Page 44 of Adepts and Alchemists
RJ nodded. “Most weeks. I didn’t know you worked here. How long has that been going on?”
I shrugged, dropping my gaze to the bodice of my ridiculous outfit. It suddenly felt too revealing, with his appreciative gaze on me. It wasn’t often I got flustered around a man. I’d chalk it up to post-resurrection jitters. It also wasn’t often that I got to experience a new body with new hormones. That had to be it, right?
“A few days. I needed a job, you know?” I looked at him and shook my head because I’d never had a job in my life. But here I now was, a working girl. “I’m working on a couple of acts for the haunted house attraction.”
“Are you?” RJ did his best to keep his laugh to himself. Smart man.
“Right. My main thing will be shadow work, but I can stand in for the fire breathers and water-based acts if I have to. I’m sort of the jack of all trades here.”
His smile was dazzling. “Me too. Want to show me the trailer in lot B that has the busted roof? I’m going to be up there awhile. You can stick around and chat if you want. The show doesn’t start until eight, so you’ve got time. Unless you want to practice your act now?”
The uncertain way he tugged his lip between his teeth made my chest twinge. I took his hand on impulse and gave it a squeeze.
“I’ll keep you company for a while if you agree to go to a dinner party with me on Friday. I need a plus one, or Angelo’s father is going to perv on me all night. Are you willing to take the brunt of an incubus’ attention for me?”
RJ’s smile turned a little mischievous. “What if he likes me better than you?”
“Then he’d have good taste,” I answered with a laugh.
RJ’s gaze flicked to me for an instant, serious and searching. I didn’t stop him when he used his grip on my hand to pull me in closer. He dipped his chin briefly and, before I could move, he’d pressed a gentle kiss to my mouth. It was almost heartbreakingly chaste.
“Was that okay?” he whispered.
“Only if you do it again,” I answered, voice low and a little roughened by the surge of powerful emotion battering through me. I didn’t know what it meant. I just knew I liked it a lot. Likedhima lot.
“Well, I’ll never say no to a lady,” he said with a cheeky grin.
Epilogue
Lydia
“Are you sure about this?” Fifi asked, staring doubtfully back at the building.
Hallowed Homes didn’t look like much from the outside—just a one-story office building with innocuous white siding. Fifi had recently had the outside remodeled to reflect the changes she’d made inside. I’d been told the open floor plan was an improvement to the cubicle hell Fifi’s former boss liked to inflict on her employees.
She was leaning against her 4Runner, arms crossed over her magnificent chest. There really was no other way to describe it. The enterprising succubus looked ready to pop out of the shell pink blouse she wore, and the pencil skirt made her ass look even rounder and fuller than I knew it was. She was a bombshell in business casual, and it would ordinarily make me feel like the ugly stepsister. How was one supposed to compete when there were so many beautiful women in the Hollow?
But I was mated to Angelo, not them. And coming back to life had its own perks, making the changes I’d begun permanent. My skin glowed a light amber, even though the bespelled pendant I’d been gifted kept me looking human. I wasn’t good at keeping human shape on my own yet. Not enough to reliably keep my store, Occult Oddities, open anyway. Fifi was working with me on it, but I was a few months away from steady control. Without the glamour, my skin was even ruddier, shining, and supple. I’d gone from a middle-aged woman to a fumbling half-demoness overnight. It was a learning curve. Thankfully, I wouldn’t need to wear the itchy glamour for long.
“I’m sure. I want to do this. I’m tired of him treating me like I’m a porcelain doll.”
At first, Angelo’s gentle handling of me had been cute. It wasn’t every day you had a sex god waiting on you hand and foot. When he’d started turning in early and silently refusing to touch me even when I wore my best lingerie, it had crossed the line from endearing to annoying.
Yeah, I didn’t know how my body worked anymore, but I’d learn. It wasn’t like holding me at night was going to break me in two. If anything, I’d gottenstrongersince coming back to life. The powers I was starting to display were a little frightening. But what frightened me more was doing all of this alone. If it was a problem with my demon half, I’d hash it out with her the best way I knew how. I’d been good for weeks. It was my turn to be bad now. Couldn’t let my mate hog all the fun.
Fifi shrugged. “It’s up to you. I owe you for saving my brother’s life. Just don’t make too big a mess, okay? I have work in the morning.”
I frowned. “Saved him? No, that was Indigo.”
Fifi’s smile was soft and a little sad. “You saved him a long time before Indigo took a turn. He’s the happiest I’ve ever seen him, Lydia. Do you know how much of a miracle it is that he’s so fixated on you? I never thought he’d find the one.”
The one. Two words with an uncomfortably weighty meaning. I wanted to tell her that it wasn’t that serious yet, but that would have been a lie. I’d been head over heels for the incubus from the first moment he’d batted his unfairly long lashes my way. It was still astonishing to me that Angelo felt the same. That I’d ensnared him, not the other way around.
“But more specifically,” Fifi continued. “I mean that you saved him when you let him feed. He was in bad shape after Andrea’s attack. I’ve never seen him that low energy. If he hadn’t had a glut to draw from, she might have killed him. I can tell just from a handshake that your aura is strong. Feeding on you is more filling than a regular human. It helped, trust me.”
Heat prickled up my neck in a wave, and I prayed she couldn’t see the flush beneath the new, hellish glow that tried to shine from my skin. The fact that she’d given me a thorough once over and stamped me with her seal of approval was both flattering and creepy. But hey, what could you expect from a demoness?
“Erm... you’re welcome?”