Page 6 of Snowed In with an Incubus

“So,” she said, pulling her legs up on the couch. “How are you going to spend your New Year’s? If we’re not still trappedin here, eating erasers for sustenance.”

“Tammy will be here in the morning,” he said. He twirled his noodles around his fork, and for a second, she thought he wouldn’treply. Then he said, “There’s a party at my cousin’s house. I might go. What about you?”

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “This morning, I would’ve said I’d be hosting a party at my place. Now I guess I’ll beat my aunt’s binge-watching Criminal Minds and cuddling her cat while I look for a new job back in Chicago.”

She curled her arms around her legs, wincing when her new tattoo brushed against her knees.

“Careful,” he mumbled around his noodles. “You paid double for that.”

She huffed a reluctant laugh. It died fast, rage flowing back into her as she thought of the image that had been tattooedon her eyelids for the entire drive: Brandon leaning over the kitchen island, kissing Brandi’s neck. Brandon and Brandi. A match made in heaven. He’d insisted he wasn’t flirting with Brandi when Jaz accidentally eavesdropped on them during awork party, and she’d believed him. She’d even been willing to brush off Brandi giggling about them going to the same collegetogether all those years ago and never running into each other until now, and maybe if they had, then it would be her dating him, ha, ha, ha. She’d only ever said it when she’d had one too many margaritas, and they had a fun time when she wasn’t joking about stealingher boyfriend. They had the same opinions about Love Island, and sometimes they went out for manicures during lunch.

She should’ve seen it coming. Brandi had stopped making the dating jokes a few months ago. How long had they been hookingup? Brandon hadn’t told her. He hadn’t said a lot after she caught them together. Jaz didn’t give him the chance. She’d grabbeda suitcase, started tossing things in, and yelled over him when he tried to explain things.

Explain things. That’s what he’d called it. Not talk her out of leaving. He’d been fine with that. Happy, even. He just wanted her to know she made him miserable first.

“I moved here for him,” Jaz heard herself say. “Away from all my friends. I quit my job for him. Now I—I quit my job again!Merry Christmas to me.”

“And a Happy New Year.” Sam clinked his mug against her Tupperware container.

She let out another laugh. This one was wet, and she had to sniff until her eyes were dry.

“He said I was like the sun,” she admitted.

“That’s …” Sam trailed off, face twisting in the cell phone light. “Cute?”

“Not in a good way,” she said darkly. She slurped up the last of her noodles and set the empty container on the ground. “Ina sunburn way. He said I was blinding. No one could handle being exposed to me all the time.”

She shuffled her arms back into the pile of jackets and shivered. “Seriously, how are you not cold?”

“I’m cold,” he said. “Look. I’m trembling.”

She squinted. He was trembling. The mug shook in his hands, and his face was pallid in the phone light.

“Whoa,” she said. She sat up. “Okay, this is ridiculous. You have to take one.”

“Wait, no, I’m actually fine,” he started. “Really, you don’t have to—”

She ignored him, pulling off the outermost jacket she had pulled around her. Her phone wobbled on her knees. Before she couldsteady it, it plunged toward the floor. She cursed, knees jerking into his. His phone followed, both phones landing face-firston the ground. The studio plunged into darkness.

“Crap,” Jaz blurted. She bent down, groping across the carpet.

A hand on her knee made her jump.

“Sorry,” Sam said. “I just … if you want more light.”

Two pinpricks of light appeared. Jaz froze, still half bent over as the light swelled. Fire, she realized. Two balls of flame floated at face-level, throwing the couch into dim light.

Sam blinked. The twin fires blinked with him.

Fiery eyes. Jaz only knew one breed of monster who had those.

“You’re an incubus!”

Chapter 3

Sam felt like he was bursting out of his skin.

His scalp burned. His back itched so hard he had to fight not to rub against the couch, like a lizard trying to shed. His tailbone was twitching,an unpleasant experience that made him force down a shudder every time he noticed it.