Page 19 of Monster Mate

He wasn’t sure how humans normally handled situations like this. Demons didn’t hide emotions or thoughts. Everything was out in the open. Humans were not always so forthright, and could be offended or even hurt if they heard too much of the truth all at once. He’d certainly learned that lesson the hard way over the years.

Roxie guarded her thoughts and feelings more than most, especially when she wasn’t sure who she could trust, if anyone.

He’d already resigned himself to earning her trust. So, if keeping quiet about the kiss that rocked his entire world helped him do that, so be it.

But in the meantime, he saw many, many mornings (and nights and afternoons) of jerking off in his future. He was sure the memory of how her skin felt against his and her sounds of pleasure would haunt his dreams for all eternity.

So, they made “getting to know you” small talk as she wandered the aisles of the Sanity Falls general store in her new plastic flip flops, yoga pants, and one of his T-shirts, and loaded up a cart with other clothing basics and toiletries to replace what she’d lost in the fire.

He’d tried to take her to a mall outside of town where she’d have some higher end options, but she’d soundly refused. And no matter how many times he told her he was buying everything she needed, she still insisted on checking every price tag. He could almost hear the wheels turning in her brain as she tallied up an IOU.

He wasn’t going to be a jerk about it, but there was no way in hell he was accepting money from her.

She threw a package of white bikini panties in the cart and he was immediately plagued with visions of her wearing nothing but those panties as he pinned her to the wall with his weight. He could imagine easing those drenched panties away from her flesh with the tip of one of his talons and…

He slammed the brakes on that train of thought before he did anything stupid. Like pinning her to the wall here in front of half the town on a busy weekend shopping day.

“Tell me about how you came to live with Winston,” he said, hoping that thoughts of Winston, cock blocker extraordinaire, were as effective as the man himself.

She chuckled as she searched for her size in a pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. “I worked in a nursing home as a nurse’s aide. Winston was a resident, and I was the only one who could tolerate him. All of the others refused to help him.”

Riordan frowned. “That seems to defeat the purpose of a nursing home. If no one wanted to care for him, why did they work there at all?”

“Oh, it wasn’t entirely their fault. Winston was—is—difficult. He didn’t want to be there, but his family couldn’t care for him at home. So, he was bitter, which made him argumentative and rude to everyone except me, for some reason.”

Riordan knew why. Because Winston respected her. Knew she had a pure soul.

She continued, “When Winston’s daughter passed away, there were no arrangements made for the continuation of his care at the home. Management was all too happy to kick him to the curb and send him to a state-run facility because he’d mistreated just about everyone on staff. Right about that time, my, um, circumstances changed, as well. So, when I decided to leave town, I took Winston with me.”

Then she shrugged as if she hadn’t taken in a total stranger and cared for him like he was her own flesh and blood out of the kindness of her heart. Like it was no big deal.

No wonder Winston was ready to die in a fire by her side.

“The nursing facility let you take him?” he asked.

Her smile was pure devilment. “I bribed the manager to make it look like he’d been released to a relative instead of stolen in the dead of night. They saw it as a win-win for all involved.”

Something about her escaping town in the dead of night and her cryptic remarks about changes in circumstances raised a few red flags in his brain. What—or who—had she been running from?

But he didn’t ask. Not yet. If she didn’t want to talk about their kiss, then she certainly wasn’t ready to trust him with those kinds of details about her life.

“It was an exceedingly kind thing you did for him,” he said quietly.

She scoffed. “Anyone would’ve done the same.”

“No. You only think that because for you, there was no other option. You saw a man in need, knew you could make a difference, so you did. Not everyone has a soul as pure as yours. In fact, very few humans do.”

She glanced up at him, her smooth brow furrowed. “How do you know?”

He took a deep breath. He could lie to her to protect her from the truth. Or he could answer her truthfully and risk running her off for good.

There wasn’t really a decision there. What kind of soul mate would he be if he lied to his perfect match?

“I think I might have mentioned reaping souls when we met?”

She nodded.

“My people,” he began, his voice pitched even lower than usual, “are responsible for ferrying souls from your dimension to their…final destination.”

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