Page 9 of The Devil and His Goddess (Sinners Do It Better #2)

Perseus

HARPER PARKED NEXT TO ME at the Greek restaurant. She’d changed into dark jeans and a cream-colored sweater, and my fingers itched to run under that top to caress the bare skin beneath.

She worried her lip slightly as she watched me approach her on the sidewalk, and I knew she was weighing whether or not it was a good idea to be here with me.

I loved that I fucked with her head so much. Too bad she didn’t realize this was just the start of the torture I had planned for her.

I opened the restaurant door and gestured toward it. “After you.”

There was a split second where she hesitated, and I really thought she might try to bolt back to her car. But something else—maybe her pride or her need for job-security or maybe even her lust—won out. She held her head just a bit higher and walked by with a small, “Thank you.”

I chuckled and followed behind as the hostess led us to a secluded booth in the back corner per my request. The Sinners never hesitated to rush me or any of the guys when they spotted us in public, so the less people around while I ate with Harper, the better.

I shamelessly stared at Harper’s ass in front of me, picturing how fucking amazing it would look with my handprints on each cheek.

The minute we were seated and the waitress left with our drink orders, I looked across the table and leaned back with my ringed hand resting on top of the table. “Have you had Greek food before?”

She fiddled with the napkin holding her silverware and looked around the room, which was decorated with blue-and-white booths and tables. Green ivy work weaved through the soft lighting above us and throughout the room, and small Greek statues of old Gods and heroes stood in different corners.

“I haven’t,” she answered finally. She grabbed the menu and scanned it before decidedly discarding it to meet my eyes. “I’m assuming you have, though.”

“You’d be assuming correctly.”

“Is that where you’re from?” she asked as she rested her arms on the table and leaned toward me. “You’re from Greece? You don’t have an accent from what I can tell.”

“I’ve lived in a lot of places, but yes. You could say I’m from Greece. I haven’t lived there in quite some time, so my accent has faded.”

In reality, I was from Hell. Plain and simple. I was created as I was now, made for seducing humans to the “wicked” side. I’d been given the name Perseus based on my first few decades of life, which were based in ancient Greece. From there, I’d moved all over the world, going wherever the urge took me.

Eventually, I met Xander, whose real name was Ruan Yitang. The Mischief demon was having a blast in China during the Tang Dynasty when I met him. At some point, we met Zagan, Dante, and Coldin, and centuries later, we formed our band, which was also when Yitang adopted a Western name for the ease of our fans. I picked the name Xander for him, seeing as it had Greek origins like me and was similar enough in meaning to his Chinese name.

During those early times, I bounced between hanging out in Hell with demons like them and roaming Earth, where I gave lots of humans endless pleasure. It was a great life, but these days were my favorite.

For one, ballet was prevalent.

For two, my band was fucking awesome.

And three, this beautiful human across from me existed.

She studied me with a purse of her lips before demanding, “Say something.”

I tilted my head, prompting her to explain what she meant.

“Say something in Greek.”

Smirking, I leaned toward her. I didn’t even need to think about what I wanted to say. “ Eísai dikí mou .”

She watched my lips as hers parted. When she met my gaze again, she asked, “What did you say?”

You are mine.

I leaned back and shrugged. “Guess you’ll never know.”

“Asshole,” she grumbled under her breath. She straightened and waved a hand at the table. “Well, I’m going to trust you to choose the food since this is your area of expertise. If I’m going to try Greek food, I want the Greek guy to pick it.”

“Fair enough,” I said.

The waitress approached with our drinks—red wine for me and water for her. After ordering dolmade, spanakopita, and a lamb souvlaki—all done in Greek to further show Harper that I could use my old language—my attention fixed on Harper. Her blue eyes were narrowed ever so slightly like she was studying me for something .

“Like what you see?” I asked with a single raised brow.

Her eyes became slits. “I’m trying to find your weakness to exploit.”

I laughed, nearly choking on the wine I just drank. “Weakness?”

