Page 9 of Demon Heart: The Complete Series

Piper:

Me:

K.

E nd of texting conversation.

“Washing,” I said.

“Roman?”

“Yeah?”

Darcy sniffed my ear. “Is your brain still in there?”

“Huh?”

“What’s going on here?”

Good question—a million dollar one. “I have no clue.”

Xavier’s clothes were outside the bathroom door. I scooped them up, carrying them into the kitchen.

“There’s a demon in our home,” the rat added.

“He needed help.” I loaded the clothes into my washing machine, throwing in some detergent and fabric conditioner—my grandma’s favorite strawberry ‘flavor’ as she liked to call it.

“Since when do you help demons?”

“I don’t.” I set the timer and temperature.

“Yet there’s one soaking in the bathtub.”

“Are you going to reel this stuff off all night?”

An indignant squeak. “I’m just saying.”

“I understand the situation, Darcy.”

“But I don’t think you do. The Roman I know wouldn’t let this happen. You’re clearly overly horny.”

My cheeks bloomed with bashful heat. “Don’t talk shit.”

“Why else would you bring a demon who looks like that back here?” He scurried to my other shoulder, his whiskers tickling my neck. “I get it. I most definitely would.”

I prayed Xavier didn’t have super hearing. “Want to be locked in your cage for a week?”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me, ratty.”

“Don’t take the high road with me,” he retorted. “You’re the one playing with demons.”

“I’m not playing with anyone.”

“But you’d like to.”

“Right. You’re grounded.”

He leaped off my shoulder, landing on the countertop. “Catch me if you can.”

I glowered at the little shit. “I can’t be bothered.”

“Because you know you’ll lose.”

I flexed my fingers, massaging each one in turn.

“You okay?” Darcy asked.

“Hurting.”

“Busy night?”

I often wondered if he knew more about my job than he let on. He never asked, never even hinted at getting an answer from me.

“Shit, Darcy. What am I doing?”

“We’ve already been through this.”

“He just looked so…so weak, so helpless. I couldn’t leave him there.”

“That’s empathy for you.”

My empathy was kept in a jar, only released when absolutely necessary. Had Xavier seduced me with his looks and his strange scent? Was he in that bath right now weaving a demonic spell on me, cackling at my stupidity?

Kick the door down, drag his arse out, let the world have him. Best move to make, wash my hands of this nonsense.

I put the kettle on.

“I think you just have to do what’s best,” Darcy said, moving toward the biscuit tin.

“You keep changing your tune.” I retrieved two cups from my pine cupboard.

“I’m not happy, but I’ll stand by you.”

Aw. He was so sweet when he wasn’t sniping. “Thanks. That means a lot.”

“Hey, you saved my life. Gave me a home. It’s the least I can do.”

I smiled down at him, rubbing the top of his head with my finger. “I think that deserves a biscuit.”

A delighted squeak. “Yay!”

I popped the lid on my pig-head biscuit tin, another thing I inherited from my grandma, and fished out a digestive.

“There you go, buddy.”

He got to nibbling.

Kettle boiled, I popped a chamomile tea bag into each mug, pouring in the water.

Sleep and tea. Give it to me, hard.

I gazed out of the kitchen window, at the dull view of the brick buildings of different sizes opposite mine. Happy to be still, even if it only lasted for a couple of minutes. Moments like these were often fleeting, so you had to snatch them before they whizzed by like a blue bottle fly.

Note to self: Get a decent fly killing lamp this year. Last summer had been a bitch for bugs around here.

“I feel so much better.”

I spun at the smooth sound of Xavier’s voice, my heart practically leaping into my throat.

Holy shit. Look at him standing there with a towel wrapped around his waist so low it showed off the V-cut below his navel.

He raked a hand through those platinum locks, his icy eyes so hypnotic. But not as hypnotic as those sculpted abs, that body of perfect planes of lean muscle. A body built for violence and licking.

Licking?

An angry red scar cut across his chest. Had his internal healing not done a good job on that wound?

Rather than ask, I cleared my throat, the kitchen’s temperate way too high. “Glad…I’m glad the bath helped.”

How could anyone be that good looking?

My greedy staring snagged on the jewels in his wrists. Yeah, they were jewels, smooth bumps placed side by side. Sapphire and emerald in his left wrist, amethyst and ruby in the right.

“Are you making tea?” he asked, making it sound like a come on.

I rolled up my sleeves, trying to keep my eyes off his pecs. “I am. Chamomile. It’ll…” Shit. Tongue-tied. “It’ll help you sleep.”

He looked me up and down, his expression flitting between seduction and danger. This demon could turn at any moment, rip out my spine and return it to my body by shoving it down my throat. Or he could bite my face off. There were many ways that body could mess mine up.

Or—

Nope!

“May I trouble you for a cup?” he asked so politely.

