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Devlin’s shoulders seemed to relax, the tension melting from his face. “Go ahead,” he said, sinking deeper into the armchair, his fingers curling on the wooden armrest in a way that had me swallowing a gulp.

“Rule number one: keep your senses dampened,” I said, watching him carefully, bracing myself for any flicker of hesitation, or worse, disgust.

But Devlin just smirked. “Way ahead of you.”

And, judging by the easy way he said it, the lack of tension on his face, ithadbeen for privacy’s sake. Not because he’d taken one look at me and thoughtdon’t want to date her.

A small, unexpected knot of something—relief?—unraveled in my chest.

“Rule two: if you actually manage to find someone willing to go on a date with you,take her back to her place to feed.”

Devlin’s expression flickered before he let out a small wince. “Yeah... about that. I was kind of hoping to find someone who wanted to take things slow. Like,glaciallyslow. Really get to know each other before doing anything...physical.”

Aw.That was... unexpectedly sweet.

“Okay, finally,” I said, struggling to maintain my irritable demeanor, “I want to sample the goods first.”

Devlin’s eyes widened, his breath hitching. He let out a slow, almost pained exhale as he pushed to his feet, his fingers moving to his belt buckle. My brain lagged, struggling to process what he was doing as he unfastened it, sliding the leather free from his jeans with the kind of practiced ease that could have earned him a starring role inMagic Mike.

“No, no,no!” I yelped, throwing my hands up in front of my face. “Poor choice of words!”

Devlin froze, belt hanging loosely from his hand.

I let out a breath before clarifying. “I meant that I want to see how you’re planning to help me with my writing before I start offering dating advice like your personal romance Yoda.” And before I could stop myself, I added, “Swipe right, you should.”

I immediately winced.

Smooth Jen. Real smooth.

His shoulders sagged in relief. “Oh.” A beat of silence passed. “Not sure if I should be grateful that you’re not blackmailing me into having sex with you or offended by just how disgusted you sounded at the very idea.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m not disgusted... but I also don’t want to have sex with you.”

Devlin slipped his belt back into place with deliberate slowness. He glanced up at me, his lip twitching into a grin. In an infuriatingly accurate Darth Vader impression, he said, “Impressive. Most Impressive. You have controlled your lust.”

I resisted the urge to throw my notebook at him.

“Anyway,” he said, amused, “let’s get started, shall we? Can I have your manuscript?”

I held my notebook out, but he made no move to take it. Instead, he flicked a glance at his hand. “Mind setting it on the coffee table? Y’know...incubus touchand all.”

I rolled my eyes. “I told you—I don’t want to have sex with you, remember?”

Devlin smirked. “Oh, I remember.”

“Besides,” I continued, dryly, “even if Iwasinterested—which, to be clear, I’mnot—the magic suppressing mine also blocks out others’. At least until it wears off. So, I’m afraid your incubus touch is completely useless on me.”

His brows lifted slightly. “Really?”

“Really,” I said. “I mean, if itdidwork, wouldn’t I be seeing you as the man of my deepest desires?”

Devlin nodded, though skepticism still lingered in his expression.

“Well, unless the man of my dreams just so happens to have messy hair and a scar running down the length of his thigh... I’m afraid it’s just you I’m seeing.”

I braced for a scowl. But instead, Devlin’s expression softened, his lips parting slightly, eyes glinting with something almost... pleased. “It’s not often that a woman looks at me and doesn’t see their celebrity crush. It feels kind of nice that someone can see me... the real me, that is.”

Shit. He just had to go and make me feel sorry for him.