Nadia gulped.
Okay, so that particular reaction couldn’t be put down to special effects.
“Do you wish to amend your statement, Nadia?” he asked in a steely voice.
“Lucifer.” Gabriel’s warning didn’t go unnoticed, but it was ignored.
“Nadia?” Luc prodded her.
Lifting her chin, she met his terrifying gaze. “No. It stands.”
“Then I will kill every male using the app.” His icy words were at direct odds with the heat coming from his eyes.
“Fine by me,” she lied. “I’ve decided to date women.”
“There will be mass casualties of both genders.”
Gabriel stood, breaking their stalemate. “I wish to speak to my daughter alone, Lucifer.”
But Luc didn’t budge or blink.
“If I’m truly a triscelene, I’m stronger than you,” she declared in a haughty tone. “Maybe I’ll take over Hell and kick you out. The world will laugh at a homeless Devil.”
“Be my guest. Shall I provide the key?”
“Damned if you two aren’t behaving as children,” Gabriel muttered. “What is there to drink in this place?”
“It depends on whether you’d prefer to be drunk or merely take the edge off,” Luc replied. “Tequila is above the refrigerator.”
“Tequila gets archangels wasted?” Nadia asked with narrow-eyed skepticism.
“The agave does. I don’t suppose you have agave syrup?” After her negative headshake, Gabriel strode from the room, returning a moment later with three glasses and a bottle of booze. After uncapping it, he poured three shots of tequila but stopped shy of handing them out. “Do we need to worry about Raphael and Michael murdering us if we get drunk?”
“The complex is warded. They can’t enter without an invitation.” Luc accepted the glass, downed the liquid in a smooth gulp, then rapidly shot the other two.
“I think those were meant for all of us,” she snapped with an irritated scowl. She surged to her feet, only to have him catch her wrist and tug her into his lap.
“Retract your Tinder statement, Nadia,” he demanded.
The press of his chest and the warmth of his thighs beneath her were doing strange things to her equilibrium. It was as if she were the one who had downed three shots in rapid succession.
“You’re not the boss of me.”
His mouth kicked up on one side, drawing her undivided attention.
“You are to obey rule number one, Lucifer,” Gabriel growled.
Having already forgotten his presence, Nadia jumped. She glanced between them.
“What is rule number one?” she asked.
“No mating my daughter,” her wannabe father said silkily.
“No worries on that score.” She tugged her wrist free. “Hell will freeze over first.”
Luc laughed, and she fought the urge to join in. When he was relaxed and free with his amusement, the man became irresistible. Perhaps this seductive charm is what made him legendary. People might sell their souls simply to be the focus of his admiring gaze.
Nadia found it difficult not to stare.
