Page 56 of Demon with Benefits (Hell Bent #3)

WOMAN IN COLOR Three weeks later...

M EPH WANDERED INTO THE BATHROOM AND QUICKLY lost his train of thought.

Iris was leaning over the counter, putting on her makeup, her spine a delicate arch.

She wore a low-cut dress in a bright blue that matched her hair color perfectly.

He could see down the front of it in the mirror, and the bottom was short enough that he could also see the curve of her ass as she bent over from behind. It didn’t get much better than that.

He was a simple demon and never one to waste an opportunity. So he took a seat on the closed toilet lid behind her and got busy enjoying the view.

“Faust passed out, so I put him in the puppy pen,” he said absentmindedly.

“Thanks. Raum took him for a good walk today, so he should sleep for a while.”

“Nice. Grim didn’t attack me when I walked past either. It’s a miracle.”

Iris laughed. “I think he’s getting used to you.”

She turned around and looked Meph up and down. One of her eyes was coated in heavy shadow and the other wasn’t. It looked freaky, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. He may have been simple, but he wasn’t an idiot. “Are you ready?” she asked. “We have to go soon.”

“I was born ready. I’m just waiting for you.”

She rolled her eyes and turned back to the mirror, making the second eye match the first, thank god. “I know you—you need to spend at least ten minutes staring at your sneakers before you decide which ones to wear.”

“Not tonight I don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I bought new ones for the occasion.”

“Meph!” She spun around again. “You have more shoes than anyone I know. You do not need more.”

He grinned unashamedly, linking his hands behind his head and leaning back against the porcelain. Not the most comfortable seat, but again, the view was fantastic. “I always need more.”

She gave him a look and turned back to the mirror.

“Trust me,” he said. “In all my years, it’s only in the last few decades that footwear has been this awesome.

At some point, the style will surely revert to something as terrible as the clogs people rocked in the Middle Ages.

So for now, I’m going to enjoy my gold, limited-edition Jordans while I can. ”

She looked at him through the mirror. “They’re gold?” She tried to make a disapproving face, but he could see she was fighting a smile.

“Fuck yes, they’re gold.”

She lost the fight and laughed. “Well, I guess I approve, then.”

He stood and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Thank you, my radiant queen, for your benevolence.”

“Oh, that one’s just terrible.”

“That’s why I said it.”

It was a game now—he called her the cheesiest pet names he could think of. She would retort with something equally horrendous, and they would parry back and forth until everyone in their company wore matching expressions of disgust.

Iris pretended to feel guilty about traumatizing their friends, but he knew she secretly got off on it. Demons and humans weren’t so different at the end of the day.

“Did you call Suyin back?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Iris made a face. “She’s gotten no further, and it’s kind of hard to help her when I can’t tell her what we know.”

Iris’s best friend had been trying to figure out why a demon would have stolen her grimoire. Iris and Meph knew Valefor had taken the book for Murmur, but they didn’t know why. Meph’s brothers didn’t know anything either, but even if they had, it wasn’t like Iris could tell Suyin about it.

Suyin still had no idea her best friend was dating a demon, but Meph knew Iris wasn’t going to be able to keep the secret much longer. They’d so far avoided further interactions between Suyin and any demons, but he figured it was only a matter of time before the truth came out.

As for Murmur, Bel had apparently reached out to one of his “contacts”—he still wouldn’t tell them who these mysterious people were—to set up a meeting. As Lucifer hadn’t turned up on their doorstep yet, they were hoping that meant Murmur was open to making a deal.

“We can keep looking into it on our own,” Meph said, thinking of Suyin’s book. “Maybe we’ll find something.”

He didn’t mind being Iris’s dirty little demon secret until she was ready to spill the beans. He and Mist already played human on their double dates with the twins and outings with their friends, and it was fine.

Though if that fucker Antoine ever came around again, Meph was going to rip his spleen out and make him choke on it.

“Yeah. Don’t know what we’ll find, but it’s worth looking into.” Iris met Meph’s gaze in the mirror again and then glanced down at his clothes. “I know you’re going to wear the black and gold hoodie to go with your new shoes, so you can’t pretend you’re ready.”

