Page 26 of Dreaming of the Demon

The minute the words were out of my mouth, part of me regretted them. But it was too late to take them back.

Malik’s handsome face went cold and he nodded stiffly.

“Very well. Then I’ll consider the business between us closed.”

“Good!” I snapped, still too sore and upset to stop myself.

“Fine. I’ll be going then.”

“All right—go!” I made a gesture at him.

“Have a nice life, Celia,” he said coldly.

And then he vanished in a puff of smoke.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Imanaged to hold back my tears until I got home but the moment the door closed behind me, I started sobbing. I was sure my life in Hidden Hollow was ruined—after all, who was ever going to trust me again after this? They were all probably going to assume that I had dumped a lust potion into the pear filling on purpose before making the tarts. I had basically given the whole town a magical aphrodisiac that would have them humping for hours!

But if I was being honest, it wasn’t just my shattered reputation and ruined business I was crying for. I couldn’t help missing Malik, even though I told myself I shouldn’t. This was all his fault, after all. If he hadn’t made me so horny while we were making the tarts, my magic never would have seeped into them to poison the whole town with unrequited lust! And besides, I hadn’t even known him for a whole twenty-four hours when he left. He’d literally been with me for less than one day—losing him should be no big deal.

It didn’t seem to matter what I told myself though—I couldn’t stop thinking about the big Incubus—couldn’t stop remembering how he’d saved me from the Ogre and held mewhile I cried. Or the way he had helped me work in the bakery or the way he’d gone down on me and made me come so hard…

The problem was, I’m just not the kind of person who can give her body without giving her heart. It was yet another reason I had stopped dating—all the guys on the dating apps seemed to want was a quick hook-up. I can’t do that. For me, the emotional goes along with the physical. Sex ought tomeansomething—that’s how I feel, anyway.

So even though I had known the big Incubus less than twenty-four hours, I still felt like my heart had been run through a meat grinder. Ithurtand what hurt even more was knowing that I was never going to see Malik again.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Uh, hi.” Sarah gave me a cautious look as she came in the door of the bakery, already dressed in her baker’s whites.

“Hi,” I muttered, not looking up from the stainless-steel counter I was staring at.

After much debate, I had decided to open The Lost Lamb as usual—mostly because I don’t believe in hiding from the consequences of your actions. Even though it was an accident, I had to take responsibility.

“So…I hear there was a lot of excitement yesterday,” Sarah said tactfully as she came around the counter to join me. “How are you doing?”

“About as well as you can expect considering that I gave everyone in Hidden Hollow a magical aphrodisiac,” I said tartly.

“Yeah, that was, er, strong stuff in the tarts,” she murmured. “Rath brought some home for us to share and well…” She shook her head. “The sex was incredible, if that’s any consolation.”

“It’s not,” I snapped. Then I sighed. “Look, I’m sorry Sarah but I’m afraid I’ll have to let you go.”

“Let me go? Why?” She gave me a wide-eyed look full of shock. “I don’t understand!”

I sighed again.

“It has nothing to do with you—it’s just that I’m afraid I’ll probably have to shut down the bakery. After all, who’s going to trust me enough to eat a single thing I make after I poisoned them all yesterday?”

“You didn’tpoisonanyone!” Sarah exclaimed indignantly. “It’s not like you dumped a jar of rat poison in the tarts—you just got people excited to be with the ones they love!”

“Tell that to Goody Albright,” I said glumly and then relayed everything that had happened the night before.

“Oh my—none of them under five hundred?” Sarah’s eyes went wide. “How are they doing this morning?”

“I don’t know but I’m sure Goody Albright has her hands full. I should probably go down and apologize and take responsibility in person as soon as it’s breakfast time,” I said morosely. “The Red Lion serves breakfast from eight to nine-thirty so if I go down there around nine, I should be able to catch most of the members of The Council of Wisdom. I hope anyway.”

“Well, that should help some,” Sarah acknowledged. “But I really think you’re overestimating the number of people who will be upset. I mean, a lot of people will probably be happy with what happened—Rath and I had the best sex we’d had since we bonded as Heartmates last night.”

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