Page 32 of My Demon Assistant

I leaned forward, then paused, wanting to make sure Jerry was okay with this. He peered at me for a moment before nodding, and I smiled as I closed the distance between us and pressed my lips to his. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I held him to me as I deepened the kiss, and Jerry slid his arms around my shoulders, his fingers tangling into my hair.

I enjoyed kissing, and I'd done quite a lot of it over my long life. But I'd never felt quite so connected to someone with just a simple kiss. I felt like Jerry was a part of me, like I'd die if we were separated. I wanted to keep him close and protect him from everything. I knew he didn't need my protection, that he was strong enough to take care of himself, but the instinct was still there, burning just under the surface of my skin.

Tracing his lower lip with my tongue, I swallowed his moan as I slid into his mouth, humming at the taste of coffee and him. His hands tightened on my neck, and I slowly pulled back as I remembered he needed to breathe.

Jerry gasped, then sucked in a sharp breath.

"Careful. Breathe," I murmured, and he nodded as he did just that while I tried to hide the smug smile on my face. I liked seeing him react so visibly to me. It was rather...satisfying.

Leaning back, I pressed a soft, open-mouthed kiss on his lips, then took a step back. "I should get back to work. I need to organize the notes I took and get started on an update email for the teams. Let me know if you want to add anything."

Jerry blinked up at me, still a little hazy, and I bit back a grin as I turned around and made my way back to my desk. This office romance thing had its perks after all. I had a feeling I was going to enjoy teasing Jerry like this in the days to come.

Jerry

With everyone from the office here along with the pub's regulars, the place was crowded, loud, and full of the scent of sweat and fried food. Not a good combination, that one.

Kat, Archer, Lux, Fressia, Eshim, and I sat at one table, and I was sure our employees were very curious about why Eshim was sitting with us. They were scattered all over in smaller groups, mostly split in teams the way they would be at work.

Kat had declared everyone could order whatever they wanted for dinner, and get up to two drinks on the company dime—"You've got work tomorrow, people!"—and everyone was in high spirits.

"So how was the first date?" Kat asked, and I glanced over at Eshim, who was looking right at me.

"It was great."

"Seriously? Give me the details, Jer."

I rolled my eyes at her, then tried not to smile as I felt Eshim lean into my side. It was strange how close I felt to Eshim already. Once everything was out in the open, I felt like I'd jumped in headfirst into the whole mate thing. I liked spending time with Eshim, and I wanted to do more of it. Which was strange because we already worked together and were around each other practically all day. The only people I'd ever been around for that long were Archer and Kat.

"We had a nice home date with dinner and a movie," Eshim said, and I glanced over at him with a smile.

"Yep. And Hella paid us a visit," I remembered, making Eshim snicker.

"Hella goes where Hella wants," Fressia commented, and the conversation turned to the demonhound for the next few minutes as we ate.

After dinner, Lux got everyone drinks, and we made a toast to the new contract and our hopes for its success. Then Kat made a toast to Eshim and me, which I should've expected.

"You know, you two should take tomorrow off. Once this contract is finalized, you two will be very busy. So take tomorrow off and spend the weekend getting to know each other better," Kat said, and I blinked.

I hadn't really thought about it, but she was right. Once the contract was in place, we'd have a bunch of new projects to brainstorm and allocate. While I didn't do much of the actual design work now, I still had to look at every design and proposal and approve or reject them. There would also be a lot of meetings. Meetings with the project teams, meetings with the people at Hanover's... A long weekend off might not be a bad idea.

"What do you think?" I asked Eshim, and he grinned.

"I'd love to spend the weekend with you. Maybe we could go somewhere."

I couldn't remember the last time I'd been on a vacation, but it might be fun to go somewhere with Eshim.

"On Monday, we should talk to HR so our relationship is all aboveboard." Just because I was one of the owners didn't mean I was above the rules. In fact, being part-owner made it more necessary for me to be transparent.

Eshim's eyes lit up, and he nodded quickly. "I'd like that. Does that mean I won't have to hesitate before kissing you at work?"

Kat and Lux chuckled, and I rolled my eyes. "We still need to be professional," I said, and smiled when that made him pout. Then I leaned closer to him and whispered, "I won't mind if you kissed me in my office like earlier."

Eshim grinned, while Lux made an "Awww" sound that told me he'd heard me too. I'd forgotten about the demon super hearing.

"So, the weekend? You and me?" Eshim asked, and I nodded.

"We can make plans later," I said, mostly because I didn't want Archer and Kat's input-slash-commentary on whatever we settled on.

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