Page 1 of Falling for Lucifer

B abysitting was supposed to be for teenagers to make extra money.

Somehow, it had become like a part-time job for Lucifer.

He didn’t mind too much since his sister-in-love, Harley, was cool as hell, but damn.

It was a Saturday night, and instead of chillin’ in the crib by himself, he was dragged out of the comfort of his home to accompany Harley, a grown ass woman, to deliver a baby.

Harley glanced up at Lucifer as they stood on the elevator with doe eyes. “I’m sorry, Lu. You know how he is . . .”

Lucifer snorted. “I know better than anyone, sis. You have to admit he’s gotten worse since . . .” Lucifer’s eyes traveled down to Harley’s bulging stomach. When he found her eyes again, he saw that she looked tired and like she would rather be at home too.

She groaned as the elevator dinged. “Yeah. You don’t know the half, honestly.

Since I told him I was pregnant, do you want to know how much time I’ve had to myself?

” Lucifer opened his mouth to respond as they walked off the elevator, but he clamped it shut when Harley stopped and turned around to face him.

He stopped abruptly. Her manicured nail poked him in the chest as she looked up at him with squinted eyes.

“Six minutes, Lucifer Ashford. Six fucking minutes in eight and a half months. If it isn’t him that’s up under me, then he has either you or Eris.

If it’s not one of y’all, it’s Cati, Major, or Cade. ”

She whirled around and stomped down the fairly empty hall of the birthing center, mumbling about being ready to drop the baby ASAP so she could go on a solo vacation.

Lucifer snorted again. Harley knew, just like he knew, that his brother would never allow her to go on a solo vacation.

Hades was just like that. He had been since he was a kid.

If he loved a person, they were forced to be under his careful and constant eye.

Hell, Lucifer could barely leave the state on his own without telling Hades every speck of information about the trip.

Lucifer had learned long ago that was just how his brother loved.

He loved fiercely and with his whole heart, and he tried his best to control the people he loved because he couldn’t bear to lose them . . . like he had their mother.

The day she committed suicide, Lucifer would never forget.

Hades was the one to find her, and he was also the one to get them out of that house where their evil father raised them.

At sixteen years old, Hades took sole responsibility over him and their little sister, Eris, and he hadn’t let up since, over two decades later.

“How long is this going to take?” Lucifer asked as they stopped at the last room on the right.

Harley whirled around on him and cut her eyes once again. Yeah, she wasn’t in the mood for nobody’s shit today.

“Have you ever pushed out a baby through your vagina?”

Lucifer’s eyes widened. “You’re always asking the most off-the-wall shit, Harley.”

When she was in a mood, especially when it surrounded a woman giving birth, her mouth could be reckless. Any other time, she was sweet as pie.

“Answer the question, Lucifer, ” she insisted.

Lucifer crossed his broad arms over his chest, his white T-shirt stretching with the movement. “You only call me Lucifer to piss me off.” One of Harley’s brows lifted as she stared up at him, waiting for an answer. Exasperated, he expelled a deep breath and said, “No.”

Her smile was dazzling, as if he had answered a multi-million-dollar question correctly. She hummed and as she turned on her heels to walk through the door of her patient’s room, she said, “I didn’t think so.”

Lucifer scratched his head as she walked into the room, wondering how any of that answered his simple question. He just wanted to know how long it would be until he could get back to the comfort of his own home.

As he followed behind Harley, he found himself irritated that his brother took that last custom job on a bike for their old personal trainer who owned Fortified Fitness.

That job had been taking all of Hades’s time over the past week, making Lucifer on call to watch Harley any time she left the house.

He contemplated how he could successfully sit down with his bull-headed brother and explain to his grown ass that Harley didn’t need a babysitter, when he heard a shriek.

His attention immediately snapped back into focus as he realized a woman with long black hair pulled into a sloppy ponytail laid on the comfortable bed in the center of the room, gripping the soft white sheets in her hands.

“This shit hurts, Harley. What the fuck! This shit hurts,” the woman hissed through gritted teeth.

Harley was already by her side with a cold, wet rag while the nurse checked the monitors on the screen next to the bed.

“I know, sweetie,” Harley murmured as she dabbed the woman’s head. She glanced at the monitor and then smiled. “You’re almost through this contraction. There you go . . . Good job.”

