Her mouth popped open, brown eyes sparkling with excitement. “Tell meeverything.”
So as they walked, Laz did. He told her about the first time Dav didn’t have a school lunch and how Laz had started to bake a second loaf of bread for him when it became a regular thing. How every time it was offered, the gray demon still acted surprised. How the nickname just stuck, because despite that crisp crust, his friend had the fluffiest center.
Their conversation only took a few tangents, mostly because Rosalind always asked the best leading questions that reminded Laz of more stories about growing up with a twin and having his best friend around all the time. Then they made it to the restaurant, and Laz got to show off his favorite rooftop dining spot in all of Heck, which also happened to have a great view of the art district. Rose had noticed and regaled him on all her brilliant ideas for revitalizing and fixing up the public spaces and a few of the empty buildings between enthusiastic bites of food.
Including the chocolate dessert, which made her eyes get all wide and sparkly, and Laz wondered if maybe he’d been wrong about her favorite treat being a spiced biscuit.
But then she was prompting him about his business again, how he thought of new recipes or managedto get two ingredients to taste good together. She asked about life outside of the bakery and what he and Davarox liked to do besides work and go to taverns looking for someone interested in going home withtwodemons.
“Only you,” he teased, enjoying how her cheeks turned pink under the starlight. “It’s worked out in the past before, but not for anything serious beyond one night. I’ve courted a bit, but nothing really stuck.” He poked at the last of his cake, hoping her probing questions didn’t dig too deep there. “What about you?”
“Courting?” Rose blinked like the question surprised her, then huffed a laugh. “No, not much. There was an older girl I met at school—brilliant, and my family loved her—who… well, things didn’t work out when I started my legal studies. Then a guy I worked and studied with, which sort of fizzled out on my end for… reasons.”
Thatmade her cheeks burn brighter and Laz all the more interested.
“Do tell,” he said, propping his elbows on the table and chin in his hands.
She hid her face in her hands, letting out an adorable little whine. “No, not in public.”
“Oh, come on. There’s just two other tables up here.”
Rosalind shook her head.
“Alright, fine,” Laz said, standing quickly and hurrying to her side of the table.
Even if uncertain, she took his hand with little hesitation. “Where are we going?”
“My place.”
He was probably a little too eager, having to remind himself to slow the pace of his longer legs despite his desire to just pick her up and do everything for her for the rest of her life. Except the work thing. She was far too smart and too good at that. She could do that, but nothing else. Unless she really wanted to, he supposed, then he’d concede on a few things.
Eagerness won out when he finally shut the door to his apartment, even over his curiosity, because he’d spent the whole night looking at Rosalind’s beautiful pink cheeks and bright eyes and tiny smile as she talked about Heck like it was home that he needed to know what all that joy tasted like.
Laz’s hand was on her face a second later, pulling her bag from her shoulder and tilting her up to meet his kiss.
Fuck, he’d never get over that. The sweetness of her lips against his tongue, the little moan that tasted of chocolate and passion. How her hands slapped at the wall just before her back hit it, then dragged up his chest until she could wrap them around his neck.
It was too good, too fast, knowing he had her in his arms, in his apartment, all to himself. Showing off how he was courting the most beautiful human was fine, sharing with Dav was fine, but letting other demons witness how she fell apart with just the trace of his palm over her hip and the slight scrape of his claws in her hair? No. That wasonly for them.
Lazerath moved his lips to her jaw, savoring the little whimper that left her throat. “I’ve not forgotten you were going to tell me about that pathetic human male who failed to court you properly.”
“Ugh, Laz.”
He paused, pulling his hand away from her face so he could press it against the wall. Caging her in with a teasing grin. “Limp cock, shouted his own name when he came, howled like a veilhound when he came?—”
“What? Oh my gods, no.”
“I’m just going to keep guessing until I get it right.”
Rose’s mouth opened, but the edges were strained like she was fighting a smile.
He took a breath?—
“I was bored!” He blinked down at her, eyes squeezed shut like she was afraid of the words coming out of her mouth. “I… don’t often feel sexual attraction immediately. But he was intelligent, and that’s usually what interests me, so I thought the rest would come.”
Laz managed to bite his tongue to stop himself from asking questions too soon.
“He was just sort of… bland. Sex was a transaction, which was fine when I didn’t have time for much outside of finding release for the stress we were under. I wanted to try some things, and he didn’t really see the point when what we were doing still worked for him.”
