Page 5

Miri

“ E verything is terrible and I am going to burn all of my clothes!” Miri groaned.

She peeled off the sundress that was making her boobs look weird and threw it on her bed.

She eyed the growing discard pile. Nothing she tried on felt quite right.

That top was too fancy for a coffee date, that one had a weird stain she’d only just noticed, and so on, and so on.

She tugged at her curls, frustration mounting.

Time was running out to make a decision and she couldn’t very well go in her t-shirt and booty shorts.

Actually, the demon she was meeting might enjoy that. He looked a little uptight, so maybe not. Or…seeing her ample booty hanging out of her shorts was just what he needed to loosen up a bit.

She definitely wasn’t overthinking this. Not at all.

Miri was one hour away from a coffee date with a purple demon with huge wings named Duke.

He’d look a bit more serious in his photos than she usually went for in men—his pressed button-up and tie looked starched enough to stand on their own.

His small wire-rimmed glasses were completely at odds with his surly frown and piercing eyes.

However, he also looked like he could bench press her with one arm and she was down for feeling a little dainty.

Towering Duke was the complete opposite of tattooed Nico. One looked like sin in living form, and the other looked like he would spank her for even thinking it. Both were tempting in their own delicious ways.

Her mind flashed back to Nico’s earnest smile.

Her cheeks burned. Miri certainly hadn’t been thinking about his sweet smile when she was studying his tattoos like there was about to be a pop quiz.

Gold piercings had gleamed from his eyebrow and ears, and she had desperately wanted to ask if there were any more hiding out of sight.

Luckily, she’d had the good sense not to blurt out that particular question.

There had been a text from the red demon waiting for Miri when she woke up this morning.

They hadn’t settled on a time and place for his raincheck dinner yet, but she was hoping they would figure it out soon.

She wanted another look at his tattoos. The dark whorls wrapping around his muscles had her more than a little curious just how far they extended under his t-shirt.

They curled all the way up under his jaw. Was his chest equally inked? His abs?

Not even his hands had been spared, the ink etched into his knuckles. Ugh, those hands. She’d definitely spent way too long thinking about how nice they’d look against her pale skin.

The sudden urge to get a tattoo spiked through her. Anything to get those wicked claws on her... because that wouldn’t be creepy at all. Besides, she already had one tattoo on her ass and it had stung like a bitch.

“Down, girl,” Miri muttered to herself. “You’re going to scare away a bunch of demons just because your vagina is growing cobwebs.”

Back to staring at the mountain of clothes on her bed, she sighed. Definitely jeans; the dark ones with the tiny embroidered flowers on the pockets. They were like a magnet for drawing men’s eyes straight to her ass and she needed all the help she could get today.

She just needed to pick a top that wasn’t a complete mess.

Thank goodness it was an early out at school or she would’ve been going on this date in her annoyingly professional work attire.

Slacks and a sweater worked well enough in the classroom, but when she was trying to snag herself a demon?

Not so much. The big purple demon might like pressed button-up shirts, but Miri couldn’t say the same.

Grabbing a floral top off the pile, she raised it up to inspect. Cute, flowy, and a neckline just deep enough to catch the hungry eye of a demon or two… or maybe she should wear a dress, after all. Miri groaned and hurled it back at the mound of clothing mocking her from the mattress.

Her phone buzzed under the pile of clothes. Digging her hands in the discard pile, she poked around for the missing phone. Her fingertip grazed the screen under a camisole.

“Aha!” Miri yanked the phone out and held it aloft. She tapped open her messages.

Kaz

Getting read for our date. Can’t wait :)

*Ready lol

Miri’s fingers flew across the keyboard, typing out a response. Her thumb hovered over the send button. Wait a minute…

She read the messages again. Kaz? She didn’t have a date with the golden demon today, she had a date with Duke, the big purple guy with wings… right?

Miri opened up her conversation with Kaz and skimmed through their flirty messages. Shit, she had definitely told him Friday. So, if his coffee date was today, then when was Duke’s?

She pulled up Duke’s profile and skimmed their conversation too. Her stomach dropped. When she had set the date with him yesterday, she had said “tomorrow.” When she had set the date with Kaz, she had said “Friday.”

Well, Friday and tomorrow were the same day, and she was an overworked idiot who couldn’t read a calendar.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuck!”

Somehow, in her mad rush to set up the first couple dates before spring break began, Miri had managed to double-book herself with two very different demons.

Kaz was a purple-haired boxing coach and Duke was a towering behemoth with wings and a pocket protector, she couldn’t have confused two more different demons if she tried.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and gave herself a minute to panic.

This was not a great start to her spring break, not at all.

Not only was she going to have to cancel on one of them, but Miri was about to make a terrible first impression before she ever managed to meet either of them.

But which one would she try to reschedule?

Polished Duke who made her wish she had a lot more daddy issues, or the broken horned Kaz with his cheeky smile and devil-may-care attitude?

Shit, shit, shit.

Miri leaned over and put her head between her knees as her stomach rolled.

She needed to pick one, but choosing between them felt impossible.

They were both hot as hell and had charmed her with their sweet messages.

Should she weigh pros and cons? Flip a coin?

Cancel on both and curl up on her couch like a lump?

Option three was looking pretty good right about then. There was a lovely frozen pizza in the freezer calling her name.

No, she hadn’t pulled out half of her closet just to be a coward at game time.

Fuck it. Miri dragged out her phone and put them both in a group chat. She would just tell them together and let them decide for her. They knew their schedules better than she did, so they would either be cool about it and reschedule, or she would have a reason to cut one—or both—of them loose.

Miri

Hey, so I messed up

Duke

***

Kaz

***

Wait, are is this a group chat?

I don’t recognize that number

Miri

I accidentally set coffee dates with the both of you for the same day.

My days got mixed up and when I told one of you tomorrow and the other Friday, I didn’t realize it was the same day.

It’s been a really long week at work and my brain is basically jelly

So, now I need to reschedule with one of you. I thought it would be easier to coordinate if I did it in one conversation instead of two

They didn’t need to know that she couldn’t choose between the two of them. That was for her to have anxiety about, not them. Twin typing icons popped up on her screen. Miri tapped her bare toes nervously on the carpet.

What if they both realized she was a hot mess and dipped? That wouldn’t be a massive blow to the ego or anything. It would make her decision a lot easier though. And she did still have half a pint of ice cream in the freezer…

Her phone dinged. Holding her breath, she looked down at the screen.

Kaz

I’m fine with a group date if you are, random other dude?

Duke

I’m okay with it.

Kaz

Cool. Still on for 3pm? The Vegan Bean?

She stared at the screen. Group date… two guys there to make an ass out of herself in front of.

Awesome. Of all the possible outcomes Miri had been running in her head, it hadn’t occurred to her to try to squish them together into one date.

She’d wanted them to do the deciding for her, she wasn’t about to complain about the results now.

Miri

Perfect. See you at 3pm 3

Tossing her phone back on the bed, she waited for her heart to stop pounding so that she could finally pick out an outfit. There was definitely going to have be a good amount of apology cleavage for this one.