Lucifer stood there as still as a statue.

In the back of his mind, he knew he was intruding on a private moment.

He had only had to accompany Harley to work a couple of times over the past several years, but he always stayed in the hall.

He didn’t know what possessed him to follow her into the room that night, but a small voice in the back of his mind rejoiced at the misstep.

He watched in awe as the woman in the bed breathed deeply. Sweat covered her body, and the blue silk gown she wore clung to her large stomach that rivaled Harley’s.

“Who is he?” Her voice was so melodic, even with the harsh tint to the words she spoke. Despite the prettiness of her, Lucifer’s thick brows pulled in as he snapped out of his daze.

He took a tentative step toward the bed. “You talkin’ ’bout me, love?”

“You’re the only one in here I don’t know, aren’t you?

” Her teeth gritted together, and Lucifer could tell she was in a lot of pain, but he was taken aback.

People didn’t tend to talk to him crazy, whether they were in labor or not.

His large frame and mean mug normally caused people to either steer clear of him or talk nice to him.

Most people didn’t realize that he was a damn teddy bear compared to his brother.

Lucifer chuckled humorlessly as he swiped his nose with his thumb.

“Lu, go stand in the hallway,” Harley said, intervening. Good thing, too, because Lucifer could tell little miss lady in labor was about to say something to piss him off. Harley looked at the woman next. “Ellodie, try to relax. I’m going to check to see how far along you are.”

Ellodie , Lucifer thought. A pretty name for a pretty woman. He grunted and turned toward the door, feeling in his gut that it would be a long night, when Ellodie stopped him. “Wait! Lu, is it?”

He slowly turned to face her with his brows raised. “Yeah.”

Ellodie looked between him and Harley. “This your man, Harley?”

Harley made a choking sound as she held onto her stomach, while Lucifer shook his head.

“He’s my brother-in-law. Trust me, you don’t want to know my husband.”

Lucifer snorted. Not many people found pleasure in meeting Hades’s mean ass, so Harley told no lies as far as he could tell.

Ellodie took in a deep breath and seemed to work through another contraction before she looked back at Lucifer, a sickly, sweet smile curling her juicy lips. “Since you’re here, grab me some ice chips . . . please ?”

Lucifer’s head cocked to the side. She seemed like an uppity woman who was used to getting her way. He didn’t even know her, and here she was bossing him around. Not only that, but Ellodie seemed to take joy in toying with him at the moment, and he wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction.

“Nah, I’m good.” He smiled right back at her, his deep dimples sinking into his cheeks as he finessed the hairs on his chin.

Truthfully, though, he wanted to do whatever she asked.

She was so damn pretty, and not to mention vulnerable at the moment, that his first mind yearned to get her some damn ice chips and lay on that bed and deliver that baby for her if he could.

She had him under some kind of spell, and he wasn’t even sure he minded.

Ellodie’s smile only widened in challenge as her brow arched. Yeah, he could tell her spoiled ass wasn’t used to hearing the word no . He liked that he had said the simple word, despite his desire to give her whatever she wanted.

Another contraction must have hit her, because her smile quickly morphed into a frown as she cried out.

“Go get her some ice chips,” Harley demanded, shoving a glass into his hand. “And wait in the hall. I’ll let you know when you can come back in.”

She pushed Lucifer toward the door, and by the time he opened his mouth to protest, the door had slammed in his face.

“Ain’t this some shit . . .”

He muttered under his breath the entire time to the ice machine down the hall.

By the time he got back, the door still wasn’t open.

He sighed and rolled his neck, ready to give them these ice chips and then get out of dodge.

He leaned against the wall next to the door, partially blocking it, and closed his eyes, silently urging that baby in Ellodie’s stomach to make its way into the world.

Slowly, his thoughts drifted to the sly grin on Ellodie’s face when she ordered him to get her ice chips.

As much as her audacity irritated him, there was something about her that made him want to play her game.

For some reason, he wanted to be the one to humble her, only to give her what she wanted anyway.

“You’re in my way, boy, move.”

Lucifer’s eyes popped open. He was really zoned out because he hadn’t heard anyone near him. He had to look down his nose to find the source of the high-pitched voice.