Page 20 of Sugar, Spice, and Magical Midlife

“And you’ve been putting off asking me out because the beast inside you is a glutton?” It was more of a statement than a question, though now things were starting to make more sense, especially his cinnamon roll addiction.

He laughed again. “That’s an understatement.”

I swallowed when I saw the yellow flare in his eyes again. He looked so feline. His shift had been so fast, I hadn’t gotten a good enough look at him. “Those two dozen cinnamon rolls, they aren’t for your office workers, are they?”

He answered with a knowing grin.

“How high is your grocery bill?”

He flexed tanned, muscular arms. “I hunt a few times a week, so that keeps the cost down.”

I saw his image flash in my mind again and I distinctly remembered lots of yellow fur, perhaps a mane. “Are you a lion?”

He let out a low, deep purr that did something wicked to my insides. “More mythical.”

Great Goddess! Mythical creatures were rare, and if Ethyl was to be believed, especially hot in the sack. I licked my dry lips. “A Sphinx?”

“Bingo.” The beast flashed in his eyes again, and I swear my panties melted to my thighs.

I clutched my purse in my lap, thinking of the lipstick wand inside. What if he was a murderer, or worse, what if he was demon possessed? It would be just my luck to go on a date with a soul sucker.

“I-I thought you all went extinct a long time ago.”

He dragged a hand down his face. “Uh, no.”

“So you must be pretty old.” Why did a saggy ass crack in adult diapers flash through my mind? Ric didn’t look old. If he wasn’t a succubus, I prayed his feline nutsack didn’t reach his knees.

“Nah.” He shrugged. “Only a little over a century.”

Which was probably middle-aged for a mythical creature. “Oh.” I slowly unsnapped the clasp on my purse and opened a box of mints, while eyeing my lipstick wand in the corner pocket. “Why aren’t you in the registry?”

“Long story.”

I slipped a mint in my mouth while casually fingering my wand. “Are you an outlaw?”

“No.” He loosed a long breath. “I’m dead.”

I stilled when he eyed my hand on my wand. “You’re dead?”

“No, but there’s a succubus who thinks I’m dead.” He nodded toward my hand clutching the wand. “And I’d like it to stay that way.”

Merlin’s balls!

Several things ran through my mind at once. First off, I didn’t recall seeing any red in his eyes when he shifted, a tell-tale sign of a demon possession. Second, he’d just told me an incredibly big secret, which if it were true, meant he trusted that I wasn’t a succubus. In the magical world, witches didn’t spill secrets to strangers without risking their souls. Literally. If witches told succubi their secrets, that gave them the power to possess them. Then I remembered my father telling me that sphinxes were immune to succubi mind-control. He’d also said all sphinxes had been killed by succubi specifically for this reason. Apparently, all but one.

Holy troll turds! Was he telling the truth? I dropped my wand back in my purse as my veins turned to lead. “What happened?”

“Same old succubus story.” He shrugged. “She was hunting me, and I faked my death.”

I swallowed back a knot that had suddenly formed in my throat. If my parents had faked their deaths, they might still be alive, but, no, they thought they could take on the succubus who’d threatened our family. “A succubus killed my parents.”

“I’m sorry.” He gripped my hand, his eyes softening. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I lied. I hadn’t been okay since losing them. I turned my gaze to his hand on mine, to the battered and scarred knuckles on his dark golden skin, and I realized he’d seen his share of battles. What kind of mom was I, dating a hunted sphinx? My toes curled and my veins heated when he squeezed my hand, and I realized what kind of mom I was—a horny one. Besides, I couldn’t escape the feeling that our fates were somehow entwined and that I needed him for more than just a romp between the sheets. Though my instincts had been wrong before—I married Colin, after all—I couldn’t shake the feeling that Ric was somehow my destiny. Corny, right?

He squeezed my hand. “It’s not good to hold it in.”

My breath caught when I looked into his luminous eyes. “Yeah, but talking about soul suckers puts me in a bad mood.”

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