonna get that?”Bathin, tall, dark and demon-y, blew over the top of his quad shot espresso with the Blue Owl’s logo on theside.
The diner had been playing Christmas music non-stop since Decemberfirst.
The current tune sounded a little warped as it yodeled about halls that neededdecking.
The Blue Owl was warm, customers were smiling, and that happy, fluttery mix of holiday good will and hopeful expectation was thick in the apple pie-scentedair.
Outside, the rain and wind came down hard and cold. We wouldn’t get snow, but we were in for a heck of astorm.
My phone rangagain.
Bathin nodded toward it, like I hadn’t noticed the noise. “Gonna?”
“No.”
He grinned. “Oh, please. I can hear your heart beating love notes from over here. Don’t ignore your boyfriend on myaccount.”
I picked up my coffee and went back to the reports I was scanning. Ignored Bathin. Ignored thephone.
Bathin twitched one eyebrow. He liked a good game of chicken. “Maybe Ryder’shurt.”
He widened his eyes and gasped, going for the theatrics. “Maybe he’sdead.”
I scowled and took another drink. Ryder didn’t usually call me before dinner. Half-asleep-after-eleven-o’clock calls had become the defaultlately.
“Why, he hasn’t even told you if he loves you or not.” He chuckled at my scowl. “You think I don’t know your innermost secrets? You think I don’t know what youfeel?”
He leaned forward on his elbows, eyes kindled, mouth tipped in asmirk.
“Answer him. Talk to him. Tell him you love him. You know you want to,” he sing-songed.
“Remind me again why you’re sitting here?” I slurpedcoffee.
I’d found it was best to ignore his drama. Since I dealt with gods on a daily basis, tricksters and attention hounds were oldhat.
“Three days before Christmas, I haven’t been invited to the Reed’s famous Christmas Eve shindig—an oversight, I’m sure. I’m just a lonely demon looking for a little company andfun.”
He stuck his lip out in apout.
Yeah, that wouldn’t work on me either. I started reading the reportsagain.
“Fine,” he huffed. “I want an invite. Please invite me to your family Christmas party. Besides, where else would I be? I am sort of attached toyou.”
Since he could read my mind, I envisioned some places I’d rather he be. I had a vividimagination.
That got one short, surprised laugh out of him, and I had to work not to give him a smile inreturn.
He was charming when he laughed. Handsome when he smiled. Enough so that it was deceptively easy to forget he was a demon in possession of mysoul.
And sometimes, like whenever he thought my sister Myra couldn’t see him watching her, I could even see a kind of confused warmth in his eyes that didn’t appear to be fueled by the fires ofhell.
The rest of the time, he was an annoying pain in myneck.
“You should call Ryderback.”
“No.”