She’d dyed her hair fresh blue to hide her blond roots, and the color was extra shiny and hot as hell. Between that, the dark eye makeup, and that sexy dress, he was finding it difficult not to drag her back to the bedroom and forget their plans for the night.

Not that he would have needed much convincing. He wouldn’t tell a soul, but he was nervous as shit for this damn art show. Jacqui had convinced him to go through with it in the first place, but Iris...

Iris had convinced him to tell his brothers about it.

He still didn’t know how he’d let that happen, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for it either.

He hadn’t even been able to use the we’re-supposed-to-be-in-hiding thing as an excuse, since Bel had helped Jacqui cover the gallery in the same wards they had around their apartment.

Even if Murmur did sell them out, they were just as hidden there as they were at home.

And with the style of Meph’s art, the bloody sigils just looked like part of the show.

He grinned to cover his nerves. “You know me so well.”

“It’s hardly a stretch to know you’re obsessed with matching, and I know you love that hoodie. Now go get dressed!”

He gave her ass a squeeze and went to do as his woman commanded, digging through her closet—now half full of his clothes—until he found the hoodie he was after.

He donned it, and then pulled his fabled new kicks out of the shoebox and slipped them on.

He smiled to himself, looking at his shiny gold toes.

Shoes in this time period were definitely awesome.

Then he thought about Iris in the bathroom, putting on her makeup in that slinky little dress.

She’d guessed what hoodie he was going to wear. She’d told him to start getting ready an hour before they had to leave because she knew he was scatterbrained and terrible at planning. She was half the reason this whole night was happening to begin with.

Even with Jacqui’s persuasion, Meph felt reluctant, but Iris had talked him into it. She hadn’t taken no for an answer, and she and Jacqui together had been an unstoppable force. He hadn’t stood a chance against them.

He thought about how Iris had been coming with him to the studio lately to help him prepare, and how she got on with Jacqui, the two of them cackling away about some girl joke he wasn’t privy to.

He wondered how Iris would react to his latest piece, the one he hadn’t shown her yet, and the image of her eyes getting wide and excited made him feel so fucking happy, it nearly brought him to his knees.

He spent every day with her. He wanted to spend every day for the rest of time with her. He wanted to hear her laugh every one of those days. When he had to make a decision, he wanted her opinion first. His every desire or plan for the future involved her.

She’d told him she wanted to quit smoking, so he’d dropped the habit like a hot potato in support, and he threatened to beat the shit out of anyone who so much as mentioned it around her.

She’d asked him to go to puppy obedience classes with her, and he hadn’t even complained about it. Puppy obedience classes.

He knew what all that meant.

He was a dumb-fuck demon, but he’d learned a lot, and suddenly, the weight of his realization crashed into him like a brick dropped from the roof of a building onto his thick head.

He had no choice but to sit down on the edge of the bed. His heart started racing, and his breathing sped up until his chest hurt, but he didn’t think he was going to have a full-on panic attack again. He wondered why, considering this realization was ten times scarier than the first one.

Then he realized it was because he felt safe. He trusted Iris, and he believed in her feelings for him. And suddenly, he wasn’t afraid to tell her anymore.

“Iris?” he called out.

“Yeah?” Her voice came from the bathroom.

“I love you.”

There was silence.

He waited. He was nervous, sure, but he wasn’t terrified. There was a difference.

And then she appeared in the doorway, mascara brush still in one hand. “What did you say?” Her voice was a whisper.

“I said I love you.” He stared at his gold sneakers.

He was looking down, but he saw a flash of movement in his peripherals and had just enough forewarning to brace himself before she crashed into him, knocking him flat on his back on the bed.

“You do?”

“Yeah. Is that okay?”

“Is it okay? Is it okay ?” She laughed. “Of course it’s fucking okay, you bloody idiot! I love you too.”

He smiled at her, finally finding the guts to look into her eyes. Such a lovely shade of green. She was the sweetest damn thing with him, all sugar and honey, and a total bitch to everyone else, and he was the luckiest bastard alive.

To others, she was still the same old prickly Iris, who’d maybe mellowed out a little since her second trip to Hell and the defeat of her enemy. But Meph got to see a side of her that was just for him.