Page 25 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

“Get dressed,” he ordered.

“Sayplease.”

What did you know… Rather than growl again, or even sigh, he smiled as he bent in to press a kiss to the hinge of my jaw. “Please, Simone, baby… get dressed so I don’t have to kill my best friend.”

“For clarification—” I did sigh, leaning into him. His breath dancing over my skin. His delectable scent filling my nose. I couldn’t help it. “Your best friend is…”

“Luc.”

“Gotcha.”

Given the state of our relationship now that we’d bumped uglies, he wasn’t kidding. He’d end Luc for seeing meau naturel. Something he found annoying. But in this instance, I chose to be the bigger person and take pity on both men by hurriedly pulling back on my clothing.

Once I had my last button buttoned, Connor called, “You can come in.”

Luc stepped inside the room with a knowing smirk on his face. He did a cursory glance around the room and that smile fled when his eyes landed on me.

“You were hoping to see me naked, weren’t you?” I put a hand on my hip.

He shrugged. Shrugged—of the sheepish,why bother to deny itvariety.

“Luc,” Connor yelled.

“What?” He threw out his hand toward me. “We both know she’s hot.”

“Yeah, she is. And she’smy mate.”

“At least tell me, did she rock your world? I need to live vicariously through you, brother.”

Connor narrowed his eyes. “Watch her—don’ttouch her,” he warned, but as he passed by Luc, he dropped his voice, smiled slightly, and whispered, “You don’t even know.” And I watched the high-five eye-volley between them.

Part of me couldn’t help but get really happy that he felt that way.Focus, Simone. I needed to figure out how to get outside to help Connor. I’d already lost one man and that just about broke me. Jeffery, he’d meant the world to me. I had the feeling that I’d never come back from losing Connor.

He grabbed a handful of my shirt to tug me into his arms and crashed his mouth down onto mine in a hard kiss. “Behave,” he warned and I decided to forgive his earlier comment because Connor kisses magically healed all wrongs in my world, even if those wrongs came from him. Then the coolest thing happened: He dropped to the ground, and where the all-man Connor just stood, now stood a giant, black, death hound with glowing, red eyes. His clothing lay in a shredded heap on the floor. He chuffed then turned to run out the door that Luc left open for him when he’d entered.

“So, Simone,” Luc said. “What should we do until Connor gets back?”

“Are you flirting with me?” I asked and he smiled another sexy smirk, then winked. “Oh, I can’t wait to tell Connor.”

Luc’s face immediately dropped. “Let’s not do anything hasty.”

“Connor’s going to kill you,” I singsonged, liking the way I got this big, strong fallen angel to squirm.

For an office in Hades, Luc’s was surprisingly cozy. The crazy-soft sofa I got to break in. Framed western prints on the walls painted a deep maroon. His huge desk looked like mahogany. Two leather club chairs sat opposite the desk, and he even had a large, stone fireplace taking up the entire wall across from the sofa. I couldn’t deny that the man had good taste.

“I think you ought to get some work done while you’re still alive to do it,” I said. “I’d hate for you to leave this place in a state. It’ll be hard to get someone to fill your shoes.”

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“Probably take a nap on your incredible sofa. It’s so soft.”

It’s not as if I wanted to nap, but I needed Luc to forget about me long enough for me to get the chance to escape. No matter what Connor said, I knew he could use my help.

As providence or whatever worked in Hell came to play, one of Luc’s employees… I guessed a demon? A demon made the most sense. He knocked once on the door then entered before being told to.

“Sorry to bother you, Luc,” the swarthy man said in a distinctly cockney accent. “But there’s an incident in quadrant three.” I felt bad for him. Not that he was necessarily unattractive, but given he worked around Connor and Luc every day, I figured that’d give anyone a complex.

“Incident?”

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