Page 80 of Devil Mine

I don’t know if he’s talking about the ice cream or the taste of me he lapped off the spoon we shared.

“Obviously not as tasty as innocent souls, but maybe you’ll convince me if I try it enough.”

My breath catches in my throat when he stands. He’s still holding my arm and he turns it over carefully. Bending, he places his lips on the sensitive skin of my wrist. There’s no way he misses the frantic pulsating of my heartbeat. His mouth barely grazes me when he kisses me, the touch more teasing and maddening than anything.

He hovers there for a second, then pulls away. With one final indecipherable look, he walks out, leaving me with rapidly melting ice cream and a civil war raging inside my body between my heart who wants to throw caution to the wind and follow my husband up to his bedroom and my head who knows better.

???

Chapter Thirty-One

Tess

The next morning, I’m finishing up breakfast at the kitchen island when Diana walks in carrying three very full and very obviously heavy shopping bags.

“Oh, let me help you with those!” I say, walking up to her and taking two out of her hands.

“Thank you,señora, that’s very kind.”

“It’s the bare minimum,” I say, setting the bags down on the counter. “Gosh, these are heavy. What did you even need to buy this early in the morning?”

As I ask, I open the first bag to start putting away the groceries and pause when I see its contents. There are half a dozen pints of rocky road ice cream of three different brands in it. In the second bag, I find yet another half dozen pints, also of different brands.

I throw Diana a puzzled look as she starts pulling even more tubs out of the third bag.

“First thing this morning,Diablotexted me a list of ten different brands of rocky road ice cream he wanted me to keep stocked in the freezer. He didn’t elaborate on why he needed it so I don’t know, but I have a feeling you might,” she adds with a cheeky smile. “You’ll have to tell him which one was your favorite once you’ve tried them all.”

“I…I don’t even know what to say,” I say, staring at the pints I’m holding in each hand, at a loss for words. “I’m sorry he made you do that this morning, I can’t even imagine how many stores you had to go to to find all of these.”

Diana takes my hand and pats it in her warm, calloused ones. “Don’t be. He hasn’t been the same since Adriana died, but I saw the way he looked at you Friday. It’s good to see someone bringing a smile to his face and maybe healing his broken heart.”

The smile slips off my own face and I yank my hand out of hers, startling her. Bitterness swells like poison in my gut at her words. I’m not surprised Diana would know about Thiago’s lost love, but I hate the ease with which she just brought her up to me. Am I meant to live with the ghost of her, competing for position in this house?

I refuse to.

The ice cream can go straight to the trash for all I care, the gesture is meaningless.

“Please don’t speak to me about Adriana again, Diana. I don’t want to hear it.”

Guilt lances through me at her reaction to my harsh tone, but I turn away from her confounded, hurt expression.

“Oh. All right.”

“Thank you for buying the ice cream,” I say, grabbing my purse off a nearby chair. “I’ll see you tonight.”

I walk out of the kitchen without waiting for a response, my gait stiff and uneven. Annoyance hazes my vision. I hate that anything to do with Thiago can impact my mood this way.

I need to get out of this house before I erupt.

“Where do you think you’re going, Barbie?” a rude voice asks from behind me.

Five minutes ago, I likely would have been able to ignore and brush off the sneered nickname. But fresh off my conversation with Diana, I’m spoiling for a fight.

Turning, I come face to face with Paunchy Guy, who I now know is called Arturo. He’s the man who caught me listening at the door at the museum, the one who’s glared at me every single time we’ve made eye contact since, and now the one getting in my way.

“My name is Tess,” I say through gritted teeth, my fists clenching at my sides. “And I’m going to work.”

“No, you’re not.”

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