Page 27 of Demon with Benefits (Hell Bent #3)

Iris held up her hands. “But this isn’t a relationship. We’re just sleeping together, nothing more. So don’t get any ideas that we’re some big, happy demon family now or whatever. It’s a temporary arrangement of convenience.”

“Sure, okay.” Lily was still grinning, and Iris didn’t believe for a second that her twin accepted that. But as long as she didn’t try to get involved, Lily could think whatever she wanted.

Iris’s phone buzzed in her hoodie pocket at that moment, so she pulled it out and read the text. It was from Meph. Like the bastard knew she’d been talking about him and his magic, pierced dick.

I’ll be over in an hour. I want you naked on the bed. Face down, ass up.

Her face flamed. The idiot had been requesting that every time he came over, and he wouldn’t give it up. It was a battle of wills at this point, and she refused to give him the satisfaction of a victory. She texted back, In your dreams.

He sent her back a gif of SpongeBob twerking, and she couldn’t stop the laugh that burst out of her.

“He’s texting you now, isn’t he? Let me see!” Lily reached over the book piles, trying to snatch the phone, but Iris held it out of reach.

“No way. You are not reading this.”

“Ooh, are you sexting?” Lily made another grab for the phone.

“I’ll let you read it if you let me read your texts to Mist.”

Lily dropped her hand, and her cheeks turned red. “Okay, never mind.” She shifted back to sit cross-legged again.

“That’s what I thought.” The sisters exchanged secret smiles.

Then Iris shook herself. That was not what this was about. This was not some magical budding romance. She and Meph were fuck buddies, pure and simple. She’d been in enough dysfunctional relationships in the past, and she didn’t need another one. Especially not with a demon.

Her decision to stay single was all about breaking her habit of chasing toxic men, and it was the smartest choice she’d made in a long time. She wasn’t going to back out now because of a good dicking and some compelling conversation.

But it was a really good dicking. And the conversation was surprisingly stimulating. So she wasn’t going to miss out on those either.

Despite Lily’s dubious looks, Iris was sure she and Meph could swing the whole friends-with-benefits thing.

He seemed as committed to noncommitment as she did.

He was clearly repulsed by the idea of relationships and feelings in general.

They could make it work. And if it ever changed between them, the minute she sensed any feelings or attachment from him, she would end it. Cold turkey.

“I gotta go,” she told Lily, standing up and dusting off her pants. “I left Faust at home, and he’s going to be climbing the walls. Want me to help put these grimoires away?”

“Nah, I’m going to stay another hour.”

“You said four hours a day was your max.”

“Yeah, and it’s only been three.”

Iris shook her head. “You’re crazy.”

Lily grinned unashamedly. “I can guess where you’re going right now, and I will have to counter by saying that you, my dear sister, are the crazy one.”

“I’m just going to let Faust out to pee,” Iris replied innocently, but she felt her face heat as she contemplated what she was really doing.

Face down, ass up. Even if she wouldn’t actually wait on the bed like that, she had no doubt she’d end up in that position before long. The bastard would probably make her beg for it too.

She bid Lily farewell, and a few minutes later, she was on her way back to her apartment, huddled in her parka against the cold. At the top of the stairs, she paused with her key in the lock and regarded her neighbor’s door with a frown.

She hadn’t seen the mysterious, posh new guy since the first day they’d met, and she wondered how he was adjusting to living in her dumpy building. Maybe he’d left the moment he realized he would have to dig his BMW out of a snowbank on the side of the road.

The minute she opened her front door, Faust started yipping and whining from his puppy pen in the living room.

Though Raum babysat while she was at work, Faust was getting far enough along with bathroom training that she could leave him at home when she went out for short periods.

But she didn’t trust him not to eat the furniture yet, so he had to stay in his pen.

She felt bad, but not as bad as her poor sofa cushions felt being torn to shreds.

She clipped a leash on the bouncing canine, who had already grown noticeably in size, and led him outside to relieve himself.

After a brisk walk to the park, she went back inside to get ready for Meph.

Jumping in the shower, she shaved her legs and tidied up downstairs, grateful she’d gotten a wax recently.

Then she shook her head. Wasn’t the whole point of friends with benefits that she didn’t have to care about this kind of stuff? She ought to go full bush and see how he liked it.

She pictured Meph’s grin and laughed to herself. Something told her he wouldn’t give a shit what she looked like as long as she was down to fuck. Typical.

Just as she turned off the shower, she heard knocking on the front door. Shit. He was here already. Her heart started to race excitedly, but she told it to shut up.

This was casual. C - A - S - U - A - L .

It had become her new mantra since “He’s a demon” didn’t seem to work anymore. She panicked briefly as she did pretty much every time he came over. Should she even be doing this?

The knock sounded again. An image flashed in her mind of Meph’s naked body flexing as he pounded into her, and her insides clenched with arousal.

She was definitely doing this. She hadn’t had nearly enough of him yet, and she wasn’t going to stop until she had.

But she decided not to bother with clothes.

She wasn’t going to present him with her bare arse, but she was pretty sure she wouldn’t stay dressed for long.

So she wrapped a big towel over her breasts, tucked it in tightly, and then padded to the front door on bare feet, wet hair dripping down her back.

Faust barked as if she hadn’t already known someone was there. She swore his bark was already twice as deep as when she’d first found him.

“Some guard dog you are,” she told him, cocking a brow.

She was still looking at her hound as she threw open the front door and said, “If you want me to wait on the bed, knocking probably isn’t the smartest...” She trailed off as her eyes met the person outside her door.

It wasn’t Meph. It was fucking Antoine.