“You shut me down.”
“I shut you down,” she repeated with a smile that belied the fury burning in her words.
When she leaned away, she took the crate of milk with her, propping it on her hip with an impatientwhy are you still hereglare.
Salgoron wobbled on his feet, now avoiding both Dav’s and Rose’s stares. “C-can I have my clipboard back?”
“No. It’s a nice clipboard and I want it,” Rosalind answered without hesitation. “Run along, Salgoron of Salgoron’s Goods. I’m an early riser.”
With one last inhale of fear, the blue demon turned and scurried off to his cart.
Dav could only stare at the human as she let the door slowly close, readjusting the crate of milk into her arms before walking it over to the counter. But there was a rapid thumping in her chest, louder in the silence now that her voice wasn’t doling out confidentthreats.
“He’s going to have that on your desk this afternoon,” he said, ignoring the urge to review the contract in his hands. He wasn’t mad at anyone except for the blue bastard, sneaking in addendums and probably distracting Laz with platitudes and conversation until all those hidden fees sounded legitimate.
Rosalind huffed a laugh, keeping her back turned. “He’ll be running around for a while. I don’t even have a desk.”
Davarox glanced down. Saw the curl of her hand against the counter’s edge and the little tremor of her fingers. The quick rise and fall of her shoulders.
He didn’t think, he was just there. One hand smoothing over the tight grip she held, the other gently hovering at the small of her back.
It would have been so easy to close that distance, what with her not having a tail swishing frantically behind her, but Dav could sense that any more closeness was not what she needed right now.
“Rosalind,” he whispered.
She quickly shook her head. “I’m f-fine.”
“Find three pink things in the shop.”
Her breath stuttered. “Uh, that cupcake. The flower on the table. Umm, the cake on the shelf. The stain on your apron… I don’t know how many that was.”
“You got it,” he lied, listening to her heartbeat calm. “Two deep breaths, in through your nose.” He waited until she inhaled. “Good, and out.”
She exhaled, following his instruction for another breath until her fingers didn’t clench so tightly.
“One good curse?—”
“Fuck!”
The laugh burst out of Davarox unintentionally, but then Rose was shaking, her free hand slapping over her mouth to muffle her own laughter as she turned toward him. The hand under his palm twisted away from the counter, fingers sliding around his in a gesture somehow more profound than the vulnerability in her brown eyes.
When she finally caught her breath, she whispered, “I’m so sorry I overstepped, but?—”
“Rosalind—”
“No, let me finish,” she said, squeezing his hand. “When he dismissed you…”
Dav looked away. Tried to pull his hand from hers.
She only held on tighter.
And then a cool palm was sliding against his cheek, turning his head back to her.
“I know that was just an adrenaline crash, but I get… panic attacks. Often,” she explained like a peace offering. “They’re irrational and scary and sometimes painful. When I was little, I would get so lightheaded I’d pass out. Sometimes my mother was there to help, but when I was fully on my own, I had to ground myself in something.”
“Lists,” Davarox guessed.
“Alphabetized, of course,” she teased back with a wobbly smile. “You should have seen mewaking up in Heck surrounded by rainbows and horns. Not exactly what I expected from demons.”
