Interlude
Asmodeus whistled to himself as he drove home from the Blankenship wedding, ignoring the Tesla’s state-of-the-art sound system. He thought he could be forgiven for feeling pleased with himself — he’d come up with the idea of wooing Belinda with a no-strings, limited-time relationship the day before, had figured it was probably the best strategy to get her to agree to spend some time with him that had nothing to do with planning his party. Because he knew she was already attracted to him, he figured she would agree to the plan, even as she told herself that this was probably the safest way to get a little closer without worrying about a long-term connection.
Of course, everything rode on the contingency that she wouldn’t want to leave once their nine days together were up, would
