Page 11 of How Not to Charm Your Human Colleague (Falling for Demons #2)

A LESSON IN... BODY PARTS?

Kizros

P erennial Bloom Apothecary was spotless. Not that Kizros left the place messy, it’s just that he’d been sweeping, dusting, and rearranging the same shelf for a full day to avoid Aofe.

Not that he wanted to avoid her , of course, especially after she’d been sick and hurting for two days. There was something special about getting up every morning and knowing that he wasn’t going to putter about the shop on his own. He adored her company, and that right there was the problem.

He was taking advantage of her. Of her attention, of her time and skills, of her inability to leave.

Where else was she meant to go when he hoarded her like he’d been hoarding that sunshine? Blazes, the only reason she was giving him attention was because he gave her something she needed to fucking live .

Seeing her fragile in bed, suffering and terrified that he would be mad at her for missing work, had broken something in Kizros.

He’d realized how precariously he’d been perched on that line between seeing her as a colleague and seeing her as more .

She was so pretty, and she always laughed at his dumb jokes.

But how dare he have those feelings for his— the colorful human when she had nothing else here?

When she believed he had a say on whether she slept on the streets or not?

But here he was, fighting that free fall into more as he stalked Aofe from a distance; he might as well admit it.

He’d picked this spot in the shop because it had a view of the back door—so he could watch her come and go to the sunshine—and a view of the counter—where she currently sat, tinkering with the medicines she’d made for the other humans.

Kizros watched every tic of her hands, the way she rubbed at a sore joint after standing for too long, and how her skin had gone from dull to pink and vibrant after just two days of sunshine.

And there were so many more freckles dotting her nose and cheeks.

Maybe even her chest if she didn’t immediately bundle up in one of the new long sleeves he’d acquired for her.

Then, guiltily, he watched her pinch that sunburst charm between her fingers—sometimes mindlessly, sometimes purposely so she could stare at it with a soft smile.

Kizros adored that smile, savored it, and then berated himself for how selfish he was in keeping it to himself.

It was so conflicting to treasure it and feel shame over why she wore it, when all he wanted to do was conjure a little ball of fire and light to follow her around so other demons would know he had claimed her.

But he couldn’t claim her, it wasn’t fair to Aofe, so he’d hidden magic in the necklace with a rune like a coward.

It was so engrained in the metal he’d melted and formed into the sunburst that he doubted even his parents would notice his signature magic within.

For now, it was his secret. His avoidance. His guilt.

Because he really wanted to kiss her. He almost had. Would have done a lot more if his tail hadn’t reminded him she’d been exhausted and cold for days because he was so stupid to forget that she needed sunshine to exist.

“You’re avoiding me.”

Kizros jerked to attention, his tail whipping to keep him balanced as he hurriedly pretended to sweep. All to distract him from the blue-haired human now glaring up at him.

“Avoiding you?” he scoffed, absolutely avoiding her. “How preposterous.”

“Kiz, you haven’t said a word to me in almost two days. You’ve hidden back here.”

Ah, fuck. Maybe he’d been a little too obvious.

He continued sweeping nothing. “Well, I’m sure you don’t enjoy being talked at all day.”

“I assure you I do.”

Kizros stumbled, and even his tail behaved for the moment.

She… enjoyed that?

Now would be the time that Tholvich’s insults would echo through his mind, but as Kizros finally met Aofe’s eyes, that insecurity was lost. There was truth in her gaze, but so much more. Hope, kindness, vulnerability. How was it that eyes of so many colors could be so expressive?

And so tantalizing?

He immediately turned away from the temptation.

Then regretted it when he heard a small, disappointed sigh leave her lips. “Have I upset you?”

“Of course not,” he blurted, then realized, if anything, he was now the cause of such uncertainty and sadness painting her voice. More shame settled in his gut.

“Then I did something wrong,” Aofe muttered.

“I doubt you are capable of either,” Kizros grunted, his mind whirring to try to stop this from going any further.

Her proximity, her subtle coolness, and the way he knew she was fiddling with her crutch handles—because he’d obsessed over every detail of her—was making him lose focus.

How could he get her away from him while proving that she was not the problem?

She huffed. “Is it because I kissed you?”