She rolled her eyes as though having to explain what she meant was an inconvenience. “Yes. I mean, here you are. A guy who speaks another language. A guy who is in a supposedly successful band—”

“We are successful. No ‘supposed’ about it,” I corrected.

She ignored me.

“—and you’re the recent owner of an entire ballet company that you revamped in a very short time period. You’ve lived in all these great places, another indicator of your well-off status.”

“Keep going,” I encouraged coyly with a wave of my hand.

She shook her head at me, raking those vivid eyes over my seated form. “There’s obviously a weakness you have somewhere. You can’t be that great.”

“You think I’m great?” My smile widened.

“Greatly annoying, yes,” she answered blandly.

I leaned forward, bracing my forearms on the table. I cocked my head and purred, “You can be my weakness.”

She scoffed and leaned back in the booth while crossing her arms. “In your dreams, Peasant.”

Her eyes widened at the slip of the nickname, but hearing it sent an unexpected rush of desire straight to my dick. I hadn’t realized how much I liked hearing her call me that. More than that though, the name meant her walls were starting to crack, letting little pieces of me slip through. Soon enough, I’d have the hurdle decimated, and I’d make her mine in every sense of the word.

I licked my lips, not missing the way her eyes went hazy with lust as they zeroed in on the motion. Maybe it wasn’t too late to cancel our order and get out of here for the real main course.

Harper suddenly cleared her throat and looked away from me. “So were you a dancer prior to the band and becoming the artistic director?”

Nice change in subject.

“I dabbled,” I answered.

The spanakopita appetizer arrived, and I grabbed a flaky piece of the spinachy, cheesy goodness to deposit on a plate for each of us.

“I’ve studied a lot of different types of dance,” I continued as I handed her the food. “Ballet, both classical and modern versions, was just what I gravitated toward most. Though, I prefer watching it rather than performing it myself.”

Her lips closed around her fork, which was full of the food, and had I not been a demon, I probably would’ve missed the soft moan she let out as she tasted the dish. But I did hear it, and the sound might as well have been a sin of the sexiest kind. My dick went fully erect beneath the table, and I had to clench my fists tightly to keep from reaching beneath to rub at the hard-on.

“Good?” I asked, hoping she didn’t hear how husky my voice came out.

She nodded hard, thankfully focused on the food and not me. “Delicious! Wow!”

I smiled as pride made my back straighten a bit. Not that I had doubted my choice.

“So,” she started as she grabbed her water, “how did you find Silverlight?”

“My band had to move down here for some personal reasons. Since I attend a lot of ballet shows in my downtime, I looked for the local ballet company, which led to you guys. When I saw and heard how badly the company was struggling, I decided to buy it and make it into what I envision a stellar ballet company to be.”

She finished off her treat as I dug into my own. The taste was fucking perfect, and the flaky treat didn’t last long on my plate.

“I hope this isn’t rude,” Harper hedged with a cautious glance my way. “But I’m not familiar with your band. I really only listen to classical music, ballet, or movie soundtracks. What’s your group called again?”

“Sinners Do It Better.”

She raised a brow with a slight smile tugging at her lips. “Interesting name. What do you do in the group?”

I shrugged. “I do a couple of things, depending on which set we’re doing. Guitar, keyboard, violin, back-up vocals. You know, a variety.”

“You can play violin?” Harper asked, her face suddenly lighting up.

“Impressed, Goddess?”

She immediately schooled the awe from her face and nonchalantly flipped her dark hair over her shoulder. “Hardly.”

Rolling my eyes at her futile attempt of playing it cool, I said, “You’ll have to come see us play sometime. We’re on hiatus right now so our lead can figure his shit out, but when we get back to it, I’ll get you tickets to see us in concert.”

“Maybe,” she said with a teasing tilt of her chin. “I’ll see if I can squeeze it into my busy ballet schedule.”

“Mmm,” I hummed with a feigned seriousness. “That boss planning on running you ragged with no time off?”

“Without a doubt,” she answered with the faintest hint of amusement. “I don’t know him well, yet, but he’ll probably be breathing down my neck as the season gets underway.”

That and more , I thought with a soft chuckle.