“That’s why there’s two mugs here,” Darcy interjected flippantly.

Xavier quirked an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

Darcy nibbled more of his biscuit.

After some throat clearing, and tugging on my collar, I said, “You didn’t use the dressing gown.”

Drop the towel! Woo!

“There wasn’t one there,” he replied, eyes moving to the window.

“Oh. Sorry. I thought there was. Let me go grab it.”

I brushed past him, a wave of his heat hitting me, his bare skin so close to the wool of my sweater.

Curse my tiny kitchen.

I reached the bedroom, catching my breath, mentally slapping myself for being so gooey, so bloody pathetic over a demon.

Get him out of the flat!

Hanging on the door of my wardrobe were two dressing gowns. I grabbed the gray one, almost colliding with Xavier as he appeared in the doorway.

I jumped back, dropping the garment.

The demon held the top of the doorframe, leaning his body forward.

“I gather that’s it.” He nodded to the crumpled dressing gown.

Was his towel lower than before? “Yeah. Here.” I grabbed it, handing it over.

His presence called to my sexuality, his masculinity the spark ready to make me go boom.

“Thank you.” He took the dressing gown, turning to leave.

Four more jewels sat in a line at the top of his spine—amethyst, ruby, emerald, sapphire.

I went to ask him what they were but held back, letting him disappear into the bathroom, which sat directly opposite my bedroom. He left the door ajar, his shadow moving in the light. I watched it, willing myself to snap out of this smitten haze.

A demon. He was a demon. Whether or not he was a good egg—because I knew there were some—didn’t matter. If the queen ever heard of this, I’d find my neck in a noose.

Unless Xavier got there first.

Playing with so much fire here!

Darcy dashed from the kitchen to my trouser leg, returning himself to my shoulder.

“All good?” I asked.

“You look ready to pass out.”

“What sort of answer is that?”

“A true one.”

Xavier filled my view again, his body mercifully covered in gray flannel.

“Your clothes are in the wash,” I said rather loudly.

“Thank you, Roman.”

“I’ll get that tea.”

“Wonderful.” A soft smile, his lips appearing glossier by the second.

“You can go take a seat.”

“I’m fine. It’s nice to be able to stand again.”

“Right.” Sharp beeline to the kitchen, spoons in the mugs. “You want the teabag left in? I always leave it in because it gives so much more flavor and what’s the point of anything without flavor?”

“You’re rambling,” Darcy whispered into my ear.

Fuck off!

“That sounds perfect,” the demon said.

A shiver raced up my spine. He was behind me.

I went to pick up the mugs when my hands started to shake. “Shit.” I clasped them together, pain coupled with pins and needles spread from wrists to fingertips.

“Is everything okay?” Xavier asked, his heat on my back.

Too close. Too close.

I sidestepped to the left and turned to face him. “Got the shakes.”

He regarded my hands, clamped together as if in prayer. “You seem to be in pain.”

“Happens sometimes.”

“Why?”

“Magical problems.” Issues you won’t be hearing about.

“I see. Anything I can do to help?”

“You could carry the tea into the living room, please.”

“Of course.” He got to his task.

I followed him. He put my mug on the table beside my chair, then took his over to the sofa.

Man, my arse cheeks and feet were grateful when I took a seat. Darcy returned to his cage up the tube, sitting in his hammock, beady eyes scrutinizing the scene.

Xavier watched me, his mug held close to his lips. Steam curled up across his face, the temperature not bothering his hands.

Asbestos hands.

Speaking of which, I slid my hand massager from under my chair, clicking on the switch at the mains.

“What’s that?”

“Massager,” I said, creaming up my hands and slipping them inside.

He nodded, sipping his tea.

The device got to work, giving me instant relief. I suppressed a moan.

“I could do that for you,” Xavier said.

I’d probably jizz in my jeans if he did. “I’m good. Thanks.”

“The offer is there.”

“Do you live in London?” I asked, not wanting to think about him fiddling with my pressure points.

“For the past ten years, since leaving the demon realm permanently.”

“Oh? Where abouts?”

“Mile End. I have a lovely house by the canal. I much prefer it over here to my home realm. You actually have real sunshine.”

“So, you’re one of those demons hiding in plain sight, eh?” Darcy cut in.

Xavier nodded. “Guilty as charged, I suppose. Though I didn’t make a habit of causing trouble. I just wanted a quiet life, to keep my head down and enjoy your realm.”

“No dreams of a takeover?” the rat asked.

“Darcy,” I warned.

“It’s okay,” Xavier said. “Any demon who denies wanting to takeover this realm, be it peaceful or not, is talking nonsense.”

Darcy ran through his tubes to get to me, climbing up my body to take position on my shoulder once again.

“At least you managed to avoid getting banished by the ADU,” I said. “Not that it matters now.”

“As I said, I kept my head down.”