“I’d hardly call that a kiss.”

Well, fuck, his mind clearly didn’t want distance, and judging by the silence that followed, he’d said that aloud. Couldn’t take it back now .

Slowly, Kizros turned to face her again.

He wasn’t sure what he might see, but he braced himself for the worst of it.

That the look she’d given him in the greenhouse was only contingent on her survival.

That she’d learned he was terrible at knowing when someone was lying and used it against him.

That she’d laugh and say he was foolish to care for a human so much that he’d fall for her.

Instead, Aofe was smirking, like she’d known this entire time why he’d been avoiding her.

Which, of course, she did. She was brilliant.

That little spark in her gaze didn’t dim, not as her eyes trailed down his chest, to his flicking tail, then back to his face. “Is that so?”

There was no embarrassment on her cheeks beyond the natural soft pink flush of her skin, though Kizros could feel his own warming at how thoroughly she watched him.

He shoved his glasses back in place. “It was a peck on the cheek.”

“Factual,” Aofe replied with a hum. “So what would you consider a kiss?”

He grunted past the lump growing in his throat. “Lips. Tongue. Hands.”

“You’re just listing body parts, Kiz.”

His jaw clenched at how she said his name. “Aofe.”

She blinked innocently. “I’m asking a serious question. What do you consider a kiss so I know what to do next time?”

Next time .

Kizros wet his lips.

“I don’t know what your customs are,” Aofe continued, eyes dipping to his mouth.

“But I’ve spent most of my life being told what I can’t do.

So when I see something I want, something I can control, propriety or not, I’m not afraid to say it.

” She stepped closer, tilting her chin further.

“Kizros, I would very much like to know how you want to be kissed so I can do it right.”

“Aofe,” he rasped, then swallowed to keep his initial thoughts back. He didn’t want to reject her, but he couldn’t take advantage of this position.

It didn’t matter, because she saw everything. Damn twitch in his eye.

She leaned back, smirk fading. “Unless you don’t—you don’t actually want that with me.”

Now her cheeks went from pink to red, and she turned away faster than he’d ever seen her move.

His tail whipped out, twisting around her hips as he yanked her back around. His body was quick but gentle, and as his tail deposited her against the back wall, he caged her within his arms.

Aofe sucked in a breath, eyes wide as he leaned down to meet her eye to eye.

“One thing first,” Kizros muttered, fascinated with how the blackness in her eyes grew to nearly encompass the blue.

“Before I tell you how you consume my thoughts and make me want to bloom every flower in this damn city for you, I need to know you don’t feel this way simply because I gave you sunshine. ”

Her brows pinched, eyes flickering over his face so quickly he noticed when she connected the threads and froze.

“You weren’t given a choice,” he continued, so painfully close to her body that he could feel each rise and fall of her chest. “I nearly killed you, and I hold the source of one thing that you need to live.”

Aofe’s lips twisted, head tilting toward the back door in thought. “Then let me ask you something.” She turned back to him, and in that moment, he felt as if she were the one caging him in. “If either of us didn’t want this, or it didn’t work out, would you take that sunshine away from me?”

He snarled in disgust. “What? Of course not, I’m not a?—”

“Monster?” she finished, brow raised. “I know, Kiz. I’ve met monsters. It’s the whole reason I’m here.” Her hands flexed on her crutches. “This is why you’ve been avoiding me?”

Shame clogged his throat, so he closed his eyes and nodded.

A breath passed, and then a soft touch brushed over his cheek. He leaned into it, opening his eyes to find Aofe’s thumb stroking where she’d pressed her lips only days before.

“It’s not because of the sunshine,” she whispered.

Kizros slowly inhaled, using the breath to control his restraint.

How else was he supposed to just kiss her, still feeling that guilt coil in his belly?

Barely two weeks had passed in Heck, and she’d spent that time in an infirmary, his shop, and her room.

He’d either cooked for her or brought food back for meals, sheltering her from the outside world and making him her only source of comfort.

How could she have suffered all those horrors of her past and still chosen him , of all demons, when she hadn’t seen any more of this world?

And yet, he was selfish, because despite those thoughts, he was leaning closer. Feeling Aofe’s breath across his lips. Watching her eyes darken in that strange, intense way.