The rest of the food arrived, and we spent the rest of the evening just like that. Talking about Sinners Do It Better, delving into Harper’s dance background, and even a little bit of a lesson on the Greek language. The little human asked me how to say every curse word imaginable in Greek, and I couldn’t stop laughing as she parroted all of them to the best of her ability.

Admittedly, it was nice. Really nice. I wasn’t used to this sort of intimate, cozy atmosphere, especially with a human I’d decided to play my little game of seduction with, but this was … warm . Watching her try and love food that I’d adored for decades, seeing her laugh behind her fingers as I told a crazy fan story, and having her relax right before my eyes.

The ease of being together was startling to realize, and I was still reeling a bit from how much I enjoyed just talking with her as we made it back to our cars. It was to the point where I didn’t want it to end, not simply because I wanted to have sex, but because I wanted to keep talking and being around her.

“Thanks for dinner,” Harper said as she hovered by her car door. “You really didn’t have to pay for everything.”

I leaned against the passenger door of my car across from her. Crossing my arms, I smiled and shrugged. “Dinner was my idea. I was obviously going to get it. Thanks for agreeing to come.”

She held up a finger and said, “Just so we’re clear, this wasn’t a date. This was just two coworkers grabbing a bite. Because we’re human, and humans need to eat. Totally normal.”

I wanted to throw my head back on a laugh. If only she fucking knew. In reality, my food source came from sex. I fed off of people’s sexual pleasure and satisfaction, but human food was still fun to indulge in. It just couldn’t sustain me—only feeding off of sex could.

Which had me straightening and stepping closer to her.

“Dinner wasn’t a date,” I agreed. She swallowed as I stopped directly in front of her. “But now dinner is over, and I’m not ready to be done. In fact, I’m hoping the night is just getting started for us.”

Her cheeks turned a light pink as she stared up at me. “That’s a pretty ballsy and forward confession, Peasant.”

I leaned my head in closer. “You make an honest man out of me, Goddess.”

Her gaze dropped to my mouth, and desire immediately clouded those blue orbs. I waited to see which won out—her lust or her worries about being with her boss. Because I knew that was what made her hesitate. The bullshit excuse about not being into me was an obvious lie, one she couldn’t use again this time.

Her attention suddenly shifted over my shoulder, and her eyes widened slightly as she tensed. I looked over my shoulder and found Mandi from Silverlight walking this way with a group of girls.

The blonde’s gaze bounced between Harper and I with a look of shock. I didn’t know why the human looked so shaken over seeing us, but it was enough to make her break away from her friends to jog over.

I turned to face her and plastered on a smile for one of my principal dancers. “Good evening, Mandi.”

“Hey, Mr. Mavros,” she greeted sweetly, tucking some hair behind her ear. She batted her lashes at me and glanced at Harper again. “I’m so sorry. Was there a meeting we were having tonight? No one told me.”

“No, no,” I answered. I gestured at Harper. “This wasn’t work related. You’re fine.”

“Oh,” she said, and the grip on her purse strap tightened just a fraction as she looked at Harper again. “I see.” She beamed at me once more and laid a hand on my forearm as she teased, “Make sure you invite me to dinner next time. I’d love to pick your brain, too.”

I wasn’t interested in Mandi, but I nodded pleasantly. “Of course.”

She squeezed my arm lightly, gave one final look at Harper, then turned to walk back to her friends with a bit more sway in her hips than was normal. I wondered if she knew the unnatural walk made her look like a waddling duck and, therefore, made my disinterest even greater. From the heated look she threw at me over her shoulder, I’d wager not.

When Mandi and her friends disappeared inside, I turned back to Harper. She no longer looked at me but, rather, dug around in her purse. She produced her car keys, and without even glancing my way, she unlocked her car and announced, “I’ve gotta get going. I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

“Harper—”

She was in the car with the engine started before I could finish. I watched her go, and while part of me wanted to be annoyed that Mandi clearly ruined what was about to happen between us, I was more thrilled than anything.

The chase was still on.

The hunt for my prey was stronger than ever, and with a devious smile, I decided tonight required another masked visit.