Page 3 of How Not to Date a Demon

Maeve paused, grinding her teeth. Why hadn’t he led with that information? If she knew he was actually going to be around to help…

You didn’t exactly give him a chance to tell you.

Rolling her eyes at herself, she nipped at Galen’s hand. “You should have led with that. Sorry I didn’t give you the chance to. I’m just frustrated about stuff.”

Galen lowered his hands, pulling her into his arms. She buried her head into his chest and inhaled his scent. It felt like the first deep breath she’d had all day.

“I love your temper. It’s hot,” he said with a chuckle.

She snorted. “You’re such a dork.”

“Remember our first date?” Galen asked and pulled back, a wistful smile curling his lips.

Color rushed to Maeve’s cheeks at the memory. “How could I forget?”

What was supposed to be a movie and dinner date—original, right?—turned into a disaster before they’d even met one another.

“The first time I caught sight of you, you were on your tiptoes, yelling at the guy who hit your car and two seconds away from—”

“—kicking his ass. I know,” Maeve answered with a sigh. They were really doing this memory lane thing.

Galen’s embrace was warm, and she hid her pink cheeks in his chest, listening to his heartbeat. Her heart squeezed as she let herself get dragged down memory lane.

Galen had been such a sight the first time she’d seen him, practically glowing.

Of course, looking back now, she realized he’d simply been illuminated by the headlights of the cars behind her.

It went like this:

The driver who’d ultimately rear-ended her deserved it. Following her all the way down the road, he stayed right up on her bumper and urged her to go faster.

So Maeve had done the opposite.

But as she watched his lights splash over the same asphalt of the lot she was turning into, her nerves began rattling. She was so paranoid that when a car backed out of its space, she was too distracted to notice and almost collided with it. Thankfully, she tapped her brakes at the last second.

And just as she’d rolled to a stop from a whopping six miles an hour, she was bumped from behind. The very specific metallic and plastic thunk of their cars colliding was like music to her ears.

“Haha, that’s what you get, asshole,” she jeered from the safety of her car. Throwing it in park, she grabbed her info, pushed open her door, and got out to meet this jerk. Pausing by the bumper of her car, she waited.

It was a long moment before the door to his giant truck opened, and he dropped to the ground with a smug grin.

She already had her insurance card out. “If you didn’t ride my ass so hard, I bet you wouldn’t have hit me.”

The smug grin melted away into open-mouthed shock, as if he couldn’t believe she’d spoken to him that way. At five foot three, she got that a lot, but being tiny came with plenty of rage. However… she was supposed to be meeting her date here, so she would try her best to keep a lid on it.

Calm. Serene. Rational.

With a tight smile, she held out her insurance card. “I don’t have a lot of time, so here’s my info. I just need yours.”

The man matched his truck, in boots and a worn ball cap, complete with the pouch of dip extending his bottom lip.

He crossed his arms. “What’s the rush? You didn’t seem to be in a hurry on the way here.”

Maeve collected herself with a deep breath. It was already past seven, the time the movie was supposed to start. Was her date inside waiting already? What if he thought she stood him up?

“Now you’re just holding us both up. Want to get this over with or not?” she bit out.

“Well now, I’m not so sure.” He paused, and his slimy gaze slid down her form. Her lip curled in distaste. “Knowing a little hottie like you was behind the wheel, I’d be willing to ride your ass some more.”