Page 13

Miri

A sliver of sunlight poked through the curtain and jammed itself through Miri’s closed eyelid.

“Noooo,” she groaned. It couldn’t be morning yet. She hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep.

Stretching her legs, her toes jammed into something warm… and hard… and muscular. Miri raised her head and blinked at the demon sprawled buck naked at the end of her bed. Dark tattoos swirled over his red skin.

“Nico?” she yawned. Why was he sleeping at her feet like a cat?

“Morning.”

She jumped at the deep rumble. Rolling to her side, she blinked at Duke. The giant demon sprawled beside her in bed, his glasses slightly askew as he tried to read the newspaper with a mixing bowl of breakfast cereal balanced on his chest.

Miri stared. She couldn’t help herself. It wasn’t every day she found a giant plum-colored demon calmly lounging half-naked in her bed like it was the most natural thing in the world. Her eyes skated over his broad, muscular chest.

Thank god she had a king-sized bed. His wings alone could take up almost a third of the mattress on their own.

“Umm… hi.” She turned her sleepy eyes back to Nico. There were two demons in her bed. Two demons in her bed… wait… where were the other two? “Where are Kaz and Ace?”

“Last I saw, Ace was in the kitchen poking around your cabinets and Kaz was on the patio doing his ‘morning burpees.’” Duke nodded at the snoring demon curled around her feet. “I think that one might not be a morning person.”

“Did you say morning burpees?”

What in the actual fuck?

He turned the page of the newspaper and scooped more cereal into his mouth before answering her.

“I’m not sure if they’re different from regular burpees or if it just means he does them in the morning. I was too hungry to stop and ask.”

Miri looked at the mixing bowl in his giant hands. Yeah, that made sense. She couldn’t even imagine how many calories it took to keep the massive demon functioning every day. It was a miracle she had made enough lasagna last night to keep him satisfied until morning.

Duke nudged his glasses up his nose and focused on the crinkling paper. Miri bit her lip. Why did he have to make something so simple look so damn good? What would the buttoned-up demon do if she shoved his cereal aside and straddled his hips?

She shifted, her thighs squeezing together. A dull ache between her legs reminded her exactly why that was a bad idea. If last night had shown her anything, it was that she needed to stretch, hydrate, and invest in a quality lube before she tried climbing that mountain again.

A loud noise banged from the floor below them.

Miri pushed herself upright. Hugging the bedsheet to her chest, she wiggled her way to the edge of the bed.

She needed to find out what the other two demons were up to before they tore her house apart.

Especially Ace. With her luck, the cheeky devil was ransacking her cupboards to stock his own pantry.

If he touched her cookies, he was a dead man… demon… whatever.

She paused at the edge of the bed and looked down at herself. She was naked. Very, very naked. There was only a thin sheet and whole lot of wishful thinking between Miri and the demons in her bed.

Of course, there had been a lot less than that between them last night.

Fire burned in her cheeks. At one point, she hadn’t been sure whose hands were whose and where one demon ended and the next one began. As loud as she’d been screaming, it was a miracle the neighbors hadn’t called the police.

They were definitely going to need a batch of apology brownies. Her eyes drifted to the purple love bites dotting the tops of her breasts and memories of fanged smiles flashed through her mind.

A really big batch of apology brownies.

“I’m going to… shower,” Miri muttered.

Duke nodded, fully engrossed in whatever he was reading. Would he even notice if she climbed out of bed and sauntered to the bathroom in the buff or was the financial section too engrossing for him to peek at her ass?

Only one way to find out.

Sliding out of bed, she let the sheets fall away.

Miri rose to her feet. The embers in her cheeks reignited.

She refused to look back at the winged demon as she crossed the room.

Not that it mattered. The crinkle of the newspaper abruptly stopped and the heat of his gaze painted every inch of her naked body with each step.

Miri swiped her phone off the dresser and disappeared into the bathroom. With the door double locked behind her, she perched on the edge of the bathtub and pulled up her messages. Squinting at the screen, she briefly wondered where her glasses had gone.

Miri

They’re still here and they’re not leaving!

Ashley

Digital walk of shame! Give us the details, girlie

Miri

They. Aren’t. Leaving.

Nicole

Duh. Did you not see how they infiltrated my house?

Ashley

Congrats on your new roommates, you little monster ho ;)

Miri

I think I fucked up.

