Page 43 of Demon with Benefits
“What does it look like?” she heard herself ask.
The look in his eyes cut her. She hadn’t even known his face was capable of that expression.
It was bone-deep. Soul deep. It went beyond the flesh to something vulnerable inside that should never be exposed. It was fear and suffering, isolation and longing, pain and hatred.
And then he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, and when he opened them again, it was gone. Buried so deep, it was like it had never been there at all.
But it had. And she could never forget it.
“Oh, you know,” he drawled. “Big, scary, horns and a tail. Pitchfork in hand. The usual demon shit.”
He was lying. He was so full of it she wanted to scream at him.
But it wasn’t her place to pry, no matter how curious she was. And hadn’t she just told him she wasn’t looking for a new Mr. Damaged? Because whatever damage he had was astronomical.
She decided to let it go. Plus, there was something she really needed to make clear, and now that she’d successfully killed the mood, it seemed a good time to bring it up.
“You don’t want a relationship or anything, right?” she asked.
His lip curled. “Fuck no.”
“Okay, good. Because I just have to make it clear that this”—she gestured between their naked bodies—“is just, you know—”
“About sex?” The eyebrow with the tattoos lifted.
“Yeah.” She winced, half expecting him to be offended.
Instead, he blew out a breath. “That’s a relief. I thought you were going to get all obsessed with me like other women do.”
Ew.He was such a dick. And if he’d been looking for a way to make her feel confident about her decision to keep this casual, he had found it. “You’re a bastard.”
He shrugged. “You want ice cream?”
She blinked. “It’s the middle of winter.”
“And ice cream is never not good. Eva and Lily got me hooked on it.”
“Um, sure. Why not.”
He stood. “I’ll go to the dep and get some. We can eat it while we watch another zombie movie. And then we’ll fuck some more. And I’m gonna crash here tonight ’cause I want to fuck in the morning too. Sound good?”
Her mouth hung open as she stared at him. A million furious retorts raced through her mind.The audacity! How dare he assume I rearrange my life to suit his whims—
“Sure.”
She mentally smacked herself. The problem was, his plan sounded great. She wanted more of him, and ice cream sounded pretty good too. Maybe she would “accidentally” smear some on his abs so she could lick her way down south.
He grinned like he knew her thoughts. She tried to reconcile that easygoing smile with the tortured look she’d seen a minute ago and couldn’t do it. It was like he’d become a completely different person.
“I’ll be right back,” he said. “Unless you wanna come with?”
“In this blizzard? I’m good.”
“’Kay. You got smokes or should I pick some up?”
She groaned. He was going to be a terrible influence on her, she just knew it. “No. I quit.”
“Good for you.” His gaze ran up and down her naked body. “You’d better be exactly where I left you when I get back.” And then he winked. “See you soon, babycakes.”
