Page 43 of Demon
Ronnie watched him for a moment, then another.He didn’t flinch, he didn’t move, he didn’t say a word.It made her wonder if maybe she was imagining that he felt the pull between them.
No, he’d kissed her.More than once.There was something there.But what?She didn’t know and it didn’t seem to be going anywhere tonight.
“I’m done in.I’m going to head to bed.”She glanced around the room.“Oh.Let me get you out a pillow and blanket.”
“No need.I won’t be sleeping.”
“Still.Let me get them just in case.”She went to the hall closet where she kept her linens and spare bedding.“Didn’t you tell me this morning that you hadn’t been to bed?How will you be able to stay up all night?”Ronnie said as she brought in a woven blanket, one of her favorites, and a pillow and set them on one end of the sofa.
“That was true, then.But I caught some sleep while you were out today.I’ll be good.”
“All right.I won’t push.You know where the bathroom is.Help yourself to anything in the kitchen.”
“Except your last soda.Right?”He flashed her another grin.
“No need to worry about that one.Gavin already took care of that.”
“That reminds me.Where’s your grocery list.I’ll put in an order and have it here first thing in the morning.”
She shook her head.“Huh-uh.You are not buying my groceries.”
“I’m eating them too.I might as well pitch in.But if you want you can pay me back.Just give me the list so I can include your stuff in the order with what I want.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to decide if he was trying to pull one over on her.But the lure of the soda she’d been thinking about all day, plus the creamer for her coffee that she’d run out of two days ago, were so tempting she decided it wasn’t worth the argument.“Come on, I’ll show you where I keep it.”She went to the refrigerator and pulled the magnetic notepad off the side, the list on it was longer than she remembered, but she didn’t have to read it to know Gavin had added a few things.His neat, compact handwriting stood out from her big loopy scrawl.“Here it is.Looks like Gavin’s been adding to it.Let me know how much it comes to, and I’ll make sure you get the money.”
“Sure thing,” he said, taking the notebook and setting it on the bar before pulling out his phone.She got the impression he was telling her that to placate her but wouldn’t actually tell her what the groceries cost.
She could deal with that.She knew where his bag was, and she had a good idea what the things on the list ran, she could always slip some cash into his bag when he wasn’t paying attention.She stood for a moment, watching as he typed on his screen, then tapped it a couple times before going back to typing.
“There’s no soda on the list.What do you drink?”
“Diet Pepsi.”
He typed for a minute.“They’ve got Pepsi Zero in a twelve pack or diet in a case, but no diet in the twelve.”He looked up at her as if he’d asked a question.
“Get the case.I don’t like the zero.”
“Will do.”He looked up.“Hey, what time do you normally get up?”
“Usually about six thirty, why?”
“Just curious.I can have your coffee ready if I know when you’ll be up.”
“That’s sweet, but you don’t need to do that.You don’t need to wait up for me to get up either, if you don’t want.Gavin’s still on east coast time and will probably be up early again tomorrow.”
Demon didn’t respond, just nodded and went back to looking up the things on her list.
“Good night then,” she said after a moment.“Opie, where are you?Come on, baby, it’s time for bed.”She glanced around the room and didn’t see him, looking room by room she found him in her office, curled up asleep on top of Demon’s bag.“Come on, baby.He doesn’t want your hair all over everything.Let’s go to bed.”She scooped him up and carried him into the bedroom with her, pushing the door almost closed so she had some privacy, but Opie could get out if he wanted to, without waking her up at two A.M.yowling that the door wouldn’t open.
It took her a few minutes to go through her bedtime routine, but after washing her face and making sure her alarm was on, she turned out the lights and slid between the sheets.As she lay in the semi-darkness trying to sleep, she thought about Ryan.She wished she could pull him out of his drawer and put him to use.He never let her down when she needed to unwind and get a good night’s sleep, but with Demon awake in the next room, she could never.
He might hear.
What if he heard, then came to investigate the noise?Her face heated and the ache in her core grew.Slick heat pooled between her thighs, making her desire to put Ryan to work.Ronnie shifted her hips, trying to get enough friction between her thighs to get at least a little relief.
When that didn’t work she thought about doing herself by hand, but she couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t cry out when she reached her peak.She wasn’t used to anyone being in the house with her, so she hadn’t bothered to stay quiet in longer than she remembered.
She turned over and tried to think of something else, anything else.
