“Okay, ladies, let’s do this. Find me the perfect wedding-appropriate dress to make me irresistible. I have a demon to seduce.”
Eleven
AMAZRA
I continue to miss opportunities to be face-to-face with Lilah.
Yesterday before closing. Then, this morning, when I saw her in the town square, her location and body language giving the impression of attempting to conceal herself from view while observing the bakery. Appearing to wait until I was occupied with another customer before hurrying across the street, then conducting her transaction with Dauphine. She waved on her way out, but it lacked her usual expressiveness.
Arriving later than usual for her midday visit, she again dealt with Dauphine while I was in the kitchen, then hurried from the bakery as I entered from the front area. No wave. No look back.
I watched her until entered the wood nymph’s clothing shop.
Now it is closing time, and she has not come by for her usual late-day visit, which she makes on her way home from work. Perhaps it is because she did not return to the veterinary clinic after her midday visit to the bakery.
She exited the clothing shop with two human females. She looked over at the bakery then. A look that lingered long enoughfor me to wonder if she could see me watching her. Human vision is not as sharp as that of a demon, but for a moment, we seemed connected by that shared gaze.
I enjoyed the sensation. Enough that I made an audible sound Dauphine referred to asa longing sigh. The persistent elf needled me about it for the duration of her shift, openly laughing when I suggested she could be replaced with someone more silent.
“Why don’t you just ask her out?” Dauphine said after her amusement tapered off. “Unless you’ve been adding a dash of something magical to Lilah’s purchases, she’s not coming in three times a day for the baked goods. Trust me when I tell you that she’s into you. But you’re intimidating as hell, no pun intended. Plus, you’re missing all the subtle little cues she gives. You’re going to have to make the first move. Be direct, but also remember that she’s human, not demon. You need towooher. Be romantic, like a human suitor would.”
Making such a move would be a risk. If the well-meaning elf is wrong, Lilah may never return to the bakery again. I would still watch her, though. As she walks to and from work. As she shops and visits other businesses along the town square. I have never craved anything the way I do her. Whether she wants me or not, I will never desire another.
Which is why I stepped away from the bakery earlier and purchased a small bouquet from the florist shop. The young human female proprietor assured me pink and red roses were an appropriate representation of affection. Dauphine heartily approved of the selection and method ofwooing.
Unfortunately, I will not have the opportunity to offer the arrangement to its intended recipient, as it is now fifteen minutes past the end of my business hours, and there is no sign of Lilah anywhere on the street. She is not coming. Dauphine was incorrect, her advice misplaced.
I remove the floral bouquet from the shelf beneath the counter and place it on top, along with the boxed scones I set aside. I am halfway to the door to turn the lock when a car pulls up and Lilah hops out from the rear.
This time, there is no question of the connection when our gazes meet. Smiling in the manner she has formerly, she gives a little wave while hurrying to the bakery door. I nod when she points at the exterior handle, stepping aside to make way for her. As with every time she enters the shop, her scent floods my senses, making every part of me instantly alert.
“I tried to make it back before you closed, but—oh.” The joy vanishes from her expression. Taking a step backward, she waves both hands in front of her body. “You obviously have plans. Never mind me. I won’t hold you up.”
I follow the line of her gaze to the clear-cellophane-wrapped flowers. “I purchased those for you. You are the reason I had not yet locked the door. I was waiting for you.”
“You were? With flowers? Why?” Her voice is always soft, but the words come out quieter, breathier.
Perhaps my assistant was not incorrect.
“I have enjoyed spending time with you since we met, always desiring more. But you are good and kind and gentle, and I am a demon who has committed unspeakable brutalities. You communicate with a breadth of emotions I do not fully understand, yet because of you, I have experienced sensations that should not be possible for my kind. Knowing that I will never be worthy of you, that I could not possibly be what you want, has not eased my desire. I purchased the roses to present with my request to woo you, as humans do in their courtship rituals. But if you are uninterested in such a proposal from me?—”
“I’m interested. The reason I’m late getting here today is because I spent the afternoon working up the nerve to ask you on a date—that’s a human term for spending personal timetogether, as more than friends,” she says, pink blooming in her cheeks. “I was advised to be direct with you, even if it meant you might reject me.”
“I would never reject you, Lilah. You are the center of all my thoughts and desires.”
Her glow when she smiles widely could light the entire space. “I guess that means I don’t have to confess my attraction to you? Or that as much as I’ve enjoyed slowly getting to know you, one scone at a time, I want our connection to be more personal? More…intimate.”
“That is what I have always wanted. I did not believe it possible for you to share that desire.”
“You really didn’t know I was attracted to you? Couldn’t you…smell it?” A brighter rose tint rises to the surface of her skin, a tendril of dark hair hanging in front of her ear moving as she huffs a breath. “Dr. Daemon always knows things from my scent, and Terra told mealldemons have a heightened sense of smell.”
I cannot control the thundering rumble that vibrates from deep within me. Nor the fists that form at my sides. “If you are not his, Daemon should not be scenting you.”
The hue drains from her face, and her brown eyes open as wide as is physically possible.
“I have frightened you.” I bow my head and take a step away. “Though I would always take care with you and never harm you, it is understandable if you choose to maintain the distance that has existed between us, rather than get closer.”
Her lovely dark eyebrows lower, her gaze narrowing as she moves toward me. “I’m not frightened. I also don’t belong to Daemon or anyone else, and I never will. After everything I’ve lived through to get to this point in my life, I will only ever belong only to myself.” The last inches between us disappear when she places her palms on my chest and leans in, pressingher body to mine. “But I would very much like to share myself with you. And only with you. If you question the truth of my words, breathe me in.”
