Page 38 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

We talked for hours. He told me about everything he missed back home.

The thing he missed most was his mother. He missed her almost as much as his father did, which was why Ulric left as often as he could to spend time with her. Rune talked about how his mother, although raised a princess, had a quick wit and a very dry, sometimes dirty, sense of humor. Rune said that she would adore me, especially after hearing about how I stuck up for my family.

The thought of Rune showing me all these amazing things, and meeting his mother, filled my stomach with butterflies. But first, I wanted to know more about him now.

“So what determines if I’m still around in January?”

“You do,” Rune said with a simple shrug. “It’s your life, Tori. You get to choose what to do with it.”

I laughed. “If only it were that easy.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, picking up one of the few cookies left on the tray.

“I have some shit to figure out, on top of all this”—I waved my hands around—“before my mom gets back in town.”

“What do you have to figure out? Maybe I can help?” Rune took a sip of his cocoa.

“Well, before all of this happened, my mother gave me an ultimatum. I must get a full-time job that will let me support myself and move out, or enroll in college full-time with a major before she gets home.”

“You’re welcome to stay here, and if you are looking for a job, I actually have a few ideas for that if you are interested.”

“More women in the field, like Kylie was saying?” I really wanted to know more about that.

“No, I don’t know if the field is a good idea for a halfling,” Rune said. “I want to start a program to help demons who move here acclimate. A lot of younger demons move here for education, and it’s a bit of a culture shock. The phone line I mentioned earlier, I thought you might be interested in helping me run it.”

“Maybe.” It sounded like something I would be good at, but it also sounded like a job pushing paper and answering a phone. The idea of being stuck behind the sad gray walls of a cubical for the rest of my life sent shivers down my spine. “Not to change the subject,”—I was desperate to change the subject—“but what was with Sif this morning?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, looking away.

“Well, she implied you bought Sarah and me for the night, and she seemed a little less than thrilled the first time I met her too.”

“We used to date.”

“Yeah, that much I got,” I said.

“It ended badly. We were okay, but not right,” he said casually. “I only just found out how bad she took the breakup.”

“So what happened?” If I were going to be called a whore, I was going to need more details than he was giving. He seemed so nonchalant, but she was clearly so angry. There had to be more to that story.

“I saw a woman who stole my breath away,” Rune said, leaning forward. “I wouldn’t say it was love at first sight, but definitely lust. I knew that if I could feel so intensely about a woman I had never even talked to, then I wasn’t in love. I owed it to myself and to Sif to give us a chance to find that. Honestly, after seeing what my parents have, I don’t know why I assumed I couldn’t have something as deep as what they have.”

Rune slid off the couch and knelt in front of me. Sliding his thick body between my legs, he lifted his hand and cupped the side of my neck, running his thumb over my jaw. I leaned into his touch, warmth spreading from every place he touched me.

“But I think you know what I want, Tori. You feel it too. You just have to say it. Give me permission.”

“Why?”

“Why what, Tori?” Rune leaned in a little closer.

I couldn’t take my eyes off his full lips. When he dragged his tongue across his top lip and then bit his lower one, I swore I felt my brain short-circuit.

Lizard brain was a thing. Even for women.

“What?”

“You asked me why. I don’t know what you want to know.”

“Why me?”

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