Page 90 of A Summoned Husband

Asmodeus peeked at me through his lids. “I like this.”

“Mortal living?” I folded my hands on his chest and rested my chin on them, eyes tracing every inch of his face.

“No. You, like this. Grinning as though you weren’t trying to escape your life and all the chaos I’ve brought to it.” He touched a hand to his chest beside my hands. “I like the way it feels.”

My brows quirked.

“This emotion. What is it?”

“Are you saying you don’t know your own emotions?” I suddenly wanted to know these kinds of things about him. Not because I was trying to figure out how knowing more would free me from him, but because I wanted to know him better. We’d skipped the dating. The coffee shops and the dinners and went right to marriage without knowing anything about each other.

“I know mine well enough. These ones are yours.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“When you took my key in your chest it opened a door for me too. One that allowed all your emotions to constantly pour into me. It’s endlessly irritating but lately, I’ve found it’s nice too.” He grinned that grin that made my knees feel weak. “What emotion is this one?”

It was weird to have to think about. Most people just felt what they felt when they felt it and rarely had to sit back and point those emotions out in a lineup. My lips pursed as I tried to give him the answer he wanted.

Just what was I feeling?

“Well…” I drew the word out as I thought. “I’m feeling a bit shy, I guess. I can feel butterflies flitting around in my stomach right now. It’s better than anxiety though, it’s a happy anxiousness. And I’m also feeling pretty content. Relaxed after the way you threw it down. Happy…” My eyes widened as I realized that was true. I was happy.

“Happy,” he whispered lightly. “Because of me?”

I nodded, my lips folded into my teeth as I tried not to grin like a fool. “Yes.”

His eyes widened, the sleep disappearing from them. “Really?”

I dropped my brow onto my hands, hiding my face from him as another wave of anxiety moved through me. “Yes,” I reluctantly admitted again. How this man could suddenly make me feel like a bumbling teen after just one orgasm — okay, maybe more like five but who was counting — was embarrassing.

“Interesting.”

Was it?

A groan slowly slipped from my lips before I forced myself to be a big girl and look at him. “I think you could probably make me happy if we didn’t undo the spell or curse or whatever.” My words came in a rush. Like if I spat them out quickly enough they wouldn’t hold as much weight.

“Eden?”

The way he said my name only wrapped me around his finger even more.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

My eyes clasped closed before I forced them open. “You’re not bad… for a demon.”

He chuckled again, reaching behind him to grab a pillow off the floor and shove it behind his head. Asmodeus shimmied up, taking me with him as he propped himself up to look down at me. “Is this a compliment?”

I was very bad at this. Which was annoying me because I wasn’t often the type to dance around my words and pretend I didn’t know what to say. I knew what I wanted to say, knew what I felt I had to tell him but I was just being a big baby about it. Alicia would hit me with those eyes if she could see me now and ask me why in the hell I was acting like I wasn’t grown.

“What is this?” He cupped a finger under my chin and lifted my face to look at him. “What is this face?”

“Mine.”

“Yes, but it’s different from the one you often show me. This one is just as beautiful but it’s soft. Vulnerable. Are you softening to me, Eden?” The hope in his voice almost shattered me.

The boldness I usually lived by returned to me as I sucked it up and stared him down. “Yes.”

His smile slowly dripped from his face. “Truly?”