Page 22 of The Devil and His Goddess

She worried her lip slightly as she watched me approach her on the sidewalk, and I knew she was weighing whether or not it was a good idea to be here with me.

I loved that I fucked with her head so much. Too bad she didn’t realize this was just the start of the torture I had planned for her.

I opened the restaurant door and gestured toward it. “After you.”

There was a split second where she hesitated, and I really thought she might try to bolt back to her car. But something else—maybe her pride or her need for job-security or maybe even her lust—won out. She held her head just a bit higher and walked by with a small, “Thank you.”

I chuckled and followed behind as the hostess led us to a secluded booth in the back corner per my request. The Sinners never hesitated to rush me or any of the guys when they spotted us in public, so the less people around while I ate with Harper, the better.

I shamelessly stared at Harper’s ass in front of me, picturing how fucking amazing it would look with my handprints on each cheek.

The minute we were seated and the waitress left with our drink orders, I looked across the table and leaned back with my ringed hand resting on top of the table. “Have you had Greek food before?”

She fiddled with the napkin holding her silverware and looked around the room, which was decorated with blue-and-white booths and tables. Green ivy work weaved through the soft lighting above us and throughout the room, and small Greek statues of old Gods and heroes stood in different corners.

“I haven’t,” she answered finally. She grabbed the menu and scanned it before decidedly discarding it to meet my eyes. “I’m assuming you have, though.”

“You’d be assuming correctly.”

“Is that where you’re from?” she asked as she rested her arms on the table and leaned toward me. “You’re from Greece? You don’t have an accent from what I can tell.”

“I’ve lived in a lot of places, but yes. You could say I’m from Greece. I haven’t lived there in quite some time, so my accent has faded.”

In reality, I was from Hell. Plain and simple. I was created as I was now, made for seducing humans to the “wicked” side. I’d been given the name Perseus based on my first few decades of life, which were based in ancient Greece. From there, I’d moved all over the world, going wherever the urge took me.

Eventually, I met Xander, whose real name was Ruan Yitang. The Mischief demon was having a blast in China during the Tang Dynasty when I met him. At some point, we met Zagan, Dante, and Coldin, and centuries later, we formed our band, which was also when Yitang adopted a Western name for the ease of our fans. I picked the name Xander for him, seeing as it had Greek origins like me and was similar enough in meaning to his Chinese name.

During those early times, I bounced between hanging out in Hell with demons like them and roaming Earth, where I gave lots of humans endless pleasure. It was a great life, but these days were my favorite.

For one, ballet was prevalent.

For two, my band was fucking awesome.

And three, this beautiful human across from me existed.

She studied me with a purse of her lips before demanding, “Say something.”

I tilted my head, prompting her to explain what she meant.

“Say something in Greek.”

Smirking, I leaned toward her. I didn’t even need to think about what I wanted to say. “Eísai dikí mou.”

She watched my lips as hers parted. When she met my gaze again, she asked, “What did you say?”

You are mine.

I leaned back and shrugged. “Guess you’ll never know.”

“Asshole,” she grumbled under her breath. She straightened and waved a hand at the table. “Well, I’m going to trust you to choose the food since this is your area of expertise. If I’m going to try Greek food, I want the Greek guy to pick it.”

“Fair enough,” I said.

The waitress approached with our drinks—red wine for me and water for her. After ordering dolmade, spanakopita, and a lamb souvlaki—all done in Greek to further show Harper that I could use my old language—my attention fixed on Harper. Her blue eyes were narrowed ever so slightly like she was studying me forsomething.

“Like what you see?” I asked with a single raised brow.

Her eyes became slits. “I’m trying to find your weakness to exploit.”

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