Ashley

How? Did your vagina have a flashing “out of business” sign?

Miri

My mom dropped by and I called them my boyfriends to freak her out. I think they took me seriously.

Ashley

Aww. When’s the wedding?

Nicole

Get a chore chart going ASAP. Trust me.

Miri

You two are zero help

Why are they still here? I thought they would have vanished first thing in the morning

Nicole

Dude, they’re not ghosts

Ashley

Your new “boyfriends” are waiting for you to feed them breakfast *meow*

Miri rolled her eyes. Ashley was clearly not intending to be helpful today.

Miri

I know they’re not ghosts, but usually the guy bails or makes some excuse to take off in the morning and there’s the weird will-they/won’t-they text for hours after

But they are ALL still here

This is uncharted territory and I’m up to my neck in demons.

What do I do?

Ashley

Grab the nearest one and have a really good morning ;;;;)

Miri

You’re done.

Ashley

No, but really. Which one had was packing the most heat?

Miri

What?

Nicole

Dick size, babe.

Miri

I’m not answering that

Ashley

It was the purple winged hottie, wasn’t it?

Miri

Not. Answering. That.

Ashley

It’s for research!

Nicole

Yeah, thirsty ho research lol

Miri

If you tell me how to get them out of my house, I’ll rank them by size for you.

Ashley

Fuck yeah. I’ll brainstorm before yoga.

Suddenly, refusing to choose between the four demons was looking like a really terrible idea. Miri’s neglected libido hadn’t bothered to plan past getting them into her bed. What was she supposed to do in the light of day and her half-baked ideas?

Make pancakes for five every morning? Draft a sex schedule? Assign them each a closet cubby?

Miri gritted her teeth as she hurried through a quick shower.

This had to be karmic justice for all the shit she had given Nicole when she had been trying to pry her monsters out of her house in the beginning of their relationship.

The universe was making her eat her words with a double helping of crow.

It could have at least given her some coffee to wash it down.

Dragging on her leggings, Miri forced herself to take deep breaths.

Why had she thought inviting all of them to her home was a good idea?

This was her sanctuary, her Fortress of Solitude, her refuge in a world packed with extroverts…

and now they were running amok and doing who-knows-what in her beloved kitchen.

Never again. Next time it was one of their places or nothing at all.

She twisted her hair into a clip and grumpily pulled her old glasses from the medicine cabinet. First item on the agenda, find her damn glasses. The old pair wasn’t nearly strong enough.

Grumbling to herself, Miri trudged down the stairs. A sea of scattered hardware and tools greeted her at the bottom.

“What the hell?”

Tiptoeing through the wreckage, she found a head of golden curls poring over a booklet of instructions. A callused hand reached up and scratched at one of the short horns poking through the curls.

“Ace?”

“Hmm?”

“What are you doing?”

He tore himself from the building instructions. Gaze landing on her tight leggings, his eyes trailed lazily up her body and a smirk curved his mouth.

“Well, good morning, gorgeous.”

“Ace.” Miri pointed at the screwdriver in his hand. “What. Are. You. Doing?”

“Oh, I found this leaning against the kitchen wall and I figured you hadn’t gotten around to putting it together yet. I used to work at IKEA.” The demon flashed her a bright smile. “Do you have a better screwdriver somewhere around here?”

“Okay, but why are you assembling my new coffee bar?”

Ya know, instead of going home… to his own coffee bar… with his own coffee maker.

“Is that what this is?” Flipping the instructions upside down, he squinted at the picture. “Huh.”

“You’re really filling me with confidence right now.”

With her luck, he’d put the whole thing together backward and she would have to spend her vacation taking it apart and putting it back together again.

“Eh, I’ll figure it out.” Ace looked up at her with a cheeky smirk and wiggled his brows. “I’m good with my hands.”

Yes, yes, he was. Miri knew that better than anyone. Those hands of his had roamed over every inch of her curves last night and the way he was looking at her, he was probably hoping for a morning show too.

“Where do you want this placed when it’s done?”

She pointed at the corner of the kitchen. Hopefully, that was the right spot. Her brain obviously wasn’t functioning correctly after last night’s three glasses of wine and spree of countless orgasms.

Waving the screwdriver, he shooed her from the room. “Go eat breakfast, doll face. I’ll be done with this in a jiff.”

Right, breakfast. That would definitely help her clear her head.