Page 60 of Infernal

“I think Cindy would disagree,” I said and burrowed my cheek deeper into his hand.

His lip twitched as though trying to suppress a smile. “You’re incredibly cute when you’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous,” I said and yanked his arm down. That snapped me right out of my daze. “I’m making fun of you—there’s a difference.”

His smirk morphed into a full-blown grin. “Oh, is that what you were doing?”

“Dominic, get over yourself!”

And now he was laughing. At me. I moved to shove him away from me, but he quickly caught my elbow and used it to pull me in front of him. Locking me against his chest, he wrapped one arm around my shoulder and the other one around my torso, making it so that I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. And with the way he was nuzzling his cheek against mine and holding me as though I belonged to him, I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to.

“Dominic…”

“I know, angel,” he whispered against my hair, breathing me in. “Just give me this minute and I promise I’ll let you go.”

The minute came and went quickly, and he was still clutching me to his body. And I was still allowing it to happen. And as much as I didn’t want to enjoy it, it felt nice to be held by someone.

Probably a little too nice.

A brisk knock at the front door interrupted our moment, saving me from having to drum up the strength to pull away from him.

“Time’s up,” I said, my voice cracking at the end.

Dominic grunted and then slowly peeled his arms from me. I straightened out my shirt and watched as he sauntered over to the door, his countenance unreadable. With one hand flattened against the door, he leaned in and peered through the peep hole. He tossed a grin in my direction and then opened the door.

Apparently, he liked what he saw.

"Fancy seeing you here.”

"Where is she?" I heard Nikki ask him.

He pulled the door all the way open and ticked his chin in my direction.

Nikki rushed past him and then stopped in her tracks upon seeing me standing by the balcony door.

"I really hope you have a plan," she spit out as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I want that hellspawn out of Trace's body!"

“So do I.” My eyes briefly met Dominic's before settling back on Nikki.

“Then start talking, because I need this shit-show over and done with, like yesterday," she said gesturing around us as though we were standing in the midst of said shit-show. "How do we kill him?"

“We don’t.”

“Excuse you?” Her eyebrows puckered together. “I know I didn’t hear that right.”

I walked around the back of the couch and then sat down on the arm rest, motioning for her to join me. There weren't any words that could describe how wrong it felt sitting in the hotel room with Nikki by my side as though she were some kind of ally and not the backstabbing bitch who tried to have me offed.

“Alright. Explain,” she demanded, as though it were that easy.

How the heck was I going to explain that Trace was Lucifer’s vessel for better or worse?

"The thing is…we can’t just…like…” Apparently, I couldn’t finish sentences anymore.

“Jesus. Just spit it out!”

“I'm not sure we can kill one without killing the other,” I said and blew out a frustrated breath.

“They’re tethered?” Her eyes flashed with fear and then with something else…with hopelessness.

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